Protesters who rallied at the Burnside Jail last night in support of demands issued by protesting prisoners were pepper sprayed and violently thrown down by officers of the Halifax Regional Police (HRP). One protester was arrested and will face charges. Updated.
Didn’t hear much about the police check study over the summer, but the NS Human Rights Commission recently launched an online survey asking all HRM residents about their encounters with police. We have long argued that what is needed is not yet another study, but an immediate stop to the racist practice, but maybe the survey has some redeeming qualities.
In July we reported on a Nova Scotia Human Rights tribunal asked to decide whether to prevent people who use wheelchairs from washing their hands in a restaurant amounts to discrimination. Well, this time the good guys won, and the the province lost. Another loser was the NS Human Rights Commission, which did not want to consider the case until told by a judge to do so,
A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has turned down an application to create a class-action lawsuit on behalf of former Africville residents and their descendants. That’s as good an opportunity as any to get Halifax Councillors to step up and do the right thing. Compensation for former Africville residents and their descendants is not an issue that should be decided based on legal subtleties.
Too many lives are lost or ruined through traffic accidents, writes Martyn Williams. “Who in local and provincial governance will stand up and admit that road safety in Nova Scotia is not a problem, it is a crisis?”
This Labour Day the Burnside prisoners are asking for solidarity: “We know that fighting for human rights for prisoners is not popular. But we remind the labour movement that it used to be popular for children to work in factories, for women to be burned alive locked in sweatshops, because people thought that workers and the poor deserved it. Now is the time to rise up collectively and to fight against injustice everywhere.”
On Labour Day Danny Cavanagh, president of the NS Federation of Labour, reflects on last year’s gains and next year’s challenges.
Judy Haiven: Not a kind word, not a cup of vending machine coffee, not even a hug. And don’t get us started on why the young woman was not privileged enough to see a doctor or a nurse. This is what happened to a rape victim who walked into the Colchester East Hants Health Centre hospital in Truro last week.
A new poem by Truro poet Chad Norman. Things get rather ugly when some folks don’t approve of his feeding the crows. This is the fourth of nine poems we will pay for and publish during the remainder of the year, selected as a result of the call for poems we issued in May.
Paul Wozney: “The call for a collaborative working relationship by the government has been heard. Teachers have established a new corps of leaders who are prepared to forge a new, dynamic partnership. All that remains to be seen is whether the Liberals’ call for a fresh start is authentic or whether their talking points continue to hide a disdain for the rights for teachers and public education.”