Protesters who rallied at the Burnside Jail last night in support of demands issued by protesting prisoners were pepper sprayed and violently thrown down by officers of the Halifax Regional Police (HRP). One protester was arrested and will face charges. Updated.
In July we reported on a Nova Scotia Human Rights tribunal asked to decide whether to prevent people who use wheelchairs from washing their hands in a restaurant amounts to discrimination. Well, this time the good guys won, and the the province lost. Another loser was the NS Human Rights Commission, which did not want to consider the case until told by a judge to do so,
News release: The African United Baptist Association (AUBA) stands alongside all Nova Scotian prisoners especially those who are righteously protesting for justice at the local Burnside facility.
News release: The NSTU is concerned that government has unilaterally dropped the Commission on Inclusive Education’s recommendation to create an Institute of Inclusive Education designed to “provide oversight.”he mandate of the Institute would have given oversight powers to parents of students with special needs, teachers, school administrators, the government, university education programs, and members of the Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian Communities. Instead, those powers will now be given to a lone person appointed by the province.”
A new statement on the peaceful Burnside prison protest by Sheila Wildeman & Hanna Garson (for East Coast Prison Justice Society). “We ask the Ministers of Justice and Health: How do they propose to show that they are listening? How do they propose to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring that conditions of confinement are improved to meet basic human rights standards?”
Too many lives are lost or ruined through traffic accidents, writes Martyn Williams. “Who in local and provincial governance will stand up and admit that road safety in Nova Scotia is not a problem, it is a crisis?”
Another statement of solidarity with the Burnside prisoners. Claudia Chender, NDP Justice Spokesperson: “I urge the Minister of Justice to take meaningful action to address the concerns that have been raised at Burnside.”
This Labour Day the Burnside prisoners are asking for solidarity: “We know that fighting for human rights for prisoners is not popular. But we remind the labour movement that it used to be popular for children to work in factories, for women to be burned alive locked in sweatshops, because people thought that workers and the poor deserved it. Now is the time to rise up collectively and to fight against injustice everywhere.”
Solidarity statement from No One Is Illegal Vancouver and Harsha Walia: “We write in solidarity with prisoners at the Central Nova provincial jail in Burnside as you enter three weeks of ongoing, peaceful and inspiring protest within the prison. We are responding to the specific call for groups on the outside to support your statements and demands. As you state, all of these demands are reasonable and promote basic wellbeing. Prisons, detention centers and borders maintain racial, economic, and social power structures. No cages, no borders!”
The East Coast Prison Justice Society on the Burnside jail protest: “We ask the Ministers of Justice and Health: How do they propose to show that they are listening? How do they propose to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring that conditions of confinement are improved to meet basic human rights standards?”