KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – The Migratory Birds Convention Act forbids cutting of forests where breeding birds are present, but harvesting continues at all times of the year. 

The birds are there though. You only have to go for a walk in Nova Scotia’s woods during breeding season, which is just around now, to hear warblers and other migratory songbirds singing their little hearts out. 

See also: See also: Media release: Shelburne County, Nova Scotia clearcut would violate Migratory Bird Convention Act

The Healthy Forest Coalition, an alliance of organizations and individuals who care about these kinds of things, are calling on the government to institute a “Singing Season” in Nova Scotia, which would pause forestry operation from May 15-July 31, and give the migratory birds that nest in our woods the time they need to raise their young. 

The alliance is asking that people share this video with your networks and join them in working to protect the beloved songs of spring.

Video contributors: Ray Plourde, Simon Ryder-Burbidge, Kelly Lacy, Indigo Blackwood & others via Pexels.

See also: Gretchen Fitzgerald: Cut, cut, cut – On clearcutting and the Migratory Birds Convention Act

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Halifax Mutual Aid is a group of anonymous volunteers who started building small wooden box-like shelters, well-built, insulated, with a door that can be locked and other thoughtful features. 

We wrote about the initiative in early December, and also published the group’s manifesto at that time.

You’ll remember councillors Waye Mason and Sam Austin clutching their pearls and taking to Twitter to threaten the removal of a second crisis shelter in Dartmouth, ostensibly because it wasn’t occupied the moment it was installed.

Well, that storm blew over, and as this video shows, Andrew, one of the folks supported by Halifax Mutual Aid, is pleased.

“This is the most beautiful thing I have seen anyone do,” he says. Much more than the city ever did for me, he adds.

Find out more, including how you can support Halifax Mutual Aid, here, or subscribe to their YouTube channel.

See also: Sleeping rough in HRM continues even in winter, survey shows

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Nova Scotia Advocate journalist Kendall Worth receives yet another award, as Nova Scotia NDP leader Gary Burrill in a brief ceremony hands Mr. Worth a congratulatory certificate. The certificate recognizes Worth’s award-winning journalism, first with Street Feat, then the Halifax Media Coop, and now the Nova Scotia Advocate, as well as his activism on behalf of people living in poverty.

“If the Legislature had been sitting over the last year I would have stood up at the Legislature and read it into Hansard,” Burrill said, “so we made this into a certificate ourselves and will register it into Hansard at a later date.”

“When it comes to the subject of income inadequacy in general, there’s lots written on statistics, lots written on policy, but I don’t know anyone who has the perception of the actual circumstances that people experience in actual life.I think this is awfully important, and you have been doing it for a long time,” said Burrill.

See also: Poverty activist Kendall Worth receives prestigious achievement award

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In November of last year noted scholar Catherine Frazee, a retired Ryerson disability studies professor, activist, poet and writer who now lives in the Annapolis Valley, addressed the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice & Human Rights on Bill C-7 legislation via video.

“What is it about disability that makes this okay,” Frazee asked. “Why such breathless confidence that Bill C-7 will bring no harm to disability communities?” 

See also: Ableism and austerity behind Nova Scotia’s shortage of community living options, human rights inquiry told

The Prime Minister and his Liberal caucus, supported by the Bloc Québecois, intend to fast-track passage of Bill C-7 on Wednesday, halting any further debate.

At this time much of the opposition to Bill C-7 is centered around the Disability Filibuster website, livestreaming a near continuous line up of people opposed to the legislation. I tune in whenever I have a few minutes, and have learned a lot about the Bill and its linkages with ableism and neoliberal austerity in the last few days as a result. My deep regret is that it took me so long to wake up to what is happening.   

Watch the video, or read Catherine Frazee’s transcribed comments here.

I speak today from Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people. I am a settler here bound by Treaties of Peace and Friendship. and mindful that we are all of us Treaty People. 

Madam Chair, I am sorry for any discomfort that my words may trigger but with so little time I must speak frankly and without reserve. 

Bill C-7 begs the question, why us? Why only us? Why only people whose bodies are altered or painful or in decline? Why not everyone who lives outside the margins of a decent life, everyone who resorts to an overdose, a high bridge, a shotgun carried out into the woods? Why not everyone who decides that their quality of life is in the ditch? 

Surely the answer rises up in all of our throats. That’s not who we are. We dial 911, we pull you back from the ledge, and yes, we restrain you in your moment of crisis.  Autonomy be damned. We will get to the heart of the problem that drove you out into the woods and we will beckon you back toward a life that is bearable. Unless you’re suffering is medical or disability related, then and only then there will be a special pathway to assisted death.

Universality is the bedrock of our health care commitments. Why then does Bill C-7 depart so radically, dropping the threshold for MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) for one group known to bear the trauma of suicide at catastrophic rates, but not for others who suffer and die before their time. What is it about disability that makes this okay? Why such breathless confidence that Bill C-7 will bring no harm to disability communities? 

Honestly, I do not know, but as we marshal our evidence for the legal challenges that will follow if this bill is passed, this is what we hear in reply.

Some say that the suffering of a disabling medical condition is unlike other suffering, somehow more cruel than the overwhelming pain of any healthy, non-disabled person  who turns to premature death by means of suicide. There is no evidence to support this. 

Some say that the suffering of disability defies all hope, as it did, they claim, for Jean Truchon. But the deprivations of institutional life that choked out his will to live  were not an inevitable consequence of disability. Did we learn nothing from Archie Rolland’s harrowing struggle, and his final cri de coeur,  before his assisted death? “It’s not the ALS that’s killing me,” he said. 

Some say that the suffering of disabling conditions falls in the domain of medicine, but the agonizing quest of Sean Tagert teaches us otherwise. Let’s not forget he called the bureaucratic denials of needed care “a death sentence” just days before his assisted death.

Some will fall back on the mantra of choice. They say that not everyone wants to live that way. But not everyone wants to live with the indignities of poverty either. No one wants to live under threat of racial or gendered or colonial violence. No one wants to live hungry, incarcerated, abject, or alone.

Madam Chair, will our lawmakers carve out other shortcuts to assisted death for those who do live in such conditions, or will you rise to the defence of human rights? If the latter I respectfully urge that you start with us, for our equality is right now on the line. Thank you

See also: Who speaks for us? Bill C-7 and class privilege

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – We’ve long felt that Black Nova Scotian poet Angela Bowden is special, and it is wonderful to see how more and more people share this conviction. 

In 2020 Angela was accepted in the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program, administered by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia. This allowed her to work closely with poet Sue Goyette, and later this year her first book of poetry will be in bookstores, 

This is what Sue Goyette has to say about Angela’s work.

“This is poetry that is on the move: watch now how it will do its work of instigating understanding and social change. Angela Bowden’s poems know what they are doing the moment they find their words. It’s on us now to welcome them and to support her as she does the work she is meant to.”

Check out this week’s weekend video, produced by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, where Angela reads two of her poems, “Black Boy Guilty” and “The Belly of the Beast.” The illustrations are by Doretta Groenendyk.  

Whether it’s a poem, an essay or a speech delivered at a rally, we’re always thrilled to feature the work of Angela Bowden on the pages of the Nova Scotia Advocate. 

See also: Never is an option, a poem by Angela Bowden

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – This week’s weekend video is a short documentary on the disruption caused by a construction and demolition debris facility on North Mountain, not far from Bridgetown in the Annapolis Valley. 

The facility is located in a wetland area that feeds several brooks and some 20 wells on adjoining properties.

Ever since the dump arrived without meaningful notice or consultation, residents of Arlington and St. Croix Cove on the Bay of Fundy have been worried that asbestos and autofluff stored on the site are poisoning their wells.

The residents looked at the department of Environment for help and information, but that was mostly ignored.

For instance, when residents complained about the presence of autofluff at the facility, the department replied that autofluff was not present at the facility. However, last week the CBC reported that yes, autofluff was accepted there for years now, and the Environment Department was investigating.

People who live in the area have been trying to get the department’s attention for fifteen years now. Earlier they formed the group Annapolis Waterkeepers to put pressure on the province to act. They are also concerned about the presence of asbestos at the dump, which to a large extent is trucked in from Halifax.

Residents also complain about big trucks going back and forth all day and sloppy practices that make contamination even more likely.

The Annapolis Waterkeepers are calling for a dedicated asbestos disposal facility, operated by the province and “properly sited so that it threatens no one’s water, devalues no one’s land, is easily accessed by large trucks, and creates no danger for the motoring public.” 

The residents threatened by the facility are doing everything right, they organized, they have done their research, their website is informative, their videos are slick and professional, and despite all that they are still fighting this uphill battle to get the department of Environment to listen, let alone act. 

Makes you wonder how many more Arlingtons there out there, here in Canada’s Ocean Playground.

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – In a brief on-line ceremony last Thursday Nova Scotia Advocate reporter Kendall Worth was awarded this year’s Lois Miller Tulip Award. 

The annual award recognizes a person, group or organization that exemplifies the spirit of independent living and enables people living with disabilities to have control over their lives. 

“Nominators described this year’s recipient as a strong voice for persons with disabilities and the issues that they face in their efforts to live independently. Our recipient has continually voiced these issues through his contribution as a journalist for Street Feat and the Nova Scotia Advocate. This gentleman fully embodies the spirit of independent living, and we thank him for all his hard work to make life better for all Nova Scotians,” said Carrie Ernst, Executive Director of Independent Living Nova Scotia (ILNS).

Lois Miller, the former Executive Director of ILNS and the person after whom the award is named, spoke about Kendall’s stubborn and fearless dedication to the cause of people who live in poverty and often have to deal with visible and invisible disabilities as well.

“You are pursuing  your passion to give voice to people who often don’t have a voice, including people with disabilities, which of course also includes people with disabilities we don’t see. Sadly, disability and poverty often go hand in hand. You courageously shine a light on problems that society often wants to keep in the dark,” said Miller.

“I read your January 18 column in the Nova Scotia Advocate. It was a very good example as you wrote how the provincial government’s income assistance, transformation has likely come and gone. You showed that in fact, there has been very little change in that whole process. That kind of writing and action takes courage,” said Miller.

“I’ve been following this whole issue of poverty for a long time, Worth replied. “It is sad that persons with disabilities, who in some cases cannot hold down a full time or part time job, are within the mix of people who have no choice but to have to deal with employment support and income assistance issues.”

“Dealing with that system, it raises anxiety, it worsens depression,” he said.

2020 has been quite the year for Kendall Worth in terms of awards and recognition.

The Lois MIller Tulip Award comes on top of the prestigious James McGregor Stewart Award, which Kendall received in June of last year, a House of Commons Certificate of Achievement sent to him by Halifax MP Andy Fillmore, as well as a scroll issued by HRM. In the fall of 2020 Kendall Worth was also the subject of a short documentary produced for Accessible Media Inc. 

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“The poverty report came out last week, and our rate of child poverty sits at 78.1%, that’s the highest in Nova Scotia. And you know, in Shubenacadie, the community five minutes away sits at 30 percent. Within five minutes you shouldn’t have a drastic change like that.” 

Chief Mike Sack

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Dr. Pam Palmater, Mi’kmaw citizen, lawyer and a professor at Ryerson University, interviews Chief Mike Sack of Sipekne’katik First Nation for her excellent Warrior Life Podcast and Youtube channel. 

Chief Sack reflects on the First Nation’s efforts to establish a treaty-based moderate livelihood fisheries in the Bay of Fundy and the subsequent push back from settler fishers and DFO. He also talks about the long tradition of warriorship within the community, and the qualities of a true community leader.

Lots of information here that isn’t as readily available as it should be. 

A reminder that Sipekne’katik is still looking for support. Fishers from the community have suffered the loss of cut and DFO-confiscated gear. As well, concerned about their safety, Sipekne’katik fishers will not be participating in the commercial fishery this year. 

E-transfers can be sent to monicah@sipeknekatik.ca. Paypal payments can be sent to monicah@sipeknekatik.ca or found by searching for Sipekne’katik. 

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again. It’s free!

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Poet meets polar bear: an animated film of a climate grief poem by Mad poet Anna Quon.

Anna Quon is a middle-aged, mobility-impaired, mixed-race Mad woman living in Dartmouth. Author of two novels released by Invisible Publishing  (Migration Songs in 2009 and Low in 2013), numerous poetry chapbook zines and a few little films, Anna hopes to keep swimming, facebooking, writing and making things until her wrinkled fingers fall off.

Polar Bear will be published in a chapbook of Anna Quon’s poems to be released in 2021 by Gaspereau Press. We’ll be sure to remind you when this new chapbook sees the light. We’re always looking for excuses to feature Anna’s wonderful work.

Polar Bear is written, animated and narrated by Anna Quon. The Polar Bear’s Waltz is composed by Anna and Andrew Quon, and performed on the accordeon by Andrew Quon. It’s re-posted here with Anna’s kind permission.

See also: Missing meds, a poem by Anna Quon

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again. It’s free!

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Check out this powerful video by the amazing Dave Gunning, the singer/songwriter who over the years has done more than his share in support of the fight to Clean Up the Pictou County Mill.

Here Gunning shifts his attention away from Pictou as he sings the praises of the beautiful St Mary’s river in Guysborough County, and explains why plans by Atlantic Gold to construct an open pit gold mine alongside the river should be halted. 

“It’s easy to dig a hole in the ground and make some money right now. It takes a lot more effort to think about the future and who will have to pay for the damage,” Gunning told journalist Alec Bruce of the Star.

The open pit will be one kilometre long, half a kilometre wide and a maximum of 170 metres deep. The construction of the mine raises many environmental concerns, among those concerns fear that leaks or leaching from the tail ponds will cause irreparable damage to the river is at the top of the list. 

Gunning wrote the song and created the video to support the St. Mary’s River Association and the Atlantic Salmon Federation in their defense of the environmentally sensitive watershed.  

 To learn more, or to check out the annotated lyrics of the song, visit the Gold Mine Conversation. 

See also: Peter Puxley: If not mining, then what? Towards a sustainable and prosperous rural Nova Scotia

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again. It’s free!

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