I‘ll not even pretend that I wasn’t aware of third-world sweat shops when I purchased and wore garments produced under horrible factory conditions by workers paid as little as $60 a month. Bangladesh, Malaysia, Cambodia, India and Indonesia are all home to such garment factories, and while China is certainlyRead More

Immigration is never an easy political discussion, but I believe that the Canadian government was moving in the right direction with its announcement in November 2017 that it was working to accept economic immigrants, families seeking reunification with relatives already in residence and refugees fleeing war and/or persecution in otherRead More

What do the Crusades, Slavery, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and the Sins of the Church have in common? All have been the subjects of apologies from popes on behalf of the Catholic Church. In Bolivia in July 2015, the current pope, Francis, apologized for “the grave sins committed against the nativeRead More

Sunday will mark the feast of Easter which, as we who call ourselves Catholic have always been taught, is the most important feast in the church calendar. Yes, more important than Christmas, since the cornerstone of the Catholic faith is the belief that Christ rose from the dead. Easter hasRead More

The Rohingya, whom most of us had probably never heard of before their plight began to be shared via TV and newspapers around the world, are “the world’s most persecuted minority,” according to  Al Jazeera. They are an ethnic group, largely Muslim, that has lived for centuries in the majorityRead More

Perhaps one of Charles Dickens’ most famous lines was Oliver Twist’s “Please sir, I want some more.” First published in monthly installments from February 1837 to April 1839, Oliver Twist was pretty much an attack on Britain’s Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. As G.K. Chesterton wrote in an introductionRead More

First, some numbers: according to Statistics Canada, in 2016, Canadian households spent, on average, $8,784.00 on food, 26% of that on restaurant meals. In Nova Scotia last year, a single woman on social assistance received $532.00 for housing, $275.00 as a personal allowance and $36.00 for drugs, medical and transportation.Read More

Helen Morrison, executive director of Transition House in Sydney, marched with about 150 women (I spotted at least one man!) on Saturday, January 20, the first anniversary of the 2017 Women’s March, showing their support for women who are or have been victims of violence. Morrison gave an inspiring talkRead More

The last thing Weldon Bona wanted was for his very private decision to have an assisted death to become a news story, but that’s exactly what happened last week. Bona had done everything asked of him when he chose to take this step, having been diagnosed with a disease thatRead More

Fifteen years ago, my first assignment for The Cape Bretoner (a magazine that unfortunately ceased publication in 2006) was a story on homelessness in Cape Breton. I don’t recall if the 2003 winter was as severe as the past few weeks have been, but there were signs of hope andRead More