“Prisoners are an often forgotten part of the public, and prisons are a public health disaster. Now is the time to decarcerate for good. Reducing the population behind bars is a first step to protecting prisoners from COVID-19, and supports creating alternatives to prison in the long term,” writes Martha Paynter.
Kendall Worth wrote an open letter to Premier Stephen McNeil and ministers Kelly Regan and Randy Delorey, about the many pressures people on income assistance face, and some great suggestions on what to do about it.
Some lucky people get to work from home while low paid workers are expected to risk their and everybody’s health, until they’re laid off and face hunger and homelessness. Judy Haiven has some suggestions on what to do about it.
Open letter: At this time the only adequate defence to the spread of COVID-19 inside our jails, and consequent preventable deaths, is strategic decarceration — i.e., ensuring that admissions and numbers of prisoners held in facilities are as low as possible, consistent with public safety.
Kendall meets up with people on social assistance to talk about how they are affected by the COVID-19 virus.
The need for all to engage in social distancing reveals a conflict of interest between corporate profit and doing the right thing, writes Judy Haiven.
Judy Haiven surveys some of the latest developments around the Corona virus, and offers some observations on Covid-19 and poverty, the status of healthcare in the province, and the urgent need for communities to engage in mutual care.
Preparing for cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, the Halifax Workers’ Action Centre is calling for paid sick leave for all employees along with legislation to prohibit employers from requesting doctors’ notes to confirm absences due to illness.
An important win for the right to choose movement! NDP MLA Claudia Chender’s abortion bubble zone legislation will likely go through third and final reading today. Once it receives royal assent the legislation establishes a 50 meter radius around abortion clinics and other locations where anti-abortion protest or other attempts at persuasion or interference will not be tolerated.
Open Letter: Women’s Wellness Within is calling on the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services to follow British Columbia and Manitoba in ending the discriminatory and racist practice of issuing birth alerts for “at risk” mothers and their babies.