C NNECTIONS Fall 2021 | Volume 4, Issue 2
C NNECTIONS THE POLITICAL LANGUAGE OF MORAL DISTRESS
Refusing the status quo (page 16)
Tackling Housing Insecurity in Nova Scotia
C NNECTIONS Policy recommendations (page 18)
Sharon Murphy:
Memories of a mighty spitfire (page 28)
SOCIAL WORK: LEADING TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE IN 2022 NSCSW Conference & Annual General Meeting Online, May 13-14 2022 Come and join us as we explore new perspectives and skills to deliver social work services in a changed landscape. Our annual conferences create opportunities for members of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers and others in our communities to connect, plan, discover, and share knowledge. We hope to see you again next year. Questions? Suggestions? Contact Nadia Siritsky at nadia.siritsky@nscsw.org
Montserrat
C NNECTION C NNECTION
Fall 2021 | Volume 4, Issue 2
Published three times a year by the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers 1888 Brunswick Street, Suite 700 Halifax, NS B3J 3J8
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 4, Issue 2 YOUR COLLEGE
06
Housing and Homelessness
07
Become a Candidacy Mentor
08
May 2021 - September 2021
11
CULTIVATING MENTORSHIP
WELCOME TO NSCSW
ADVOCACY DAY
Connecting Our Voices
12
SPOTLIGHT
16
ETHICS IN ACTION
19
RESEARCH
21
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Annual NSCSW Awards Gala
The Political Language of Moral Distress
Tackling Housing Insecurity
Housing is Health
24
IN THE COMMUNITY
28
FEATURE
Social Workers’ Perspectives on Homelessness
Sharon Murphy: Mighty Spitfire
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Housing and homelessness
While the systems we work within have the potential to amplify our efforts to effect change, they can also act as an impediment to practicing our professional values. Turn to page 16 to read about the ethical imperative for social workers to politicize moral distress and challenge the status quo. On page 19 the co-leads of the Housing for All Working Group write about their report published earlier this year, which applied our Social Policy Framework to map exactly what would be required to systematically address Nova Scotia’s persistent (and growing) housing insecurity. Effective Effective public policy is evidence-informed and values-driven, rather than market-driven; I devoutly hope to see provincial leaders demonstrate the necessary empathy and moral courage as they address these challenges, and I invite all Nova Scotians to make their voices heard on this vital matter (page 21). While we have data that shows us that the housing crisis is real, data about homelessness is murkier; there’s enough to clearly show that suffering is real, and urgent, but comprehensive tracking – who is affected, where are they in the province, and are current interventions working – is under-resourced. Nadia Siritsky checked in with a few of the social workers and organizations whose work addresses homelessness in Nova Scotia, and reflects on their perspectives on page 24. On page 12 we shine a spotlight on some of the social workers who will be honoured at our new annual awards gala this October. The inaugural event will also include a brand new award for a community ally who staunchly supports the social justice mandate of our profession; we do not do our work alone.
Alec Stratford, MSW, RSW Registrar/Executive Director
At the beginning of last year, far too many people in Nova Scotia were already in core housing need; their home, if they had one, was unsuitable, inadequate or unaffordable, and limited income and a lack of suitable housing alternatives in their community left them little hope of moving to improve their living situation. When the COVID-19 pandemic reached us last spring, many more households tumbled into crisis, and the cracks in our systems were made starkly visible to all. That visibility has continued as community advocates and frontline workers, including social workers, have continued to illuminate the depth of need in their communities, refusing to allow this pressing issue to be reshadowed. Bearing witness to these efforts has been a privilege, and an invitation. Our contributors for this issue have generously answered that call.
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We’re also excited to announce our first Advocacy Day, a new annual event beginning in March 2022 that will facilitate collaboration between social workers, social work educators and students, and the communities we serve, in order to provoke and inspire change (page 11). Finally, we close this issue with a tribute to a social justice powerhouse, the late Sharon Murphy, who passed away from COVID-19 earlier this year. Sharon strove to live by the values of her profession, and inspired many others to do the same. Meanwhile, our College has continued our commitment to ensuring ethical and competent social work practice through effective regulation and professional development. Our program of events this fall includes feedback sessions for Nova Scotian social workers to discuss a proposal intended to embed the principles of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in annual professional development regulations, as well as opportunities for members to deepen their knowledge about social work ethics. The dedicated effort and creative leadership of our members continues to inspire me. Together, you endeavor to support and empower the communities around you, transforming your dreams of equity and social justice into action, and building towards a future Nova Scotians can thrive in. One where everyone has a home.
CULTIVATING MENTORSHIP Candidacy mentors are an important link in the model for professional development within the membership of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers. We would like to thank the mentors who have guided our Social Worker Candidates through the successful completion of candidacy since the spring. Samantha Bonaparte Lisa Burton Robyn Byrne Samantha Collier Paige d’Eon Amy Donovan Cody Doucette Shondalee Eisnor
Kimberly Gariepy Sandra Henneberry Calandra Kandziora Amy LeBlanc Tammie Leedham Caitlin MacDonald Christine Mackenzie Martin MacLean
Alicia MacNeil Paul Mugford Jennifer Park Bridget Perrin Joshua Tavares Geraldine Tobin Erin Warner Tina Williams-Mosher
BECOME A MENTOR Mentorship is underscored by a climate of safety and trust, where candidates can develop their sense of professional identity. We now offer optional mentor training for members of the College, in the form of a selfdirected online course. We also provide resources to help mentors support candidates’ learning throughout their candidacy. To learn more about the rewards of being a mentor, visit candidacy.nscsw.org/mentors
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CONGRATULATIONS & WELCOME
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New Private Practitioners, Registered Social Workers and Social Worker Candidates Approved by NSCSW Board of Examiners May – September 2021
PRIVATE PRACTICE Debra Bourque Eric Burnet Susan Cameron Heather Cross Jessica Dilney Alexandra Earle-Lambert Ian Ford Raquel Griffin Stephanie LeBlanc Alana Lee Carly MacCuspic Alicia Anne MacDonald Maeve MacDougall Linda MacEachern James Maynard Beth Miller Marie Doris Myers Robyn Smith Terri-Lynn Smith Lesley Webster
REGISTERED SOCIAL WORKERS Joanne Abbott Lisa Anderson Naresea Beswick Christopher Brown Iva Burda Eric Burnet
Heather Anne Byrne Stephanie Calberry Karen Carey Hannah Cavicchi Burrows Christina Chediac Manie Chiasson Linda Clarke Jennifer Cormier Kendra Crowell Isabelle Cyr Sandra Daehler Sandra Dietrich-Bell Cindy Dollemont Jalyn Donaldson Alison Duarte Kim Ecker Louise Egan Benjamin Fong Sarah Green Clare Gribbin Erin Hall Danielle Hodges Sonya Juneja Sylvie LeBlanc Myriam Leduc-Robert Polly Leonard Josey Lovett Katherine Lusby Jessica MacLean Shannon MacLeod Muhammad Bello Mahmud
Donna-Lee McLellan Katelyn McPhee Bernadette McQuillan Amanda Morrison Megan Moulaison Nicole Muise Nancy Neil Laura Durfee Nufire Sarah O’Halloran Olivia O’Shea Brittany Orav-Lakaski Heather Ann Penny Mallory Perry Kala Rafuse Sabah Randell Leann Revels Claudia Roberts Erin Rose Maki Sakata Macdonald Sandra Cade Sheridan Shelley Sigurdsson Juanita Silver Kaleigh Smith Mario Spiler Melanie Louise Thompson Jory Uhlman Shanda White Sherry Woodhouse Katie Young Wilson Zvomuya
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SOCIAL WORK CANDIDATES Emily R. Adams Chloe Allen Jenna Andrews Larissa Anthony Haley Auger-March Shauna Beaton Bryan Bell Stephanie Berry Marissa Bialowas Katherine Blackie Lewis Boehner Shandrea Bowes Kayla Brideau Suzanne Brooks Devon Bundy Mary Agnes Cabel Hannah Cane Yuan Cao Brittany Carmichael Andrew Childerhose Sophie Chisholm Sebastien Clairmont Emma Couillard Kayla Creighton Emily Crosby Keely d’Eon Jessica Dagenais Jamie Lynn Day Jason Delorey
Hannah Dykerman Elhassan Elhout Corrie Fagnan Kathryn Ferguson Catherine Flindall Minetta Garcia-Oakley Sarah Gavan Darcy Angus Gillis Taylor Gillis Emily Goodwin Frank William Greenlaw Michelle Heaslip Zachary Higgins Jino James Kelsey Warren James Samantha Margaret King Laurie Langcastor Isaac Leblanc Samantha Libbus Alisha MacDonald Shaelynn MacFarlane Catherine Anne MacGillivary Carrie MacInnis Maira MacKinnon Briea Malloy Kevin Mason Kaitlyn Joan Matheson Memory Mavuwa Natalie McBride Sarah McCarthy Carly McConnell
Mary Mikhail Hailey Mosher Saxon Muise Katelyn Nearing Kasey Newell Renee Newell-Boucher Trinity Nickerson Deanna Palmer Rajeshkumar Patel Rae Paul Emma Pink Rebecca Michelle Pope Laurie Ronald Christa Russell Reagan Safire Tiffany Marie Saunders Kayla Simpson Mallory Smith Tony Sunny Lamarche Taylor Renee Taylor Vickie Amy Thompson Carrie Lynn Thorne Richard Tousignant Angela Turnbull Marissa Van Harmelen Jason Wilson Amanda Woodcock Wilson Zvomuya
Join the conversation Facebook.com/nscsw
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NSCSW Blog: www.nscsw.org/category/blog
ADVOCACY DAY Brought to you by NSCSW in March 2022 Often social workers feel isolated and alone against a mountain of systemic injustice. Wouldn’t it be amazing to come together with other social workers, along with social work students, professors, allies and non-profits, as well as clients themselves, in order to effect change at a macro level? Stay tuned, because this coming March, as part of National Social Work Month, the Social Justice Committee is organizing a massive provincial Advocacy Day to advance our broader social justice agenda and ensure action on mental health.
A core component of how we, as social workers, can help those we are called to serve, is to empower them and amplify their voices. This is a central part of the work that we do at the College, and is at the heart of this first Advocacy Day. This event will be the first of its kind in our region, thereby reflecting the ways in which Nova Scotia’s College of Social Workers aims to be a leader, not only in the province, but across our country. In the United States, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) holds regional Legislation Education &
It may be easy to dismiss one of us when we seem to
Advocacy Days (LEAD) every year as part of their National
speak alone, but this day is designed to combine
profession and advocate on behalf of clients and programs,
our efforts, break down silos, and inspire change.
Social Work Month. These are designed to support the and they gives social work professionals, students and educators a chance to convene with allied advocacy organizations, non-profits and clients themselves, in order
We often speak about how the defining characteristic that differentiates social work from other helping professions is our focus on social justice. We recognize the larger systemic injustices that contribute to the challenges that our individual clients face. Unfortunately, many of our clients internalize the stigma of their oppression, which many of us believe is –in itself– a strategy designed to prevent them from taking action.
to effect change. This year, the NSCSW Social Justice Committee is working on ways to create a uniquely Nova Scotian approach to this event, working in partnership with the social work programs at Dalhousie University and Université Ste. Anne. All members who are interested in getting more involved are invited to contact nadia.siritsky@nscsw.org.
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CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE AND DEDICATION
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We are proud and gratified to recognize the contributions of social workers in our province every year. The award celebration that was once part of our conference every spring is now part of an annual autumn gala, an exciting new tradition for the NSCSW.
Our inaugural gala will be held virtually in October 2021 to recognize our award winning social workers, as well as our amazing volunteers, committee chairs, and all of the dedicated social workers in Nova Scotia who contribute to our profession and enable us to advance our mission. We also have a brand new award this year, designed to recognize outstanding people in our community who are not social workers themselves but who still act in support of social work advocacy and practice.
INGRID WALDRON, SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
The event features a special guest speaker, Dr. Ingrid Waldron, author of There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities, which was developed into a Netflix documentary of the same name in 2020. Dr. Waldron’s topic for the evening will be “A Call to Action: how a justice lens in advocacy research can address systemic inequities for marginalized communities and transform the healthcare system.”
CASW National Social Work Month Distinguished Service Award The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) invites member organizations across Canada to offer nominations for this award, which is presented annually during National Social Work Month in March. NSCSW selects members who have made a substantial and unique contribution to the field of social work in the province of Nova Scotia and, therefore, contributed to social work in Canada through: demonstrating such qualities as compassion, leadership, creativity, initiative and high ethical standards, as well as furthering social work in the area of direct practice, program/service development, community organization, social action, research, teaching or writing.
Serena has embodied this work as a clinician and advocate for grieving communities across Nova Scotia, following a series of deadly events of April 2020 that began in Portapique, Nova Scotia, and continued across Colchester and Cumberland counties. The needs of these bereaved and traumatized communities were further complicated by public health guidelines during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nomination letter we received from her mentee spoke passionately of how, while Serena was managing her own grief, she made space for the grief of others in creative ways, and challenged the province to make the grief of survivors a continuing priority.
SERENA LEWIS, MSW, RSW
Serena is a health & social well-being consultant with over twenty years’ experience working in the fields of health and long-term care, education, corrections, and non-profit sectors. A facilitator and international speaker on difficult topics such as grief, dying & death, she is committed to evidence-informed progress for diverse staff and person directed care. Serena aims to promote development of grief literacy and community capacity, and invites the individuals, teams and organizations she works with to participate in compassionate and thought-provoking processes. She tells us that she too is on her own personal wellness adventure, finding great delight in her love of nature as well as considering her own transitions and transformation in life. Her philosophy is to start with the end in sight, and live and work from there.
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David William Connors Memorial Award David Connors is remembered as devoted to his family, a religious man and a committed professional social worker. His personal and professional priorities throughout his life and career stressed the importance of respect, caring, empathy and dignity towards others. This award was established by the NSASW Council in 1997 in memory of David’s gentle manner and care for others, and is now bestowed annually to a member of NSCSW who works in direct practice especially with youth. Frontline social workers who are chosen for this award have shown the following attributes: a desire to go beyond the call of duty to meet the needs of clients; respect, caring, empathy and dignity in all aspects of their work; displaying, through direct practice, a basic belief in each human being’s personal worth and ability; and endeavoring to bring about lasting change for those in hardship, particularly youth.
Andrea is fearless in voicing her concerns when policy does not allow for the dignified treatment of youth. Her ethics are impeccable and her commitment extraordinary; she goes above and beyond in advocating for what she believes is right, and endeavouring to meet the needs of youth and their families. Andrea has demonstrated strong leadership and received the Dr. Mian Award for implementing and promoting the Connect Parenting Program, as part of her long-standing work with Nova Scotia Health.
ANDREA WEYMAN-HICKMAN, MSW, RSW
Andrea completed undergraduate degrees in arts and social work from Dalhousie University. She obtained her MSW from Memorial University of Newfoundland with a leadership specialty and a focus on mental health service delivery. She has also sought out post-graduate training in various therapeutic approaches, and continues to take advantage of learning opportunities to keep herself trauma and grief informed. Most of Angela’s career has been spent working in Mental Health and Addictions programs. She says that her broad experiences in clinical social work within the provincial system, as well as in private practice, have allowed her to develop a deeper understanding of how these systems work as a whole and a keen interest in how they affect the experiences of people who rely on them. Andrea tells us that she views her work as a privilege she is honored to participate in. She expresses passion about her profession, as well as a strong belief that therapeutic services (both public and private) can be a vital and empowering experience. Andrea believes it is important to provide interventions that are well-informed by reliable literature, that honour personal experience and choice, and that are viewed with an anti-oppressive lens. She also believes that effective intervention is an art, as well as a science. These beliefs open the door for her and her clients to look together at evidence-based interventions, make informed choices, laugh, get creative, and collaborate in a way that embodies dignity and worth of all people.
Ronald Stratford Memorial Award Ronald Stratford is remembered for his interest in social services from a holistic perspective, emphasizing prevention and community development. This award was established in 1984 to honour his memory in a manner which reflects his professional commitment to community service. Recipients are selected for their support and advocacy for a preventive or community-based social service program.
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Kristyn has embodied this work as a clinician and advocate for vulnerable youth. For the past eleven years, she has worked as a frontline child and adolescent clinical social worker with IWK youth forensic services. She also holds casual positions in mental health at the Nova Scotia Health Authority, IWK emergency room and run a small private practice specializing in family therapy. She sits on several committees including the Pediatrics Advocacy Committee, Patient Safety Committee, and Education Committee.
KRISTYN ANDERSON, MSW, RSW
As well as being a Registered Social Worker in Nova Scotia, and a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist in Canada, Kristyn is currently a PhD candidate in Health at Dalhousie University. Her research focuses on youth who are involved with provincial child welfare and justice systems, a population known as crossover youth. Kristyn has also founded a community research group that focuses on advocacy for crossover youth, Collectively Exploring Youth Criminalization (CEYC), with representatives from youth court, health, academia and not for profit organizations. Kristyn tells us that that when she is not working, she is usually cheering her kids on at their various activities, volunteering in her community, or on the ice with her synchronized skating team.
Social Justice Ally Award The Social Justice Ally Award was created by the Social Justice Committee in 2021 as part of NSCSW’s mandate to serve and protect Nova Scotians by advocating for policies that improve social conditions, challenge injustice and value diversity. This new award is designed to recognize an individual in the public sphere who has used their position or social standing to advocate for the role of social workers in serving the public good, and who advances our ethical mandate to work toward the establishment of equity and social justice.
Anna participated in the Social Justice Committee’s first Big Ideas: Conversations about Mental Health panel discussion as a first voice speaker, thereby ensuring that the work of this committee can centre upon the voices and perspectives of those individuals most affected by this issue. Anna’s lifelong art, writing, speaking and articulate advocacy on the issue of mental health as a social justice issue has helped to transform the public narrative on this pressing public health issue.
ANNA QUON, SOCIAL JUSTICE ALLY AWARD RECIPIENT
As a Halifax poet, novelist, visual artist and filmmaker, Anna likes to make paintings and short animated films of her poems. A middle-aged, mixed- race Mad woman, she facilitates writing and creative and expressive arts workshops for people with mental health histories. Having earned a BA in English literature from Dalhousie University in 1989, Anna has held contracts in the not for profit sector for most of her working life, except for several years as a freelance writer. She has traveled as far as the Czech Republic and Russia to work on her writing. Anna has published two novels, Migration Songs and Low, with Invisible Publishing, and a poetry chapbook, Body Parts, with Gaspereau Press. Her third novel, Where the Silver River Ends, will be released in March 2022. Anna believes in the need to focus on upholding human rights, the social determinants of health, and on a reduction in the inequitable distribution of wealth and opportunity in and among nations across the globe in order to create a more peaceful healthy, prosperous and unified world for humanity. Inspired by the Baha’i Faith, she believes in the inevitability of such a world— a source of great hope in the face of personal troubles, social hardship and political upheaval.
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THE POLITICAL LANGUAGE OF MORAL DISTRESS BY NORMA JEAN PROFITT, PHD, RSW
Given the ubiquity of “scarce resources” in public services under the regime of neoliberalism in Canada, the term moral distress has gained purchase in professional circles. In order to dig deeper into this term, I reviewed some of the literature to get a sense of its essence and context. Moral distress can be defined as “the experience of being seriously compromised as a moral agent in practicing in accordance with accepted professional values and standards. It is a relational experience shaped by multiple contexts, including the socio-political and cultural context of the workplace environment” (Varcoe, Pauly, Webster & Storch, 2012, p. 59). Moral distress involves a violation of professional and personal values, moral conscience, and core ethical obligations. Although few colleagues advise “letting go” of morally distressing situations (as if we can “let go” of our values at will), social work and related literature confirms that helping professionals experience moral distress when they cannot carry out moral obligations and standards of care in the milieu they inhabit (Dzeng & Wachter, 2019). Helpers are adversely and cumulatively affected, in physical, emotional, and spiritual terms. Moreover, dominant capitalist culture normalizes people’s insensitivity to the suffering of others as well as promotes the acceptance of unjust social policies and organizational constraints as “givens”, further exacerbating the lived experience of moral distress. I contend that as social workers we must politicize the notion of moral distress by making explicit its ethical dimensions that are rooted both in the competing and often contradictory values present in our workplaces and in our broader intertwined social, political, and economic contexts. This is indispensable in order to resist the individualization of our angst and the personalization of what are essentially political and institutional failures to meet collective needs. In doing this, we broaden our understanding of the concept, identify its contextual features, and appreciate moral distress as a structural and collective issue rather than solely an individual one. Social workers’ experiences of moral distress can be found in the spaces between stated institutional values and our lived reality of trying to help people. In the tension between organizational demands and professional ethics, the unvoiced expectation that our primary commitment is to the institution or organization (Austin, 2012) clashes with our desire to better
the lives of people, families, and communities. The makings of moral distress are also located in employers’ dismissal of staff, specifically in their capacity as knowers (BradburyJones & Irvine, 2019). Furthermore, the paucity of democratic participatory spaces in institutions in which to express distinct perspectives, influence policy and ethical issues, and critique both institutions and the organization of society itself allows moral distress to fester.
Institutional denial of the social structures, systems, and policies that give rise to social inequalities and inequities also generates the conditions for moral distress even though these very institutions are shot through with the very disparities they disclaim.
Take, for example, the prevalent liberal assumption that helping systems are fair and benign for all, despite ample evidence of systemic colonialism and racism, or the gross inattention to the social determinants of health that leaves people facing systemic threats such as lack of income to afford food, dental care, medications, and decent housing. In our experience of moral distress, we can feel powerless and despondent when compromising deeply held professional and personal values and/or allowing ourselves to be compromised, betraying ourselves, clients, and communities. We may question whether we are complicit in perpetuating systems as they are by being silent. A host of external and internal factors can impinge on our moral agency to speak up and act on our values, for example, the pall of organizational silence, normalization of unethical practices, lack of support from colleagues and management, the intolerance of dissent, fear of reprisals, and self-preservation. It is worth noting that the existence of external factors does not minimize the role of discernment in reflecting on our own internal constraints to moral agency (Mänttäri-van der Kuip, 2020). And yet despite these obstacles, we do pursue right courses of action. Nevertheless, and even with a good dose of moral courage, we face limits to ethical practice that simply cannot be tackled at the level of the individual social worker through ethical reasoning.
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Some time ago, Merlinda Weinberg (2009) pointed out that theoretical understandings of moral distress neglect the political and social structures that shape service delivery and thus locate the responsibility for ethical decision making at the level of the individual rather than in the political aspects that influence organizational and clinical practice such as neoliberalism and the dismantling of the welfare state. An array of factors – inequities based on gender, “race”, and other axes of oppression, unjust social and institutional policies across sectors, human rights breaches, disparities in the allocation of resources, and top-down hierarchical structures – create conditions ripe for moral anguish. Accordingly, the political process and those whom we, as citizens, elect to make social policy and allocate resources to meet people’s interrelated social, physical, spiritual, and ecological needs are squarely implicated in helping professionals’ experiences of moral distress.
I believe that we must be clear and precise about how social and institutional policies and constraints conflict with our professional values, ethical obligations, and Code of Ethics. A social justice framework can help us articulate our experiences in today’s social work context of marketization that privileges “roles”, procedural tasks, service rationing, and efficiency. Analyzing the roots of moral distress serves many purposes: to make dominant value systems visible; connect the personal and the political (Weinberg, 2009); stimulate critical reflection and discussion on moral issues; highlight the need for collective advocacy with clients and communities; and enhance social compassion and moral sensitivity. Naming the values we hold and how they are violated engages us in a process of moral deliberation and accountability with ourselves and others that can clarify both necessary actions and allies. The articulation of our values and the ethics at play in situations of moral distress can prompt us to act alone and in concert with others as moral agents to advocate for changes in organizations, policies, and practices. Clarity and action are critical to maintaining our moral integrity as well as contesting
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the individualization and pathologization of ethical struggle. Moral distress as a response to the violation of professional responsibilities and ethics (Peter & Liaschenko, 2013) calls us to collective reflection and action to challenge the harshness of an unacceptable status quo.
REFERENCES: Austin, W. (2012). Moral distress and the contemporary plight of health professionals. HEC Forum, 24, 27–38. Bradbury-Jones, C., & Irvine, F. (2019). What is ‘moral distress’? A narrative synthesis of the literature. Nursing Ethics, 26(3), 646-662. Dzeng, E., & Wachter, R. M. (2019). Ethics in conflict: Moral distress as a root cause of burnout. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(2), 409–11. Mänttäri-van der Kuip, M. (2020). Conceptualising workrelated moral suffering—Exploring and refining the concept of moral distress in the context of social work. British Journal of Social Work, 50, 741-757. Peter, E., & Liaschenko, J. (2013). Moral distress reexamined: A feminist interpretation of nurses’ identities, relationships, and responsibilities. Bioethical Inquiry, 10, 337–345. Varcoe, C., Pauly, B., Webster, G., & Storch, J. (2012). Moral distress: Tensions as springboards for action. HEC Forum, 24, 51-62. Weinberg, M. (2009). Moral distress: A missing but relevant concept for ethics in social work. Canadian Social Work Review, 26(2), 139-151.
DR. NORMA JEAN PROFITT, RSW , is a social activist who holds her PhD in social work from Wilfrid Laurier University, and is a former associate professor in the School of Social Work at St. Thomas University. She was the recipient of the Governor General’s Award in 2016.
TACKLING HOUSING INSECURITY IN NOVA SCOTIA BY DR. CATHERINE LEVITEN-REID AND CHRISTINE SAULNIER
The pandemic has fundamentally affected our social and economic systems and has uncovered just how deep the crises in our systems run. We must do better than returning to a pre-pandemic Nova Scotia. Before the pandemic, many Nova Scotians were struggling to make ends meet, uncertain about how they would pay next month’s rent or power bill. Many were going without food or rationing because they had to use their food money as their only ‘discretionary’ money to ensure they did not lose the roof over their heads.
So many Nova Scotians are housing insecure: they have very little protection to support them to stay in their current housing situation in the face of evictions and rising rents, or even to move to a more suitable location. Housing insecurity leads to increased stress, social exclusion, illness, and disease. That is why this new report proposes 95 recommendations, on which 48 individuals and organizations across Nova Scotia came to consensus, for how to address the homelessness and affordable housing crisis.
Indeed, as is outlined in a new report, many thousands are currently without any place to call their own, living on the streets, couch surfing or staying in shelters. Others are in accommodations that they cannot afford, or which are not safe, adequate or properly maintained. For others, there is a lack of accessible housing that accommodates their needs to live barrier-free. As housing becomes even more unaffordable in areas located close to employment, services and amenities, it pushes many out of their communities, isolating them.
The report is a principled roadmap that gets at the root causes of the crisis; we can’t just address the lack of supply with piecemeal temporary solutions in the for-profit market. We must ensure that government massively invests in nonmarket housing (co-operative, non-profit and public/social) through both new builds and acquisitions. What is required is enough non-market housing for the just over 32,000 Nova Scotians who cannot afford their housing and are at risk of losing it.
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The rental market in this province has become very attractive to financialized landlords because of the lack of rent control and other mechanisms to control profiting off housing, such as implementing the government’s right of first purchase when rental units are put up for sale. Stronger regulations are needed for permanent rent control, but also for shortterm rentals, and for condominium builds and conversions. Moreover, tenants deserve stronger protections that will be proactively enforced, so they are not vulnerable to those who have the power to take their shelter away without a full hearing and access to legal support and representation, and supported by tenant associations.
and ensuring addictions and mental health services are available. African Nova Scotians have faced dispossession of their land and we owe it to them to ensure housing solutions address continuing racism as well as the legacy of enslavement. Indigenous renters living off-reserve lack affordable housing, in good condition, and safe and appropriate supports. People deserve housing AND the supports needed to remain in their homes, whether that is wrap around 24/7 care, or minimal navigation and advocacy help. There are hundreds of people with disabilities unnecessarily institutionalized in our province—a gross violation of human rights.
The crisis is not just about the lack of affordable housing, it is also about a lack of income -24.2% of renters have household incomes below $20,000. It is also about a lack of services, and discrimination. We recommend: substantially increasing income assistance to bring people to the poverty line, raising the minimum wage,
Housing is a human right. It is time we ensure that everyone in Nova Scotia has a housing secure future, which is critical for their health and our collective community’s well-being.
REFERENCES: Findlay, T., Saulnier, C. and Stratford, A., 2021. Are you with us?. [online] Available at: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/ publications/reports/are-you-us Housing for All Working Group, 2021. Keys to a housing secure future for all Nova Scotians. [online] Halifax: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Available at: https://www. policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/keys-housingsecure-future-all-nova-scotians
DR. CATHERINE LEVITEN-REID is an associate professor in the MBA in Community Economic Development program at Cape Breton University. Currently leading a national, SSHRCCMHC partnership grant on affordable housing, her research is focused on housing, community development, the social economy, and social care. CHRISTINE SAULNIER is the director of the Nova Scotia branch of Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-NS). CCPA is a non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice. LevitenReid and Saulnier have served as co-leads of the CCPA-NS Housing for All Working Group. A version of this article was previously published by CCPA-NS in the September/October 2021 issue of Monitor magazine.
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HOUSING IS HEALTH BY ALEC STRATFORD, MSW, RSW
Tim Houston’s new Progressive Conservative government is aiming to offer solutions for major political issues. The solutions they propose will be guided by the values and principles of their cabinet, and the government’s capacity to stretch outside of conventional conservative principles will be key to tackling both issues at the top of their list: health
Good public policy recognizes these challenges are interconnected, and political decision-making must champion policy solutions that can tackle multiple challenges at once.
care and housing. As we head out of the global pandemic that unveiled the deep structural inequities, the erosion of the social safety net, and the deep racial inequities that exist in our justice, health, and child protection systems, and as we continue to address the substantial challenge of climate change, we are called on to examine our core values and press ourselves to respond differently.
Housing policy is an area where many of these underlying issues could be addressed if we had the right values and principles guiding us. Recently the Affordable Housing Commission produced a report grounded in siloed, individualistic, and marketdriven policy traditions that prioritize profit over people, balanced budgets over suffering, and corporate greed over
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human rights. The commission’s report lacked targets or real policy solutions, and only superficially addressed the effects of substandard and unaffordable housing on health, wellness and racial inequity. Its biggest deficit is that it failed to mention that the cause of the current crisis is the commodification and financialization of affordable housing and lack of public investment.The report affirms that housing is a human right, but then continues to champion a market approach that puts the ability to pay for a home above the need for homes for all. We have already seen the results of policy that stems from the same values that dominate the commission’s report; these values have led to decisions like the one the federal government recently made, which guaranteed a wealthy developer a low-interest loan of 115 million dollars to build just 76 affordable units, which will only remain “affordable” for 20 years, and their affordability is defined relative to the Halifax census area median income rather than the income of households in core need.
What is striking about this deal is that it’s both fiscally reckless and socially irresponsible; it values the developer’s ability to profit over the human dignity of Nova Scotians who need safe affordable housing.
Meanwhile, people continue suffering, and the effects on health, dignity, quality of life and the economy are substantial. The Halifax Regional Municipality’s decision this summer to destroy several shelters provided by a local mutual aid group is an example of this; the communication breakdown between the city, the province, and the people on the ground triggered a moment of crisis that was both painful and preventable, and worsened the precarity of people who were already struggling. Living in low quality housing negatively affects mental health, and persistent housing problems are predictive of worse mental health outcomes.Cruelly, while child welfare legislation in Nova Scotia defines neglect as the chronic and serious failure to provide shelter (along with other essentials like food and clothing) provincial housing policy and strategy still fails to secure access to affordable safe housing. This failure subjects already marginalized families to investigations, and leads to an over-representation of Indigenous and Black children in care.
22 Connection | Fall 2021
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Nova Scotia office (CCPA-NS) estimates that poverty’s costs to the Nova Scotia economy total over 2 billion dollars a year due to lost productivity and excessive costs in government services. Yet current federal housing policy and Nova Scotia’s affordable housing commissions report remain content to continue a misguided partnership with the development sector, which has failed to produce affordable housing and has left thousands of Nova Scotians suffering. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can implement policy that meets the challenges of our time if our province recognizes these challenges as interconnected and in need of a collective, coordinated response. If we recognize housing as a right and housing as health, then we can set goals for greater quality of life and inclusive economic growth. In fact, these values have already helped design the policy solutions we need; the CCPA-NS Housing for All Working Group presented these solutions in their recent paper, Keys to a Housing Secure Future for all Nova Scotians. For example, if we applied the policy solutions from that paper, then the $115 million loan from the federal government
would have been invested through a public body (like the province or a municipality) and/or the not-for-profit sector, to build closer to 700 permanently affordable units. The paper also recommends public bodies and not-for-profits acquire units that are already built; a quick scan of the multi-unit residential properties currently listed on the market in Halifax shows that a not-for-profit or public body could acquire 63 units for just over 23 million dollars.
What values do we need to lead us through this tumultuous time? They must be rooted in empathy and moral courage to create public
Many Nova Scotians have already realized that this value shift is crucial and have joined the campaign at www.housingishealth.ca, calling on the Nova Scotia government to lead through empathy and moral courage. They’re urging the government to invest $531 million each year for the next decade to ensure that 33,000 affordable housing units can be built or acquired and maintained. They know housing insecurity is about more than just supply, and they’re insisting the government commit an average of an additional $161 million per year for operating spending, to provide needed support to those who are suffering. We invite all Nova Scotians to lend their voices to this campaign. The map is already drawn and the path awaits, if we have the courage to follow where it leads us.
policy that is interconnected and enhance quality of life rather than the bank accounts of wealthy developers.
ALEC STRATFORD, MSW, RSW is the Executive Director/Registrar of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers.
Average cost of building one affordable housing unit in Nova Scotia: Private Developer
$217,676 per unit
Source: Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia
Non-Profit or Public Build
$160,797 per unit Source: Housing for All Working Group
Fall 2021 | Connection 23
NOVA SCOTIA’S HOMELESSNESS CRISIS Social workers’ perspectives BY NADIA SIRITSKY, MSSW, SWC
On August 18, 2021, Nova Scotians were shocked to witness police in Halifax arriving at public parks in force to evict people who had been sleeping there, and overseeing confiscation of any belongings that could not be carried away in time, including tents, shoes and clothing, medications, and wooden shelters that were erected by Halifax Mutual Aid to assist those in need until they could be housed permanently. Such shelters were especially important during a pandemic when everyone was being told to “Stay the Blazes Home!”
24 Connection | Fall 2021
The image of a child being tear-gassed amid the resulting chaos served as a wake-up call for many, heightening the sense of urgency around the issue of homelessness, and the larger systemic injustices associated with it. Indeed, NSCSW social workers had shared a sense of relief that the pandemic had brought a growing public consensus that housing is a human right. The past year and a half, a collective shift in consciousness had taken root, along with wider recognition of the privilege of having a safe home to stay in while a deadly virus blazed across the province and the world. The urgency to help people find safety intensified, bringing public health workers to the table with social workers and others.
This was pivotal: shelter providers, social workers, housing providers, health care workers, people from food banks and other non-profits, and some government employees came together for a COVID-19 working group.
Like many other aspects of the pandemic response – such as the government’s ability to create a program resembling a universal basic income to provide financial support during the early days of the pandemic, and transcend obstacles to such policies – once again providers and stakeholders gathered to bridge silos and barriers and come up with solutions for the most vulnerable amongst us. Unfortunately, quick band-aid palliatives to urgent concerns, such as placing people in hotels during a pandemic when no one is traveling, are not sustainable long-term solutions and do not get to the root of the problem. The price of housing in Nova Scotia has drastically increased over the last few years, and a number of other systemic and situational factors have conspired to make the problem of housing even more dire, despite the best intentions of those gathered around the table to try to address the public health emergency that homelessness represented during the pandemic.
Ultimately, what emerged was a growing consensus that housing is a crucial social determinant of health, that affects far more of us than was previously publicly acknowledged. The pandemic laid bare our interdependence. As many Nova Scotians sheltered in place, watching the news around the world, images of police brutality and systemic racism and social inequities became harder to ignore. More and more people began to reflect upon the truths that are at the core of the social work profession. The NSCSW’s approach to advocacy includes an emphasis on public discourse, working to raise awareness and build understanding of the larger systemic issues that contribute to specific social challenges in order to reframe these and, in so doing, create a shift in consciousness and increase support around more collaborative and systemic solutions to individual issues. It is therefore gratifying to see the larger shift in consciousness that is slowly occurring around the issue of homelessness. As more among us recognize that housing is a human right and one of the social determinants of health, it is imperative that public health policies include a broader strategy, such as that described elsewhere in this magazine. As Dr. Jeff Karabanow commented, there has been a “tidal wave of intersectional social justice events that have rocked the way we understand issues such as homelessness.”
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Eric Jonsson, experienced this first-hand when his vacation to go get married suddenly was announced in the news, with the speculation that perhaps the removal of shelter was scheduled strategically to coincide with his absence. The synchronicity of that timing was more likely due to carelessness than conspiracy, but what does stand out is the challenge that many social workers might feel in such situations, as well as the hope that can come when shifts of public opinion coincide with political transition. There is a growing recognition that the housing crisis is a problem that contains within it multiple other problems, be it violence against women, child custody concerns due to housing impermanence, or others; consequently, its solution will also require a multi-factorial approach. In order to effectively solve the problem, it is crucial to fully understand it. This can also enable a plan to be developed with knowledge of the full scope of the problem across the province and ensure metrics to measure success. While two reports came out in the last month to try to provide a more accurate understanding of the current crisis, both are snapshots of a problem that remains understudied, underfunded and under-resourced. Indeed, the overrepresentation of traditionally marginalized and oppressed communities such as BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals clearly demonstrates the ways in which the legacies of colonialism, racism, homophobia and other historic prejudices and systemic injustices continue to manifest in the current homelessness crisis. In particular, the number of Indigenous individuals who are homeless in Nova Scotia, and who themselves experienced the trauma of residential schools speaks to the profoundly destructive legacy of colonial policies and their continued impact. The necessary imperatives of reconciliation and decolonization, antiracism and queer justice, are urgently calling all of us.
For our social workers, who have been working in this field for years, the sudden spotlight on this problem is simultaneously gratifying, encouraging and challenging. Too often, social workers’ actions can be conflated with the policies that they are called to administer, or the lack of resources that the system provides. When the top news story of the day is the work that one does every day, it can become understandably stressful to suddenly feel under the microscope. NSCSW social worker,
26 Connection | Fall 2021
The Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia, when contacted for this article, reports that only the Halifax Regional Municipality is required to collect data on homelessness. While HRM may very well be the epicenter of the most visible symptoms, the causes are much more pervasive, and every corner of the province has been affected. Of course, decisions of whether, where, and how to collect data are themselves political, and can be used to obscure the scale of the challenges we face. Therefore, the first step is to work toward continuing to increase awareness and put pressure on our representatives across the province to invest in this problem more systemically. Both reports that did come out, and which are highlighted in this magazine, are focused on the greater Halifax area, despite the number of social workers across the province anecdotally reporting an increase in individuals who are struggling with homelessness or housing insecurity. There is a growing consensus that this problem has increased during the pandemic, fueled by an impossibly thriving housing market that is renovicting more and more Nova Scotians during an era when job security is increasingly rare. Nevertheless, these problems are growing even as this article is going to print, and the task of documenting them is one that must be faced by policy makers, social workers, and service providers across the province. The profession of social work was founded by individuals who saw profound social problems, and whose compassion, creativity and advocacy skills enabled them to create
solutions that also became safety nets for generations to come. The hope is that this chapter in our history is a time for new and creative solutions to emerge.
transform ourselves. May we face the truth of who we were, and who we are, and work together to advocate for a province
Nevertheless, critical theory reminds us that the founding of our profession was also grounded in the ways in which we aligned ourselves with those in power and, in so doing, betrayed so many who we sought to help. We as a profession have only begun to acknowledge the realities of the ways that social work not only colluded with those organizing the Sixties-Scoop, residential schools, and the usurpation of Africville, but provided justification for such violent and destructive activities. There is profound work that must be done to decolonize our profession, and even our own thinking about social problems that we label as “homelessness” and in so doing eclipse the stark realities of colonialism, racism, misogyny and homophobia that continue to guide our social policies, along with the failures of our mental health and health care system. The intersectional problem that is homelessness is also a road map of some of the work that must be done by all of us to undo the systemic injustices that led to this current situation.
REFERENCES:
As the roots of social work in Nova Scotia deepened in response to the Halifax Explosion in 1917, so too may the tumultuous challenges of our current era compel us to
where all Nova Scotians will be housed.
Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia. (2021, September 28). HRM homelessness statistics. AHANS. Retrieved from https://www.ahans.ca/hrm-homelessnessstatistics-2. Jonsson, E. (2021, September). Semi‐Annual Count of People Sleeping Outside in Halifax August 25, 2021. Halifax; Navigator Street Outreach Program. Karabanow, J., Doll, K., Leviten-Reid, C., Hughes, J., & Wu, H. (n.d.). COVID-19: Promoting Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery in Two Communities in Nova Scotia. ts, Halifax.
NADIA SIRITSKY, MSSW, SWC is the professional practice and advocacy consultant at the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers.
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Fall 2021 | Connection 27
SHARON MURPHY: MIGHTY SPITFIRE
28 Connection | Fall 2021
ABOVE: Sharon Murphy at a Bill 1 protest in 2014. Contributed by NSGEU.
BY NICOLE BROOKS DE GIER
Dear Sharon, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write you and that we couldn’t have this conversation when you were still earthside. It was a humbling experience to get to know you through your former colleagues and friends – John O’Keefe, Debbie Reimer, Harold Beals, Susan Nasser, and Jovita MacPherson spoke about you with glowing affection. I can only wish that one day, just one person would speak with such kindness about me.
“She didn’t really care who you were. You could have been the prime minister or a councillor. She was the same. She advocated with everyone the same,” Reimer explained. “And Sharon was involved in so many things, and she really got behind what she believed. She didn’t just talk about it, but she walked and lived and felt it. She held by her morals. She stood behind what she said, what she believed and how she did her work.”
Many of your friends got to know you through the Nova Scotia College of Social Worker’s Social Justice Committee. Nasser, Reimer and Beals knew your voice years before they knew you in person.
Sharon, with a picket sign, is ubiquitous. Often, as your friends shared, you were the first aware of an issue, and quick to share why it was unjust and how it must be rectified. Your mighty ferocity shocked the uninitiated.
“In the early days, we’d hook up the phone to a speaker, and all should to be heard around the table,” said Nasser. “That’s how I first met Sharon, as a voice over speakerphone.” Ironically, Sharon, that’s also how I was introduced to your friends. Over speakerphone, they each detailed your specific meet-cute, the first time Sharon Murphy entered each of their lives and how it changed them all for the better. You met Reimer working on the social justice committee for what’s now called the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers.
“Sharon was tiny; I don’t think she was any taller than four feet-eight inches,” Reimer said affectionately. “But was a spitfire. She was incredible. She let you know exactly where you stood with her”
Reimer spoke about you with great emotion. At times during our conversation, she would fall silent, the weight of her grief heavy in the air. Debbie quietly swallowed her sadness, cleared her throat and shared stories of a tiny woman, decades ahead of her time, who never stopped.
“Her mightiness was just who she was, and she certainly always stood for social justice,” Reimer. “It was a passion of hers. She didn’t like anyone to be treated poorly, and it didn’t matter who they were. She fought a lot of fights. She advocated for a lot of change, and she made her voice heard.” John O’Keefe quickly seconded Debbie Reimer’s recollection of your passion, calling you a “champion for the marginalized.” “Sharon came across a lot of people who were marginalized, and she decided to dedicate her career to fighting for the little guy,” O’Keefe explained. “She thought everyone deserved a chance to live, and she wanted to work to make that possible for those who were at a disadvantage.” In recalling his first introduction to you, O’Keefe chuckled as he referred to himself as your executive assistant and technical support. He did his best to troubleshoot Microsoft Office products for you in your independent living apartment at Northwood. “I helped her with her computer when writing letters to the editor, or she would bring down documents she wrote to get my feedback,” he told me. O’Keefe, a social worker at Northwood’s long-term care, misses having you as an ally and the spirited conversations you often shared in his office.
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“Sharon always gravitated to people who were in the profession, and she sought me out as a confidante, and we ended up spending a lot of time together,” he said. “She would come in and talk and share her mind. She wanted to talk about issues of interest to her in the field. We became quite close friends.”
And despite the seriousness of the issues you fought for, and there were many – including a minimal annual income for all Canadians, reform and respect for the aged and elderly, and compassion for those who suffer – your spirit remained enchanting.
“Every single time we saw one another, we laughed. I can see [Sharon] in my mind’s eye, and I can hear her laugh. I love
Jovita MacPherson, a nun with the Sisters of Saint Martha, met you at the Daily Bread drop-in program at Saint Mary’s Basilica, which provides support, fellowship, and food to Halifax’s under-housed. “Sharon had a spirit that soared,” said MacPherson. “She had a sense of humour. She had a very keen mind, and…. we laughed readily. She had a self-confidence that would make you feel comfortable, and she laughed at herself.” MacPherson shared that you were best friends. She as tall as you were tiny. Two women, as thick as thieves, in your shared pursuits of kindness, equity and wholehearted living. Together you sat and conspired to effect change over hot lattes and French pastries. She’d watch you charm waitstaff earnestly, with your genuine interest in their lives. “Part of her charm was her demeanour and how she related to them. Everybody was important, ‘it was an honour to meet you, she’d say,” MacPherson recalled. “She had a presence that would affect everyone in the room.”
that memory. I think she had an amazing sense of humour,” Reimer reminisced fondly. “She had a way; we’d be sitting together, and she’d lean over and say something that would get me laughing. Sharon had a sparkle.”
30 Connection | Fall 2021
“Sharon was a person … keenly aware that judgement and compassion do not coexist. You are either one or the other. She was so self-accepting of who she was that she would
was who she was. She invited people to be who they were, no matter what that was. ‘You are OK,’ she told them, ‘You don’t have to change. You are enough; just because you are a human being you are glorious.’” Your friend, John O’Keefe, says that it was a privilege to know you. Debbie Reimer said, “The world is a far sadder place without [you] in it.” And Sister MacPherson added, “I loved [you] dearly. [You’re] an amazing woman, and [you] reached many people.” “I can see her with a picket sign and latte,” said MacPherson. “Welcoming, laughing, waving, full of life and life-giving.”
Sharon, while I didn’t get the opportunity to sit at your feet and learn from your stories, nor design matching protest placards side-by-side at your kitchen table, nor witness you deftly pressure a Prime Minister for much needed social change; I consider myself one of the hundreds – or thousands – who can live unabashedly because of your tireless work. accept everyone else. She would not settle just to make a difference in the world; she wanted to make a different world.” For this to be our first introduction, Sharon, fills my heart with tremendous sorrow because we indeed existed around one another in the streets of downtown Halifax or the hallways of Northwood. And still, I am forever changed by the brief time I’ve spent in getting to know you and the people who loved – and love you. For many, it’s with ego that they strive to leave a small mark of individuality on the world – seeking to become part of the codified lore that passes through the generations. However, your legacy is in the spaces you created, the dignity you provided, and the permission you insisted be granted to others to ensure they can all live their lives fully. As Sister MacPherson told me, “Sharon was a character, and she had such character. She wanted people not to just survive because she knew we were meant to thrive. Life is thriving.” MacPherson continued, “She was a presence that changed things, and that called for change. She’s an amazing woman, and she reached many people. It wasn’t just what she did; it
May your latte be forever hot, your pastry forever fresh, and your sparkle shine indefinitely. Sharon Murphy died on February 28, 2021, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was 74. A social worker, by profession and embodiment, she dedicated her life to validating the human experience of all individuals, fighting for all to live freely with worthiness and esteem.
NICOLE BROOKS DE GIER is a communications consultant, business owner, and freelance writer living in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She’s also the very proud mother of Audrey and Cameron. Nicole has provided strategic communications and public relations advice to several governments, government agencies, and businesses for the past 12 years. Nicole is a feminist and a member of the African Nova Scotian community. Her website is EmptyScribblerPR.com.
Fall 2021 | Connection 31
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