At its next meeting, Halifax regional council will debate a proposal for a review of policing in the city with an eye to having civilians handling mental health calls, traffic enforcement and more. Coun. Waye Mason gave notice of motion at the end of Tuesday’s council meeting that he’ll make a motion at the next […]
HRM: 5,490 square kilometres, 20 public toilets
Morning File, Wednesday, July 8, 2020
News 1. Council needs to step up on fighting anti-Black racism, says Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard In a half-hour presentation to council yesterday, Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard called on the city to go beyond statements and act on combating racism, Zane Woodford reports: The presentation, titled “Unpacking Anti‐Black Racism in the HRM: Creating Sustainable Change […]
Halifax police board to discuss defunding, body cameras, making policies public
For the first time since the movement to defund police took hold across North America, Halifax’s board of police commissioners has scheduled a meeting. The city previously cancelled all the board’s meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, aside from those dealing with the budget in early May. El Jones reported last month that that the […]
In the midst of a crisis over policing, Halifax’s police commission has cancelled its scheduled meetings and is declining to accept public input
I've got 99 problems; Microsoft Teams ain’t one of them.
In the midst of sustained protests about policing, and facing increasing questioning about their role and responsibilities, the Board of Police Commissioners cancelled their meeting planned for today. Members of the Board indicated to Harry Critchley that the reason for the cancellation was that not everybody on the Board was set up to use Microsoft […]
Black Lives Matter in prison, too
A group of federally incarcerated Black prisoners have written the following statement. It was read to El Jones, and has been slightly edited for length and clarity. We have been watching the Black Lives Matters protests and the conversations about police violence. We have been taking part in our own conversations with prisoners of all […]
Tanks but no tanks: Halifax councillors vote to cancel armoured vehicle, reallocate funding
Halifax regional councillors voted on Tuesday to cancel the purchase of an armoured vehicle for the city’s police and reallocate the funding to diversity and inclusion, public safety, and fighting anti-Black racism. Councillors voted to redirect $53,500 to city’s office of diversity and inclusion to make up for a planned cut this year; a total […]
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 […]
Defund the Halifax police
With calls around the world to redirect police resources, Halifax city councillors are tripping over themselves to see who can be most "pro police"
Since the widely publicized death of George Floyd at the hands of MPD officer Derek Chauvin (what some commentators have called a “televised lynching”), calls for police accountability and even abolition have been growing, with protestors taking to the street in cities across North America, including Halifax. These calls are beginning to be heard and […]