Just before Christmas we reported on plans by the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) to farm out its health records document management to US-owned Iron Mountain. We speak with Jason MacLean, president of the NSGEU, about the many things wrong with that decision.
Danny Cavanagh on the need for decent pay. “People don’t often think about the cogs in the wheel as long as it is turning. Never much thought to the countless people behind the scenes in hospitals, nursing homes, long term care facilities – those providing home support. Every day they quietly worked along even though by doing so they put themselves in danger of getting Covid-19. We often think about the nurses, doctors and specialists, but not a lot about the cleaners, cooks, food service workers, the people keeping the buildings working, the paperwork flowing and all those behind the scenes keeping the wheels moving.”
A proposed Cape Breton clearcut within an area designated as a marten habitat management zone has been downgraded to a less impactful commercial thinning. “Nova Scotians should feel encouraged by this,” says Adam Malcolm, a Cape Breton naturalist who first raised the alarm. “Their voice really can in some cases make a difference.”
Yesterday we reported how Equity Watch calls for major structural changes to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to deal with the many complaints about its fairness and timeliness that have been raised over the years. One of the speakers at the virtual launch of the report was Connor Smithers-Mapp, a Black lawyer with a special interest in human rights and racism. This is what he said.
Jacob Fillmore, the young man camping out on the Grand Parade in support of the threatened mainland moose in Western Nova Scotia has been told by city staff to leave within a day or so. We talked with JAcob about his plans. “I don’t think this is the end of the protest,” Jacob tells us.
Earlier today we reported how Equity Watch calls for major structural changes to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to deal with the many complaints about its fairness and timeliness that have been raised over the years. The press conference and report launch was timed to roughly coincide with the third anniversary of the apologies issued to former firefighter Liane Tessier by the NSHRC and the Halifax Fire Service. This is what Liane said at this morning’s press conference.
Equity Watch calls for major structural changes to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (NSHRC) to deal with the many complaints about its fairness and timeliness that have been raised over the years. The organization lays out its critique and recommendations in Justice Impeded, a well-researched and detailed 50-page report that was launched through a virtual press conference this morning.
A profile of the venerable Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia. “Although providing this support has been challenging with COVID restrictions, E Fry’s staff never gives up: “We can’t put things on pause- we have to keep going. Holly House remained open – even expanded. We are one of the only places that take recently-released women [from incarceration], there is nowhere for them to go.”
Raymond Sheppards on some social justice issues that have been allowed to fester for far too long.
COVID-19 has hit the very poor in Nova Scotia hard and left many of those living with mental health issues in a very precarious place. That was the urgent message delivered by staff members of the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Mental Health Association to the Community Services Standing Committee.