Marla MacLeod and Meghan McMorris of the Ecology Action Centre spoke at Law Amendments this afternoon on the proposed Bill 213, the Sustainable Development Goals Act. As always, the EAC submission is a solid piece of work, emphasizing the need for more aggressive climate goals.
Mi’kmaq Grandmother Elizabeth Marshall wrote the following open letter to Premier Stephen McNeil on the occasion of the introduction of Bill 213, the Sustainable Development Goals Act.
“The so called province of Nova Scotia has distributed hundreds of illegal land grants to promote settlement for the crown in the last 200 years. Generations of your tax paying families have prospered and built equity off the lands stolen from my family.”
Robin Tress, of the Council of Canadians speaks at Law Amendments about Bill 213, the Sustainable Development Goals Act. She makes some great points, about respecting treaty rights, the tendency of governments to allow corporate interests to frame the discussion, and the nature of true consultations.
Christine Saulnier comments on the proposed Bill 213 at Law Amendments, making some great points about its urgency and the importance of climate justice in the new legislation. Christine is the director of the Nova Scotia chapter of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
I end my presentation with one request, Ms Knight; Hear what I am saying, look at these examples, and tell me that I am better off.”
Last Friday several members of the Benefit Reform Action Group (BRAG) met with managers at Community Services, at the department’s invitation. Tim Blades was sick and couldn’t make it, but fellow BRAG member Jodi Brown read his letter on his behalf. The letter is addressed to Joy Knight, who is the department’s director of Employment Support Services. Tim tells it as it is.
We keep hearing about the tough new emission targets embedded in Bill 213, the Sustainable Development Goals Act, the legislation that is winding its way through Province House. But it is only tough in comparison. It’s also two years late, and there are few signs that this government is ready to walk the walk.
The government has ripped up the arbitration agreement with Crown attorneys and unilaterally replaced that with a bogus “right to strike,” which declares Crowns an “essential service,” and renders any work stoppage ineffective. Judy and Larry Haiven explain why the Crowns need our support as they draw a line in the sand.
Policy analyst and writer Peter Puxley, speaking at a #WaterNotGold panel in Halifax last Saturday, pushes back on the idea that all rural Nova Scotia can hope for are short term jobs in extractive industries that come at huge environmental costs.
Street checks are banned in Nova Scotia, and Halifax Police is set to issue an apology. This is a good thing. But unfortunately you can’t ban racism, and Monday’s Board of Police Commissioners showed we have a long way to go.
Dr. Fiona McQuarrie, author and Professor in the School of Business at the University of the Fraser Valley, on the strike by CLC workers across Canada, including here in Halifax. “As the organization that represents Canada’s labour movement nationally and internationally, the CLC also has a moral and ethical responsibility to demonstrate progressive and collaborative labour relations – to use an old cliché, to talk the talk and walk the walk,” she writes.