Raymond Sheppard: May these lengthy injustices finally be resolved
Raymond Sheppards on some social justice issues that have been allowed to fester for far too long.
Lincolnville
Raymond Sheppard: The role of racism in the Lionel Desmond case
In 2017, Lionel Desmond, a young African Nova Scotian,shot and killed his mother, his wife, and their 10-year-old daughter. During his service in the Canadian Armed Forces Desmond, who after two stints in Afghanistan suffered from PTSD, faced consistent anti-Black racism. This racism has been a contributing factor to his PTSD, writes Raymond Sheppard.
Letter: Think of environmental racism as an act of attempted genocide
Raymond Sheppard looks at environmental racism in Nova Scotia. “It could be concluded that environmental racism is an act of attempted genocide,” he writes.
Shades of Green podcast, episode 2: Toxic legacy – setting a context for environmental racism in Nova Scotia
Episode 2 of the Shades of Green podcast looks at the 500-year old roots of environmental racism in Nova Scotia, and features Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard, James Desmond, Jaden Dixon, El Jones, Lynn Jones, Roger Lewis, Barbara Low, Catherine Martin, and Dr. Ingrid Waldron. Join us as we pull back and take a bit of a long view, exploring some of the histories of colonization on these lands and how these severed relationships with the land connect to the environmental racism we see today.
New organization to test rural water quality when government doesn’t
While municipalities reliably test the quality of water delivered through the utilities they manage, rural residents who rely on wells are on their own, reports new contributor Fazeela Jiwa. Now a new organization, Rural Water Watch Association (RWW), will respond to rural community members’ calls to test their water quality, addressing concerns about living close to toxic sites like landfills or incinerators.
Proposed Environmental Bill of Rights to empower communities and tackle polluters
A proposed Environmental Bill of Rights for Nova Scotia is designed to empower communities and stop stonewalling by polluters and governments.
Fighting environmental racism in Nova Scotia
How does environmental racism manifest in Nova Scotia? How do you establish a direct link between health issues in a community and the landfill down the road? We speak with Dr. Ingrid Waldron of the ENRICH project. and meet with two scientists who looked at water quality issues in Lincolnville, an African Nova Scotian community situated near a large landfill.
Weekend video: In whose backyard?
This weekend’s featured video is In Whose Backyard?, a documentary about people dealing with environmental racism all over Nova Scotia. The documentary came out of Ingrid Waldron’s ENRICH project. It premiered in 2014, and that’s also when I wrote this article. Check it out.