With most July 1 events cancelled due to COVID-19, lots of people will be spending Canada Day at home. But what better time to learn about colonialism and racism than Canada Day? You can do just that with the click of a link, thanks to a public webinar presented by the Migrant Rights Network: “Canada Day […]
Racism
Posted inNews + Opinion
Hundreds protest Regis Korchinski-Paquet’s death in Halifax
Hundreds of people gathered at Victoria Park in Halifax on May 30 to protest and mourn the death of Afro-Indigenous woman, Regis Korchinski-Paquet who died on May 27 in Toronto. The protesters practiced COVID-19 safety guidelines as they marched from Victoria Park to the HRM Police headquarters with placards and banners as they chanted “No […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Moving beyond Nova Scotia’s street check ban
Just days after the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission delivered its landmark report on street checks last March, DeRico Symonds took to the streets. Despite the report’s finding that Black people in Halifax were six times more likely to be stopped by police than their representation in the population would suggest, and the Black community’s […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia’s street check moratorium to become permanent ban
Seven months after the release of Scot Wortley’s report on street checks—which found that Black people were five to six times more likely to be street checked than their proportion of the population would predict—the province has made up its mind. Today, justice minister Mark Furey announced a permanent ban on the practice of street […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRP to purge street check data by December 2020
At this week’s board of police comissioners meeting Halifax police chief Dan Kinsella said HRP is keeping its plan from June 2019 to purge all data and metadata regarding street checks in December 2020. In March 2019 the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and Scot Wortley released their report on street checks which reported on […]
Posted inLifestyle
Sex with a prejudicial interest
QI’m a man from a very liberal background. A girl I started dating—from a similar background—recently mentioned she has “a thing for Black guys.” She also met my best friend, a man of Korean descent, and commented she found him handsome despite not typically being attracted to Asian guys. The position that I’ve always held […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Counter protesters out-chant NCA recruiters in Halifax
Afederal nationalist party called The National Canadian Alliance tried to recruit members in Nova Scotia on June 22 but were met once again with heavy opposition by a counter demonstration of at least 100 people at Grand Parade Square. While counter-protestors starkly outnumbered the NCA rally, none were reported carrying weapons. No one was reported […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
MMIWG report says government is responsible for race-and-gender-based crisis
After two-and-a-half years the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its final report June 3, laying out the role that all levels of Canadian government play in the race-and-gender-based crisis that is facing and has faced Indigenous and Inuit women. It calls for immediate transformative legal and social changes to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Youth members of street check report working group are fed up and have walked out
T rayvone Clayton, DeRico Symonds, Shevy Price and Kate Macdonald have walked out of the Wortley Street Check Action Working Group. Their statement, released Monday, explains: “During the third meeting, we became aware of the intended purpose of the working group,” it says. “This information we received counteracted with our beliefs and the communities’ beliefs […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Street check suspension buying time before regulation
Last week justice minister Mark Furey announced a moratorium on street checks “until further notice.” The decision followed Scot Wortley’s report for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission that found Black men people are six times more likely to be street checked by police than white men and a strong recommendation from the Board of […]
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
Police Commission makes recommendation to suspend street check practice
UPDATE: On Wednesday, April 17, justice minister Mark Furey directed police across NS to suspend street checks of both pedestrians and passengers in vehicles until further notice. The Halifax Board of Police Commissioners put its weight behind ending the practice of street checks at this week’s meeting following Scot Wortley and the NS Human Rights […]