News 1. When it comes to regulating police use of force, are council’s hands really tied? We’re leading this morning not with a straight news story, but an important commentary from Harry Critchley of the East Coast Prison Justice Society, and the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia. Critchley recaps some key background on police […]
Putting body cameras on cops won’t solve the problem of police violence
Morning File, Monday, June 8, 2020
News 1. Police violence Stephen Kimber speaks to white people: Still, we — white people again — are at least in a more honest place today than where we were before May 25 when a Minneapolis cop named Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against George Floyd’s neck and squeezed the life out of him. The […]
Tank rethink: ‘Buyer’s remorse’ has councillors reconsidering armoured vehicle for Halifax police
Halifax councillors who voted in favour of an armoured vehicle for police are considering cancelling the purchase in the wake of protests over the latest police violence against Black people. The purchase of an armoured vehicle was approved during the fiscal 2019-2020 budget process at a cost of $500,000. Police presented the idea to the […]
Racism, cops, media, and performative bullshit
Morning File, Monday, June 1, 2020
News 1. Sure, budget surpluses are great, but have you ever experienced investments in long-term care? Stephen Kimber’s column this week points out one of the many obvious but under-discussed aspects of how COVID-19 has caused so much death and suffering for people in long-term care homes: that the state of LTCs is the direct […]
“Choices made now are critical”
Morning File, Thursday, September 26, 2019
News 1. Coal plants and the Greens Green Party leader Elizabeth May was in Halifax yesterday, and reporter Jennifer Henderson went to ask some questions; Henderson writes: “By 2030, the Canadian grid will be de-carbonized,” May declared, “from coast to coast to coast. Our ‘Mission Possible’ platform accelerates this shift to zero carbon emissions, which […]
Bus Stop Theatre gets half a tank
Morning File, Wednesday, June 5, 2019
News 1. Bus Stop Theatre gets half a tank At its meeting yesterday, Halifax council nearly unanimously (Matt Whitman was the only contrary vote) agreed in principle to $250,000 in assistance to the theatre. The money will be used to help the theatre buy the Gottingen Street building it operates in. There’s something of a […]
Atlantic Gold meeting fallout continues
Morning File, Thursday, May 30, 2019
News 1. Straight Outta Spryfield “After a month of waiting with boat ready to go, a new ferry service across the Northwest Arm is set to begin service sometime this week, or early next,” reports Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler: David Backman will be running his new 22-foot saltwater pontoon boat from the dock near […]
New police chief Dan Kinsella holds a degree from WalMart U.
Morning File, Tuesday, May 14, 2019
News 1. Ramadan in jail “Malik is calling from the jail asking for the numbers of any Muslims he can contact just to talk to, maybe hear some Quran from,” writes El Jones: The last time he prayed with community was during Ramadan last year, and since then, his requests for spiritual services have been […]
The Nova Centre hotel isn’t opening any time soon; what does that mean for the city budget?
Morning File, Tuesday, April 23, 2019
News 1. Street checks “No one in authority seems willing to apologize for the decades of ‘disproportionate and negative’ impact street checks have had on Nova Scotia’s black community,” writes Stephen Kimber. “Worse, no one seems to be committed to finally ending them once and for all.” Click here to read “Street checks: Who’s sorry […]
Telling the story of Glen Assoun’s wrongful conviction: we need your help
Morning File, Wednesday, April 17, 2019
1. Armoured vehicle This is a short Morning File today because I was busy at court most of the day yesterday (see below) and because I’m kind of riled up about the city’s purchase of an armoured vehicle for the police. I wrote a little Twitter rant about the latter while I was eating dinner […]