While researching her new book on poor houses in Nova Scotia Brenda Thompson doesn’t let a couple of No Trespassing signs slow her down. “I’ll admit, I was so excited by the idea of getting closer to the cemetery that I took off running, leaving my husband and shoes behind. I climbed over three fences and ran barefoot across the field to get closer to the graves of the poor house inmates.”
Anti-poverty activist Kendall Worth on the many hurdles faced by people on income assistance if they choose to live together, either to save money and have a bit of companionship, or for romantic reasons. When you’re poor you just can’t win.
Frequent contributor and anti-poverty activist Kendall Worth reports on the case of a woman who gets harassed by a neighbour in her apartment building and neither her landlord nor the police are willing to put a stop to it. Because she is on welfare she can’t just pack up her stuff and move. She may well end up homeless as a result, she says.
As a bit of a follow-up on last winter’s very successful Women’s March on Washington here in Halifax about three hundred women and allies gathered at Province House today at noon to remind the world they’re still here. We hope to do a bit more on today’s rally, but for now, here are a couple of photos, and El Jones’ contribution, on Nova Scotia’s women who live in poverty, published with her kind permission.
New contributor Fara Spence profiles Ruby, an older woman living with severe arthritis and unable to work she had to turn to Community Services after her husband left her. ““Looking back, I was naive. I always thought Community Services would be…I don’t know, happy to help.”
There is no money for people on social assistance in yesterday’s Liberal budget. That kind of a mean spirited attitude doesn’t bode well for the secretive welfare transformation project the department has been working on since 2015.
Our roving reporter Kendall Worth was walking down Spring Garden when some people who knew of his poverty activism and writing asked if he would tell their story. Here it is. No money for groceries, but many mental health and health problems, and lots of people looking down on them as if it is all their fault somehow.
New contributor Lucy MacDonald knows all about homelessness and living in shelters. Community Services is actually fostering homelessness rather than solving it with is impractical rules and inadequate shelter allowances, she says.
Today is frequent contributor Kendall Worth’ birthday, which leads him to reflect on birthday celebrations of poor people. He asked, and this is what he heard. “Kendall as much as we would love to celebrate our birthdays the same way ordinary people do, we can’t. Life is just not normal for us because of our income level we live on.”
First voice welfare activists in Nova Scotia are trying very hard to raise awareness about the incredibly difficult living conditions they have to deal with on a daily basis. At times it seems like nobody is listening. And nobody is helping them. Lately there have been modest signals that Nova Scotia’s labour movement at least is hearing them. There is a long way to go, but it’s something to build upon.