Human Rights

Power to the People! (Part II)

Power to the People! (Part II)

June 21, 2023 at 12:02 pm

  Estragon: I can’t go on like this. Vladimir: That’s what you think. Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot   Part II: Four Ways to Change the Local World   Proposal #1: A CBRM Citizens’ Assembly on COVID-19 & Post-Pandemic Recovery “Watershed periods in history,” Mikhail Gorbachev declared in 1992, “mayRead More

Our Housing Crisis: Low Vacancies, High Rents, Damaged Stock

Our Housing Crisis: Low Vacancies, High Rents, Damaged Stock

May 31, 2023 at 11:20 am

CBRM council met on May 10 for a “Strategic Vision” workshop that, despite it’s rather vague title, actually had a clear—and important—purpose: councilors met to discuss quality of life, family recreation, public transit and affordable housing and homelessness. I’m going to focus on the latter because I think ensuring accessRead More

Lights, Cameras, Surveillance!

Lights, Cameras, Surveillance!

May 24, 2023 at 11:22 am

Last week I wrote, briefly, about calls from local merchants (as reported in the Cape Breton Post) for more surveillance cameras in downtown Sydney, noting that “literally every merchant interviewed” already had CCTV cameras on their premises and they didn’t prevent any of the incidents described. This week, I thoughtRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

May 19, 2023 at 10:07 am

Confessions of an inadvertent foodie I accidentally bought a $6 bag of popcorn last week. I didn’t find out the price until I got to the cash and by then I felt compelled to go through with the purchase (it’s ridiculous, I know, but it’s me). I bought it becauseRead...

From Sydney to Saudi: EllisDon Gets Around

From Sydney to Saudi: EllisDon Gets Around

May 17, 2023 at 1:36 pm

I have seen the name EllisDon on signs attached to the fencing around the under-construction NSCC Sydney Waterfront Campus but I didn’t actually know anything about the company until this week, when I got interested in it as part of an entity called SHIP.ED which submitted a proposal to developRead More

Jelena Vermilion, executive director of Sex Workers’ Action Program (SWAP), Hamilton, speaking about the challenge to Canada’s anti-prostitution laws. (Source: @ButterflyCSW/Twitter)

So, How’s That ‘Nordic Model’ Working Out?

May 10, 2023 at 1:51 pm

I have read multiple local court reports recently in which the sentence included an order that the convicted person “submit a DNA sample to the national registry” and it struck me that it’s been six years almost to the day since I first wrote about Canada’s National DNA Data BankRead More

Back to the DNA Bank

Back to the DNA Bank

May 10, 2023 at 1:49 pm

Now that I’ve worked through my 2,800-word preamble in the form of this week’s history of Canada’s Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, it’s time to focus on the subject I actually set out to cover: Canada’s National DNA Data Bank (NDDB). As I explained back in 2017, whenRead More

Sunflower harvest, Rojava, August 2022. (Source: Make Rojava Green Again https://makerojavagreenagain.org/sunflower-harvest-august-2022/)

Glimpses of Green Even in War: Rojava

May 3, 2023 at 10:04 am

Part 2: Rojava The world of the 21st century faces the ruins of past and present. War has become a normal state, poverty and hunger marginal news that no longer merit headlines. Many people have lost the meaning and significance of being human, and the word ‘society’ means only isolatedRead More

TV, Then and Now

TV, Then and Now

May 3, 2023 at 10:02 am

I was thinking back to the 1950s when television arrived in Cape Breton and how many of us made our way up to Charlotte Street to stand looking into the window of a store that displayed a small set, itself displaying what we came to know as a test pattern.Read More

When Government Relies on Charity

When Government Relies on Charity

April 19, 2023 at 11:51 am

I promised to deal with the volunteer awards that were presented during last week’s CBRM council meeting and, on the one hand, I can do that rather easily by telling you that the following awards were presented to the following people/groups: Gary MacDonald Memorial Award: Sukhmani Sahib Society, Sydney AnneRead More