Brenda Thompson: Built on history – Old cemeteries
Brenda Thompson on Potters Fields and unmarked Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian graves in Halifax and elsewhere.
Brenda Thompson
Lost in the poor house: “He thought he was all alone”
Brenda Thompson, author of the excellent “A Wholesome Horror, Poor Houses of Nova Scotia”, was sent a bit of on an oral history account of the life of an entire family forced into a Nova Scotia poor house sometime before World War II. “He said he never knew nothing about his family as he was taken away from his parents and siblings at such a young age. He thought he was all alone.”
Book review: A wholesome horror. Poor houses in Nova Scotia.
There’s a wonderful new book on the history or poor houses and poor farms in Nova Scotia, written by poverty activist and frequent NS Advocate contributor Brenda Thompson. Things are better now, of course, but in a way not much has changed for people who are very poor.
Weekend video – Them that’s not: single mothers and the welfare system
Them That’s Not profiles single mothers on welfare all across Canada. The documentary was made twenty five years ago, but nothing has changed. Welfare is still punitive and degrading. Benefits are still insufficient. It still sucks to be on it. Solidarity and mutual support still go strong.