Brenda Thompson: “John Kellum, a ‘master’ whitewasher in Halifax was born approximately 1839. I am highlighting him for African Heritage Month not just because he was African Nova Scotian and was poor but also because John Kellum gave us a stark demonstration of how poor people lived and attempted to survive in Halifax during his life time.”
For those of you who believe in telling welfare recipients right to their faces to get a job, you are doing nothing to help them. All you are doing is raising their anxiety and the mental health issues they already have, writes Kendall Worth.
COVID-19 has hit the very poor in Nova Scotia hard and left many of those living with mental health issues in a very precarious place. That was the urgent message delivered by staff members of the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Mental Health Association to the Community Services Standing Committee.
Laura Slade: “When you live in poverty, one of the most valuable gifts you can receive is the gift of self-determination. We know what we need. We know where it is best for us to shop, what we’re comfortable wearing and what we need to eat. Each human deserves the dignity of making their own choices.”
Kendall Worth: “I want to explain why I feel it is important to keep my readers updated on how people on income assistance are doing during COVID-19.”
Reading the book you get the feeling that Paris did not set out to write about racism as such. It just so happens that you cannot write about growing up Black in Nova Scotia, no matter when, no matter where, without writing about racism.
Kendall Worth: “Fewer family thanksgiving dinners means that this year for many people Thanksgiving is going to be full of all-around sadness.” But there is also a bright side.
“She said she was flipping through my book about Poor Houses. “Who is this?” I asked. “Oh I’m not going to tell you” she said “for confidentiality reasons.” Brenda Thompson on some of the feedback on A Wholesome Horror, Poor Houses in Nova Scotia.
Kendall Worth: “I have heard from several people on CERB who received an email on Thursday July 30 that has them very concerned, because it says people will lose CERB money they were counting on.”
Language barriers. Slow internet. Students sent home with no work. Stephen Wentzell writes on the Liberal government’s broken promise of ‘no child left behind’ after the schools closed because of the coronavirus.