Poverty activist and frequent contributor Brenda Thompson writes about adults only buildings and the law. She was one of the activists who, in the early 1980s, brought about changes that make discrimination based on source of income (welfare) and age (whether you have children) illegal. Landlords openly break that law all the time, and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission just sits back.
Rebecca Rose takes a look at a new Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) policy that means that Transgender women can now be sent to women’s prisons while Transgender men will serve their time in a men’s prison, if that is their preference. Under the old policy inmates were sent to the federal institution that “matched” their genitals, not their gender identity. Rene Callahan-St John, a member of the Prisoners Correspondence Project views the change as a victory, but says much more remains to be done.
Blankets infected with smallpox were handed by early settlers to indigenous peoples as a biological weapon. That’s no joking matter, writes Jackie Davis, who earlier this week went to a local pub where a white comedian thought otherwise. “Comedy should not be exempt from criticism. It should not be a cover for complete ignorance,” she writes.
Proud and happy to publish this poem and essay on being Black and unemployed, by the very talented Guyleigh Johnson.
Reporter Rebecca Hussman braved last Tuesday’s snowstorm and attended a panel on environmental racism and the law. “The weakest link, they thought, is the African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq communities, so therefore we will locate anything and everything we’ve got to get rid of in and around those communities. We know they have no large incomes. We know their levels of education is lower. So let’s locate this dump over here…we don’t care.”
Alex Kronstein reviews two board games rich people are bound to hate. He looks at Co-opoly, think Monopoly for people who rather cooperate than compete. Next he looks at Rise Up: The Game of People and Power, where the purpose is to build a social movement and beat an oppressive system. To cover the Nova Scotia angle for this review Alex also looks at Father Moses Coady of Antigonish, the founder of the cooperative movement and the main reason there are still so many co-ops of all sorts in Nova Scotia.
One of several very powerful moments at the Halifax Women’s March was Mi’kmaq woman, activist, and poet Rebecca Thomas’ performance of For all the women out there who were never believed. Here it is, re- published with her kind permission.
Applied to current events, no march on Saturday will be better than any other. However, ensuring that there are marches in rural as well as urban areas is crucial in signifying both difference in lived experience and togetherness in the struggle for female empowerment, writes Lori Oliver. She then takes a closer look at two key problems for women in rural Nova Scotia are difficulties accessing abortion services and a higher rate of domestic, intimate partner violence—both of which disastrously intersect with how women continue to earn, on average, 87 cents to men’s $1. Barriers faced by racialized groups are even more severe.
Former Chronicle Herald reporter Mary Ellen MacIntyre writes about an assortment of tactics she has used to entice a new family doctor, including trying to look younger, healthier and more interesting. Late last year there was the robocall to confirm that a doctor was still needed, and even that call became a source of stress. “And so, we wait. Close to one hundred thousand-strong, we wait.”
This wonderful story by Catherine Banks (and equally wonderful illustration by Kate Phillips) is our thank you to all our readers and friends who struggle to make ends meet but refuse to let poverty define them. Next year we’ll fight for a living wage and decent income assistance benefits even harder, but for now, have a great holidays!