tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/halifax-62035/articleshalifax – La Conversation2023-10-03T21:37:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2115802023-10-03T21:37:30Z2023-10-03T21:37:30ZClimate change challenges marine conservation efforts in Atlantic Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551036/original/file-20230928-17-ua1o1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4031%2C2751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The oceans are rapidly warming and Canada's marine protections must be able to adapt quickly to meet these changes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/VGRlfwv6nzY">(Brittany Griffin, Unsplash)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/climate-change-challenges-marine-conservation-efforts-in-atlantic-canada" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Extreme ocean changes due to climate change are not an abstract or future scenario. This summer alone, <a href="http://whalemap.ocean.dal.ca/MHW/">23 per cent of the world’s oceans experienced a heat wave</a>, corresponding to an area roughly equivalent to the entire Atlantic Ocean. </p>
<p>Those extreme events, against a backdrop of more gradual global warming, have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-032122-121437">widespread effects on ocean life and their environments</a>. For example, some species might leave their preferred environment in favour of more suitable temperatures, others might adapt locally or go extinct. </p>
<p>While climate change impacts are pervasive, marine protected areas and refuges can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aay9969">safeguard species, and improve ecosystem resilience, by minimizing additional human impacts</a>.</p>
<h2>Marine conservation in Canada</h2>
<p>In Canada, there is a surprising <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2021-0122">lack of conservation planning and management</a> to address the effects of climate change. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2023-0024">Our recent study showed</a> that most marine protected areas (especially in Atlantic Canada) are located in regions set to undergo rapid, substantial changes, making them unsuitable as marine life sanctuaries.</p>
<p>These results emphasize the need to account for climate change impacts and adaptations in marine conservation planning in Canada and beyond. Ideally, refuges, hotspots and other climate futures should be factored into any planning on Canada’s marine protected area network.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/07/28/ocean-temperature-maps-heat-records/">Parts of the Canadian Atlantic Ocean are already warming at a higher rate than the global average</a>. This is projected to continue throughout the 21st century. </p>
<p>Alarmingly, the waters off of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland — <a href="https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/stats/commercial/land-debarq/sea-maritimes/s2020pv-eng.htm">regions known for lucrative fisheries</a> — are seeing temperature increases <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/07/28/ocean-temperature-maps-heat-records/">beyond the most extreme projections for this century</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/conservation/areas-zones/index-eng.html">Many of the existing marine protected areas and marine refuges in these regions </a> were put in place to protect critical habitat and life stages of commercially important fish and invertebrate species. However, these protections may become ineffective as the climate changes.</p>
<h2>Projecting marine climate change</h2>
<p>To effectively address the climate change challenges for marine conservation in Atlantic Canada, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2021-0122">current conservation efforts need to become more adaptive both in their planning and management</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.711085">Most marine protected areas in Canada</a> are not planned or managed with the effects of climate change in mind. </p>
<p>To become more adaptive, we need to know what is happening below the surface and, crucially, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.711085">which areas, habitats and species are most vulnerable</a>. These insights will enable more effective strategies. </p>
<p>The first step in determining which areas and species are most at risk from climate change is to use projections from ecosystem models under different climate change scenarios. This together with assessments of how vulnerable different areas and species are to those changes will allow a much clearer picture. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-marine-conservation-toolbox-needs-an-overhaul-to-counter-climate-change-177895">Canada's marine conservation toolbox needs an overhaul to counter climate change</a>
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<p>We used a state-of-the-art modelling approach to help us project and understand potential future changes in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. For this, we combined future projections from nine global marine ecosystem models and two climate models that provide standardized output data. </p>
<p>These data sets give us insights on future changes in, for example, fish biomass, temperature or oxygen availability in the water.</p>
<h2>Developing hotspots</h2>
<p>Based on the results, our research identified both climate change hotspots and refuges. We also investigated whether those hotspots or refuges overlap with existing marine conservation areas. Most areas overlapped with climate change hotspots, none with climate change refuges.</p>
<p>Considering that climate refuges are areas that are likely to experience less rapid ecosystem changes, protecting those can minimize additional impacts — such as the effects of intensive commercial fishing or oil and gas development — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142564">to support overall resilience to climate change</a>.</p>
<p>Simply put, a system or species that is less stressed and more healthy is <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00523/full">better equipped to face the impacts of climate change</a>.</p>
<p>In adapting marine conservation planning to climate change, protecting climate change refuges may allow more time for particular species and ecosystems to adapt, potentially slowing rates of local extinction. Such refuges could also act as stepping-stones for species as they move to more favourable habitats due to rapid ecosystem changes. </p>
<p>On the other hand, hotspots of climate change impacts that experience rapid, substantial ecosystem changes may foster adaptation and evolution in some species, so they are better equipped to respond to a changing future. </p>
<p>Such a network would aim to span a diverse range of potential future climate conditions and ecosystem states, essentially protecting a wide range of marine biodiversity.</p>
<p>Together with an adaptive marine conservation approach — that includes flexible and dynamic planning, monitoring and management — Canada would be better equipped to protect its ocean’s biodiversity and resources.</p>
<h2>Climate futures are present</h2>
<p>The reality is that climate change is not just a future scenario but is already altering Canada’s ocean. Today, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/07/28/ocean-temperature-maps-heat-records/">the ocean has never been warmer</a>, with some regions breaking temperature records, stressing the need to start today to adapt ocean governance and marine conservation to climate change. </p>
<p>Ultimately, by re-calibrating the marine conservation approach that builds in climate change impacts, Canada can protect existing biodiversity and the adaptive capacity of marine ecosystems for generations to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>For this study, Andrea Bryndum-Buchholz received funding from the Ocean Frontier Institute.</span></em></p>As oceans warm, Canada’s marine protections system looks woefully inadequate. New monitoring systems and flexible governance can help Canada protect the areas most likely to have the greatest impact.Andrea Bryndum-Buchholz, Postdoctoral Researcher in Marine Ecology and Climate-Impact Sciences, Memorial University of NewfoundlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2078782023-09-06T19:11:24Z2023-09-06T19:11:24ZHalifax’s new development projects must not repeat the wrongs done to racialized communities<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/halifaxs-new-development-projects-must-not-repeat-the-wrongs-done-to-racialized-communities" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The African Nova Scotian community has long struggled with displacement and erasure when it comes to urban planning. In Halifax, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487522728/displacing-blackness/">racism has influenced planning and civic governance</a> decisions. The <a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/story-africville">demolition of Africville</a> in the 1960s and subsequent expropriation without compensation are well-documented examples of injustices. </p>
<p>The Halifax Regional Municipality issued a formal <a href="https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/diversity-inclusion/african-nova-scotian-affairs/africville/apology">apology</a> in 2015, yet <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/9781442686274">racism persists</a>. In the years since, there has been little substantial action to emplace African Nova Scotian residents in Downtown Halifax. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/regional-community-planning/construction-projects/cogswell-district-redevelopment">Cogswell District Project</a> is a new opportunity to heal historic divides. The project is a mixed-use residential district planned on the site of the former Cogswell highway interchange in downtown Halifax.</p>
<p>The elevated interchange was at the epicentre of a <a href="https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/municipal-archives/exhibits/cogswell-interchange">1960s-era urban renewal project</a> to construct a highway system through downtown Halifax. Construction of the infrastructure, including modernist commercial centres and high rises, led to the demolition of entire residential streets and displacement of thousands of vulnerable residents, including many of the city’s poorest citizens. </p>
<p><a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781442674073/the-drama-of-democracy/">As urban planner Jill Grant wrote</a>, “Most Haligonians seemed to view the project as obliterating an obnoxious and embarrassing slum. Neither politicians nor planners took account of the people who lived in the area.” </p>
<p>Even as the Cogswell Interchange was being constructed, some Halifax residents <a href="https://www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca/blogs/post/halifax-municipal-archives-the-cogswell-interchange-and-the-road-to-nowhere/">began to protest</a> against the destruction of the city’s fabric. In 1970, the highway project was halted, before it destroyed what remained of Halifax’s now beloved harbourfront. It took another half century for civic leaders to unwind this mid-century highway investment and order the deconstruction of the interchange now known as the “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/ns/features/cogswell-interchange/?section=notalone">Road to Nowhere</a>.”</p>
<p>New urban designs for public space, road layouts and development blocks aim to knit physical separations between north and south in this Downtown Halifax area. These are promising, but the project must also seize the opportunity to heal other, more serious divisions with housing, class inequities and racial schisms.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/documents/attachments/245493b156651d492cba4862093e8c5775263e8d/000/014/224/original/90_percent_construction_design_-_Regional_Council_-_Feb_26_2019.pdf?1551271386">vision put forth by urban designers</a> depicts a diverse community, but fostering that diversity in the future Cogswell District requires more than a false nod to inclusion.</p>
<h2>Gentrification and erasure</h2>
<p>Currently, construction of expensive housing developments on sites that were once affordable apartments in the North End is pushing residents out of the city in search of affordable housing, far from their roots and their established communities. This more recent wave of gentrification has been referred to as “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-africville-20-in-halifaxs-north-end-black-residents-fear-development/">Africville 2.0</a>.”</p>
<p>Thus far, <a href="https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/no-affordable-housing-for-new-cogswell-district-18129011#:%7E:text=Even%20as%20the%20need%20for,is%20now%2060%20percent%20complete.">city officials have sidestepped important questions</a> about future land divestment, affordable housing and zoning. Without action, this profound chance for housing and community building will be missed.</p>
<p>Halifax Regional Municipality has promised to include some form of affordable housing in the future Cogswell District, but it is unclear what is meant by affordable.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/housing/densely-calculated-density/">density bonusing program</a> has been established to encourage the creation of public benefits including affordable housing by the private sector. But when given the choice, developers often choose to pay fees or provide amenities such as public art rather than build low-income housing. </p>
<p>The municipal government is currently discussing <a href="https://cdn.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/regional-council/230509rc1518.pdf">new Inclusionary Zoning policies</a>. However, even if implemented, they will not address particular emplacement goals such as housing for racialized people. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A video explaining the issue of affordable housing in Downtown Halifax’s Cogswell area.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>“Blight Removal” in Halifax’s past</h2>
<p>Exploring the connection between historic displacement in the Cogswell neighborhood and the prospects of emplacement for low-income residents today was a focus for a recent <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/620149492896177/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2252%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22%5B%7B%5C%22surface%5C%22%3A%5C%22share_link%5C%22%2C%5C%22mechanism%5C%22%3A%5C%22share_link%5C%22%2C%5C%22extra_data%5C%22%3A%7B%5C%22invite_link_id%5C%22%3A181488704731651%7D%7D%5D%22%7D">Jane’s Walk</a>, hosted by myself and local resident Treno Morton, in celebration of renowned urbanist Jane Jacobs.</p>
<p>Urban renewal goals in 1960s Halifax were twofold: the creation of a brand new harbourfront highway system and the removal of problematic housing. Cogswell presents a prime example of similar renewal programs criticized by Jacobs in her influential 1961 book, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/86058/the-death-and-life-of-great-american-cities-by-jane-jacobs/9780679644330"><em>The Death and Life of Great American Cities</em></a>.</p>
<p>Our walk toured the original targets of “<a href="https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/cogswell-district-redesign-need-to-know-29848549">blight removal</a>” initiated by architect <a href="https://halifaxbloggers.ca/builthalifax/2015/08/gordon-stephenson-and-the-1957-redevelopment-study-of-halifax/">Gordon Stephenson</a>, who was hired in 1957 to create a strategy for slum clearance in Halifax. </p>
<p>Having trained under Swiss-French architect and revolutionary city planner <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Le-Corbusier">Le Corbusier</a> in the early 1930s, <a href="https://cdn.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/about-the-city/archives/AboutTheCity_MunicipalArchives_SearchToolsAfricvilleResources_PDF2.pdf">Stephenson brought a modernist’s zeal to his work</a>. He produced maps with oversized dots representing perceived social ills such as households on welfare or children appearing in juvenile court. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://spacing.ca/atlantic/2010/02/22/representing-halifax-4-making-the-case-for-urban-renewal/">skewed mapping exercise</a> led to a sweeping program of erasure. Backed with federal, provincial and civic funds, homes were removed throughout the 1960s. Some people were relocated to new housing projects in the city’s North End. However, rehousing efforts were inadequate and thousands of residents were forced to move away from the district.</p>
<h2>Bridging Divides</h2>
<p>Halifax Regional Municipality’s council opted to redevelop the district in 2013. In the decade since, the municipality has conducted extensive public consultation as a <a href="https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/regional-community-planning/construction-projects/cogswell-district-redevelopment-1">“cornerstone”</a> of the planning process. </p>
<p>Thus far, the planning and design efforts have focused on street shapes and public space design, right down to fountains, bike lanes and benches. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/cogswell-district-redesign-need-to-know-29848549">However, meaningful dialogue about housing affordability and inclusion has been sidestepped</a> and land divestment remains a sensitive issue that planners and council members say they will address at some point in the future. Funds from the sale of development blocks will be used to pay for the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3027918/plans-to-demolish-cogswell-interchange-after-decades-of-talk/">cost of the project</a>, but maximizing sale revenues will not create affordable housing.</p>
<p>If the historic displacement of the African Nova Scotian community in Halifax is to be addressed in a genuine way, more substantial measures must be taken with land divestment in Cogswell District.</p>
<p>A targeted housing strategy is needed and must be supported by all orders of government responsible for the interchange debacle in the first place. Without a sincere commitment to these actions, lower-income African Nova Scotian families will continue to struggle with displacement in their city.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207878/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Hempel received funding from MITACS to conduct research on affordable housing. Hempel received funding from Halifax Public Libraries through their Artist-and-Innovator in Residence program to initiate and host community dialogue sessions on a variety of sustainability topics (including the Jane's Walk).</span></em></p>African Nova Scotians have historically suffered the negative consequences of urban redevelopment. New projects in Halifax must involve genuine engagement with racialized communities.Christine Hempel, Post-doctoral researcher, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2096562023-07-16T11:56:48Z2023-07-16T11:56:48ZHalifax lawsuit shows why sex workers need legal protections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537379/original/file-20230713-15-r2hlss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=227%2C375%2C3067%2C1822&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Being in a legal grey area means sex workers are at a disadvantage when they have been the victim of a crime or defrauded.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/halifax-lawsuit-shows-why-sex-workers-need-legal-protections" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>A sex worker in Halifax has successfully sued a client who <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-nova-scotia-sex-worker-wins-in-small-claims-court/">refused to pay for her services</a>. The defendant had tried to argue that because purchasing sex work is illegal in Canada, denying payment was not fraud because a contract <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/former-sex-worker-small-claims-court-national-precedent-1.6896597">cannot be enforceable</a>.</p>
<p>However, the court found in favour of the sex worker. The case sets a historic precedent for sex workers to be able to enforce contracts for sexual services, even if paying for sex in Canada is illegal.</p>
<p>This case demonstrates that a contract is a contract. <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/hrm-sex-worker-wins-case-against-client-who-wouldnt-pay-for-services-100870815/">As court adjudicator, Darrell Pink wrote</a>: </p>
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<p>“If civil aspects of federal tax law are applied to sex workers regarding their business earnings, as they are for all businesses, then the full range of legal principles applicable to a business, including the law of contract, apply to sex workers, along with the remedies for a breach of commercial or contractual obligations.” </p>
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<p>If sex workers have to pay taxes and have all the other burdens of business and employment, then surely their contracts have to be honoured as well.</p>
<h2>Flawed legal system</h2>
<p>The ruling also demonstrates how fundamentally flawed Canada’s asymmetrical sex work laws continue to be. The <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36fs_fi/#:%7E:text=Bill%20C-36%2C%20the%20Protection%20of%20Communities%20and%20Exploited,children%2C%20from%20the%20harms%20caused%20by%20prostitution%3B%20and"><em>Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act</em> (PCEPA)</a> was brought in by the Conservative government in 2014. It makes it legal to sell sex, but illegal to pay for sex. This means the law still ensures that sex work itself is in a grey area of criminality. </p>
<p>Being in that grey area means sex workers are at a disadvantage when they have been the victim of a crime or defrauded. It is this grey area that allowed the defendant in this lawsuit to claim there was no contract because <em>his</em> activity is illegal.</p>
<p>However, the adjudicator ruled that the client <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/hrm-sex-worker-wins-case-against-client-who-wouldnt-pay-for-services-100870815/">had accepted</a> the sex worker’s terms. “What was agreed upon was the payment of $300 per hour for the time the claimant spent with the defendant.” The sex worker stayed approximately seven hours and was therefore owed $2,100. At the time, the client paid her only $300 but has since paid her the remainder.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People holding placards protest outside a building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sex workers and their supporters gather outside the Ontario Superior Court during the launch of their constitutional challenge to Canada’s sex work laws on October 3, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin</span></span>
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<h2>Sex workers stereotyped</h2>
<p>The contents of this particular contract might surprise some people who are not aware of the lived realities of many sex workers, particularly escorts. Sex workers are often all portrayed as survival sex workers who are desperate and victimized. Trafficking is a serious issue and does occur in Canada, however, <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814794630/legalizing-prostitution">the majority of sex workers in the western world</a> do sex work voluntarily. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">I interviewed about thirty escorts</a> as part of my research on sex work in North America. Far from being victims, as assumed by Canada’s current laws, the escorts I interviewed had agency, made good money and wanted sex work for consensual adults to be decriminalized fully. They argued laws on prostitution make their lives harder because their so-called “victimhood” is based on a false dichotomy.</p>
<p>As Lucy, an escort from the U.S. midwest, stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I think the unfortunate part of the public perception of sex work is based on two factors and that’s what they see sensationalized either through the trafficking stories and the horrific stories of women or children, you know, being forced to do things against their will or the glamorized, sensationalized, high dollar, hottie, call girl specials, exposes or scandals with politicians… And those are the spectrums, the bottom end and the high end of it, and there’s this huge area in between that we never see.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lucy has many ways of ensuring her agency, safety and payment. She has strict protocols about potential clients. Most are regulars and she has a rigorous screening process involving the client’s personal and credit card information.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I plan in advance and if somebody calls me out of the blue and wants to get together for a date, I don’t accommodate those types of clients… From a liability standpoint, I feel that it’s less likely to have problems with law enforcement if I am scheduling in advance and making them schedule in advance, send me a deposit, that kind of stuff, because most of the time law enforcement is looking for desperate low hanging fruit and they’re looking for people who are going to make mistakes in their screening and usually that’s done at the last minute.”</p>
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<p>Notice that her main worry is law enforcement. That was also a common concern among other sex workers I interviewed. Because sex work is in a legal grey area, sex workers do not feel they can go to the police when there is a violent or fraudulent client and they worry about police officers themselves. </p>
<p>As another escort I interviewed, Amanda, explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Two plainclothes police officers called me and another girl to their hotel room, they had adjoining rooms. I had sex with the first person and then they said, ‘hey, you know, you can make an extra couple hundred dollars if you want to switch.’ So we switched and then we were both arrested afterwards. That is illegal… you don’t get to have sex and arrest me, that’s such a violation of my human rights. But it happens all the time.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Decriminalization</h2>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1678234888389169152"}"></div></p>
<p>Many scholars have argued in favour of <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/red-light-labour">decriminalizing adult, consensual sex work</a>. However, the federal Liberals (<a href="https://www.nswp.org/news/canadas-liberal-party-votes-support-the-decriminalisation-sex-work">who argued against PCEPA while in opposition</a> because the act replicated the harms of previous laws struck down by the Supreme Court) have little incentive to support decriminalization because of the <a href="https://catwinternational.org/press/an-open-letter-to-prime-minister-justin-trudeau/">vocal opposition of anti-prostitution activists</a>. </p>
<p>There is also little incentive for change because the public only hears the litany of negative stereotypes about sex work. As Lucy said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’re conducting adult business behind closed doors in the privacy of our own bedrooms and it’s nobody else’s business. But beyond that, because of the stigma of it, of course we’re also not allowed to talk about it. So even for those of us that have a great working experience… there’s not a lot of opportunities or outlets for us to talk about that publicly with people that are not involved in sex work itself and talk about that honestly. And so no one hears those stories.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Stories like those of Lucy and Amanda need to be told so that sex workers’ rights to bodily autonomy and their right to work are respected. This case will hopefully encourage the government to revise Canada’s prostitution laws to allow all workers the same rights and protections, including sex workers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209656/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Ralston receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>If sex workers have to pay taxes and have all the other burdens of business and employment, then surely their contracts must be honoured as well.Meredith Ralston, Professor of Women's Studies and Political Studies, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1938492022-11-10T21:28:09Z2022-11-10T21:28:09ZRemembrance Day: Trudeau’s apology to Black servicemen needs to be followed with action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494751/original/file-20221110-3879-1m8750.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C78%2C5738%2C3782&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Soldiers salute during the national apology to the No. 2 Construction Battalion in Truro, N.S. on July 9, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While it’s true that actions do speak louder than words, words do matter — especially when they’re spoken with honesty and sincerity and are the precursor to meaningful action. </p>
<p>This was the prevailing sentiment within Black communities in Canada following <a href="https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2022/07/09/prime-minister-delivers-apology-descendants-no-2-construction">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s apology in July 2022</a> to the descendants of the Black men who served with the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/no-2-construction-battalion">No. 2 Construction Battalion</a> during the First World War. </p>
<p>The No. 2 Battalion sailed for Europe from Halifax in March 1917. The No. 2 totalled 614 men, far fewer than the roughly 1,000 that usually make up a battalion. </p>
<p>It was the only battalion-sized segregated unit in the <a href="https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/life-at-the-front/military-structure/the-canadian-expeditionary-force/">Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)</a> and it existed because commanding officers routinely and callously rejected Black men who wanted to fight for the country. </p>
<p>As letters, memos and other military records archived from the war years indicate, commanding officers and white recruits felt that the conflict was a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6147380/black-canadians-soldiers-world-war-racism/">white man’s war</a>. Anti-Black racism also led many to believe that Black men were not fighting material. </p>
<p>In one instance, a major-general who served as Canada’s Chief of the General Staff confidently declared that in the trenches “the civilized negro” was “not likely to make a good fighter.” </p>
<p>Those attitudes prevailed even after surviving members of the battalion returned to Canada. Historical records reveal that the men did not even receive the public expressions of thanks extended to other returnees. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494748/original/file-20221110-14-1mf3u3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elderly man in military uniform holds a black and white photo of a younger man also in uniform" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494748/original/file-20221110-14-1mf3u3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494748/original/file-20221110-14-1mf3u3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494748/original/file-20221110-14-1mf3u3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494748/original/file-20221110-14-1mf3u3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494748/original/file-20221110-14-1mf3u3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494748/original/file-20221110-14-1mf3u3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494748/original/file-20221110-14-1mf3u3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peter Richards holds a picture of battalion member Percy James Richards during the national apology to the No. 2 Construction Battalion in Truro, N.S. on July 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A first step</h2>
<p>Although there are those who have criticized Trudeau for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-national-apology-advisory-committee-canada-justin-trudeau-armed-forces-systemic-racism-discrimination-11657656307">“weaken[ing]the currency of national apologies by issuing so many,”</a> many Black Canadians were glad that he gave it. </p>
<p>His apology did not shy away from naming racism and anti-Black hate as the reason for the horrific treatment of the No. 2 men. It acknowledged that racism and anti-Black hate are still a problem <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8784238/canadian-forces-systemic-racism-repulsing-new-recruits/">in the Canadian military and elsewhere</a>. </p>
<p>The apology directly linked the anti-Black racism experienced by the men of the No. 2 Construction Battalion to the widespread systemic racism in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) today. <a href="https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/speeches/2022/07/09/prime-ministers-remarks-apologize-descendants-no-2-construction-battalion">Trudeau committed his government and the military to effecting</a> “meaningful change, where the dignity of all service members in the Canadian Armed Forces is upheld. Where everyone is welcome; where everyone can rise through the ranks; where everyone has opportunities to distinguish themselves.” </p>
<p>Exactly how these outcomes will be achieved remains to be seen. In 2016, <a href="https://www.stewartmckelvey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/StatementofClaim_as_issued_ForcesClassAction.pdf">a class-action claim</a> filed on behalf of Black and other racialized personnel detailed the trauma and career consequences many have experienced due to unchecked racism in the CAF, including being silenced when they step forward with complaints and having their careers cut short. </p>
<p>At the apology ceremony, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2022/07/apology-by-minister-of-national-defence-anita-anand-to-the-descendants-of-no-2-construction-battalion.html">Defence Minister Anita Anand said</a> she’s “committed to eliminating systemic racism so that the discrimination faced by the Number 2 Construction Battalion and those who followed never happens again.” She added that the Department of Defense must “begin working on [the National Apology Advisory Committee’s] recommendations now.” </p>
<p>“Now” is the operative word, and meaningful change will depend on the government and Armed Forces following through with that promise.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494750/original/file-20221110-16-5jyhv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white man in a dark suit shakes hands with an elderly black man wearing a shirt and tie and military cap." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494750/original/file-20221110-16-5jyhv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494750/original/file-20221110-16-5jyhv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494750/original/file-20221110-16-5jyhv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494750/original/file-20221110-16-5jyhv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494750/original/file-20221110-16-5jyhv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494750/original/file-20221110-16-5jyhv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494750/original/file-20221110-16-5jyhv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with a descendant during the national apology to the No. 2 Construction Battalion in Truro, N.S. on July 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A path forward</h2>
<p>Of course, the fact that the apology was made in 2022 is an indication that federal apologies like this one are not all about altruism and moral conscience but are in large part the result of pressure (sometimes decades-long) from communities.</p>
<p>So the point is not lost on some observers that the intent to apologize, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2021/03/government-of-canada-planning-apology-to-the-no-2-construction-battalion.html">announced on March 28, 2021</a>, came in the aftermath of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd-protests-timeline.html">police killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that followed</a>.</p>
<p>Despite sneers against critical race theory from certain political factions and the constant drumbeat against political correctness and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ron-desantis-florida-where-woke-goes-to-die-midterm-election-win/">being “woke,”</a> there has been a noticeable shift toward a better understanding of anti-Black racism and the various insidious and overt forms that it takes. </p>
<p>This is our zeitgeist. There’s a sense within Black communities that Black people’s moment, though it’s not here quite yet, is closer on the horizon and the prime minister’s apology has aligned with the times.</p>
<p>But things cannot start and end with the apology. If the prime minister and his government are truly committed to meaningful change, then Black communities need to see words followed up by action. </p>
<p>The government and military need to respond seriously to the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/army/services/events/2-construction-battalion/apology-advisory.html#recommendations">key recommendations</a> put forward by the National Apology Advisory Committee that require post-apology action. They must also work with Black communities and the CAF to implement initiatives that bring about the changes that Black people themselves would like to see. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494762/original/file-20221110-13-ju3g6k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A series of small green flags with an emblem, names and No.2 Construction Battalion written on them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494762/original/file-20221110-13-ju3g6k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494762/original/file-20221110-13-ju3g6k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494762/original/file-20221110-13-ju3g6k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494762/original/file-20221110-13-ju3g6k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494762/original/file-20221110-13-ju3g6k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494762/original/file-20221110-13-ju3g6k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494762/original/file-20221110-13-ju3g6k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flags on display at the national apology to the No. 2 Construction Battalion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the July apology ceremony, it was announced that the venue in Truro, N.S., where the event took place — and where the No. 2 performed training exercises — <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/we-are-sorry-trudeau-delivers-apology-in-truro-to-no-2-construction-battalion-and-descendants-100751798/">would be renamed in honour of the battalion</a>. </p>
<p>But post-apology actions need to go beyond simply honoring and commemorating. They need to be <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/reparations-no-2-battalion-federal-apology-1.6512240">truly reparative</a>.</p>
<p>Justice Minister David Lametti recently announced that the government will <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/news/2022/11/minister-lametti-to-make-a-funding-announcement0.html">provide funding</a> for a <a href="https://www.blacklegalactioncentre.ca/">Black Legal Action Centre</a> project that “addresses the over-representation of individuals from Black communities in the criminal justice system in Toronto.” </p>
<p>A day earlier, the Toronto International Film Festival announced its decision to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/tiff-rename-cinema-viola-desmond-1.6644256">rename its largest cinema after civil rights activist Viola Desmond</a> and also pledged to <a href="https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/toronto-international-film-festival-renames-cinema-for-activist-viola-desmond-1.6145404">“raise $2 million over the next five years to provide support to Black women creators [and] develop programming for Black audiences.”</a> </p>
<p>Both provide good reparative models. They aim to simultaneously educate and redress. Whether post-apology actions are targeted exclusively at the descendants of the No. 2 Battalion and Black men who served in the First World War or all personnel who have experienced racism, their effectiveness should be measured by how well they correct misleading narratives about Black military service in Canada.</p>
<p>They should also examine how well the related funding and initiatives ameliorate the anti-Black racism experienced by target groups.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hyacinth Simpson has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s apology to Black soldiers who served in the First World War was a good first step, but real action is needed to address racism in the Canadian Armed Forces.Hyacinth Simpson, Associate Professor, Department of English and Dimensions Faculty Chair, Faculty of Arts, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1671662021-09-22T17:55:07Z2021-09-22T17:55:07ZThe solution to homeless encampments is making them unnecessary, not illegal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420581/original/file-20210910-27-1n757d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C0%2C3600%2C2382&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman prepares to pack her belongings during an eviction process at a homeless encampment in Toronto last June.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of people visibly living in encampments has <a href="https://www.thefreepress.ca/news/rise-in-homeless-tent-cities-encampments-linked-to-health-confidence-advocate/">increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic</a>. This has led to cities — including Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver — to <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-launches-program-to-help-encampment-residents-move-into-city-run-hotels-1.5349247">work with encampment residents to move them into shelters, hotel spaces and more rarely, stable housing</a>.</p>
<p>When those offers are declined, the next step can be the removal of residents’ belongings, and sometimes — such as recent events <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/07/21/homeless-encampment-lamport-stadium-park/">in Toronto</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/arrests-made-as-halifax-protestors-stand-against-clearing-of-shelters-from-city-land-1.6144592">Halifax</a> — violent evictions by police. </p>
<p>As researchers who work to improve the health and well-being of people who experience of homelessness, we are deeply concerned about the long-term consequences of this approach. Not only is it morally questionable to punish the most vulnerable, it isn’t an effective strategy for addressing homelessness. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-turning-homelessness-into-a-crime-is-cruel-and-costly-97290">Criminalizing poverty doesn’t work</a>.</p>
<h2>Encampment life is difficult</h2>
<p>The first step in addressing this problem is understanding the answer to this basic question: Why are some people in encampments insisting on staying where they are?</p>
<p>Encampment life is difficult. Year-round exposure to the elements and lack of running water or sanitation can make daily survival an enormous challenge. Yet, some do not feel safe in the shelter spaces they are being offered. </p>
<p>In Toronto, the number of violent incidents in shelters has more than doubled from <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/like-a-rat-cage-toronto-s-homeless-describe-packed-shelters-surge-in-violence-and-death-1.5471155">120 incidents in 2016 to 368 in January 2021</a>. And in April 2021, there were <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-shelters-in-outbreak-unhoused-people-one-death-covid-19-1.6003201">COVID-19 outbreaks across 20 shelters</a>.</p>
<p>Although the city of Toronto reports that <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/311/knowledgebase/kb/docs/articles/social-development,-finance-and-administration/homeless-encampments-covid-19.html">1,670 people have been referred to inside</a> spaces since April 2020, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/07/30/torontos-mayor-urged-homeless-camp-occupants-to-enter-the-shelter-system-saying-its-a-pathway-to-permanent-housing-for-the-majority-that-has-yet-to-happen.html">only nine per cent</a> of those people have been moved into stable housing. The rest are still in shelters or hotel rooms. With little hope of moving into stable housing, people may be skeptical of leaving encampments only to get stuck in the shelter system. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7955520/toronto-homeless-encampments-clearing-safety/">encampment residents may feel that their mental health and well-being depends on the support systems they’ve established in their encampments</a>. Being homeless comes with powerful stigma and social exclusion — but an encampment can be a place to belong.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Advocates and supporters link arms to protect a structure during an eviction process at a homeless encampment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420582/original/file-20210910-26-lyxm8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420582/original/file-20210910-26-lyxm8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420582/original/file-20210910-26-lyxm8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420582/original/file-20210910-26-lyxm8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420582/original/file-20210910-26-lyxm8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420582/original/file-20210910-26-lyxm8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420582/original/file-20210910-26-lyxm8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Advocates and supporters link arms to protect a structure during an eviction process at a homeless encampment in Toronto last.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Destroying trust</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.make-the-shift.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/A-National-Protocol-for-Homeless-Encampments-in-Canada.pdf">Encampments are not long-term options</a>. People cannot live in public parks indefinitely, and no one is arguing for that as a solution. However, forcibly displacing people from encampments destroys trust with service providers and actually makes it harder to convince people to move into shelters or hotel spaces. </p>
<p>For Indigenous people living in encampments, forced evictions can be linked to intergenerational memories and trauma of <a href="https://twitter.com/ZoeDodd/status/1420079984643817472">residential schools, the ‘60s Scoop and other colonial practices</a>. Exacerbating trauma and breaching trust can push people further away from the very services we are trying to connect them to — including housing programs, mental health support and COVID-19 vaccination efforts.</p>
<p>The end-goal is stable housing. Encampments are a result of a <a href="https://www.make-the-shift.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/A-National-Protocol-for-Homeless-Encampments-in-Canada.pdf">national housing and affordability crisis</a>. As we push for a real solution — an increase in housing supply and related supports — the encampment evictions must stop. We need to make encampments unnecessary. </p>
<h2>Building trusting relationships</h2>
<p>We can make encampments unnecessary with a trauma-informed, person-centred approach that builds trusting relationships between service providers and clients. Not all individuals have the same needs, and we need to offer people a range of options: hotel spaces, rent supplements, case managers, peer support workers and other social and health supports.</p>
<p>When offering people spaces, we must recognize that people are part of existing communities and these connections are vital to their well-being. Allowing people to move in groups to the same locations can help people combat social isolation, stay housed and support their mental health. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman drinks from a plastic water bottle as she walks through a bunch of tents at a homeless encampment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420583/original/file-20210910-25-qmisbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420583/original/file-20210910-25-qmisbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420583/original/file-20210910-25-qmisbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420583/original/file-20210910-25-qmisbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420583/original/file-20210910-25-qmisbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420583/original/file-20210910-25-qmisbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420583/original/file-20210910-25-qmisbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Being homeless comes with powerful stigma and social exclusion – but an encampment can be a place to belong.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some incredible work has already been done. In September of last year, the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/privy-council/campaigns/speech-throne/2020/speech-from-the-throne.html">federal government announced a goal to end chronic homelessness</a>. During the pandemic, federal, provincial and municipal governments <a href="https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021MUNI0014-000291">mobilized resources, developed solutions and coordinated efforts in unprecedented ways</a> — <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-oct-12-2020-1.5757769/pandemic-is-creating-a-new-type-of-homelessness-says-outreach-worker-1.5757770">including in encampments</a> — and bolstered investments in affordable housing development. </p>
<p>Some cities, such as Victoria, have committed to full-scale <a href="https://pub-victoria.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=69943">transformation of the homeless-serving system</a>, rooted in a right to housing and human-rights approach.</p>
<p>Our hope is that the unprecedented efforts from governments and community groups are just the beginning of a more humane, consistent and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-it-is-possible-to-end-chronic-homelessness-if-we-act-now/">evidence-based approach</a> to addressing chronic homelessness in Canada. There is momentum now, and with it the newly elected federal government has an opportunity and responsibility to move people off the streets and into safe, permanent homes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167166/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jesse Jenkinson receives funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Hwang receives research funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research and St. Michael's Hospital Foundation. Stephen is also the director of MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Unity Health Toronto, and a physician at St. Michael's Hospital.</span></em></p>As we push for a real solution — an increase in housing supply and related supports — the encampment evictions must stop. We need to make encampments unnecessary.Jesse Jenkinson, Postdoctoral Fellow, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, University of TorontoStephen Hwang, Professor, Department of Medicine, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1325832020-03-04T18:46:44Z2020-03-04T18:46:44ZAffordable housing: It’s not just a big city problem anymore<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317635/original/file-20200227-24676-b3xvxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C452%2C3025%2C1557&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People in Atlantic Canada cities, including Charlottetown, are nervous about rising house prices as young people return and immigration fuels economic growth.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Awareness of affordability issues and the crunch to find suitable housing has made national headlines and was a focal issue in the 2019 <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5925997/leger-poll-affordability-canada-election/">federal election</a>. </p>
<p>The rising cost of housing in Canada’s three largest cities — Toronto, Vancouver <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/business/local-business/real-estate/montreal-housing-market-posts-largest-price-increase-in-nine-years">and Montréal</a> — has gained a lot of attention. It has pushed many people to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/article-vancouvers-affordability-crisis-is-hampering-its-much-touted/">smaller secondary urban centres</a> and is linked to the renaissance of Canada’s mid- and small-sized cities.</p>
<p>Atlantic Canadian cities, for example, are now booming after decades of stagnation. This is in large part due to <a href="https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/halifax-gets-bigger-younger-richer-halifax-partnerships-annual-index-report-323090/">young people returning to the region and the rise of immigration</a>, which are changing the face of the region’s cities and fuelling their economies, but also putting pressure on their affordability.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-newcomer-entrepreneurs-are-making-a-difference-in-atlantic-canada-95770">How newcomer entrepreneurs are making a difference in Atlantic Canada</a>
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<p>Cities in Atlantic Canada sell their high quality of life, their smaller size and their comparative lower cost of living compared to other cities across the country. But smaller communities cannot take it for granted that these features will not change as they attract more people. </p>
<p>A new report from the <a href="http://perceptionsofchange.ca/AffordabilityReport2019.pdf">Perceptions of Change project</a> investigated how residents in the region’s major cities perceive recent changes, and found that people are largely supportive of economic changes but are concerned about affordability.</p>
<p>A clear majority of residents surveyed in Charlottetown, Moncton, Halifax and St. John’s — 60 per cent across the four cities — feel that the economic changes over the past five to 10 years have been “for the better.” There is much consensus on this issue, save for St. John’s where a majority of people felt things had turned for the worse. This is likely tied to the fall in the price of oil and its effects on the Newfoundland and Labrador economy.</p>
<h2>People feel incomes are rising</h2>
<p>People in the four cities also largely found that incomes were improving over the past five to 10 years. Across those cities, 59 per cent felt that people in their city had higher incomes in recent years. </p>
<p>The only outlier, again, was St. John’s, which is likely tied to the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/newfoundlands-economic-woes/article29297377/">economic downturn</a> that the city and Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole have faced since the collapse of oil prices in 2014 to early 2015.</p>
<p>Even so, a greater share of St. John’s residents felt there was more income rather than less, and the majority felt that things were about the same.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317636/original/file-20200227-24676-9kgrm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317636/original/file-20200227-24676-9kgrm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317636/original/file-20200227-24676-9kgrm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317636/original/file-20200227-24676-9kgrm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317636/original/file-20200227-24676-9kgrm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317636/original/file-20200227-24676-9kgrm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317636/original/file-20200227-24676-9kgrm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A resident digs a path from his house in St. John’s in January 2020 following a record-breaking blizzard. People in St. John’s don’t feel incomes are rising in their city.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clearly, people living in Atlantic Canadian cities are seeing economic growth and the benefits of newcomers and young people. </p>
<p>However, that positive sentiment is paired with concern over neighbourhood affordability in the region’s major cities, where a clear majority of people, 58 per cent, report that their neighbourhood is less affordable compared to five to 10 years ago.</p>
<p>The concerns are highest in Charlottetown and Halifax, with 75 per cent and 63 per cent of residents surveyed expressing this sentiment, respectively. </p>
<p>Both <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/peis-big-immigration-boom/article4288057/">Charlottetown</a> and <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/welcome-to-boomtown-halifax-the-anti-toronto-1.3486772">Halifax</a> have both seen significant growth as a result of newcomers arriving through the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/atlantic-immigration-pilot.html">Atlantic Immigration Pilot program</a> and an increase in the <a href="https://www.canadavisa.com/provincial-nomination-program.html#gs.yas5i9">Provincial Nominee Programs</a>. They also have seen a rise in <a href="https://www.theloop.ca/ctvnews/report-shows-rental-prices-rising-in-canada-in-part-because-of-short-term-rentals/">short-term rentals</a> through services like Airbnb. </p>
<p>And in Halifax, there has been an increase <a href="https://www.thestar.com/halifax/2019/06/17/more-young-people-living-in-halifax-despite-dip-in-quality-of-life-report-shows.html">in young people</a> moving to the city.</p>
<h2>Young people most concerned</h2>
<p>When the concern is broken down by demographic characteristics, little difference is seen between women and men, across different relationship statuses, among those with and without immigrant status, among those who identify or who do not identify as visible minorities, and across income groups. </p>
<p>For each of these groups, a clear majority of people are concerned about affordability. Notable differences, however, are seen among those who are young and those who have higher levels of education.</p>
<p>The concern over affordability was most pronounced for those who are younger. Sixty-seven per cent of people age 18 to 34 years felt their neighbourhood was less affordable, compared to 54 per cent of those who are 65 years and older. Generally, the level of concern drops among older residents surveyed. </p>
<p>In Halifax and Charlottetown, this is evident as students <a href="https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/students-scrambling-for-apartments-as-halifax-vacancy-rate-hits-all-time-low-1.4566346">scramble for apartments</a> amid concerns of a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-upei-housing-shortage-1.5265652">housing shortage</a>. Policy-makers and communities should pay close attention to concerns expressed by young people because they represent the very demographic Atlantic Canadian cities are trying to attract because they drive economic growth.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317644/original/file-20200227-24701-14gkapf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317644/original/file-20200227-24701-14gkapf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317644/original/file-20200227-24701-14gkapf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317644/original/file-20200227-24701-14gkapf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317644/original/file-20200227-24701-14gkapf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317644/original/file-20200227-24701-14gkapf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317644/original/file-20200227-24701-14gkapf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Dalhousie University building is seen in this May 2015 photo. Students have scrambled for housing in the city.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Pittman</span></span>
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<p>A greater share of people with higher levels of education also expressed concerns over affordability. </p>
<p>Twenty-six per cent of people with less than a high school education felt their neighbourhood was less affordable compared to 67 per cent of participants with a professional or postgraduate degree. </p>
<h2>Region needs professionals</h2>
<p>Like youth, professionals are the very type of people Atlantic Canadian cities are trying to attract. In fact, like other cities across North America, they are actively pursuing young professionals. However, both groups are concerned with affordability in Atlantic Canadian cities.</p>
<p>Although young people and professionals may be moving to the region’s cities and driving its economy, their concerns over affordability pose a challenge to sustaining recent positive momentum unless policy-makers and communities act to ensure that affordability is preserved.</p>
<p>It’s important for Atlantic Canadian leaders and cities to avoid the mistakes made in the country’s largest cities, where people are being pushed out due to high housing prices.</p>
<p>It is time for policy-makers, planners and developers in secondary cities to recognize the need to invest in affordable and social housing. They can no longer rely on selling quality of life alone if that lifestyle is changing quickly as more people move to the region.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132583/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Howard Ramos receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Kay receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>In Atlantic Canada, leaders must avoid the mistakes made in the country’s largest cities where people are being pushed out due to high housing prices.Howard Ramos, Professor of Sociology, Dalhousie UniversityEmma Kay, PhD Student, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1057632018-11-14T23:50:32Z2018-11-14T23:50:32ZYoung refugees have unique needs that require special support<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244440/original/file-20181107-74760-96x8p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A young boy, part of a Syrian refugee family, arrives in Canada in February 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.unicef.org/world-childrens-day">World Children’s Day</a> is approaching on Nov. 20. In a time of so much global conflict, the need to protect the rights of young people has only increased. World Children’s Day was established in 1954, and it was 28 years ago that the UN General Assembly adopted the <a href="http://undocs.org/A/RES/44/25">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. </p>
<p>Globally there are <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html">65.8 million people</a> who are displaced, usually because of violence and armed conflict. For many refugees who have come to Canada, there was little “prep time” and probably not much choice in where they would be settled. </p>
<p>Integrating into a new home has some obvious challenges: A new language, new culture, different weather. There are a lot of adjustments, especially for children and young people who have come from situations of violence, disruption and displacement.</p>
<p>The Canadian province of Nova Scotia has long been a recipient of newcomers from around the world, usually about 200 to 300 annually. However, within the first year of Canada’s commitment to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees in 2016, <a href="https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/4a1b260a-7ac4-4985-80a0-603bfe4aec11">Nova Scotia</a> received 1,475 Syrian people, almost five times the usual number of refugees who are settled in the province each year. </p>
<p>The province just passed the three-year anniversary of this commitment on Nov. 4. Considering that over half of this population are under the age of 17, it is important for us to assess the state of youth services and supports that are available.</p>
<h2>How has Nova Scotia helped youth settle in?</h2>
<p>This influx of newcomers has shone a bright light on the current resettlement process in Nova Scotia.</p>
<p>We know relatively little about how smaller jurisdictions like Halifax have been able to respond. Each province is responsible for the resettlement of refugees in their region, and the organizations that partner with this process in Nova Scotia are doing great work despite their unprecedented workload. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245541/original/file-20181114-194494-xc5q7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245541/original/file-20181114-194494-xc5q7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245541/original/file-20181114-194494-xc5q7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245541/original/file-20181114-194494-xc5q7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245541/original/file-20181114-194494-xc5q7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245541/original/file-20181114-194494-xc5q7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245541/original/file-20181114-194494-xc5q7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Teachers Shelley Manthorne, left, and Julie Jebailey work with young students from Syria at Joseph Howe Elementary in Halifax in March 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
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<p>There are 35 organizations across the country that have partnered directly with the federal government as part of the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP). In the case of Nova Scotia, the <a href="http://www.isans.ca/">Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS)</a> is the body responsible for the settlement of refugees. The majority settled in the Halifax area, according to ISANS. </p>
<p>As part of my PhD research, I have been interviewing people across Halifax who serve our refugee youth. Often the message from service providers concerns the lack of money, people or other resources to do the work that’s needed. </p>
<h2>Not enough resources</h2>
<p>A common sentiment I hear is a general agreement with the federal government’s decision to bring refugees to our country, but a frustration with the inadequate resources made available to support their resettlement.</p>
<p>The responsibility for serving refugee children and youth in the Halifax area has largely been delegated to the <a href="http://www.ymcahfx.ca/ymca-programs/programs/locations-2/ymca-immigrant-centre/">YMCA Immigration Services</a> and <a href="http://www.ymcahfx.ca/ymca-school-settlement/">school settlement workers</a> who are a committed and passionate group of people. </p>
<p>However, outside of the YMCA, there has been very little cohesive effort to provide young people with services tailored to their unique needs. The question that needs to be answered is: How can Halifax, as a city, meet the specific needs of newcomer youth? </p>
<p>To answer this, we need to engage these young people and hear what they have to say. </p>
<p>Creating space for youth engagement means that there are opportunities for young people to be involved in programs that are intended for them. This engagement focuses on the positive contribution that young people can make to programs and their effectiveness. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244439/original/file-20181107-74754-1lzvn2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244439/original/file-20181107-74754-1lzvn2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244439/original/file-20181107-74754-1lzvn2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244439/original/file-20181107-74754-1lzvn2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244439/original/file-20181107-74754-1lzvn2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244439/original/file-20181107-74754-1lzvn2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244439/original/file-20181107-74754-1lzvn2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Ayash family from Syria pose for a photograph as they arrive at the Halifax airport in February 2016. The family was sponsored by a Nova Scotia community group.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>There are so many amazing Halifax residents serving this population, but without the time or resources to take on this kind of research. </p>
<p>The Nova Scotia government, in partnership with ISANS and the Child and Youth Refugee Research Coalition (CYRRC), has recently approached experts in the field to help coordinate a study with young people about their resettlement experience as it relates to finding employment. This is a positive step in the right direction, though more of these types of projects are needed.</p>
<h2>Youth have unique needs</h2>
<p>There is a glaring gap in our federal immigration policy relating to young newcomers. Outside of unaccompanied minors and asylum-seekers, refugee children and youth are addressed as part of the family unit. Services follow this pattern. </p>
<p>While family-focused settlement is very important, we cannot overlook the specific needs of young people. Adequate language training, opportunities to engage with the community other young people their age, appropriate mental health support and employment opportunities are just a few of the needs that must be addressed.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1062148163857997825"}"></div></p>
<p>Refugee youth have huge potential to positively impact our communities. </p>
<p>As provinces and municipalities, we have an opportunity to engage thoughtful, strong and influential young people in shaping relevant resettlement supports that really reach young people where they are. We need to make sure we do right by our youth, because their future is Canada’s future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105763/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Pelley is affiliated with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia as a volunteer. </span></em></p>On this World Children’s Day, we need to critically assess how Canada’s doing helping young refugees settle into their new homes and their new lives.Emily Pelley, PhD Candidate, Interdisciplinary Program, Dalhousie University, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1051052018-11-06T23:09:29Z2018-11-06T23:09:29ZMS St. Louis apology: How novels can teach us about our past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244165/original/file-20181106-74751-1n6djq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Passengers aboard the MS St. Louis from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa18717">Courtesy of Dr. Liane Reif-Lehrer. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In an effort to acknowledge historical injustices, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to apologize on Nov. 7 for <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-st-louis-november-seven-1.4813667">Canada’s 1939 decision to turn away refugees fleeing the Nazis</a>. Many of the 907 passengers on board the MS St. Louis at the Halifax port were German Jews; <a href="http://www.cjnews.com/perspectives/pre-apology-st-louis-canadas-determination-keep-jews-out">254 of them later died in the Holocaust but the majority survived the war.</a></p>
<p>In 2012, the U.S. State Department issued an apology on behalf of the officials who also refused to allow the MS St. Louis to dock. As part of the ceremony, survivors <a href="http://www.shfwire.com/state-department-apologizes-jewish-refugees/">who eventually came to the U.S. shared their stories.</a></p>
<p>Such gestures are essential, but also require continued humility and reflection even by those nations which claim to be most welcoming. We must continue to learn from our mistakes without relegating them to the past. </p>
<p>As a professor of literature, I believe stories have the power to teach us about our past. In this case, an American novel about Canada may provide some of the education we need. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The power of novels to teach us history.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Howard Norman’s 2011 book, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/books/review/Wallace-t.html"><em>What is Left the Daughter</em>, offers a pointed and complex portrait of the antisemitism and xenophobia experienced by German Jews in pre- and post- Second World War Nova Scotia.</a> Norman, the grandson of Polish Jews who journeyed to Halifax by sea to escape religious persecution before migrating to the U.S., provides a multidimensional exploration of the impact of antisemitism on German Jews in Nova Scotia. </p>
<p>The novel also draws provocative parallels with the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation-of-the-acadians-feature">inhumane deportation of the early francophone settlers of Nova Scotia, the Acadians,</a> reminding readers of a much lengthier Canadian history of <a href="https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/mapping-acadian-deportations">dispossession and exile motivated by race, ethnicity and language.</a></p>
<p>By presenting these stories through fiction, Norman asks readers to reflect on Canada’s shortcomings while exploring the motivations and emotions of characters who must learn to live with their actions, then and now.</p>
<h2>Cautionary tales of antisemitism</h2>
<p><em>What is Left the Daughter</em> offers a cautionary tale about asserting Canada’s present moral authority without probing its past. The story opens with Wyatt Hillyer, a teen from Halifax who moves to rural Nova Scotia to live with his Aunt Constance and Uncle Donald after the suicide of his parents. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244161/original/file-20181106-74763-1ar3y7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244161/original/file-20181106-74763-1ar3y7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244161/original/file-20181106-74763-1ar3y7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244161/original/file-20181106-74763-1ar3y7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244161/original/file-20181106-74763-1ar3y7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244161/original/file-20181106-74763-1ar3y7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244161/original/file-20181106-74763-1ar3y7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244161/original/file-20181106-74763-1ar3y7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Houghton Mifflin</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Wyatt falls in love with Tilda, his aunt and uncle’s adopted daughter, but Tilda has other plans. She meets and marries Hans Mohring, a German Jew who had come to Dalhousie University in Halifax to continue his education, away from the threat of Nazis. Mohring’s family was forced to flee to Denmark in 1935 to escape persecution. </p>
<p>In Norman’s story, Canada cannot keep Hans Mohring or other German Jews safe. When Hans meets Tilda, his shirt is buttoned up to conceal the bruises from a recent beating in Halifax. Shortly after, in a tragic turn of events, Aunt Constance is killed by a German U-Boat while travelling on a ferry from Halifax to St. John’s, <a href="https://www.capebretonpost.com/opinion/vanessa-childs-rolls-wartime-sinking-of-caribou-terrifying-event-159796/">an event that replicates the real-life downing of a civilian ferry, the Caribou, in 1942.</a> </p>
<p>Angry about the death of his wife, Donald murders Hans, and with Wyatt’s help, throws his body into the Bay of Fundy. After serving a prison term for aiding and abetting in the murder, Wyatt learns how Donald’s antisemitism has been replicated on a larger scale in Halifax.</p>
<h2>Canada’s xenophobic history</h2>
<p>Wyatt works as part of a harbour cleanup crew at the same site where the MS St. Louis was refused refuge. His co-worker, an amateur historian specializing in Canadian immigration, explains that while Canada may have participated in the Second World War, the Canadian government <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/holocaust">refused to admit Jewish displaced persons until several years after the end of the war</a> and then only in small numbers compared to other Western nations. </p>
<p>His co-worker describes the historical existence of <a href="http://halifaxmag.com/opinions/not-the-city-i-knew/">signage prohibiting Jews from access to sports clubs and public pools in Halifax even after WWII</a>, traces of which remain faintly visible, despite efforts to erase them from view. </p>
<p>The conversation coincides with the arrival of a passenger ship of Hungarian refugees at Halifax Harbour, whom Wyatt watches walk down the gangway. Wyatt imagines the return of Tilda and their daughter Marlais, who went to live with Hans’ parents in Denmark following Hans’ murder. </p>
<p>Shortly after, Wyatt learns that Tilda has also died. </p>
<h2>Francophones resist silencing for generations</h2>
<p>Norman also links his novel to another dispossessed population, whose descendants continue to face explicit xenophobia and prejudice in the Atlantic region: the Acadians. The Acadians’ <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation-of-the-acadians-feature">desire to remain neutral in conflicts between Britain and France led to their brutal expulsion between 1755 and 1764 by a combination of British and American forces.</a> </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/peoples-alliance-election-night-1.4835299">recent rise of the right-leaning People’s Alliance in the New Brunswick’s election</a> is evidence that this xenophobia has not dissipated. The People’s Alliance party openly campaigned for <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/dbb70e_2b8427a0014d4614a6f4e4badd857e12.pdf">the elimination of dual language government services in an officially bilingual province,</a> targeting measures instituted to protect francophone speaking populations and the province’s Acadian heritage. </p>
<p>The rural Nova Scotia town where the protagonist, Wyatt Hillyer, goes after losing his parents is situated directly across a narrow bay from <a href="https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/ns/grandpre">Grand Pré, the Acadian community made famous in Longfellow’s <em>Evangeline</em> as the location of the Great Deportation of 1755.</a> At the end of Norman’s novel, Wyatt suggests that he meet with Marlais, at a restaurant overlooking the Tidal Bore in Truro, a locale that looks toward the site of the Deportation. </p>
<p><em>What Is Left the Daughter</em> was published in the same year that Jewish-American architect Daniel Libeskind unveiled his “Wheel of Conscience,” a monument to the MS St. Louis, at Pier 21 in Halifax. The glass back of the memorial is <a href="https://libeskind.com/work/the-wheel-of-conscience/">engraved with the names of all of the ship’s passengers.</a> </p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-2003-cbc-massey-lectures-the-truth-about-stories-a-native-narrative-1.2946870">2003 CBC Massey Lecture, <em>The Truth About Stories</em>, Indigenous writer Thomas King</a> cautions readers about overlooking or dismissing the power of stories to create empathy, take action and change behaviour: “Don’t say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You’ve heard it now.” </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Andrews received a SSHRC IDG 2014-2017 which helped to fund the research for this article.</span></em></p>We can learn a lot about our past from fictional stories. In ‘What is Left the Daughter,’ author Howard Norman presents a cautionary tale from the Second World War of xenophobia and prejudice.Jennifer Andrews, Professor of English literature, University of New BrunswickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.