Recently more than 25 African Nova Scotian organizations in a joint statement asked that the practice of police street checks be stopped immediately. The NS Human Rights Commission meanwhile has claimed African Nova Scotian support for the analysis it is conducting. When asked who these supporters are the Commission essentially tells me that it is none of my business.
While municipalities reliably test the quality of water delivered through the utilities they manage, rural residents who rely on wells are on their own, reports new contributor Fazeela Jiwa. Now a new organization, Rural Water Watch Association (RWW), will respond to rural community members’ calls to test their water quality, addressing concerns about living close to toxic sites like landfills or incinerators.
A United Nations report critical of Nova Scotia for not acting on longstanding grievances within the African Nova Scotian community has strengthened the resolve of a newly formed coalition of about 20 community groups to keep these issues in the public spotlight, says spokesperson Robert Ffrench. We talk about the importance of the report, reparations, and how many of the issues raised in the report have been documented over and over.
A new poem by El Jones. TRIGGER WARNING: 80-90 percent of women in prison are victims of physical and sexual assault. Yet because they are “criminals” what happens to them at the hands of the system must be something they deserve. When we talk about injustice to rape victims in Canadian courts where are their stories?
It took a while, but with the hiring of criminologist Dr Scot Wortley the analysis of Halifax carding data can finally begin. I went to the Board of Police Commissioners to get the details, and for a bonus finally got to ask Chief Blais why police collected race-based stats for ten years, but in all that time never looked at them.
I figured I pretty well knew all I needed to know about Viola Desmond after all the recent publicity around a new ferry name and the decision to feature her portrait on the new $10 bill. But there is always more to learn about Nova Scotia’s racist past.
Stating the obvious here. Probation is not much of a punishment, and how come there was no sense whatsoever among the Halifax Proud Boys that they had to hide their shameful racist opinions?
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission has finally hired a data expert to analyse police check data within HRM. That was the bit of news delivered by Halifax Regional Police chief Jean Michel Blais at this Monday’s Halifax Board of Police Commissioners meeting. That’s eight months after a Freedom of Information request revealed that Black Haligonians are three times more likely to be subjected to police checks than white people. Eight months is way too slow.
The City of Halifax is not following up on a recommendation around criminal record checks that would remove obstacles to hiring Black and Indigenous workers in its Municipal Operations Programs (MOPS) division. The policy hasn’t really changed, and the City’s employment website is as uninviting to people with even a trivial criminal record as it has always been..
Danny Cavanagh, the president of the NS Federation of Labour, offers a short and powerful statement against fascist violence, white supremacy, racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism. “Sisters and brothers, we cannot stay silent in the face of such hatred and we know that the future of our society and children are at stake if we don’t intensify our fight against discrimination, hatred and violence.”