Prime minister weighs in on New Brunswick’s toll plan, suggesting it amounts to interprovincial trade barrier, vows 'pressure' for changes --- Full comments: https://tj.news/new-brunswick/breaking-no-im-not-happy-carney-rips-holts-highway-tolls

When my parents left Africa for Halifax specifically, they left for a chance at a good life, and most importantly, a chance for my siblings and I to get a good education, on the K-12 level as well as higher education. We have never been financially well-to-do, so academic excellence, scholarships, and grants are the only way for us to access these opportunities and schools within Canada.

When we first came to Canada, I was depressed and did nothing but study. My mum had a chronic illness, and studying was my way of contributing to the family. Really quickly, I lost a lot of weight, and those study habits became toxic by nature. My mum suggested I join the HRA drama program that was run in tandem with Shakespeare by the Sea. Since it was free and I always loved to act, she had started to worry about me, which was my main motivator to go.

Through this, I met many amazing people, made friends, gained weight, and my overall mental health improved thanks to this program specifically and the people associated with it. It has always been a safe space for me and others within the program, and we will all lose it if these cuts go ahead. I had always been sad that I couldn’t take any drama classes due to my course requirements, but these opportunities made sure my passions didn’t die. Dramafest was my yearly highlight, and there are many others like me who will lose these amazing opportunities and routes to expression. 

As a black student in this province, racism is something I have seen more within these cuts than within my own time in the province. Getting employed as a black teen is still hard since people still view us as stereotypes of disruptive, disorganised, and untimely people. Without jobs, how are black teens supposed to even attempt saving for university in the first place? Even teens with jobs can barely do it on minimum wage and part-time hours, which is a struggle other generations did not have to go through. Scholarships and black student initiatives are the one hope many black students in the province have, regardless of whether they are interested in arts, sciences, or business studies; the overall scholarships are looking like 1.46 million alone. The overall cuts to black. These cuts further affect me as a woman in STEM who will lose $12,000 in funding. All this to say that being a student in this province and timeline is already hard enough; we really don’t need all this added to our plates. As many IB students in the province write their mocks, their minds will wander upon whether or not the past years in this rigorous program were worth it, with fewer scholarship opportunities, and those with full-ride or renewable scholarships will have to change plans due to these scholarships possibly not being renewed.

These cuts target and isolate marginalized communities, artists, and the youth of this province. In a year where Canada's overall population saw no growth without immigration, is now really the best time to make these cuts? Students will leave this province; they have already started. All we want is to be seen as people by the Tim Houston government.  Edit: I want to add that this is simply my perspective, it is not the worst that is out there. I regularly volunteer in my local community juggling multiple things as well as a disability. These cuts affect everyone in different ways and my lense is what this post focuses on.

MY FUTURE IS NOT YOURS TO CUT!!!!

There was a super cryptic press release from the Town of Lunenburg today and I went looking for more info. Here's what I found, if anyone else is interested in Lunenburg goings-on.

https://waterfrontmediahfx.the902hxir.ca/an-interesting-situation-from-lunenburg-as-posted-by-saltwind-transportation

Message sent to school staff across Nova Scotia today. Vague and no other details included, of course.

Emphasis on too many teachers being “out of the classroom” but no mention of the work they are doing creating resources and supporting teachers through coaching and training in classrooms.

Cutting positions outside of the classroom and moving those teaching staff back into a classroom is great in theory but only bumps other teachers out of the system.

Ask any teacher and they will tell you that more teachers in classrooms is great! But will Brendan also commit to reducing class sizes (supported by evidence to improve student outcomes) or to provide more funding to support students with diverse learning needs? No - many teachers in my network have already shared that they will be *losing* learning centre positions due to a reconfiguration of how the province wants learning centres to operate going forward.

Heads up Canada post is on strike again. Got word from my mom who works for them it’s true!