Brenda Thompson: “John Kellum, a ‘master’ whitewasher in Halifax was born approximately 1839. I am highlighting him for African Heritage Month not just because he was African Nova Scotian and was poor but also because John Kellum gave us a stark demonstration of how poor people lived and attempted to survive in Halifax during his life time.”
Weekend video: A construction and demolition debris facility on North Mountain, not far from Bridgetown, is located in a wetland that feeds springs and local wells. The site contains asbestos and autofluff, and local residents are having a hard time getting the department of Environment’s attention.
Residents of Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, a few Chinese provinces, and Zambia have paid menstrual leave. Recently Nova Scotia removed taxes on tampons and pads, with much public approval. Paid menstrual leave is the next logical step.
Danny Cavanagh: Workers do not need the added stress of getting a sick note, often they need to pay for that, and many workers do not even have a doctor and face the added burden of losing their job if they don’t get a note. Have you heard there is a doctor shortage in our province?
Ray Bates: “The dark underworld of falsehoods and conspiracies needs to be challenged with reasoned arguments. If we accept all the information that we are being fed as being factual and cease to examine its source or intent, I fear that our mutual day of reckoning looms large with unimaginable consequences.”
Raymond Sheppard: As an African Nova Scotian elder I was pleased to see the CBC taking steps to embrace African Canadians and “diversity” in all its splendor after so many years. I hope “true and real diversity” becomes part of a new service delivery package. I also hope my excitement is not short-lived.
For those of you who believe in telling welfare recipients right to their faces to get a job, you are doing nothing to help them. All you are doing is raising their anxiety and the mental health issues they already have, writes Kendall Worth.
Among the people who applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) while being ineligible are some of the most poor and marginalized people in Nova Scotia. Now the federal government is considering demanding that money paid to ineligible applicants be returned, and poverty advocates fear this will push many into an even more dire financial situation.
Wayne Desmond reflects on harsh and expensive lockdown rules for foreign students entering Nova Scotia. “It becomes apparent that universities have a lot more work to do engaging with their international students and understanding their needs, vulnerabilities and desire to be treated with the same consideration, respect and dignity as Canadian students,” he writes.
In a brief on-line ceremony last Thursday Nova Scotia Advocate reporter Kendall Worth was awarded this year’s Lois Miller Tulip Award.