Jen Powley remembered as passionate disability-rights advocate, environmentalist

A Halifax disability-rights advocate and environmentalist is being remembered for the impact she had on the city and the people around her.

Jen Powley, who was a quadriplegic, died on Sunday due to complications from advanced multiple sclerosis. She was 45.

“She was an incredibly ambitious person who took on so much,” said friend Maggy Burns.

Powley was the author of three books. Her first book, Just Jen: Thriving Through Multiple Sclerosis, was published in 2017. To create the book, Powley dictated her story to an assistant line by line.

Powley advocated for the rights of young people with severe physical disabilities to live independently, instead of being cared for in seniors homes. She also ran for Halifax regional council in 2020, finishing second.

“She had such an ability to make everyone around her feel valued and she transferred that to her work in the disability community,” said Carrie Ernst, the executive director of Independent Living Nova Scotia.

“It wasn’t acceptable for her for people not to be treated equally and not to have the right to be independent in community.”

Ernst said she met Powley in 2016, but became friends while working on what is now Nova Scotia’s Shared Services model, in which people with disabilities are provided around-the-clock care in community.

She said Powley also had a great sense of humour and “the best smile in the world.”

“I always left seeing Jen — and no matter the reason why I was there — I left there a little bit lighter and more appreciative of what was around me, rather than what wasn’t around me,” she said.

Powley also worked for years at the Ecology Action Centre, until her health no longer allowed her to do so.

It was here that Burns first met Powley.

“I will miss seeing her and hearing her snappy comebacks,” said Burns, the centre’s executive director.

She said Powley did groundbreaking work around making Halifax a more livable community, starting conversations around what the community wanted the city to look like, not developers.

Burns said the recent flooding and wildfires in Nova Scotia and their connection to planning and climate change are a reminder of the “exceedingly relevant” work Powley did.

‘She played in so many arenas

Burns said Powley won’t have one legacy.

“She played in so many arenas,” said Burns.

Burns said Powley always had a twinkle in her eye. She remembers during the interview process that Powley made a comment about no longer being allowed to wear leather shoes if she worked at the Ecology Action Centre.

“Poking fun at the stereotype of the environmentalist doing nothing wrong,” she said. “That was Jen.”

A day at the beach

And Burns will remember the time that an Ecology Action Centre event saw staff go to a beach. Powley, who was originally from Alberta, wanted to swim in the ocean.

Burns said it was no small feat with Powley’s motorized wheelchair, but she remembers the huge smile on Powley’s face when they found a safe way to get her into the water.

“It tastes like salt,” she recalls Powley saying.

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