Megaphones in a parade, a poem by Chad Norman
In 2018 white supremacists joined the Apple Blossom parade in Kentville to spread their hateful anti-immigration message. Chad Norman wrote this poem in response.
featured
News brief: Canada’s proposed measure of poverty is deeply flawed
Many poverty advocates say there is lots wrong with a new definition of poverty that the federal government wants to entrench in legislation as part of its recently announced anti-poverty strategy.
It’s hard to care about this stuff, but it is very important. How you precisely define poverty may well determine whether you are eligible for support programs, food banks, energy rebates, etc. It may even determine whether you qualify for social assistance as is the case in Quebec.
Matt Dort on Northern Pulp effluents and the Northumberland Strait: It’s about more than meeting (flawed) regulations
Matt Dort takes a close look at a recent Chronicel Herald story about Northern Pulp and the Northumberland Strait, and finds that it’s not simply a matter of meeting regulations. What if the regulations are flawed? What if there are other problems that aren’t even part of these regulations? What if the Strait is already at its maximum threshold for pollution?
Kendall Worth: Community Services must stop taking all EI benefits and self employment earnings from people on income assistance!
Some people on social assistance have jobs, and while you work you are entitled to keep a portion of the money you earn. However employment insurance (EI) benefits and self-employed earnings get clawed back at 100%. Kendall has long said that’s not fair, and now there is a petition you can sign and the NDP is supporting it.
News brief: A tiny bit of relief for people on low incomes struggling with heating costs
A couple of ways you may get help if you have no money to pay your heating bill. It’s not enough, but it’s something.
John Collins to Premier Stephen McNeil: Don’t jeopardize our fisheries in the Northumberland Strait
John Collins on Premier Stephen MacNeil’s response to a letter from the three Pictou MLAs: “I actually commend you for the courage and determination to stand up for what’s right and sticking to the legislated closure as implemented by your government in the ‘Boat Harbour Act’. For the mill to even promote a continuance of this level of environmental racism by asking for an extension is an insult to Pictou Landing First Nations, and First Nations Peoples in general.”
Danny Cavanagh: The Atlantic premiers must tackle poverty
Danny Cavanagh: “Our premiers make choices every day and its time we demand they start and make the choices to help the most vulnerable in our society. Tax cuts to the wealthy have not helped, they have created a revenue problem. It’s time to tax the wealthy so they pay their fair share. It is time to step up and help those at the bottom with real reform.”
David the patient vs Goliath the process: My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, cancerous summer
Bill Swan on the nightmarish summer that began after a CT scan reveals a lesion on his lung, and how that all that misery could so easily have been prevented. “Fixing this would not involve any significant cost, no intensive study, no major change in administration. Fixing this is as simple as treating the patient with the most basic of consideration—respect.”
Raymond Sheppard: African Nova Scotians dream of equality and justice
Raymond Sheppard: “To borrow a few words of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., I have a dream, deeply rooted in the Nova Scotian experience.”
Children at risk as Nova Scotia’s child welfare system is on the brink, union and social workers say
The NSGEU and the NS College of Social Workers are raising the alarm about the state of child welfare services in Nova Scotia. Insufficient funding and increased complexity are putting pressures on the system that cannot be sustained, they warn. Parents and children will suffer as a result, and they are calling on Nova Scotians to help put a stop to that.