T he glass ceiling of income inequality is alive and well, even for Halifax’s top-earning municipal employees. Analysis of the city’s sunshine list—published compensation data which includes the names, departments, positions and compensation for municipal employees earning over $100,000 a year—shows big gaps between the big bucks men and women are earning. The data shows […]
Diversity
Posted inNews + Opinion
The weight of intersectionality
As a university student in Halifax, I walk into a classroom or research lab, looking around eagerly, hoping to see someone who looks like me. I gaze around anxiously, searching to find at least one person who can feel the weight that I’m carrying. I sigh in disappointment, realizing that yet again, I am alone. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Armaan Dhillon is dancing for diversity
Last year during a cultural festival at Dalhousie University, six university students took the stage in bright colourful outfits called Vardiyaan for their first performance. The routine brought together various folk dances from across the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. Now, with Armaan Dhillon at the helm, they form the six-person Bhangra group Noor […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Being Black and a tourist in Halifax
I live in Toronto. In May, I spent two weeks in Halifax visiting a friend who lives in the city. I went to the Central Library, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Pier 21, the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market, Peggys Cove, the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
University without any diversity
When Dorsa Eslami first walked onto the University of King’s College campus with her mother three years ago, she immediately recognized the lack of diversity. “I haven’t had very many professors of colour. We don’t have that many professors of colour, I don’t think,” Eslami says. The only non-white professor she’s encountered at King’s in […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
No one really knows how to get more women to run for council
[Image-1] Lisa Blackburn, one of Halifax’s recently-elected councillors, is also one of the only women. She’s disappointed by that. “There’s so much missing when we have so few women,” says Blackburn. “We think about things differently; we process things differently; we’re just wired differently.” This year’s municipal election brought five new people to Halifax Regional […]
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School board candidates talk diversity and inclusion in HRM schools
[Image-1] Nearly 22 years after the BLAC Report on Education detailed the systemic racism in the Nova Scotia school system, problems still persist for African Nova Scotian students. “Things have somewhat changed,” since the report was released, says the incumbent African Nova Scotian School Board Member candidate, Melinda Daye. “But for anyone to say that we’ve […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
We’re young Jews, and we support Queer Arabs of Halifax
[Image-1] For the past few years, Queer Arabs of Halifax (QAH) have asked Halifax Pride to counter pinkwashing efforts that portray foreign states as queer-friendly tourist destinations, distracting from these states’ human rights violations and the traumas that queer folks of colour have experienced as a result. This year, QAH put forward a motion to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The struggle of a Muslim woman of colour in Halifax
[Image-1] “You’re not from here,” a phrase that has been said to me so many times, I can’t count. Simple tasks such as running to the bank, filled with stares. Stares that say more than words—expressing emotions and passing judgment. Much like that kid in the playground that gets chosen last to be part of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: In diversity, there is strength
[Image-1] It’s been shocking to watch news of the Brexit vote in Britain, Donald Trump’s promise to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S. and the ongoing threats and violence against ethnic minorities in many parts of the world. I’m not a political or social scientist, but my training as a biologist gives me […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
More women are needed in municipal politics
[Image-1] The Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities says women should represent at least 30 percent of elected members of local governments. City councillors Jennifer Watts and Barry Dalrymple—both not re-offering in next year’s municipal election—recently stated HRM’s council needs younger, more diverse voices. A free, municipal “campaign school” this Saturday at Mount Saint Vincent University […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Seaport Market’s inadvertent whitening
[Image-1] A Saturday at the market is a busy affair. The warehouse-style building at Pier 20 is packed, filled with brightly coloured flowers, fresh vegetables and yummy smells of coffee, cupcakes, samosas and Jamaican beef patties. Mary Nkrumah is ready to work. The day before, she spent $135 on lamb, bought from a stand not […]