Speech by Gabrielle Peters at today’s Virtual Vigil for the Disability Day of Mourning: We are entering a dangerous time to be a disabled person in Canada. But I repeat this history to remind us it’s always been dangerous to be a disabled person in Canada. The specific threat we face from Bill C-7 is new to us but Canadian culture, laws, and society being a threat to our safety and well-being is not.
In March 2020 many often-overlooked truths abruptly entered into our lives; the one made abundantly clear was that we are in this together. We must support each other as we learn how to improve the conditions conducive to our collective wellbeing.
Eliza Murray: A world that is fair to me is a world that is fair to you, too. A world that accommodates disability is a world that is kind and loving, accepting of differences and rejecting cruelty.
This pandemic has shown that ECEs are essential for daycares to run, so parents can work, and for children to have quality care. I feel it is unfair for us ECEs, who are an important part of children’s development, to be left with debt and the fear of poverty.
What if we recognized the rights of nature which are also our rights, as humans, to a liveable planet, asks forest protector Nina Newington, as she continues her observations on WestFor’s legal efforts to turn the interim injunction into something more permanent.
Kendall Worth: “There need to be further increases in the income assistance allowances. Everyone, including income assistance recipients, should be able to shop in grocery stores rather than rely on the food banks.”
“Here are two sobering and real stories about young women in Halifax, Nova Scotia.” Judy Haiven on date-rape drugs, bullying and other types of abuse, what it does to your mindset, how it ruins lives, and how governments and companies allow it to continue.
Local organizations that advocate for migrants are worried that undocumented residents will miss out on vaccination in Nova Scotia. “We have heard that the vaccine roll out is going to be done through MSI. And this would exclude undocumented people, and others who don’t have access to MSI, people who might fall through the cracks as a result of this,” says Stacey Gomez, a spokesperson for No One Is Illegal Halifax / Kjipuktuk.
In advance of the federal, provincial and territorial labour ministers’ meeting, provincial and territorial federations of labour are united in demanding that provincial and territorial governments guarantee seamless access to universal, permanent and adequate employer-paid sick days for all workers.
Abbie Lepage: “I was recently told by an online troll that “breastfeeding past two years has no nutritional value” and that it was for “sexual reasons”. The fact is, there is no age when breast milk suddenly loses nutritional values, or becomes not beneficial.