News
1. Judge sets aside decision to deport Abdoul Abdi
A federal court judge has set aside a Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) decision to deport Abdoul Abdi.
Federal Court Justice Ann Marie McDonald issued her ruling late in the day on Friday. It is the second time CBSA has been frustrated in its efforts to deport Abdi.
What happens now? We don’t know exactly.
The Canadian Border Services Agency could simply drop the matter entirely, and that would be the end of any deportation worries for Abdi.
Or, CBSA could issue a “warning letter” that would put deportation in abeyance for some period of time while Abdi demonstrates “good behaviour,” after which deportation is taken off the table.
Or, CBSA could restart the entire process and make a new “referral decision” for deportation; that is, after failing twice to deport Abdi, it could try for a third time.
Click here to read my summary of the court decision.
2. Gloria Baylis
Gloria Baylis
“In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed in the United States,” writes El Jones:
In the same year, in Montreal, a woman named Gloria Baylis was taking the Queen Elizabeth Hotel to court in the first case ever in Canada to allege employment discrimination based on race.
She won.
There are few Canadians who don’t know about Martin Luther King Jr. And yet there are very, very few Canadians who know the name of Gloria Baylis. Gloria’s victory might have been quieter, but her legacy is no less significant.
Click here to read “‘Yes, I am a Negro.'”
3. The gospel according to Mark
Mark Lever. Photo: Halifax Examiner
“The short and the small of it all is that SaltWire CEO Mark Lever is blandly, blindly traveling a well-trod path to self-immolation,” writes Stephen Kimber. “Unfortunately, SaltWire’s employees — and its readers — will become collateral damage in his self-lit inferno.”
Click here to read “The gospel according to Mark.”
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4. Red lights
“You know that feeling when you arrive at an intersection just as the light turns green?” asks Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler. “That feeling like the traffic gods have smiled upon you, and that maybe you won’t be late for work after all? Well, it happens way less often when you are on foot, and at some intersections, unless there’s another person walking just ahead of you, it never happens at all.”
Click here to read “Red hands on green lights: why we see them and why we shouldn’t.”
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5. John Lohr
From PC leadership candidate John Lohr’s Facebook page (linking to an article in the Chronicle Herald about the “No Pipe” demonstration in Pictou last week):
This is exactly what the radical eco-left wants.
To shut down our jobs and put working class Nova Scotians out of a job.
As Premier I won’t back down to a few paid protesters and lefties that are opposed to working class jobs.
I’m told that “paid protestors” may refer to a single summer student outreach coordinator position with an organization opposed to the Kinder Morgan expansion; what this has to do with the Northern Pulp mill, I’m not sure. But even if one or two of the hundreds or possibly thousands of people (including Lohr’s fellow PC leadership candidate Tim Houston and interim PC leader Karla MacFarlane) at the No Pipe demo were working for environmental orgs, so what? It’s not like Northern Pulp’s PR people or the people at Communications Nova Scotia pumping out pro-pipe propaganda are working for free.
As I’ve said before, Lohr isn’t particularly appealing, even by the low, low standards of the reprehensibles he’s apparently trying to woo, so what’s the point? But I’m told that Lohr’s campaign is being used as a sort of test for the next federal election campaign, when Andrew Scheer is going to run a Trump-style anti-everything-good campaign.
Government
City
Monday
Police Commission (Monday, 12:30pm, City Hall) — Michael Carter of the Criminal Intelligence Service Nova Scotia (CISNS) and Scott Morrison of the Nova Scotia Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) will provide the commission with an update on Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs) in Nova Scotia.
The update includes the above graphic of OMGs in Nova Scotia, with details of each group found in the report.
I’ve never heard of the CISNS or the CFSEU before. The CISNS published an Annual Report in 2006; it’s not a particularly informative document, which might be why another hasn’t been published since. If the CFSEU has an internet presence, I’m unaware of it.
Michael Carter, however, is a corporal in the Kentville police department, and is part of the Valley Integrated Street Crime Enforcement Unit (which I gather is a subset of the provincial CFSEU, which in turn is a subset of a similarly acronymed national group). That Valley group spent four days in uniform working the Digby Wharf Rat Rally, and then another half-day in “surveillance” of the Toy Rally in New Minas. According to Carter’s report, 18 of the 80 riders at the Toy Rally were associated with either the Gatekeepers or the Saints and Sinners, both of which are Hells Angels support groups.
Tuesday
Halifax Regional Council (Tuesday, 10am, City Hall) — a busy summer meeting of council, with the following topics: the Purcells Cove backlands, making smoking cannabis illegal in parks and playgrounds and trails, making growing cannabis illegal in your yard or porch or any other obvious good place to grow cannabis, and some other things besides. I’ll have more to say tomorrow morning.
Province
No public meetings this week.
On campus
Dalhousie
Monday
Thesis Defence, Physics and Atmospheric Science (Monday, 2pm, Room 3107, Mona Campbell Building) — PhD candidate Satbir Kaur will defend her thesis, “Determination of Proton Radii of Neutron-Rich Oxygen Isotopes from Charge-Changing Cross Section Measurements.”
Tuesday
No public events.
In the harbour
5:30am: Viking Queen, car carrier, arrives at Autoport from Emden, Germany
6am: Bomar Rebecca, container ship, arrives at Pier 41 from Philipsburg, Sint Maarten
6:45am: Rotterdam, cruise ship, with up to 1,685 passengers, arrives at Pier 22 from St. John’s; this is the Halifax stop on an 18-day cruise from Rotterdam to Boston with stops in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. You could’ve been on it for US$2,199 (per person, in a two-person cabin).
8am: Maasdam, cruise ship with up to 1,510 passengers, arrives at Pier 31 from Bar Harbor
Noon: Radcliffe R. Latimer, bulker, arrives at National Gypsum from Saint John
2pm: Ice Angel, yacht, sails from Tall Ships Quay for sea
3:30pm: Viking Queen, car carrier, sails from Autoport for sea
4:30pm: Bomar Rebecca, container ship, sails from Pier 41 for sea
5:45pm: Maasdam, cruise ship, sails from Pier 31 for Sydney
10:30pm: Rotterdam, cruise ship, sails from Pier 22 for Boston
Footnotes
Some readers have reported a problem logging into the Examiner, such that they end up on the WordPress administration page when they get to the site through links. The problem appears to be transitory, and doesn’t cause any harm to the site. We’re working to resolve it.
What’s the scoop on Ice Angel?
It’s a yacht owned by a British firm. I have no idea why it was here.
From Douglas, Isle of Man. There’s been a lot of money-laundering activity in the Isle of Man (Canadians involved). https://kyc360.com/article/moving-backward-forward-isle-mans-war-financial-crime/ Time for a little investigative journalism?
Isle of Man is a tax haven.
Many very reputable shipping companies register their vessels in the Isle of Man. There are many yachts registered in such places and the vessels are regular summer visitors to Halifax. They are sometimes available for charter if you have over $400,000 for a week.
I would be interested to know how long have most of these MCs been around? When I rode my first bike in NS a decade ago I found it was rare to see a 3 piece patch. Upon my return to the province in the last couple years I see them on almost a daily basis.