On Sunday about 150 people weathered the afternoon heat to participate in the Rally to Save the Shelters at the vacant old library on Spring Garden Road. Stephen Wentzell was there to tell you all about it.
Yesterday afternoon Dr. Jamie Livingston presented to the members of the Subcommittee to Define Defunding the Police. ” I believe that the majority of crisis calls in Halifax can and should be diverted to non-police-involved teams, ideally led by trained peer support workers since health professionals possess coercive powers that may replicate police-like approaches.”
Inclusionary zoning allows a municipality to mandate a certain percentage of affordable housing in new developments. With an affordable housing crisis growing more urgent by the day, why don’t we use this tool in Nova Scotia? Stephen Wentzell investigates.
Persistent rumors that the city is about to expel unhoused people from the 13 shelters provided by Halifax Mutual Aid have now been confirmed by city staff. Councillors seem to think that’s not a problem.
MEdia release: Today the Nova Scotia Action Coalition for Community Wellbeing (NSACCW) is launching a new campaign calling on Nova Scotians to sign an open letter to the Premier and the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing.
Rent control and the provincial paid sick leave program both have built-in end dates and are likely to end fairly soon., says Gary Burrill, the leader of the provincial NDP. The Liberals never wanted these programs in the first place, says Burrill.
Kendall Worth meets up with Julie, who is on income assistance and talks about how caseworkers basically control your life. “Julie was even told to keep the receipts of everything she spent so at her income assistance intake interview the intake worker can determine the money she had saved in her bank account was spent reasonably.”
Paul Wartman speaks with Chris GooGoo and Dawn Matheson about an initiative to improve the quality and accessibility of healthy, locally grown foods in Mi’kmaq communities. “We’ve always had agriculture. The public education system and history hasn’t told us that. We’ve always been told that we’ve been under the Indian Act, we’ve been given government handouts throughout history. We know that hasn’t always been the case–we’ve invented agriculture in many ways.”
Kendall Worth: Even though in the lives of the people I advocate for “normal” may seem different from what rich people would consider normal, people living in poverty are very much looking forward to the day that things like in-person dining at soup kitchens etc are re-opened.
There’s so little in terms of support for single parents taking care of children with functional needs. Single mom Jennifer Pratt writes about the obstacles she encountered when she tried to qualify for respite services.