Media release: Wellness Within is appalled by the forced eviction of unhoused people from tents and shelters and police brutality unleashed on their supporters in Kjipuktuk (Halifax) yesterday, August 18.
Media release: Wellness Within is profoundly disappointed by the news that Harsha Walia has been forced to resign from her position as executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.
Wellness Within: An Organization for Health & Justice applauds the state of Minnesota for passing the Healthy Start Act, which will give incarcerated people who are pregnant the option of receiving pre- and post-natal care and giving birth in community settings. They will no longer be separated from their newborns shortly after birth. We urge Nova Scotia to implement a similar policy.
With the election season in full swing, it is time for another round of the Wellness Within Election Toolkit. Here are some questions for provincial MLA candidates when they arrive at your doorstep, or call. You can also email/facebook/tweet these questions to them!
Media release: Wellness Within: An Organization for Health and Justice is calling on the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services to follow British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, PEI and most recently, Newfoundland and Labrador, in ending the discriminatory and racist practice of issuing birth alerts for “at risk” parents and their babies.
Martha Paynter in her submission to the Define Defunding the Police working group on behalf of Wellness Within: “Defunding requires changing how we think about security. It means removing these responsibilities from police and returning them to government and community resources offered by individuals trained in supporting our most vulnerable. Defunding should respond to the needs of the community and could look like support for local safe injection sites, sobering centres, restorative justice programs, and mental health crisis teams.”
A new toolkit aims to educate and train doulas in 2SLGBTQ+ birthing people and their families, while also increasing the number of queer-identifying doulas in Nova Scotia. Stephen Wentzell attended the launch and spoke with some of the driving forces behind the project.
Media release: Wellness Within: An Organization for Health and Justice invite all to join us for the official launch of the Queer Doula Toolkit, by zoom on June 17 at 730pm AT.
Statement: We welcome and support the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) policy shift in the last few years to be trans-inclusive and we cannot let this work go anywhere but forward. We recognize that several of the women who wrote a recent Open Letter to CAEFS share that they are formerly incarcerated, and we honour their experience and pain. We do not support their discriminatory comments about incarcerated trans women, nor their assumptions about who speaks for incarcerated and criminalized women, or their calls for the creation of new prisons for trans people.
In the last day two individuals within the the Burnside jail, one an employee, have been infected with COVID-19. It’s time to let our MLAs know that that there is understanding and compassion in the community for people who are experiencing criminalization, says Martha Paynter of Wellness Within.