2020 will be the year that the provincial department of education will see its inclusion policies challenged in practice by the pandemic. Parents fear that it will not pass the test. Brooklyn Connolly reports.
Danny Cavanagh: “We continue to be baffled by the assumption in the reopening plan that all families have the resources to simply “stay the blazes home” when their students exhibit symptoms of COVID-19.”
Halifax Council held a three hour virtual public hearing on a proposal to allow allow basement apartments and backyard suites for single-family homes, townhouses and duplexes across the municipality. Stella Lord spoke on behalf of the Community Society to End Poverty, pushing back on expectations that the changes will provide substantial amounts of new affordable housing, while suggesting some more effective approaches.
Yesterday the federal government announced that the site of the Shubenacadie Residential School has been designated a National Historic Site. “When you come here you can feel the spirits here, and feel the energy,” says Dorene Bernard in a moving short video.
A new report calculates living wages for Halifax, Bridgewater, Antigonish, CBRM and Saint John, NB. To live a dignified life you need a living wage, enough money to live in a safe and decent home, eat healthy food, buy clothes when you need them, and pay for childcare and transportation.
“Black Lives Matter. Does mine? I faced some of my biggest hurdles this year. I was reminded daily that I matter, and reminded daily that I don’t. This pandemic has opened my eyes in some big ways and I am forever grateful.” Martha Mutale reflects on her work at a Halifax shelter.
Two recent reports to Halifax Council, one on the pros and cons of right turns on red, and another an update on the Vision Zero Framework, show that motorists are like royalty in the city, and vulnerable pedestrians are mostly on their own.
The CBC generates revenue but is mostly funded by tax paying Canadians, including African Canadians. Nonetheless, the CBC has no national programs hosted by an African Canadian that deals with African Canadian culture, heritage and lineage. In fact, the CBC has only a handful of African Canadians employed across Canada, and even fewer in Atlantic Canada.
And each child we birth
We are begging in hope
To stop killing us
Take our heads out your scope
And your head
out your asses
Cause your killing without care, without consequence
In masses
On the evening of August 13, 2020, in my own neighbourhood, right outside of my children’s classroom, I witnessed a Halifax police officer accelerate his vehicle to make physical contact with a woman, temporarily throwing her off balance. Vehicular assault. From a block away I could hear her pleading with the officer to leave her alone up until that point. After stumbling momentarily she asked the officer why he’d done that and then used the phrase “Black Lives Matter”. My heart raced.