The province’s welfare transformation is little more than a rebranding according to an anti-poverty advocacy group. “I see little sign of transformation where the rubber meets the road,” says Benefits Reform Action Group member Aron Spidle. The department of community services is restructuring the benefits people receive for shelter and basic necessities by grouping them […]
poverty
Posted inNews + Opinion
Breaking the cycle of period poverty for low-income Nova Scotians
Gayle Collicutt was 17 when she saw her first women’s shelter. “My mother was an alcoholic and I was out of control,” she says, so eventually she was dropped off at Adsum House for Women and Children. The dramatic change in surroundings “was very eye-opening. “I got stolen from a lot,” she says. “I even […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A housing-first model will help end homelessness in Nova Scotia
In 2015, the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta took a compassionate and unprejudiced approach to ending homelessness by using a housing-first model. Homes are offered to anyone who needs them. Ten days are now the most an individual or family stays in a Medicine Hat shelter. With a roof over their head, people are able […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Waging war on minimum wage
In front of a Westin Hotel ballroom full of Atlantic Canadian business leaders and politicians, a panel discussion on minimum wage quickly became about how—not if—Nova Scotia could hike its wages to $15 an hour. The event, held last Friday, was facilitated by the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council to help flesh out the local complexities […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s food insecurity is creating unhealthy communities
The city has a long way to go to create a healthy, just and sustainable food system. A new report, called Food Counts: Halifax Food Assessment, outlines some problems with food accessibility throughout the city. It was created by the Halifax Food Policy Alliance, which collected data showing that many people in HRM still don’t […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
When Justin called: Wanda Thomas Bernard talks about her new job as senator
Last Wednesday evening, Wanda Thomas Bernard’s phone rang. Justin Trudeau was on the other end. Bernard says he told her he’d reviewed her application and wanted her in the Senate. Bernard, of East Preston, is one of two Nova Scotians recently appointed as Canada’s newest senators. Working at Dalhousie University for almost three decades, Bernard […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Big gifts come in small shoeboxes
[Image-1] For Danica, childhood wasn’t a happy time—not even during the holidays. “I had a mother that was very physical with me,” recalls Danica. “She would throw me down the stairs.” For just over six months, Danica (not her real name) has been staying at The Marguerite Centre in Timberlea. The centre is a shelter […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
While you were sleeping
[Image-1] “It was fucking brutal.” Justine MacPhee doesn’t hold back when talking about her past bedbug infestation. The 24-year-old Haligonian is still trying to climb back up from the financial and psychological damage. “How shitty it was having to wash and dry on high heat, which destroyed a lot of my clothing,” she says. “I […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
My life on welfare
[Image-1] I would never have imagined that I would one day need social assistance. With my work ethic, education and references, it wasn’t remotely on my radar. And yet adsum ego sum. It was a great shock to me, following a serious fall. My former employers and co-workers were some of the best people with […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia’s war on the poor
[Image-1] I am one of the poor who will never be able to afford a computer/laptop/Internet service. I was born into poverty during a majority federal Conservative government in power, who made my single mother and me live on a monthly cheque which they would not increase with cost of living, price of groceries going […]
Posted inLifestyle
The perils of poverty for the physically disabled
[Image-1] PAXnorth church has nine steps leading up to its front doors, and no ramp. That’s why some community members were upset when the venue, at 5568 Cunard Street, was chosen for the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia’s annual memorial. “It came as a total surprise,” says Claudia Jahn, program facilitator at AHANS. She […]
Posted inLifestyle
The battle against child poverty
[Image-1] Nova Scotia has the highest provincial child poverty rates in Atlantic Canada. In Cape Breton, one in three kids are living below the poverty line. Those are some of the findings in this year’s Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Acadia University professor […]