Kendall Worth reports on the pressure to return to rural Nova Scotia experienced by many income assistance recipients who call Halifax home. That’s not always a good idea, says Kendall, and the stigma of poverty is often behind those pressures.
Letter: “We therefore urge you to mount a special initiative to increase the levels of qualified staff in all nursing homes and residential care facilities. Chronic underfunding and understaffing have been persistent problems for the long-term care sector. More than ever before, this is a time when all the necessary funding and levels of qualified staff should be in place for our long-term care facilities.”
In light of COVID-19, the Halifax Workers’ Action Centre (Halifax-WAC) is calling on the Provincial Government to take urgent and comprehensive action to protect vulnerable workers.
Judy Haiven: Some retail workers are begging that large malls in Halifax be closed, but mall operators insist the malls must stay open.
“I want to remind people that we are in this together, we are all impacted. If Canada is your front yard, then Africa is your backyard.” I spoke with Sudan expatriate Huwaida Medani about her worries that once the virus takes hold in Sudan, there will be very little to slow it down. All this just when things started to look up as the country got rid of dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Lisa Cameron:”Waiting for the provincial government to take appropriate action, local housing advocacy groups are promoting a city-wide rental strike starting this Wednesday.”
Danny Cavanagh, president of the NS Federation of Labour, lists a series of demands and recommendations based on feedback from workers from across the province. Danny tackles workers safety, job security, paid sick leave, migrant workers, EI, and more. It’s a good list!
I am writing this letter from my apartment in north end Halifax, which I haven’t left in over three weeks except for one appointment. Many days since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, my Home Care workers have cancelled their regular visits. I feel like my home has become a remote island beyond human connection, and I am a castaway.
Press release: Medical professionals, human rights organizers, and supporters from coast to coast came together virtually to denounce the catastrophic legal, medical, and moral consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on incarcerated migrants. The press conference took place as migrants at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre entered their fifth day of an indefinite hunger strike.
Kate MacDonald: In this very weird time of limiting our social gatherings, now more than ever, I have to sit with myself. How will we get to know the children and partners and family we are so lucky to be “stuck with”?