Earlier this year we asked Bridgewater police about the number of sexual assault cases it deemed unfounded, numbers that were very high relative to provincial and national averages. At the time the Deputy Chief of Police told us there was nothing wrong, but somebody should revisit that conclusion now that its own Chief of Police is charged with sexual assault .
While members of the Black community in the Town of Shelburne are facing racist comments by a local councillor, people elsewhere in the province are not standing idly by. “Racism is like a sore, and in order to heal it got to hurt first, I guess. You feel like you don’t have a voice, and you’re feeling isolated within that sickness,” Louise Delisle told the NS Advocate.
Kendall Worth argues that the liberal government has been a disappointment for people on welfare. They have done nothing to address the immediate needs of people living in deep poverty, and we know nothing of the welfare transformation except that it moves along with the speed of cold molasses.
More on the threat to rural Nova Scotia’s public libraries. They’re free. They’re for everybody. They’re the lifeblood of many communities. And they are slowly being squeezed by governments that don’t understand their value. But wait, it’s election time! Maybe it’s time for a good chat with your local candidates.
After a successful community meeting in Dartmouth Nova Scotia ACORN is launching a province wide online survey on rental housing conditions and landlords. It needs the data to pressure municipalities on landlord licensing and the province on rent control.
We need writers. We have money to spend. What are you waiting for?
People on welfare will have an even harder time making ends meet in the upcoming year, thanks to a provincial budget that ignores their plight.
This year’s budget may be balanced, but the a small group of people on social assistance and their allies who gathered in front of Province House wondered at what cost. Protesters hoped to talk about poverty in Nova Scotia with MLAs entering the House to take part in this afternoon’s budget discussions. Demonstrators were studiously ignored by Liberal and Conservative MLAs, while NDP MLAs stopped to chat.
Shelburne activist Louise Delisle says Shelburne councillor Rick Davis should issue a real and public apology to the entire Black community in town, not just post some weasel words and a lot of self pity on her personal Facebook page. Meanwhile people elsewhere are speaking out in her support and other activities are being planned.
We talk with disability activist Gus Reed about (successfully) taking the NS Human Rights Commission to court, and why the Commission appears so reluctant to fight on behalf of people whose human rights have been breached. “I think there is a reluctance to take on tough issues that involve systemic problems. I also don’t think they like to take on the government,” says Reed.