Raymond Sheppard: “Based on prolonged exposure to the effects of racism, intergenerational racism and poverty, I believe most African Canadians suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. This is part and parcel of the experiences of most in the African Canadian community.”
he Serious Incident Report Team (SIRT) has found that the killing of a civilian by RCMP police in Eastern Passage last summer was justified, given the circumstances. However, the SIRT summary report, as is so often the case, raises questions that remain unanswered. Meanwhile, media in Nova Scotia typically merely echo the SIRT conclusion.
Raymond Sheppard usually writes about the many ways racism manifests in Nova Scotia, but today he tackles positivity. “We should try to focus more on what we can do and not what we cannot do. Sometimes this is challenging, but positivity improves our mental health and self esteem, and without positivity dreams seems to evaporate,” he writes.
In order to co-locate medical services, the Nova Scotia Health Authority is moving mental health and addictions services from three downtown Dartmouth locations to a new location in the Portland Hills subdivision. Dartmouth North MLA Susan Leblanc is worried that this will make in-person access way too difficult for residents of her riding.
Eliza Murray: A world that is fair to me is a world that is fair to you, too. A world that accommodates disability is a world that is kind and loving, accepting of differences and rejecting cruelty.
COVID-19 has hit the very poor in Nova Scotia hard and left many of those living with mental health issues in a very precarious place. That was the urgent message delivered by staff members of the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Mental Health Association to the Community Services Standing Committee.
Julie Wilson interviews Peter Counter, author of Be Scared of Everything. “Horror is helpful in processing the post-traumatic experience precisely because it doesn’t promise order. It presents a narrative that accepts bad things happen to good people for no reason, and that unresolvable trauma still has value.”
Raymond Sheppard nominates Eddie Carvery for African Nova Scotian of the year, and makes some wishes for 2021: Fire Chief Dan Kinsella, reparations, collect race-based data, a CBC that pays attention to the African Nova Scotian community and more.
Dr. Jamie Livingston: “As a criminologist, I’ve studied issues at the intersection of the mental health and policing systems for a decade and have been aware of the Nova Scotia approach for almost as long. It seems to me that the Nova Scotia mental health crisis response model has been frozen in time, refusing to evolve and innovate as new approaches, evidence, and demands emerge.”
Kendall visits Progressive Conservative Party MLA Steve Craig in Lower Sackville, to find out about poverty in that area and discuss mental health issues that affect people on income assistance.