By Kendall Worth!
It is nearing the end of November and Christmas will be here soon.
In my recent BLOG post I talked about how organizations and agencies here in Halifax should start Christmas plans early to help people living in poverty and the homeless during this season. In that same BLOG post I illustrated how the month of December effects the mental health of those I advocate for through my BLOG.
My next three BLOG posts will report on the provincial election being called. You readers may remember when I said I was going to write a letter to Premier Tim Houston about the extra $250.00 income assistance people received in December 2022. Well Here is the open letter. Because the election did get called, I wrote this letter to all party leaders.
Before linking the next two BLOG posts, I want to mention the first two items that is on the Christmas Wish List.
- Many Income Assistance recipients and the homeless alike wish that the Nova Scotia Government had waited until at least the new year before calling the election. However the reality is they did not wait until the new year. So with this being said, they are asking people, organizations and agencies to please not let your election campaign volunteering interfere with the planning of Christmas dinners and celebrations for people living in poverty.
- Weather Tim Houston gets re-elected or if we get a new Premier, we ask that the $250.00 additional Income Assistance of December 2022 be re-instated and for the Nova Scotia government moving forward making this an annual thing.
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| This Picture was taken back in 2016 when I was then writing for the Nova Scotia Advocate. I decided that because we are into a Provincial Election and Christmas is approaching, the same message from 2016 as you see in the sign I am holding is now a great time to be repeated. | |
So to help explain the reason why many income assistance recipients are concerned about the timing of the provincial election, I want to go back to two past articles that will help prove a certain point I am trying to make here. First, you can read this article Here dated December 23rd, 2019 in now folded Nova Scotia Advocate, as well as this BLOG Post posted in December 2023. If you were to look at both of the above linked articles, you can tell organizations putting on Christmas Dinners for those living in poverty and for people who are lonely was a big thing before COVID. As you can tell in the second linked article above, a few celebrations happened for Christmas 2023, but not to the same extent as before COVID.
This Brings me to Item#3 on the Christmas Wish list.
3. Income Assistance Recipients who benefited from those Christmas Dinners are wanting those Christmas Dinners to make a come back.
However this year, Income Assistance Recipients and the homeless are concerned that the same people who volunteer to put those Christmas celebrations will be focused on the election. November 28th is election day. Many who rely on Income Assistance will be spending Christmas Holidays alone and in social isolation. These events help prevent Social Isolation over the Holidays.
By the way here are the other 2 BLOG posts I have written on the current Provincial Election, here and here.
Other items on the Christmas wish list include the following:
4. More housing solutions and winter shelter solutions for those living in tents.
5. A substantial increase in the income assistance rates, meaning something better than the $24.00 increase we got in July.
6. Solutions to social isolation, not only for Christmas time, but always.
7. Access to winter clothing for the homeless population and others who are living in poverty and who are in need.
And last but not least, we need improvements in the Mental Health System in Nova Scotia moving forward.
The most important thing regarding Christmas 2024 is for the Premier, whoever they are, to care about the needs of income assistance recipients.
Fingers Crossed!
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