Justin Brake, the fearless Newfoundland and Labrador journalist for the TheIndependent.ca is facing jail for reporting on an occupation of Nalcor buildings at Muskrat Falls by indigenous people. Everybody should care, and Nova Scotians doubly so, because through the Maritime Link these things are a lot closer than they appear.
For days and weeks the Nova Scotia Teachers Union dominated the headlines. But after the government imposed a new contract all that disappeared. What actually happened? Why did it matter? What’s next? We met with Larry Haiven, an expert in Nova Scotia labour relations and co-founder of the Parents for Teachers Facebook group, to ponder these three questions. “This is not your grandfather’s labour movement anymore.”
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission has denied five welfare recipients the opportunity to argue that insufficient funding for special diets amounts to discrimination.
A Facebook post by El Jones about very high long distance rates for calls from provincial jails piqued my curiosity. What I found is a system that enriches a Texas company and the provincial government each time a prisoner dials the number of a loved one.
Kendall Worth investigates involuntary and so-called inappropriate body language, things like fidgeting in public, talking to yourself (in some cases out loud), making big hand movements that make a person look like they are trying to start a fight with someone, or engage in evil-looking facial expressions. He talks to middle and upper class people who don’t really understand, a police officer and the people who actually do those types of things.
Reporter Rebecca Hussman with the second part of her series on sexual assaults in Nova Scotia. “There’s a whole societal change that needs to happen for victims to feel believed and supported enough to be able to report that to police.”
A new report by FoodARC confirms what people on social assistance or making minimum wage have always known. Being poor means going hungry or being undernourished.
According to data gathered by journalists at the Globe and Mail, of all cases in the country, 12% of sexual assault cases were cleared as unfounded from 2010 to 2014. In Nova Scotia, in contrast, 25% of sexual assault cases were cleared as unfounded. The “Unfounded” classification means that police determined that the reported violation did not happen. Reporter Rebecca Hussman talks with the chiefs of police of the Truro, Amherst and Bridgewater detachments where the number of unfounded cases is exceptionally high. And we compiled a list with data from all police detachments in Nova Scotia.
A Community Services presentation suggests that the proposed revamp of social assistance may result in some clients receiving less than they do now. Not to worry, it’s only a scenario for consideration, says the department.
Kendall explains why he is so upset that a caseworker is allowed to question and override the special diet recommendation of his doctor. “It portrays people like me as sick, defective and deviant, as an object of professional intervention.”