By Kendall Worth!
So today, August 25th, 2024 means that about a week from now, free Summer events will be wrapping up and coming to a close. As I talk about in this BLOG post the community of people I advocate for, have next to nothing a budget to enjoy the Summer months at 100% capacity. Lots of free stuff has happened over the Summer as illustrated in this link.
On September 2nd we celebrate Labour Day.
The following is what will be taking place in Halifax for Labour day 2024.
Rally at the NS Labour Board at 11am
March to Peace and Friendship Park.
12pm to 3pm
Bouncy castle,face painting and entertainment.
Hot dogs from Beefy Weiner, pop and chips, snow cones, popcorn, cotton candy.
Everyone is welcome!!
Lately I have been having conversations with people who are part of my Community, and, they tell me, that Labour Day, unlike other certain holidays, like Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas is one holiday that brings mixed emotions to the community of people living in poverty. To prove my point I am going to take a moment here to go back to this article I wrote for the now-folded Nova Scotia Advocate. The relationship to labour Day, for those Income Assistance recipients whose jobs supplement their income (meaning in some cases they get to keep the first $250.00 and in other cases keeping the first $350.00, depending on what the individual caseworker approves in their case) are connected to the schools. For that portion of Income Assistance recipients it means, even though they had the summer months to recharge their mental health; with next to nothing to spend on being social after their rent and bills are paid for many it is lonely. For them Labour Day means a day or two later they will be returning to work and for some it is sigh of relief.
To prove my point I am going to use this article also posted in the no-longer-publishing Nova Scotia Advocate. The reason why I reflect back on this article is because it talks about the benefits of Income Assistance recipients acknowledging how their lives are affected by the system of Employment Support And Income Assistance itself, and the benefits of them organizing around improving the system. Some people/contacts I have and who I talk to in the financially-better-off-community suggest that if more income assistance recipients would actually attend the Labour Day events, it would be a learning experience for them. Also they suggest if Income Assistance recipients did want to organize, it would give them the opportunity to meet with other Unions and Activists who are already organizing.
The learning experience for Income Assistance at the Labour Day event would be to teach them the fact that there are at least some people in the financially-better-off-community who do not believe in the stigma about them.
The third point I want to get at is in this article, which points out that for some people living in poverty Labour Day can be considered a celebration of accomplishments. For some people it means starting school or starting a brand new job. After all Labour Day is the time of year life, as a whole, feels like it is getting back to normal.
Overall Labour Day brings the summer months to a close and life returns to normal following Labour Day, meaning people go back to work and school. I encourage the people I advocate for to get out and attend the Labour Day events.
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