Judy Haiven questions why police and reporters broadcast the release of a man deemed a high-risk offender who has completed his sentence. “I’m no expert in this matter of crime and punishment. But it can’t be good to target, name and shame ex-cons in our midst. After all, 95% of people in prison do get released. They have to walk and live among us.”
Angela Bowden remembers growing up Black in rural Nova Scotia, and reflects on the enduring damage done by abusive police practices over the generations. “I vividly recall, as do many of my peer group, police officers slowly driving by us numerous times, following us as we walk, asking us our names, where we are going, where we are coming from, and who our parents were.”
When politicians get violent. SJ Walsh discusses the alleged altercation between two Nova Scotia politicians, and the message it sends, with her middle schooler.
Robert Wright’s full response to the Wortley report, as delivered at this morning’s press conference at the Central library on Spring Garden Road. Robert Wright spoke on behalf of the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (DPAD), one of the organizations that long ago demanded a moratorium on the racist practice of police street checks.
There is nothing in Wortley’s report about police street checks we didn’t know, or could not have known, or should not have known before. Sure makes you wonder…
It is budget day in Nova Scotia, and a small group of income assistance recipients gathered in front of Province House to remind fellow Nova Scotians that life on income assistance is unlikely to get much easier as a result.
The Disability Rights Coalition is collecting signatures to an open letter to Premier Stephen McNeil, asking his government to stop warehousing people with disabilities and focus on investing in community living options instead. Alternatively, the group is asking people who are institutionalized and/or waiting for a community living space to file an individual human rights complaint.
Most news organizations in Nova Scotia refer to the Alton Gas water protectors as protesters. I suspect many journalists and editors gravitate to the term protesters because it feels like the more neutral term. The problem is, when you take a closer look, you will find it’s not so neutral after all.
Kendall meets up with a woman who had to make the big adjustment from living a fairly comfortable life to making ends meet on income assistance. Find out what happened and learn about her deepest wish.
I went to a timely rally in support of migrant rights and against racism and Islamophobia. The event was organized by a broad coalition of social justice and anti-racism groups, and there is much more to come.