Sunday, 8 September 2024

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Freedom 60: A thank you letter to Adsum for Women and Children

“I had just turned 60 and I knew I had to make some drastic changes in my life, if not I felt certain I would not have a life, or my mind would be so completely gone, that I would not have been any good to myself or anyone else.  I should have been looking forward to retirement and a relaxed future but instead I was sleeping with my phone under my bed clothes ready to dial 911.” Devorah Rivkah writes about the life-changing powers of Adsum for Women and Children.

Childfree by choice: Stigma and sterilization in Nova Scotia

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We need to start thinking of being child free as merely another way to live your life, every bit as ordinary as choosing to have children. Christina Elgee chose such a childfree life and here she writes about living outside accepted cultural norms, and the the hurdles she encountered when she decided to seek sterilization in Nova Scotia.

There but for the grace of God … Aron Spidle tells Nova Scotia MLAs about a broken social assistance system

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In September several MLAs from all three parties attended a screening of My Week on Welfare at the auditorium of the Nova Scotia Art Gallery in downtown Halifax. This is what Aron Spidle, who is featured in the documentary, told the MLAs. “When a friend asks me to do something with them, the first thing that occurs to me is to ‘how can I get out of this gracefully?’ because most of the time I cannot afford it.”

Kendall Worth: Shopping for Thanksgiving dinner

Kendall accompanies four friends who go shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. “I guess you can say that this story, along with my recent Thanksgiving story, show the amazing efforts people living in poverty sometimes make to keep themselves out of social isolation,” Kendall writes.   

Farting rainbows and unicorns – Paul Vienneau on the government’s response to the accessible washrooms decision

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Paul Vienneau is one of the accessibility advocates who successfully challenged the government’s refusal to enforce health and safety regulations when it comes to accessible washrooms. After a long battle with the Human Rights Commission there finally was a human rights tribunal, and in September they won their case. Just this Friday the government announced that it accepts the decision. Paul is NOT impressed.

Weekend video: Gold water

Everything you should know about gold mining in Nova Scotia, the harm it does to the environment and the politicians who make it all possible, in this very good documentary by Cliff Seruntine.

Letter from a postal worker: A better Canada Post for everyone

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Whether it’s postal banking, grocery delivery, affordable broadband internet access in communities that currently lack it, and postal-worker check in on seniors so that they can live longer in their own homes, postal workers have been pushing for better postal services for everyone, writes postal worker Mike Keefe.

Danny Cavanagh: What wrong with Social Impact Bonds?

Governments are increasingly using Social Impact Bonds as a method to finance what are broadly called social services. With social impact bonds governments repay investors only if the programs improve social outcomes, for example, lower unemployment or prison recidivism. The approach has been tried in Justice and corrections, skills training, public health, child welfare, services for seniors, early childhood development, education, homelessness, supports for people with physical disabilities, and mental health to name a few. But really it’s just another flavour of privatization, writes Danny Cavanagh.

Interview: ‘We build physical ramps, but we don’t build communication ramps’ – Long term care and dementia in Nova Scotia

We talk with Dr. Ellen Hickey about how in Nova Scotia we give up way too easily on people with dementia. “When it comes to long term care, all you hear is doctors, drugs, nurses. What about the rest of the team? There is all kinds of know-how that will help keep people off these drugs, that will keep them out of the doctor’s office. Isn’t that what it is all about?”