Gabriel Enxuga of Solidarity Halifax is running for City Council in Dartmouth Centre – District 5.
Visit GabrielEnxuga.ca to donate and receive updates on the campaign!
Across our community, people are struggling. Our neighbours are choosing between feeding their families and heating their homes. Many in our community have no access to safe and affordable housing, cannot find work, and cannot afford to access key services like transit and child care.
• Let’s build a city where public transit and recreation programs are free.
• Let’s build a city with fair wages for workers.
• Let’s build a city where rent control ensures safe and affordable housing for all.
• Let’s build a city where racism and sexism are actively challenged.
• Let’s build a city dedicated to addressing climate change and building a sustainable economy.
Longtime anti-poverty advocate Gabriel Enxuga is running to be the next Councillor for Dartmouth Centre – District 5.
Gabriel has worked with Dartmouth residents to advocate for more affordable housing, the elimination of predatory lending in our city, and access to public transit for people living on social assistance. Gabriel has also been an advocate for trans healthcare and organized for better working conditions for low-income workers through Baristas Rise Up.
Great news, the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council has endorsed Gabriel Enxuga as the progressive candidate for District 5, Dartmouth Center!
-Let’s build a city with fair wage for workers.
-Let’s build a city where public transit and recreation programs are free.
-Let’s build a city where racism and sexism are actively challenged.
-Let’s build a city dedicated to addressing climate change and building a sustainable economy.
-Let’s build a city where rent control ensures sage and affordable housing for all.
For immediate release.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
MEDIA RELEASE
Antipoverty advocate Gabriel Enxuga to run for District 5 Councillor as part of Dartmouth Solidarity campaign
HALIFAX – Antipoverty advocate and Solidarity Halifax member Gabriel Enxuga is running to be the next councillor for District 5, Dartmouth Centre. Over the past several years, Gabriel has worked with Dartmouth residents to advocate for more affordable housing, the elimination of predatory lending in our city, and access to public transit for people living on social assistance.
“Across our community, people are struggling. Our neighbours choose between paying the rent and heating their homes. Many can’t afford transit fares to see the doctor or enrol their children in sports and arts programs,” said Enxuga. “Imagine a city where finding solutions for these issues is our primary task.”
Gabriel’s candidacy is part of a municipal campaign, Dartmouth Solidarity, dedicated to creating a city where there is safe and affordable housing, fair wages, free transit, free recreational programs, and where city council works towards solutions to broader social issues like racism and climate change.
“By providing free city services like transit and recreation, our city could be a pioneer in addressing social inequality and climate change,” said Enxuga. “Putting people and the planet before profits is not just a lofty dream. It’s about concrete changes now to make Dartmouth a place where people and communities thrive.”
Eliminating transit fares for all routes would require an annual investment of approximately $34.6 million. In comparison, city hall committed $58.9 million to the Halifax Convention Centre. The cost for eliminating fares represents just 3 per cent of the city’s total budget.
Dartmouth Solidarity is a campaign of Solidarity Halifax, a membership-based, anti-capitalist organization based in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Solidarity Halifax is engaging in municipal politics because we believe a better city is possible. For more information visit www.solidarityhalifax.ca
For more information or to set up an interview, call:
Gabriel Enxuga (902)266-2965
Solidarity Halifax opposes the project by Alton Natural Gas Storage to store natural gas in three underground salt caverns near Stewiacke, N.S. We stand with our allies, other activists and community members against politics that prioritize forms of development and resource extraction that negatively impact our lives, our shared natural environment and our relationships with one another. We have a collective responsibility to protect our environment. A healthy environment is something we all need regardless of our similarities or differences. We oppose this project for the following reasons.
- Environmental impact from the release of brine into the river systems could affect the livelihood and quality of life of the local communities who use the river. Local First Nations communities will experience the worst of these impacts.
- The Alton Gas project adds to the experience of environmental racism faced by First Nations communities. The Nova Scotia Legislature is currently in the second reading of Bill 111, an act to address environmental racism in Nova Scotia.1
- The Mi’kmaq communities of Sipekne’katik and Millbrook First Nation state the Province of Nova Scotia and Alton Gas did not adequately consult them.
- First Nations people are too often over-burdened with the responsibility to protect our shared natural environment. The environment is shared by all of us and so it is our shared responsibility to protect it. This is not just an indigenous issue.
- Because of the connection between environmental destruction and the economy, particularly in resource extraction and fossil fuels, First Nations are often portrayed as a burden to the economy when they oppose projects such as Alton Gas. It is the responsibility of non-indigenous people to counter this depiction and stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples against corporations that threaten our natural environment.
- The Province of N.S. is choosing to prioritize economic gain and private profit over its treaty responsibilities. The recently elected federal Liberal government has mandated repairing and reconciling relationships between First Nations and the Canadian state. This province must do its part in that process.
- Proceeding with the Alton Gas project would signal an investment in the fossil fuel industry. The extraction of fossil fuel is one of the main contributors to climate change. It contributes to the on-going destruction of our planet through the pollution of our air, water, soil and oceans.
- The federal government has made commitments to reduce climate emissions to a minimum of 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. Investing in the Alton Gas project is an investment in an industry and infrastructure that will quickly become redundant as we transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies. This transition must be First Nations and community-led.
To our friends, comrades, and allies,
For over a year Solidarity Halifax prepared for a campaign in the upcoming municipal election.
We developed a platform based on a vision for a just city. We want a city that addresses climate change, builds a sustainable economy, provides access to affordable childcare and transit, challenges racism and sexism, and ensures safe affordable housing for everyone.
We elected Solidarity Halifax member Evan Coole, an anti-poverty activist and community organizer, as our candidate to run for Halifax city council’s seat for District 8.
Solidarity Halifax then learned of Lindell Smith’s candidacy for District 8 just before our campaign launch in early December. Smith is a progressive emerging leader in the African Nova Scotian community.
Nova Scotia is often called the “Mississippi of the North.” African Nova Scotian history is replete with both brutal oppression and brilliant resistance. Ongoing racism and unofficial segregation manifests itself in many ways, including an absence of any representation on Halifax city council.
Solidarity Halifax recognized the historic significance of Lindell Smith’s candidacy, and the potential for his campaign to highlight issues important to African Nova Scotians in the North End.
We carefully deliberated whether to continue our candidacy. We had many conversations on the issue, both internally and with our allies in the African Nova Scotian community.
Ultimately, Solidarity Halifax made the decision to withdraw our candidate from District 8. We are proud of the program we developed and are grateful to have recruited an excellent candidate in Evan Coole. However, we could not reconcile our campaign’s continuation with our anti-racist organizing principles.
As part of our political process in preparing for municipal intervention, we made a decision not to endorse any candidates not running for Solidarity Halifax. As such, our withdrawal is not an endorsement of Lindell Smith’s candidacy. However, we do wish him good luck in the election.
We want to sincerely thank all of our friends and allies for their enthusiastic and generous support of our campaign. In coming months, we will announce new plans to build the just city we know is possible.
ADDENDUM:
Our decision to not make endorsements in the 2016 municipal election was made before any candidates were announced and follows our past practice. If anyone would like to have a conversation about any municipal endorsements or Solidarity Halifax in general, someone from the group would be happy to meet up and chat.