In the wake of every big #MeToo story, from Hollywood to Halifax, there is a temptation to figure out what went wrong. Who knew and did nothing? What psychological defect caused the perpetrator to treat others with such disrespect? What problematic culture exists in Industry X that allowed such abuses to grow and fester? Granted, […]
Voice of the City
Posted inNews + Opinion
Liberals pay lip service to feminism while failing survivors on campus, again.
As I sat in the gallery of the provincial legislature and heard Patricia Arab, MLA from Fairview-Clayton Park, paying lip service to feminist ideals while simultaneously arguing against legislation that students have been demanding for years, I felt sick. On the eve of International Women’s Day, the Liberal government had once again stonewalled legislation that […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Take back the streets
Shift Conference Wednesday, February 28-Saturday, March 3 Dalhousie School of Planning 5410 Spring Garden Road free dalhousieplanningconference.webs.com The form and structure of cities is changing. It has to change for environmental, economic, equity and health reasons. New technology is enabling the change. Around the globe the cities we want to live in, work in, invest […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Trust has to be earned on province’s education reforms
Stephen McNeil’s government is looking to railroad Nova Scotians into an overhaul of school administration based only on some thinly supported recommendations from a partisan education consultant. We should all be worried. A report from the Commission on Inclusive Education is due back in March. So why are changes being rushed based only on the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Work boots and Blundstones: Development in Dartmouth
When I was a kid, they used to just leave stuff to sit and rot in Dartmouth. It has long been ignored as a treacherous wasteland. King’s Wharf was once a rat-infested paradise for pot smoking, rock-throwing ne’re-do-wells. Shannon Park was the flashlight-tag capitol of the Urbanized Maritimes. Now, the developers and entrepreneurs are filling […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
End prison segregation now
“We won!” exclaimed the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, regarding the BC Supreme Court ruling January 17 against sections of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act that allow for indefinite solitary confinement. In the frustrating, protracted, and so-often disappointing battle for prison justice in this country, it is, of course, a win, and to be […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Politics and misogyny at the Nova Scotia Legislature
It is 1990. I am so young that my face looks like a blank slate in my official Legislature ID photo. I am so excited about this part-time job. I am a student of history and journalism, and being on the floor of the Legislature as a page will let me feel like I’m part […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
I know what support feels like, and now I feel it slipping away
Can you imagine how it feels to be only 24 years old and you need to wear an adult diaper to catch the gushing blood dripping between your legs? Do you know how it feels to have cracked and bleeding nipples upon a rock hard chest, beneath a frantic newborn baby stuffed into a baby […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax is smarter than Vancouver and it’s time to prove it
When I left Vancouver a year ago to settle into my new life here in Halifax, I was so relieved to think of never having to speak in front of city council ever again. Seven long years of fighting for livability and affordable housing in Metro Vancouver left me drained, depressed and defeated. Leaving all […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Men, boys and mental health
Recently I was on a hike with a male client who was sexually abused by his father and was currently struggling with chronic depression, an addiction to prescription drugs and under-employment. Walking side-by-side this particular morning, we happened across a bullfrog—likely injured from some predator—dragging a bloodied limb behind. He stared for a while—tears appearing […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A very expensive welcome mat
In 1964, when he presented the mill as a “very pleasant” Christmas gift to the province, [Premier] Stanfield neglected to mention what the province was giving Scott for Christmas. As part of the deal, enshrined in the Scott Maritimes Limited Agreement Act of 1965, was the offer from the province to Scott of 230,000 acres […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A case against holiday giving
It’s impossible to look around and not see that our society is broken—or to be invited to fix it, one can of soup at a time. Especially at this time of year, charity is presented as the best way to help those in need. Real solutions to our problems, however, do not look like Giving […]
