Nova Scotians Rise! is a topical poem by El Jones , written on the occasion of today’s Nova Scotians Rise Up! rally. Read El’s take on doctors’ shortages, nurses’ walkouts, the Glaze report, Abdoul Abdi, Alton Gas, poverty, union busting, and much more.
Kendall Worth on the challenges and rewards of Valentine’s Day for people on low incomes and income assistance. The problem is mostly with a lack of money, and also stigma. However, love conquers all when we get creative.
Poverty activist and frequent contributor Brenda Thompson writes about adults only buildings and the law. She was one of the activists who, in the early 1980s, brought about changes that make discrimination based on source of income (welfare) and age (whether you have children) illegal. Landlords openly break that law all the time, and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission just sits back.
“For many years I held full time employed positions, mainly minimum wage, and have paid my taxes dutifully to this government. Then something happened in my life that rendered me and my 16 year old daughter homeless. As a last resort I took myself and my daughter to seek refuge at a homeless shelter. My daughter was accepted without a problem, but I was not accepted as I was employed full time.” Lucy MacDonald shares a letter she sent to premier Stephen McNeil about being homeless, and about trying to make ends meet while on Income Assistance.
We featured Brent and Donna, the Sheet Harbour couple on income assistance, in an earlier story about the terrible state of disrepair of their public housing unit. Community Services used to pay their entire power bill, but last week they contacted me because all of a sudden they are saddled with a $60 monthly share. They don’t know why, and they don’t know how they are going to deal with it.
The raise in income assistance rates that the government keeps talking about will leave many recipients with less buying power than they had in 2016, the last year the rates were increased. We do the math.
Proud and happy to publish this poem and essay on being Black and unemployed, by the very talented Guyleigh Johnson.
Poverty activist and Income Assistance recipient Tim Blades on poverty in Nova Scotia. “I speak from experience that when you speak up, you can open eyes to what is going on and embolden others to speak up as well. To have such poverty in Nova Scotia is unconscionable. It’s time for a change. It’s 2018.”
A proposed gas pipeline for the Alton Gas storage project is set to cross the stunningly beautiful Stewiacke River Wilderness Area, although naturalists are strongly opposed. As well, the proposed Saint Andrews River Wilderness Area boundaries were modified at the time, presumably to accommodate the pipeline. Investigative reporter Ken Summers looks at the politics of this project in this first of a two-part series.
If your apartment is too expensive, or badly needs repairs, and moving is out of the question, then things aren’t likely to improve in the foreseeable future. Statistics Canada census data released in November 2017 shows that the number of households in core housing needs in Nova Scotia continues to go up, while the trend in the other Atlantic provinces is moving downward.