By Kendall Worth
The Nova Scotia Legislature began their fall sitting on September 8th, 2026 As reported in this recent post .
In today’s post I am reporting on that fact that First Voice I spoke to this week, are feeling like actions outside the house (meaning protest and rallies) should have been more aggressive. As I understand it, protest was limited to “hear the people sing on Tuesday”, as reported here. Are people feeling like everything is fine?
If you are unclear about who “First Voice”, in this case, are, I invite you to click this link, to educate yourselves on what I mean by First Voice. A First Voice person who, in my case are the people I advocate for using my blog, are people, who:
Have disabilities that require them to be on a “disability income” for support day to day. In most cases these people cannot hold down full time jobs because of their disabilities. The disabilities they have include a wide range of visible and invisible disabilities.
Here in Nova Scotia, the program they depend on is called the Employment Support and Income Assistance(ESIA) program, operated by The Department of Opportunities and Social Development. (once called Community services)
The cold hard fact about those I advocate for, is that they do not receive enough to live on. For example: $1022.00 a month is the Standard Household Rate, and, some, if not many receive less than that, depending on their personal living situation. (examples of how much less I am talking about include: if you are boarding then you only receive $655.00 a month; and for those who are homeless they only receive $410.00 a month). For more details on current ESIA rates in N.S. see this post. According to department officials, only 60% of ESIA recipients receive an additional $324.00 Disability Supplement.
To return to my theme for this post… The First Voice who I spoke to this week are already feeling like outside the legislature is quieter than it should be. In the Eyes of First Voice, who believe others should be protesting on their behalf, there is a strong feeling that there should be protests outside the legislature every day during this current sitting!
Inside the Legislature MLA’s should be behaving as if at least part of their job should be to advocate for the needs of Low Income People. First Voice are feeling this way, because they know that the population of low income people in Nova Scotia is expected to increase in the near future. This link to the Tuesday protest, is to a short report from Global News on Tuesday’s “Hear the People Sing”at Province House. The turnout (around 80 people) was small. This leads to the feeling First Voice are having of things being too quiet at Province House.
Before concluding this current post, i want to bring up one more area of concern.
Regular readers may remember this post, and the subsequent piece of legislation that overturned the court decision. I have some links to understand the situation, see the following:
I have not Published a post on this BLOG about this news, yet, because I am seeking more information, and working at finding someone whose story I can use from a First Voice perspective. It is my intention to get a post published about this, SOON.
In Conclusion, In Nova Scotia, First Voice, even those who are housed, do not have enough to live on. The homeless population continues to be a major concern. IN addition, Houston budget curs are leading to and have already lead to job losses.
Nova Scotia needs to do better and Hopefully the MLA’s will see this as this current sitting continues.
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Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.
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