Let’s focus on the good news: CBRM council has approved a project for funding under the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI). Council took time out of its budget discussions on April 5 to approve a joint proposal from New Dawn and the Ally Centre of Cape Breton to buildRead More

Last Friday’s “emergency” CBRM council meeting has been well covered in the local media, leaving me with one angle—secrecy—that I still feel has not been adequately explored. But first, let’s recap recent affordable housing history: 2020 October 27: The federal government launches the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) delivered by theRead More

Alyce MacLean, project manager for housing development with New Dawn Enterprises, appeared before CBRM council on January 31 to ask the municipality to transfer surplus municipal property to her organization for the construction of supportive housing for people struggling with mental health and addictions issues. (If you are wondering whyRead More

Editor’s Note: I received my copy of this open letter, released by the Health for All Network on 12 October 2022, from Dr. Monika Dutt, a public health physician in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador whom I’ve interviewed in these pages previously and who stated, in an accompanying pressRead More

I don’t really know the situation today, but in the 1950s, working for the church especially as a secretary, I got to know those who were referred to as “stemmers.” They were the dedicated few who every so often rang the glebe house doorbell in search of a dollar orRead More

“We need firstly some very basic things happening. We need access to portable toilets in our communities, so people can at least go to the bathroom, with wash stations so they can sanitize.” — Janet Bickerton, Ally Centre of Cape Breton, 30 March 2020, CBC interview   As noted above,Read More

Constance Backhouse spoke during a brunch sponsored by the Ally Centre of Cape Breton and the Cape Breton Inter-Agency on Family Violence on Friday. Backhouse is a legal scholar, historian, author, professor, activist and the sort of feminist I remember from my ’70s childhood — that is, an unabashed one.Read More

“Just because we’ve made gains doesn’t mean we can’t go backwards,” says Dana Mount, co-organizer of the CBRM version of the Women’s March on Washington, “It’s up to us to be vigilant.” Mount and Pamela Johnson of the Coady Institute’s International Centre for Women’s Leadership brought together over 100 peopleRead More