Nova Scotia leads the country in the shameful categories of share of the population living in poverty and share of children living in poverty. In fact, child poverty increased in Nova Scotia in 2017. Canada-wide however, poverty stats declined substantially. What’s going on?
Kendall Worth recently went door to door in Halifax Chebucto with Gary Burrill, MLA and leader of the Nova Scotia NDP. They were looking for support for the petition against the EI clawbacks. “It was a great day out and there was lots of support at the doors,” Kendall writes.
Kendall Worth finds it difficult not to get frustrated with Community Services’ lack of progress in making things better for people on Income Assistance.
There is something very wrong with the way eligibility for EI is calculated, and people in rural Nova Scotia are paying the price. Brenda Thompson explains.
Kendall Worth on romance, poverty and a man on social assistance and a woman talking on a bus. “The woman asked, so why are you not married and have kids?.”
Kendall Worth continues his awesome reporting on the individual lives of people on welfare. Meet William, who lives with mental health issues and is on social assistance. A double whammy of stigma.
Kendall tells the story of Dorothy (not her real name), a young woman who with help from family and friends managed to overcome a severe depression while on social assistance.
Most articles about poverty focus on the obvious things, lack of money, bills that pile up, dealing with Community Services and landlords, and so on. Kendall for a long time now has covered these issues, but he also writes about about some of the less obvious hurdles in the lives of people living in poverty. Here he writes about his idea on how to deal with loneliness and social isolation that so many people who live in poverty face on a daily basis.
The trailer for Six Primose, a documentary about the Dartmouth North Community Food Centre and the dramatic impact that access to healthy food, a social network and empowering programs have had on individual lives and the community as a whole. See the entire film this Wednesday January 30, it’s free!
Many poverty advocates say there is lots wrong with a new definition of poverty that the federal government wants to entrench in legislation as part of its recently announced anti-poverty strategy.
It’s hard to care about this stuff, but it is very important. How you precisely define poverty may well determine whether you are eligible for support programs, food banks, energy rebates, etc. It may even determine whether you qualify for social assistance as is the case in Quebec.