Thursday, 2 May 2024

Food insecurity

Growing healthy food in Mi’kmaq communities: “In terms of sovereignty, food is just another part of it”

Paul Wartman speaks with Chris GooGoo and Dawn Matheson about an initiative to improve the quality and accessibility of healthy, locally grown foods in Mi’kmaq communities. “We’ve always had agriculture. The public education system and history hasn’t told us that. We’ve always been told that we’ve been under the Indian Act, we’ve been given government handouts throughout history. We know that hasn’t always been the case–we’ve invented agriculture in many ways.”

Raymond Sheppard: Pandemic is catastrophic for many African Nova Scotians

Raymond Sheppard: “Many African Canadians are seriously struggling To see their efforts to pay for the bare necessities and try to keep up with utility bills and such is heartbreaking. Many have been forced to take out payday loans at unreasonable interest rates just to survive.”

What is baby-led weaning and why is it suddenly so important?

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Abbie Lepage: Infant feeding guidelines have dramatically changed since baby food products first launched. After recent reports questioned the safety of many staple baby food brands and a class action lawsuit was launched against them, the modern practice of ditching purees called baby-led weaning has become infinitely more palatable.

Jessika Hepburn: A fundamental aspect of Black food sovereignty is liberation

Paul Wartman in conversation with Jessika Hepburn, community organizer and owner of the Biscuit Eater Cafe in Mahone Bay about the multi-layered notion of Black food sovereignty. “If we recognize Black people and Indigenous people as sovereign, we have to talk with them as if they have equal rights and equal power to determine how things happen–how systems develop, how we create food systems, etc.”

Spring Tide Farm’s Jessie and Rebecca MacInnis – “Indigenous solidarity is part of the business we want to grow”

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“I still have relationship building and learning to do around how to be a better ally, but being open to discomfort is a good start. As long as I’m living and growing on stolen land, I need to be actively working to address that fact.”
Reporter Paul Wartman speaks with Jessie and Rebecca MacInnis of the Spring Tide Farm about the complex connections between settler farmers, land, and Indigenous sovereignty.

One in three kids under six: After 30 years there is hardly a dent in Nova Scotia child poverty

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We have been reporting on the release of the Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia for many years now. And year after year the news is grim.

41,370 children, one in four, live in poverty in Nova Scotia. For children under six that number is actually almost one in three!

It’s hard to fathom how politicians can shrug off these horrendous numbers, especially given that we know that solutions exist, and all it takes is political will.

More than food banks are needed to feed the hungry during the coronavirus pandemic

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Food banks are often stigmatizing, difficult to access and offer little choice, no wonder only about a quarter of those who meet the objective criteria of food insecurity ever went to a food bank. Struggling Canadians need sufficient income to feed themselves now and in the post-pandemic future, write Elaine Power, Jennifer Black and Halifax’s Jennifer Brady.