The African Nova Scotian Justice Institute was launched a year ago. But this week, the provincial government made a commitment of $4.8-million in funding for the next three years to address over-representation and anti-Black racism in the justice system. There will be eight-justice related support, research and outreach programs that will be fully staffed and offering services within a year. Robert Wright is a Halifax-based social worker. He's also a member of the group that will be leading the program, the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition.

Saying it was always part of the dream, Souls Harbour Rescue is opening their 5th location in Nova Scotia. The home to benefit women and single moms with their children is in rural Halifax Regional Municipality. The exact location is confidential. In the 10 years since opening a shelter for homeless men in Halifax, they've expanded to cover Bridgewater and Truro and now along the Eastern Shore. CEO Michelle Porter discusses how this latest endeavour got started, who they want to help and how they pay for it all through their retail operation called Mission Mart.

As part of a multi-year plan, the Nova Scotia government says it will add 264 new beds in Central Zone and replace 1,298 beds at 14 nursing homes and three residential care facilities across the province. They say the first project is expected to be finished by 2026-2027. And that's not good enough according to the MLA for Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage. Barbara Adams is a physiotherapist by training and is the Progressive Conservative who looks at the policies for Seniors, Homecare and Long-Term Care.

It was a tough week politically for Iain Rankin, and the week's not over yet. Some people are angry at the media for continuing to ask questions about the way the Nova Scotia Premier disclosed his drinking and driving conviction from almost 20 years ago. What impact will this have on the Liberal Leader's chances in a summer election campaign and potentially on voter turnout. Dr. Lori Turnbull is a political scientist with Dalhousie University and we explore that in this conversation.

Nova Scotia's Auditor General has nine recommendations for the government in her report on the Implementation of Pre-Primary in 2017. The program was a campaign promise by Stephen McNeil and his Liberal Party ahead of the provincial election that year. Kim Adair-MacPherson says she has concerns with the way it was put into action saying there wasn't enough of a plan four years ago. What lessons are there for future governments when it comes to election platforms and policy promises?

Halifax Regional Municipality issued a statement today on the plan to remove temporary shelters from Municipal property in a weeks time. These crisis shelters were erected by a group of volunteers known as Halifax Mutual Aid (HMA). When the first ones went up, the group said it was taking action because the municipality was taking too long. First I spoke with spokesperson Campbell McClintock, a volunteer with HMA. I then spoke with HRM spokesperson Laura Wright about why they are taking this action now.

On the same day Premier Iain Rankin was thanking Nova Scotia health care workers for helping administer 1-million vaccine doses, workers are voting to strike. To find out what is happening with the relationship with the Liberal government and these employees, I spoke with two guests. The first is NDP Leader Gary Burrill. The second is NSGEU President Jason MacLean.

Fiona Kirkpatrick Parsons is willing to be the kind of resource that helps bring us closer to reconciling our past, present and future. She is a Cree woman who is on a path to help Canadians become better allies to Indigenous peoples. She took some time before July 1st to come up with an image that helps reflect the way she and others are feeling around Canada and the Residential School legacy. We also discuss Canada Day, educational resources and an upcoming announcement for the rescheduling of the North American Indigenous Games in Kjipuktuk.

A ceremony and commemorative event is being held at 1pm on July 1st in Halifax. It will begin in the south end of the city in a space that was recently renamed Peace and Friendship Park. The two organizers of the event say it's a way to honour those who were recently found in unmarked graves at the sites of former Residential Schools across the country. Trevor Labrador and Caitlyn Moore share some of the details in this conversation.

It's being called a step towards the dismantling of systemic anti-black racism in Canada. on Monday, Motion 83 was adopted by the Canadian Senate to recognize August 1st as Emancipation Day in this country. Nova Scotia Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard discusses why the date is significant, and why it's important for reparations and reconciliation with African Canadians. In 2018 she introduced a private members bill looking for this date to be recognized in Canada on the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British Colonies in 1834.