New contributor and Divest Dal member Laura Cutmore writes on Canada’s longest university campout for fossil fuel divestment, and why Dalhousie can no longer look the other way. Climate, racial, and gender justice are inextricably linked, she writes, and there simply are no more excuses for inaction.

Late last week Nova Scotia’s auditor general reported that the province lacks a plan for delivering mental health services to all Nova Scotians, and that standards for wait times aren’t being met. New contributor Jessica Briand has seen it all. “In the last seven years I have seen eight different mental health professionals. I’ve witnessed first-hand the flaws in mental healthcare in Nova Scotia,” she writes.

A news release issued by the Acadia University Faculty Association with the latest on the looming strike, and how to email the administration and tell it to return to the bargaining table. Otherwise faculty could well be walking the picket line on Monday.

Recent changes to the Child and Family Service Act have made the fight against child poverty even more difficult, writes Alec Stratford, executive director of the NS College of Social Workers. Shortened judicial timelines, the expansion of the definition of neglect and the overall lack of resources have amounted to greater penalization of families struggling to afford the cost of housing, food, childcare, clothing and transportation.

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In Nova Scotia over one in five children under the age of 18 live in poverty. For children under the age of six it’s more like one in three. Dr. Lesley Frank and Dr. Christine Saulnier, authors of this year’s Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia reflect on some of the reports disturbing findings, and offer their thoughts on what should be done.

Lots of rented homes and apartments in Nova Scotia need major repairs. That’s what occupants of these homes told Statistics Canada. We have the numbers and we have the maps.

In this news release Sierra Club Atlantic and the Council of Canadians respond to the Muskrat Falls inquiry announced earlier this week. “There are real concerns with the safety of this dam, and the threat of methylmercury poisoning for all generations to come. The Methylmercury Agreement from last fall by the Premier and leaders of the three Indigenous communities must be honoured, but the project must be put on hold in order for that to happen.”

Both shocking and shockingly normal, My name is…, a short six-minute video gives voice to Shelburne residents worried about the state of healthcare in their neck of the woods. ER closures, lack of doctors, it’s scary to live in rural Nova Scotia these days if you need medical support.