Schedule

Wednesday, January 5^th – In office

Thursday, January 6^th & Friday, January 7^th – Planning, reading and writing.

Sunday, January 9^th – Virtual Parish Visits

Monday, January 10^th – Day off

Tuesday, January 11^th – Mission to Seafarers Board Meeting (online); Cursillo AGM and Ultreya (online)

Covid 19 Guidelines

Stay tuned for Guideline updates under seperate cover on or before January 12th. 

Please visit our Covid 19 page linked here  for the latest updates from the office.

Thank you for all you are doing to help keep our communities safe and, as always, please contact Rev’d Ann Turner at executivedirector@nspeidiocese.ca (or 902-420-0717, ext 1167) with any questions or concerns. 

For general concerns you may consult provincial guidelines:   Nova Scotia:   For up-to-date information please go to: https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/  PEI: For up-to-date information, please go to: https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/covid19  

2022 allotment to parishes have been emailed to treasurers last week. If they weren’t received, please check your bulk/spam before contacting the Diocese. 

Parochial return materials are forthcoming.  

CEWS 

Please continue to send reporting in to Chris Veach, financialcontroller@nspeidiocese.ca  until we know that the program has ended.

All delegates to this Special Synod, January 29, 2022, will have received a nominations package by now. If you are no longer a parish delegate, please contact the Synod Office as soon as possible (bishopsoffice@nspeidiocese.ca). This is your opportunity to nominate or self-nominate delegates to General Synod in Calgary, AB, in July, 2022. If you have questions or concerns about this Synod, please contact Rev’d Ann Turner, Executive Director, at executivedirector@nspeidiocese.ca.

Please be assured that between now and then, we will be monitoring all public health advisories and will readjust plans as required for safety and health.

 A new calendar year, 2022 means deeper listening for church leaders.  Listening to God. Listening and observing the community around us. Many missional ministry possibilities exist, but how can we discern them? Read this article by Beth Wyndham, called Joy and Gratitude: A Pandemic Church Plant Inspires Joy. Explore her questions with others in your congregation.  

 

COVID-19 Vaccination for Children

COVID-19 vaccines are now available for children in both Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and in the midst of rising case numbers and a sea of misinformation available online, we want to be part of sharing good, accurate, and helpful information for parents, families, and communities. You can find some of that information here. 

New Year, New Training

As you are hopefully already aware, all leaders who work with children, youth, or vulnerable adults are required to take training annually. In addition to our own online training hub at www.sharenspei.ca, Ecclesiastical Insurance has created an online course specifically focused on protecting children, youth, and vulnerable adults. This will be rolled out widely in the new year, but if you'd like to be kept in the loop, email Allie at acolp@nspeidiocese.ca and she will make sure you get more information as soon as it is available. 

Check out “From Advent to Epiphany" from the Diocese of BC.  

The video is available for your viewing pleasure at https://vimeo.com/657559466 

It has just come to our attention that most of our Training Videos have been deleted from YouTube! We don’t know how or why this happened, but the problem has been resolved. The videos are now available again through the Licensed Lay Ministers Web site here:

https://nspeilayministers.ca/Users/davidharrison/Documents/Websites/layreaders/videos.html

Or through our new Licensed Lay Ministers YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC80Yoq605ULSHzyDuC-50zA

We are very sorry for any trouble this has caused to those in training!

David Harrison
President

Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island Licensed Lay Ministers Association

The Office currently has a limited number of rapid tests. Please call ahead if you would like to pick up a few. The only restriction to using these is the requirement that you report a positive test to Rev’d Ann Turner, Executive Director. This information is kept in confidence but is a requirement of our provincial Work Screening programme. With each test comes instructions and a referral for a PCR test should your results be positive. If you are a parish nurse (or other medical professional) and interested in helping facilitate a rapid-testing programme regionally in our Diocese, please contact Rev’d Ann at executivedirector@nspeidiocese.ca.

This edition follows the December meeting of the Face of Poverty Consultation (FACE). FACE is part of the Diocesan Fairness in Basis Needs Social Justice Ministry. FACE welcomes new members and meets monthly (now by Zoom). Contact Andy Sherin at nspeijustice@gmail.com if you have questions or would like to consider joining FACE or contributing to the Fairness Basis Needs ministry.

In this issue:

Child Poverty Report Cards for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

Highlights from the Housing and Homelessness Partnership Symposium

HARP (Heating Assistance Rebate Program) for Nova Scotia  

Figure credit: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) 2021 report card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia

This House [of Commons] “seek(s) to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000”. – House of Commons, unanimous all-party resolution, November 24, 1989

In 1989 the House of Commons voted unanimously for a motion to eliminate child poverty in Canada by the year 2000. As the figure above shows although there has been some progress towards this goal there is more work to be done especially in Nova Scotia.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has released is 2021 report card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia that states “Nova Scotia has performed the worst [in Canada] in reducing child poverty from 1989 levels. Almost 1 in 4 children in Nova Scotia live in poverty.” Read the report and the CCPA recommendations at: https://campaign2000.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Nova-Scotia-2021-RC-child-family-poverty-NS-Final-English.pdf

The Face of Poverty Consultation will be reviewing the Nova Scotia Provincial Government’s plan to reduce childhood poverty early in the new year and will report in the NetNews. The Minister of Community Services’ mandate letter directs the Minster to prepare a plan to reduce child poverty within 90 days.

The MacKillop Centre for Social Justice and PEI Coalition for a Poverty Eradication Strategy released their Eighth Annual Report on Child and Family Poverty on Prince Edward Island – 2021 that states “The overall child poverty rate for PEI declined by one percentage point from 19.4% in 2018 to 18.4% in 2019, but remained 0.8% above the national average”. Read the report at: PEI-2021-Child-Poverty-Report-Card-version2.pdf (campaign2000.ca)

Housing

The Archdiocese of Halifax and Yarmouth is building and siting temporary shelters. These shelters meet building codes and are acceptable to HRM planning but they cost $11,000 each.  

Have a look at the first shelter built at: Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth - Emergency Shelters Project (halifaxyarmouth.org)

And you can donate to the building of shelters at: Emergency Shelters Project (halifaxyarmouthad-app.azurewebsites.net)

The HRM Housing and Homeless Partnership held its annual Housing Symposium on November 22. The full replay of the symposium can be watched at 2021 Annual Housing Symposium (vimeo.com)

Some highlights

The YWCA in collaboration with other organizations has produced a series of animated videos entitled Home for Good that explore the challenges women face finding suitable housing.

Video 1 Centring Women’s Voices https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weTvcHLT6dQ

Video 2 Desperate for Housing https://youtu.be/W217sasRYDw 

Video 3 When have you felt unsafe?  https://youtu.be/W217sasRYDw

Video 4 Lost in the system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABd0DTwoFRg

The YWCA supports women leaving abusive relationships via the December 6 Fund which provides small repayable loans to support the women establishing a new home. Read more about the December 6 Fund at YWCA Halifax here.

December 6th Fund At 1hour and 15 minutes in the symposium video is a presentation by Pauline MacIntosh from the St. Francis Xavier University Extension Department talking about their project Build Together: Strengthening the Community Housing Sector in Nova Scotia. They have held four series of consultations, drafted a model for advancing community housing and written several thematic briefs. You can read more about it at: Build Together: Strengthening the Community Housing Sector in Nova Scotia - Coady Institute (stfx.ca) At 2 hours and 18 minutes Marcel LeBrun, from the social enterprise 12 Neighbours Inc. talks about the tiny home project in Fredericton, New Brunswick that not only will provide homes for persons who are homeless but also work at developing community amongst the residents. Each home will have a full kitchen, three-piece bathroom, loft and living space and cost $40,000. At 2 hours and 37 minutes Curtis Whilley speaks about the community land trust being developed for the black community of Upper Hammonds Plains.

HARP (Heating Assistance Rebate Program)

The Heating Assistance Rebate Program helps low-income Nova Scotians with the cost of home heating. Rebates range from $100 to $200. You can apply until 31 March 2022. For more information about eligibility and how to apply visit: https://beta.novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/heating-assistance-rebate-program-harp

The Anglican Church Women Board’s Anniversary Bursary is a continuing education bursary. Any woman in our Diocese, who is 5 years or more away from high school completion, and is enrolled in any recognized credit or non-credit program, is eligible to apply.

An application form is here.

Want to contribute to the Anniversary Bursary?

Make a cheque payable to the Anglican Church Women Board, with Anniversary Bursary in the memo line, 

then mail to Anglican Church Women Board, c/o 204-111  Pebblecreek Dr.,  Dartmouth, NS B2W 0L1

 Welcome to our weekly Enews. The Diocesan Environment Network (DEN) of the Anglican Diocese of NS & PEI, was formed in response to the Fifth Mark of Mission and the latest addition to our Baptismal Covenant which has become our Mission Statement.

“To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”

To do this we educate and encourage stewardship through social media and liturgies, connect with other environment groups, pray together, celebrate art with each other and grieve together. 

View the latest newsletter here for our weekley newsletter.

Diocesan Heating Oil Program

The Diocese of NS and PEI Heating Oil Program with Irving Oil offers Churches of the Diocese and eligible Diocesan Clergy and Diocesan Staff a discounted rate based on non-profit status. This rate is not offered to individual Anglican parishioners. For more information, please contact: The Centralized Commercial Account Manager for the Diocesan Heating Oil Program, Ms. Jennifer Bishop by name at 1-888-310-1924 or by email at Jennifer.Bishop@IrvingOil.com

-The Furnace Oil price for the period January 1st, 2022 to January 7th, 2022

Nova Scotia                         $0.9221 plus applicable taxes

Prince Edward Island        $0.9428 plus applicable taxes

Will be posted by week end.

Thank you.

 Deadline for Net News submissions is 5:00 pm each Tuesday.  Thank you!