A new booklet recently issued by Statistics Canada highlights the huge economic gap between Black people and the general population in terms of employment, income and child poverty. The situation is bad in Canada, and compared to other large cities the situation is especially bad in Halifax.
Kendall Worth spent the weekend at the NS NDP Policy convention and reflects on his long and rewarding career in journalism
Brenda Thompson on Potters Fields and unmarked Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian graves in Halifax and elsewhere.
More people will qualify for the NS Child Benefit program, and that’s a good thing. But there is nothing in the provincial budget to improve the lives of people on income assistance and their kids.
“The current complaint system at the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (NSHRC) doesn’t seem to be working. Those who have been traumatized by racism, sexism and hate are being re-victimized,” writes Raymond Sheppard.
Gary Aitchison has a new bedbug-free place to live! After Judy Haiven and the NS Advocate exposed how a senior was forced to flee his bug-infested apartment all of a sudden the Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority found him a new place. Too bad it took seven years.
Kendall Worth tackles what he hopes to see at the upcoming session of the provincial legislature. He singles out affordable housing and rent control.
Brenda Thompson, author of an excellent book on poor houses in Nova Scotia, expresses her relief that the unmarked burial ground on Spring Garden Road will remain preserved.
On Valentine’s Day Kendall Worth hopes that Community Services will reconsider its cohabitation policies that make it difficult for people on income assistance to share companionship.
Lisa Cameron tackles the recent $1 minimum wage increase. It’s a step in the right direction, and credit is due, in large part, to the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign. But it is not nearly enough.