Digby & Area Community Health Board

09/04/2026

🍝 Join us for a delicious Italian Dinner! 🇮🇹
Enjoy spaghetti, salad & dessert, live entertainment by 🎶 Al Dupuis, and support a great local cause. ❤️

📅 Saturday, Sept. 19
🕠 5:30 PM
📍 Digby Legion
🎟️ $20 per ticket
🛒 Available at Conway Quick Stop 7/11

🏡 All proceeds support the Digby & Area Housing Coalition—helping build stronger communities, one home at a time. 💚🤍❤️

09/04/2026

If you’re a Nova Scotia senior, you may be eligible for a $750 Seniors Care Grant to offset healthcare, household and home heating costs to help you stay in your home longer. Deadline to apply: December 1, 2026.

To be eligible, you must be 65 or older by March 31, 2027, have a household net income of $45,100 or less and meet the other program requirements.

Apply here: https://www.novascotia.ca/apply-help-household-healthcare-and-home-heating-costs-seniors-care-grant

You may also request a paper application by calling 1-800-670-4357.

Lunenburg West residents: If you have questions or need help connecting with provincial services, my constituency office is here to help. Call 902-530-5449 or email [email protected].

Please share this information with a senior, family member or neighbour who may benefit.

09/04/2026

Fresh programs, connections, and funding opportunities coming your way!
See what's coming up this Fall in our September e-bulletin.

https://mailchi.mp/agingwellns/september?e=9e9a9f27b0

09/04/2026

09/02/2026

Talking about su***de can feel difficult. Knowing how to start the conversation, recognize warning signs and connect someone to support can help create hope.

This ***dePreventionDay, join CMHA NS Division for our free virtual workshop, Starting the Conversation: Creating Hope Through Su***de Awareness, and learn how to recognize opportunities to offer support, have a conversation and connect people with helpful resources.

📅 September 10, 2026
🕛 12:00 p.m.
💻 Virtual | Free

👉 Register for the workshop:https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/starting-the-conversation-creating-hope-through-su***de-awareness-tickets-1998017547269?aff=oddtdtcreator

09/02/2026

🌧️ Introducing S.W.A.M.P. — Managing Stormwater in Your Backyard!

We’re excited to announce S.W.A.M.P. (Managing Stormwater in Your Backyard), a new program helping residents and land owners in Southwest Nova Scotia better understand and manage stormwater right at home!

Through S.W.A.M.P., participants can:
🌿 Learn nature-based ways to manage stormwater
💧 Reduce flooding, runoff, and erosion on your property
🏡 Receive a FREE home stormwater assessment
📋 Get personalized recommendations tailored to your property
🌱 Learn about and help install a rain garden
👩‍🌾 Take part in hands-on workshops

By making small changes on our properties, we can help improve water quality, support native species, and build a more resilient watershed.

Ready to get started? Visit annapolisriver.ca/natural-infrastructure to learn more and register! Or contact [email protected]!

09/02/2026

🚨 COERCIVE CONTROL IS FINALLY BEING RECOGNIZED IN CANADA 🇨🇦

For years, survivors have tried to explain something the law often struggled to see:

Abuse isn't always one violent incident. Sometimes it's a pattern of control.

📱 Monitoring your phone

📍 Tracking where you go

💰 Controlling money

👥 Isolating you from family and friends

⚠️ Threatening you

😔 Humiliating you

👗 Controlling what you wear

💼 Controlling where you work

⏰ Controlling when you sleep or who you communicate with

😨 Making you afraid of what will happen if you don't comply

That pattern is known as COERCIVE CONTROL.

🇨🇦 AND CANADA IS RECOGNIZING IT IN CRIMINAL LAW.

In June 2026, Parliament passed Bill C-16, creating a new Criminal Code offence addressing a pattern of coercive or controlling conduct toward an intimate partner.

⚖️ The offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment if prosecuted by indictment.

Because Canada is moving toward asking not only:

❓ “What specific incident happened?”

but also:

🔎 “What pattern of behaviour was this person subjected to?”

🍁 WHAT ABOUT NOVA SCOTIA?

Nova Scotia has legislation dealing with domestic violence, including mechanisms such as emergency protection orders.

The new federal Criminal Code offence will eventually apply across Canada — including Nova Scotia.

🌎 CANADA IS NOT THE FIRST

Other jurisdictions have already taken this step:

🇬🇧 England & Wales — coercive or controlling behaviour became a criminal offence in 2015.

🇮🇪 Ireland — introduced a coercive-control offence in 2019.

🇦🇺 New South Wales — standalone coercive-control offence began in 2024.

🇦🇺 Queensland — standalone coercive-control offence began in 2025.

Other Australian jurisdictions are also moving toward recognizing coercive control in law.

💜 WHY THIS MATTERS

Coercive control can happen without leaving a bruise.

And sometimes the most dangerous part isn't one particular incident.

It's the accumulation of hundreds of small acts of control that gradually take away someone's:

💔 Independence
👨‍👩‍👧 Relationships
💰 Financial freedom
🧠 Confidence
🚪 Ability to safely leave

Canada is finally beginning to recognize that reality in law.

Control is not love. ❤️‍🩹
Isolation is not protection.
Monitoring is not concern.
Fear is not a healthy relationship.

🚨 Abuse does not have to leave a visible injury to be real.

🇨🇦 The law is catching up.

🔎 Resources? 👇🏽

https://ns.211.ca/

https://thans.ca/our-members/

https://www.cacp.ca/_Library/resources/FRAMEW_1.PDF

09/02/2026

The Seniors Care Grant helps low-income seniors with the cost of household services (like lawn care, snow removal, grocery delivery, transportation, small home repairs and phone service), healthcare services (like physiotherapy and mental health support) and home heating.