Social

Today, those friends in the labour movement stepped up with a massive amount of money to help the B.C. Teachers' Federation combat the Christy Clark government.

The B.C. Nurses' Union has given the teachers' hardship fund $500,000. It comes at a time when teachers are not receiving strike pay.

Teachers in British Columbia will be on the picket lines beginning next Monday May 26 after 16 months of failed contract talks. The strike is province-wide and rotating – teachers will strike one day per week in each school district. (see dates for each district here). The government has also notified teachers Wednesday May 21 that they will be “locked out” effective May 26 for only certain activities.

On January 1, 2013, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, became the largest city in the world to make mass transit free for its residents. While the effects of having done this are, of course, specific to the context of the city itself, it has shown that a major city can do it and that it has been widely popular with its residents. It has also focused attention on a growing international movement of groups, activists and parties who feel that free mass transit in major urban areas is an important social and environmental goal to be worked toward in the near future.

Harry Neufeld, who wrote a report on problems in the last federal election, is warning of the potential for more abuse at polling stations if one part of the government's proposed fair elections act goes ahead. Neufeld, B.C.'s former chief electoral officer and now an independent electoral management consultant, wrote the compliance review that identified polling problems in the 2011 election and made recommendations on how to fix them.

EDMONTON - Some Peace River area doctors are afraid to speak out about health impacts of oil and gas activity and in some cases have declined to treat area residents who wondered if their health problems were related to emissions, says one of two independent health experts hired by the Alberta Energy Regulator.

...this is not about differences between rich and poor: the poor can be as susceptible to materialism as the rich. It is a general social affliction, visited upon us by government policy, corporate strategy, the collapse of communities and civic life and our acquiescence in a system that is eating us from the inside out.

. . . she wonders whether "there may be a time when the weather conditions change so drastically that we cannot safely travel on the ice" at all. Each mild winter Williams experiences -- and lately there have been a lot of them -- brings her closer to that "heartbreaking" reality. "To be a part of a culture and a people that has a necessary connection to nature and the outdoors and is used to living in a certain way -- to see that slipping away is scary," she lamented in a video posted to YouTube.

Commentary by Ann Grant

What are our priorities in British Columbia and where do we put our resources?

This week is the big, annual fund drive by the food banks in BC to raise money for their operations.  CBC Radio One is devoting its local programming on Dec. 6 to its annual fund drive for them. Food banks began in the province 31 years ago and were supposed to be an “emergency” response to food needs at the time.  After all these years of a “temporary” measure, they are still going strong!

First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition released their annual report this week, showing that BC is once again the worst province in Canada when it comes to child poverty. While the statistics are dismal, the report has received an incredible amount of attention, a hopeful sign that British Columbians care and are ready for their government to take action. Together we can make this happen, so here are some ideas of what you can do: