Doors remain shut at libraries across the Halifax Regional Municipality, including Halifax North Memorial Library — where the loss of community service is being felt deeply.
“It’s somewhere I can come and not feel alone anymore,” library patron Tracey said. “There’s lots of times I don’t know what I would do without this place.”
Tracey, who did not provide her last name, has been sleeping rough for more than a year and depends on these safe spaces.
“I’m homeless, I live in a tent,” she said. “It can be pretty miserable. This is somewhere warm to come, it’s somewhere where there’s clean water.”
A vascular disease means Tracey has lost some of her fingers, so washing her hands in warm water at the library brings her comfort from chronic pain.
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Now, with the library closed, she has to make the walk over to Spring Garden Road for similar access to …