I never thought I would be ashamed of having my name associated with my former high school; up until today. Considering the recent events of cultural appropriation, racism, and the blatant disregard of the issue by staff I feel it is my obligation to share my story as a Black woman about what really goes on behind the closed doors of Fredericton High.

When I first started at FHS I was extremely nervous.  At the time I didn’t think my nerves would have to be for the racism and cultural appropriation I would later experience. My earliest memory was in my ninth-grade science class, we had a supply teacher that day.  Row call ensued and my name was next. Quietly I replied, “Here” to which she asked, “What are you”?  This was a question I had heard umpteen times, however it felt different particularly coming from a person of colour. On this day, I had 24 classmates anticipating my reply. Having a confused look on my face did nothing to quash her nosiness, so she inquired again, “Is your mom Black or your dad, because you certainly aren’t white, and you aren’t fully black either?”  

My heart sank.  I had never been so humiliated in my life. Naturally I came home telling my mom what had happened earlier in the day, and we decided to email the Principal and the Vice-Principal requesting that she be removed from the supply teacher list. I was thrilled to be told that she was no longer permitted to work at my school but disappointed to see her there a month later. In that moment I didn’t feel looked after or as though they “had my back” it became apparent that their actions were a short-term solution to get us to stop complaining.

When tenth grade began my English teacher chose to read To Kill a Mockingbird. As she passed the books around, she loudly and proudly announced that, “We shouldn’t feel obligated to say ‘Nigger’ as it’s consistently used throughout the novel” but that she would be saying it because its ‘just a word’. She went on to explain how ‘[her] grandmother would walk down the street, walk up to a Black man and say ‘Hey Nigger’ to get his attention simply because she could. I was appalled to hear an educated professional not only use this type of language that has generational trauma associated with it but also openly share such a disgusting story with me sitting right in front of her. After discussing the situation with my mom, she made the recommendation of emailing said teacher and sharing my upset and frustration. However, I felt differently; I was terrified of retribution and even more scared of what else she would say. To this day, I refuse to read that novel.

My last year of high school was supposed to be an exciting time, experiencing fun filled graduate activities. For me, that was not the case. I had this white boy in my class, the type of boy I could look at and know he would say something about race, unfortunately my premonitions were correct. We had multiple courses together, and our initial interactions were filled with him asking stereotypical questions such as ‘was I from the hood’, ‘if I can give him cornrows’, and asking me to show him gang hand symbols. From there he moved on to stereotypical assumptions such as me being in a gang, how my father wasn’t in my life because he was Black and so on and so forth.  

I voiced my concerns to teachers on multiple occasions but alas, nothing was done. From there, he escalated to saying “Hey ma Nigga” or “What’s up ma nigga” as an appropriate method of greeting me. When I voiced my dislike of him saying “Nigger” he informed me that because he has Black friends that means he himself is ‘basically’ Black and therefore he is permitted to say “Nigger”. 

I had finally had enough, I was tired of being called ‘Nigger’, being shown videos of Black men being shot, and listening to his stories of his hyper sexualization of Black women. So, I took matters into my own hands and spoke to the teachers. Much to my dismay they informed me that “because [they] didn’t hear him say that directly, it’s my word against his and [they] can’t be sure if he said those things or not”.

I graduated a month later and have loathed the day I will have to walk back in those doors as I don’t feel protected or safe. The vision and mission statement of Fredericton High is to “focus on leaders in academic excellence and an inclusive education [including but not limited to] diversity, respect and responsibility. Through the promotion of inclusion and collaboration, [the]celebration of diversity by recognizing [how] our differences enrich our community and by creating a safe, supportive and respectful environment.” These statements have been around for many years and will probably stick around for many more.  I like to believe in human decency and educating oneself on touchy subjects but in my opinion (based on my personal experiences) Fredericton High has and always will be a white privileged school.

See also: Chronicles of a mixed girl – Nanny edition

The post Chronicles of a mixed girl: The skeletons in the closet of Fredericton High appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – By way of introduction:  I was a professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax for 17 years. I taught in the Management Dept. of the Sobey School of Business. I have firsthand experience with the misogynist culture in the university. I’ve written this post because the rape culture, exposed at Western University last week, exists in Canadian universities. I’m looking at it in the context of Saint Mary’s University.

Y is for your sister

O is for oh so tight

U is for underage

N is for no consent

G is for grab that ass

SMU boys we like them young

This freshman chant went viral the first week of September 2013, when leaders of Frosh student week coached first year students at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax with these catchy words. Not special to Saint Mary’s University (SMU) students, this little jingle was meant to boost student spirit—despite its focus on degrading women and promoting nonconsensual sex. Four hundred 18-19 year old students (women too) sang this rape chant in the university’s gymnasium.

That same year, members of the SMU football team (the Huskies) were caught tweeting hate, racism and sexism online. Despite being “outed”, some players continued to tweet messages including this one: “That bitch bit me last night. Hope your[sic] dead in a ditch, you are scum.” As well as “Cut your face off and wear it while I’m fucking your mother” and “Bitch, get on your knees.” What about this retweet from another twitter account?  “School is like a boner, it’s long and hard unless you’re Asian”? Media reports at the time said that the university reacted by suspending between six and ten players from the Huskies team – but not from the university.

That was 8 years ago.

Just this week the media carried reports that more than 30 female students at Western University in  London, Ont. were sexually assaulted or raped in the first week of school. The student council leaders, and Western’s president don’t deny it.

It’s probably more than 30 women students now  — two weeks into the term. And we know this happens on every campus in Canada.

Farrah Khan, manager of the Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education at XX University (formerly Ryerson University in Toronto), warned that 71% of students experienced or witnessed unwanted sexualized behaviour in 2019.  Indeed, the Statistics Canada Survey on Individual Safety in Post secondary Student Population (2020) reveals a whole minefield of facts including these:

• 11% of post-secondary school women experienced at least one sexual assault during their previous year on campus
• 19% of women who were sexually assaulted said the non-consensual assault happened after they had first agreed to another form of sexual activity.
• 45% of students who identify as women, and 32% of those who identify as men experience at least one unwanted sexual behaviour in the context of their time at university or college
• 80% of women who experienced unwanted sexual behaviour said the perpetrator was a fellow student
• Only about 8% of women and 6% of men who experienced unwanted sexual behaviour ever reported it to a professor, or the university administration, or to security.

We also know that misogyny, racism, bullying and more are bound up in the culture of most universities. But why is that?

In the chapter I wrote “Rape Chant at Sant Mary’s University” in the 2017 book Sexual Violence at Canadian Universities, I state there are three phenomena that converged at Saint Mary’s to open the door to sexim and misogyny:

1. The business school culture

For the last 30 years business schools are “vanguard” faculties in many universities. By “vanguard” I mean the universities “crown” business schools as the biggest and/or the leading faculties.  This coincides with the unbridled growth of neo-liberalism and the rise of the “market” and consumerism which govern most people’s lives.

Business schools teach students how to make profits and prop up the capitalist system. Lately some business schools specialize in promoting the “entrepreneurial” culture in which there is little to no emphasis on the common good, group solutions or questioning authority.  Renowned McGill business studies professor Henry Mintzberg calls business school trained MBAs “a menace to society.” Business school education contributes to a competitive and winner takes all type of thinking, or “pedagogy of the privileged.”

The role of women in the business world is played down. In 2019, 24.5% of Financial Post top 500 corporate board seats were held by women — up from 22% in 2017. A BNN-Bloomberg report found that there were only 2 women CEOS in the top 100 most influential companies within the S&P/TSX Composite Index. 

Nowhere are there any target figures or quotas to enfranchise more womene. The fact that women are still under-representd on boards and in public appointments demonstrates that business education’s message to women students is: you probably won’t make it to the top. In fact, women are second rate.  

2. The sports culture

Many universities are known for their sports teams; to be frank, sports teams are a tool used to recruit more students.  Widespread academic research suggests that male varsity teams “may be consistent with pro-sexual violence attitudes and a culture that promotes, or at least does not discourage, sexualized violence.”  Anthropologist Peggy Reeves-Sanday echoes this when she writes that key elements of sexual assault on campus (also called rape culture are  “sex segregation, tolerance for violence and male dominance.”   The established link between varsity sport and sexual violence is concerning because many universities have a dozen or more teams. 

3. The drinking culture

Drinking is a big part of most students’ culture and socializing.  Drinking is often allowed in student residence rooms and at the student bars on campuses. Evidence is that the vast majority of sexual assault cases involve alcohol. One estimate is that almost 90% of Canadian university students drink alcohol, while 43% report drinking at least once a month.  Underage drinking is common. Binge drinking by students, and mixing alcohol with highly caffeinated energy drinks can lead to more “negative alcohol related consequences”  than using alcohol alone.

Researchers note that “When combined, the use of alcohol and/or drugs not only increases the likelihood of a sexual assault occurring but also works to decrease the perpetrator’s feelings of responsibility.” 

The prevalence of date rape drugs – drugs used to spike women’s drinks in bars and at parties– means women are left totally incapacitated and out cold.  Some women find themselves in their own or an empty hotel room when they finally wake up hours later.  One emergency room doctor at the QEII hospital in Halifax estimated he sees about two women in the ER who were subject to date rape drugs every month. He calculated that meant there were likely more than 20 cases of women who did not go to emergency. With 30 ER doctors on duty, that  figure could be as high 600 cases in a month. 

Every year the public waits to find out how serious sexual assault is in Frosh week activities. This year, the first shoe dropped at Western University with the news of sexual assaults on at least 30 young women over the first few days of classes. When will the other shoe drop? When will other universities be named – as doing little to nothing though every year women students and vulnerable students get attacked most often by male students.  Universities’ chief line of defense is that they will educate, warn  the students who live in on-campus residences, hire residence monitors and offer bystander training. But bystander training has been a “thing” for nearly a decade.  Yet we have not seen an appreciable decrease in sexual violence on campuses. Why is that? One reason could be bystander training is based on techniques to “change the channel” rather than confront the issue head-on.  For example, in by-stander training, people are taught to distract the perpetrator, or remove the person at risk.  By following the 3 D’s (Direct, Distract, Delegate) to safely intervene in a potentially violent situation, the technique is meant to de-escalate the situation.  But the situation still exists. The harasser, or the perpetrator, will just find another victim, and go after her. 

It is the culture that has to change. That change means there can be no tolerance for misogyny and devaluation of women in society as a whole.

Judy Haiven is on the steering committee of Equity Watch, an organization that fights discrimination, bullying and racism in the workplace.  Contact her at equitywatchns@gmail.com

The post Judy Haiven: University blues – this fall’s first two weeks of misogyny and sexual assault on campus… appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

Only weeks ago, we were told that a 75% vaccination rate is the minimum required to move to Phase 5 in Nova Scotia, and we would like to see that target remain a priority, and reassessed consistently, as we move through the beginnings of the latest wave of this pandemic. Schools and the Covid protocols applied there should be strengthened based on being proactive and the highest standard of protection for our students and their families, our teachers, and every staff member who is present in our public schools. Regardless of the vaccine numbers, other jurisdictions are showing that removing masks increases cases in the unvaccinated. We call on the government to maintain this important safety measure for our young children in schools. 

NS Parents for Public Education also calls on the government to restore the public notice policies that were in place in the prior school years, returning to making school cases publicly known, and maintaining a publicly accessible list of current school cases and any

closures. While there is a continued publication of possible exposure sites, where 15 minutes is deemed a risk, a list that is growing longer and wider everyday, it makes no sense that schools and buses, where children and teachers and other school staff exist in crowded environments for up to several hours a day, are not treated in a like manner, and perhaps with some more importance. 

Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education was started in 2016 by parents concerned with the government’s deteriorating relationship with teachers. They have 18,000 members on Facebook, and use their platform to promote and protect public education. 

The post Press release: NS parent group calling for minister and public health to leave mask mandate intact in NS public schools appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

We agree that the best place for our students is in the classroom with our peers and teachers. However, with our elementary students unable to be vaccinated, and many previous concerns unaddressed, we believe this plan does not go far enough. We were hoping to see the continuation of Nova Scotia’s cautious approach to COVID, but instead feel like yesterday’s briefing was a “COVID is over” announcement.

With the rise in the Delta variant, and a fourth wave started in other parts of Canada, we are concerned that the decision to end mandatory COVID protocols as students are back in classrooms is short-sighted and unnecessarily risky. Mr. Houston and Dr. Strang continue to peddle the lie that schools are safe if communities are safe, when data  clearly indicates schools as the second-highest source of transmission in the province during the third wave.

Delta is demonstrably more risky to young children, and their lack of eligibility for vaccination make the layer approach to mitigation even more important. To date, Nova Scotians were told that masks were an important part of that layer approach, including physical distancing, staying home when sick, and good hygiene:

• Last year demonstrated that we cannot rely on goodwill to keep students home when sick, especially in the absence of government-mandated sick days for workers who would need time to care for their child.
• Ventilation systems in Nova Scotia schools are still non-existant or in disrepair, and the information from last year’s audit gives no details on whether they function at levels recommended for COVID mitigation — where they exist at all.
• Nova Scotia classrooms continue to be overcrowded. We appreciate the new government’s commitment to the inclusion report, but our students and school staff need space now, for optimal safety.
• Handwashing was not handwashing. In some cases, schools went to lengths to provide breaks where students could use soap and running water to wash their hands. In more cases, alcohol-based hand sanitizer was used as a substitute. When improperly used, hand sanitizer is known to contribute to the proliferation of superbugs, where bacteria become resistant to usual treatments. Handwashing does not carry this risk, and is proven more consistently effective.
• Teachers and other school staff are supposed to be our front line protection for unvaccinated students, yet there is no mandate or tracking to ensure they are safe to be in schools. We appreciate that it is likely that the vast majority of teachers feel it is their duty to be fully vaccinated, given the lack of other safety measures in schools. We believe in personal choice regarding the decision to be vaccinated. However we would like to see mandatory testing for school staff who aren’t vaccinated.
• Masks have been promoted by governing health bodies around the world as one of the most effective ways to prevent the transmission of COVID and other droplet- or aerosol-spread viruses. A strong mask mandate has helped keep our transmission rates at an enviably low level, even where there have been known exposures in public spaces, such as retail settings. We appreciate that many in the public are eager to see an end to masking, but in jurisdictions that prematurely ended these mandates, COVID numbers climbed immediately. We have only to look to our neighbours in New Brunswick as an example. Especially in Pre-Primary to 6 settings, it would be strong public policy to continue the mask mandate to protect those youngest citizens from the immediate and long-term effects of a COVID infection. 

With two weeks remaining until school resumes for students, and 22 days until the projected move to Phase 5, there is time to revise the Back-to-School plans, to increase the success and safety of a full year of in-person learning in our schools.

The post PSA: Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education statement on 2021 back-to-school plan appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

In light of recent developments in the COVID landscape and the lack of satisfactory safeguards and information provided by Dalhousie Administration with respect to a safe return to campus, the DFA Executive Committee has met and agreed to the following list of demands: 

• mandatory vaccinations for all faculty, students and staff;
• mandatory masking in all indoor public spaces;
• mandatory physical distancing where possible; and
• ventilation that meets public health guidelines.

The DFA is the certified bargaining unit representing the interests of more than 950 professors, instructors, librarians and counsellors at Dalhousie University.

The post Media Advisory: DFA demands mandatory vaccination and other safety protocols appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Regardless of what party forms government in Nova Scotia tomorrow, the Premier will have some time-sensitive decisions to make when it comes to back-to-school.

As anxious parents wait and children question if schools are safe to return to, classes are set to begin just three weeks away.

Paul Wozney, President of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, says staff met with the province’s Chief Health Officer, Dr. Robert Strang, early this month. Wozney confirmed a plan wouldn’t be announced ahead of the election, adding, “it could be several days after the election winner is announced.”

According to Wozney, all teachers and early childhood educators in the province under the NSTU have been fully vaccinated, with exceptions for those with underlying health risks for immunization.

Wozney says 66 per cent – or two thirds – of the school population in the province remain unvaccinated. The ineligibility of children below 12 poses an increased risk of both exposure and spread of COVID-19 from classrooms into communities.

“This is the largest population of unvaccinated people in the province,” Wozney said, “and we are going to send them back into cramped classrooms where they can’t be physically distanced, where nothing has been done to improve ventilation.”

The lack of direction has caused confusion, chaos, and concern for families, says Wozney.

Wozney says he’s concerned about the lack of correspondence about masking in classrooms, or what the threshold is for a school to close in-person learning. Teachers are also looking for guidance on class sizes and social distancing.

“Almost none of the $50 million we got from the federal Liberals last year was deployed to provide in-room air filtration, even though that was one of the major purposes of that money,” he said.

Wozney is disappointed none of the parties running offered a comprehensive back-to-school plan. He says the province should take a proactive approach, considering there is so little known about the effects of long-COVID in children.

While Public Health will ultimately make the call, Wozney believes in an in-school vaccination program where COVID-19 vaccines are offered in a similar rollout to HPV or Hepatitis B. 

694 cases of COVID-19 linked to school exposures in province

In Ontario, officials are worried about missing the deadline to complete air ventilation upgrades before schools open in September.

The situation is even more grim in the United States, where 1,900 children were hospitalized on Saturday alone. The state of Florida reported nearly 500 cases of COVID-19 in just the first week back to school. 

But in Nova Scotia, a familiar strategy of last-minute decision-making continues to reign supreme.

The Nova Scotia Advocate wrote about the return to in-school learning in June, months after teachers were told to pack up their classrooms until September:

Less than a week into in-school learning, a record-breaking heat wave loomed over the province, creating unsafe conditions for children and teachers alike. Additionally, at least five schools have reported COVID exposures in the week since reopening.

Air ventilation and circulation systems are turned off at the end of the day and only turned back on at 7 a.m. of a school day, making buildings like a greenhouse for staff and students alike.

Even hydrating students can be a challenge. Many schools in Nova Scotia do not have safe drinking water. Additionally, the returns of rented water supply equipment and emptying of inventory in cafeterias further limits students’ access to drinking water. 

The hot September weather will continue to pose a challenge, as windows in most classrooms cannot be opened without interfering with air ventilation systems. 

“Because we see the Delta variant having such a severe impact on children, children being a driver of an uptick in case counts and new cases in various jurisdictions, the lack of a return to plan school is a deep concern,” Wozney said.

A freedom of information request filed by the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union earlier this year found a total of 694 cases of COVID-19 linked to school exposures. 

A communications spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Early Childhood Development tells the Nova Scotia Advocate “we look forward to sharing more soon,” indicating public health measures and in-class guidelines won’t be relayed until after the election.

“[We] are working together [with Public Health] on a back-to-school plan that will reflect Nova Scotia’s path towards Phase 5 of re-opening the province,” the spokesperson said.

See also: Brooklyn Connolly: After years of neglect, a safe return for students mostly out of reach

The post School is only three weeks away. Why hasn’t Nova Scotia announced a pandemic plan? appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – As we gradually emerge from a global pandemic, we also find ourselves in the midst of a crucial provincial election. A return to normalcy is still distant for students and young people, and even ‘normal’ was hard for my generation. With the highest tuition in the country, an ongoing housing crisis, and a minimum wage that is nowhere near livable,students in Nova Scotia are facing a return to campus involving many more challenges than just transitioning from online classes. Students understand the gravity of this election — and the opportunity it holds to address the many issues we are facing coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Post-secondary institutions in Nova Scotia already had the highest tuition rates in the country, and then chose to raise tuition twice during the pandemic. For most students, seasonal and entry-level employment are critical to financing their education and living costs. The pandemic has meant losing many of these positions and a loss of housing security especially for those reliant on on-campus housing, forcing students to rely on COVID relief programs and student loans. Although Nova Scotia has a debt forgiveness program, it punishes those who cannot finish their degree within five years, do not finish their program, or choose to study in other provinces.

Since the start of the pandemic, international students have had to deal with these challenges while being excluded from most of the provincial or federal supports available to domestic students. Yet our post-secondary institutions rely on international students paying incredibly high differential fees to keep them afloat, on average charging international students three times what domestic students pay. 

In addition to not receiving financial support, international students are also excluded from provincial healthcare for their first year and have faced challenges accessing COVID testing and vaccines. Due to the constant uncertainty regarding quarantine rules and housing availability, many international students spent the past school year at home, disconnected from community and social support systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined systemic injustices in our society and over the past year, Indigenous and Black-led movements have pushed back against racism and colonialism. These injustices are neither new phenomena nor are they in the distant past for Nova Scotia. As of 2021, Canada has only fulfilled eight of the ninety four Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. In order to move forward with true reconciliation, Nova Scotia must fulfill all TRC Calls to Action under provincial jurisdiction. In addition to this, the provincial budget, which currently allocates over $151.1 million to policing, could be invested instead in Black and Indigenous community-led initiatives.

Through the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia’s Vote for the Future campaign, students are putting forward a vision for a sustainable and just COVID recovery. 

This vision includes a commitment to accessible post-secondary education for all students and meeting students’ immediate needs by setting a livable minimum wage and addressing the housing crisis. It also means committing to a just and livable future by fulfilling the TRC 94 Calls to Action, redirecting policing funding towards community-led initiatives, and committing to a just transition away from fossil fuels. 

The road to recovery is paved with difficult decisions. Young people and students make up nearly one-tenth of the Nova Scotia population, with over 55,000 full-time students at post-secondary institutions across the province. Students can help make our ‘back to normal’ a better future for all Nova Scotians by showing up this election to Vote for the Future.

Check out the Canadian Federation of Students – Nova Scotia website with information on how to vote, the issues that matter to students, and the four parties’ responses to a questionnaire.

The post Sydney Keyamo: Vote for the future – The Nova Scotia election and the student vote appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Just about a year ago, on July 22, 2020, Nova Scotia’s Department of Education announced a plan with a promise: for a safe return to school for all students, teachers and staff. The plan was weak, and many promises made by the Department remained empty. 

Students, teachers and staff embarked on a trying year ahead. Educational centres became a provincial epicentre for COVID-19 exposures. They accounted for 694 exposure locations – the highest number of exposures in the province, outside of household transmissions. 

For me  this came as no surprise. The first five-years of my education were spent in an elementary school that was literally falling apart – I remember the ceiling that was heavy with water, and the teachers who’d announced yearly that the province would replace the building ‘next year.’ That was 17-years ago, in 2004. It wasn’t until the summer following my high school graduation, in 2018, that the school got replaced; the same year that the government, under McNeil, took authority over the province’s seven elected school boards. 

And then, things got worse.

Water filtration, ventilation, and classroom size are just some of the growing concerns within Nova Scotia schools that are getting lost in austerity and departmental bureaucracy. Without boards to help address and mediate the needs of schools, teachers, and students, all problems pile on the Department. Which, too often, get lost in the rut.

Now, with weeks to go before the 2021 school year begins, it seems that a safe return is the latest task to be ignored. Perhaps this is because making a plan means addressing its years of non-action, the ones that money could have solved: if only that new school was built, if ventilation was replaced, if teacher’s concerns hadn’t gotten lost.

But this is a province that promises to invest in its future while making its youth pay for its debt. And it’s always been this way.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, Nova Scotia had among the lowest population growth in the country. According to a 2016 census by Statistics Canada, the province was second last, just below New Brunswick, with a growth of 0.2 per cent between 2011-2016. The numbers mirror a pattern that the maritimes know well, that being: the brain drain. This is when youth, commonly aged between 15-29, emigrate following their education. Quite often, these are post secondary-school graduates that go on to pursue college and university elsewhere. This happens around when  they reach voting age. 

Left behind are the folks that make up the majority of the province’s population: adults and seniors. Sure, they’re family. They’re our parents and grandparents – some of them  demanded a safer return to school plan – but there’s more that goes into their vote. Parents can wait for their children to age out of a falling down school. Elections are as strategic as voters, and those without a vote too often get left without a voice. 

The state of public education begs the question, posed by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ 2020 report on child and family poverty: is it willful neglect? It found that last year more than 41,000 – almost one in four – children in the province were living in poverty. These are children in families that likely cannot afford childcare, and depend on a return to school, be that safe or not. It’s a cycle that will continue until we invest in young people and the equitable, and safe education they deserve. .

Until then, politicians will debate. Votes will be cast. And Nova Scotians will wait: for ventilation test results, for lead in school water to be remediated, for schools to be built, teachers to be heard, and for the next back-to-school plan to be announced.

See also: Pandemic challenges inclusive education policies in Nova Scotia, and parents are worried

The post Brooklyn Connolly: After years of neglect, a safe return for students mostly out of reach appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Roughly three weeks out from election day in Nova Scotia, one organization is challenging parties to take meaningful action on child care in the province.

Child Care Now Nova Scotia is a non-profit organization advocating a universal, affordable, accessible, quality childcare system in Nova Scotia. The organization is made up of a wide range of stakeholders in child care, including early childhood educators, researchers, parents, grandparents, and community members that hope to revitalize the funding, delivery, and management of child care in the province.

With one in four children living in poverty in Nova Scotia and a minimum wage ($12.95) offering only about two-thirds of a livable wage, the situation is dire, the organization warns. 

The provincial government announced earlier this month a plan that would see childcare costs cut by 50 percent in 2022, and an average cost of $10 per day by 2026. The announcement also called for an additional 9,500 child care spaces across the province.

Many families in the province are choosing between groceries, rent, water, and power bills. A $10 per day average cost of child care is still out of reach for those who need it most.

Christine Saulnier, a member of the organization’s steering committee and director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia, says it’s time for the province to overhaul its child care policies.

While Saulnier says the work and advocacy around the issue of child care has been happening for likely 40 years, Child Care Now Nova Scotia, the formal advocacy group, launched two years ago.

“A plan should be in place where we have free learning and child care for all children,” Saulnier says. “But we absolutely are advocating for $10 to be the cap, so $10 per child per day.”

Saulnier cites child care as one of the leading barriers to getting into the workforce and working full-time. 

Staying in the workforce depends on getting access to child care, and whether that access to child care is affordable.

“Those two things are not necessarily the same and we want to ensure that families actually get access to affordable child care,” she said.

Another aspect of the organization’s advocacy looks at increasing the number of spaces available for childcare across the province.

“Even if you were to decrease the cost of spaces, you need more. Very few families can get access to regulated licensed quality programs in their community,” Saulnier said.

Saulnier says the highest poverty rates in families are those who have children under the age of six.

The highest cost of child care is for children under the age of two, because of the additional staffing required to support a baby. Saulnier says 74 per cent of mothers who have babies under the age of two are in the workforce right now, many of them not able to work full-time and at very low wages.

“We also know that the highest poverty rates are single mothers, and because of pay and equity issues, it is women who still earn less,” Saulnier said.

It’s not just families struggling to earn a livable wage, so are the early childhood educators who provide care. 

The steering committee is also advocating for higher wages and compensation benefits for early childhood educators, who Saulnier says are currently paid $17 per hour as a median, meaning about half of them are paid even less.

See also: Letter: Early childhood educators need a pension plan that would allow us to retire above the poverty line

Not only are wages low, Saulnier says, “it’s that they don’t have access to the benefits, they don’t have access to paid sick time, they don’t have access to pensions.” She says early childhood educators across Nova Scotia are “retiring into poverty.”

“We’ve come a long way to recognize the kind of skills that it takes to do this very important work in our community, and now we need to properly compensate them.”

See also: Newsbrief: Rural Nova Scotia one big child care desert

The post One in four children in Nova Scotia live in poverty and child care advocates want to change that appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to hardship for all Nova Scotians,” said Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia Chairperson Kris Reppas. “For students this has meant moving to online classes, taking on more debt, housing and food insecurity, and prospects of a challenging and unpredictable job market. This election, students are looking for parties to demonstrate their commitment to a just recovery from COVID-19 for all Nova Scotians.” 

The Vote For The Future campaign will help students access voting information and will highlight students’ issues to parties and candidates. The campaign recommendations cover the following issues: 

• Access to post-secondary education;
• Fairness for international students;
• Employment and housing;
• Climate justice; and
• Anti-racism and reconciliation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed so many systems to their breaking points,” said Reppas. “Building a better future coming out of COVID means making post-secondary education accessible and addressing students’ immediate needs. It also means putting us on a path toward climate justice and taking action to address racism and colonialism.”

“We have the means to take this moment of crisis and push us into the future,” said Reppas. “Students are engaging this election through outreach, action, and casting ballots to hold parties accountable to the commitments we need today so all Nova Scotians can thrive tomorrow.”

For more information about the Vote For The Future campaign, visit cfs-ns.ca.

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The Canadian Federation of Students is the oldest and largest national student organization in Canada, representing over 500,000 college, undergraduate and graduate students across the country.

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