Wednesday, 4 September 2024

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An island in turmoil: Living the Cape Breton mental health crisis

Lisa Bond explains what it is like to live the much publicized mental health crisis in Cape Breton. “With all of these hurdles facing us on this island, it’s not hard to lose hope. How are we as parents supposed to help our kids if we can’t even get them mental health help in a timely fashion? We can monitor their social media, watch their phones, have all their passwords….. but it still takes a village. We need and deserve access to the specialists that can help our kids.”

Basic income: approach with caution

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Basic Income, it sounds good, but does an Ontario pilot project deliver? And what are its implications for Nova Scotia poverty activists? The notion of Basic Income raises fair and urgent questions, and poverty activists in Nova Scotia need to decide where to focus their energies in terms of a political agenda. Expect much more NS Advocate coverage of Basic Income in the coming months.

Op-ed: Ban the hateful confederate flag in PEI and elsewhere

Damn confederate flag! Couple of years ago it was Truro, Nova Scotia, now it’s PEI. Meanwhile you see smaller provocations, things like flag decals on cars, tee shirts and stuff like that, all the time. Let’s ban the flag and all other white supremacist symbols.

Holes in our social safety net — The social determinants of health, part 6

In this final part of our series on on the social determinants of health Alex Kronstein argues that a strong social safety net promotes health, but Canada, like so many other countries, has fallen victim to a neoliberal approach that’s all about “the financialization of everything.” Nonetheless, various Nova Scotia organizations continue to address the social determinants of health.

Letter: Gentrification — we can start by opening our eyes

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Now that the North End Community Health Centre has moved to new quarters on Gottingen Street, the Johanna B Oosterveld Centre, often referred to as the JBO, is lost to the community. Many local groups used that space for meetings, press conferences, panels and other activities. Nancy Hunter. who used to teach a yoga class there, believes it’s part of a trend and wonders what we can do to stop it.

Labour and the very poor in Nova Scotia

First voice welfare activists in Nova Scotia are trying very hard to raise awareness about the incredibly difficult living conditions they have to deal with on a daily basis. At times it seems like nobody is listening. And nobody is helping them. Lately there have been modest signals that Nova Scotia’s labour movement at least is hearing them. There is a long way to go, but it’s something to build upon.