Poverty advocate Kendall Worth asks his friends and acquaintances about being grateful despite all the problems poverty brings. He gets some amazing responses, and learns how people are teaming up to support one another.
Doesn’t seem fair. Thanksgiving is not a paid holiday, even though you can’t work as the store must be closed. Judy Haiven explains…
How many more pedestrians must be hit before our municipality acts and we reduce bloodshed on our streets? Martyn Williams offers up three simple solutions that will save lives.
NDP Justice critic Claudia Chender on solitary confinement and other prison-related issues. “Our provincial jails are a black box. We have very little idea of what goes on behind those walls at all. It’s time for some transparency in our correctional system. It’s time for an independent review of the practice of solitary confinement. It’s time for the government to start listening.”
Nova Scotia Teachers Union president Paul Wozney writes on the intricacies of reporting on class size caps, and offers suggestions on improving transparency in terms of that important issue. “Now that elected school boards are gone, it’s imperative that parents are armed with the knowledge they need to advocate on behalf of their children. They must have the facts so they can hold the government directly accountable and ensure commitments that impact their children are met,” writes Wozney.
With Nova Scotia now officially the province with the lowest minimum wage in the country, some 100 folks gathered at Dalhousie University’s Killam Library this afternoon to demand a raise in the minimum wage, better working conditions altogether, as well as higher social assistance rates. Here is what community activist Lynn Jones told the protesters.
This September Nova Scotia’s Town of Windsor formally commemorated the little known fact that David Ben-Gurion, future prime minister of Israel, was trained along with the rest of the Jewish Legion at the town’s Fort Edward. But while Ben-Gurion came to fame as the founder of Israel, there was a darker side to this Zionist leader that is too often ignored, writes author and Cape Breton University teacher Garry Leech.
Educator Molly Hurd takes a closer look at all the hype about charter schools, most recently coming from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), a right wing think tank. Their case is based on dubious claims, and would not be feasible in Nova Scotia regardless, writes Hurd.
Warren (Gus) Reed is one of the successful complainants in a recent human rights case that considered the province’s refusal to enforce accessible washrooms in restaurants. Here Reed looks back on the tribunal in all its absurdity. “It is typical of the provincial authorities not to exercise any creative economic thinking. Accessibility calls for new approaches and less whining!,” writes Reed, who pulls out a calculator himself. The money spent on government lawyers could have been spent so much wiser.
The NS NDP is right, it’s time to change the Labour Standards Code so that everybody gets at least six paid sick days per year. And yes, let’s get rid of doctors sick notes, a senseless practice that Doctors Nova Scotia as well would like to see the end of, writes Danny Cavanagh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour.