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Controversial Cape Breton land seller Frank Eckhardt arrested for the second time in just two weeks, this time on a slew of weapons charges

December 31, 2021 By Joan Baxter Leave a Comment

For the second time in a month, police have arrested Frank Eckhardt, a controversial land seller and survivalist who advertises his advisory services to German-speaking “new settlers” in Cape Breton, and who featured in several German and Canadian media articles in the past two years because of his far-right views and alleged gouging of German […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: arrest, Austria, Cape Breton, CBC, Der Spiegel, Eco-village, firearm, Frank Eckhardt, German-speaking Europeans, Germany, Inverness County, Kristallnacht, Luis Pazos, nazi, neo-Nazi, prepper, RCMP, Reichsbuerger, Richmond County, St. Peter's, survivalist, Switzerland, Tom Ayers, weapons

Controversial Cape Breton land seller Frank Eckhardt arrested, charged with extortion

December 10, 2021 By Joan Baxter Leave a Comment

Frank Eckhardt, the controversial land seller who advertises his advisory services to German-speaking “new settlers” in Cape Breton, and who featured in several media articles in 2020 because of his far-right views and alleged gouging of German clients, has been arrested and charged with extortion. In a press release today, the RCMP reported that Eckhardt, […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Cape Breton, Cape Breton Eco-Village, CBC, Der Spiegel, extortion, Frank Eckhardt, German speakers, Holocaust, Kristallnacht, nazi, Port Hawkesbury, RCMP, Reichsbuerger [Reich Citizens’] Movement, St. Peter's, Tom Ayers

“Please don’t sell Nova Scotia”

Additional taxes on non-resident landowners has been discussed since the 1960s. Now the debate is on again as non-residents snap up property in Cape Breton.

November 28, 2021 By Joan Baxter 7 Comments

Nova Scotia has long been a popular place not just for settlers, but in the last century it also became a popular place for non-residents — including many well-heeled Americans and Europeans — to purchase properties.[1] For decades, scholars and successive governments have debated the issue of non-resident land ownership in a province with relatively […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: Access Nova Scotia, Allan MacMaster, American, Anne Murray, Arthur Bull, Assessment Act, Austria, Blaise Theriault, Canadian Pioneer Estates, Cape Breton, Capped Assessment Program (CAP), Coastal Communities Network, Crown land, Dalhousie University, deed transfer tax, Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, Department of Service Nova Scotia and Internal Affairs, Der Spiegel, Donna Malone, former Premier John Hamm, Gary Andrea, Germany, Halifax County, Heather Breeze, Inverness County, Irving, Jim Moir, Kell Antoft, Kip Ready, Krista Higdon, land ownership, land titles, Lunenburg County, mandate letter, migrated, Minister of Finance and Treasury Board, Municipal Government Act, neoliberalism, non-Nova Scotian tazpayer, non-resident, non-resident landowners, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Association of Realtors (NSAR), PEI Department of Finance, Peter Pringle, Premier Tim Houston, Prince Edward Island, Prince Edward Island Land Protection Act, property assessment, property taxes, real estate, Real Property Tax Act and Regulations (PEI), Richmond County, Rolf Bouman, tax credit, Terence Bay, Tim Houston, Voluntary Planning Task Force on Non-Resident Land Ownership, Wagner Forest Management

Developers are selling off Cape Breton, one subdivision after the other, to German-speaking non-residents. What — if anything — is wrong with that?

It's not illegal to have extremist views, spread conspiracy theories, sell land to foreign buyers, or charge those buyers inflated prices for real estate in Nova Scotia. But there's no evidence those foreign buyers ever intend to move here, live here, or go through the immigration process that would allow them to do so.

November 23, 2021 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Nova Scotia has long been a popular place for settlers, but in the last century it also became a popular place for non-residents — including many well-heeled Americans and Europeans — to purchase properties.[1] For decades, scholars and successive governments have debated the issue of non-resident land ownership in a province with relatively little Crown […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 5G, Amanda Mombourquette, Andreas Popp, Andreas Popp Lane, Antigonish County, Bras d'Or Lake, Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Canadian Pioneer Estates, Canec Land Development, Cape Breton, Cape Breton Eco-Village, CBC, conspiracy theorists, conspriracy theories, COVID-19 pandemic, Der Spiegel, Evans Island, Evanston Road, Evanston subdivision, F.E. Properties, Frank Eckhardt, German speakers, German-speaking Europeans, Germany, Golden Lake Estates, Guysborough County, Halifax International Airport, Hay Cove, Holocaust, Immobilien, Inverness County, Jewish population, Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass), land development companies, Lower River Inhabitants, Michael Vogt, Minister of Labour, nazi, Nazi Germany, non-residents, Pia Kaestner, Premier Tim Houston, preppers, Property Valuation Services Corporation, real estate, Renate Sedlmeier, Richmond County, Riechsbuerger (citizens of the Reich), Rolf Bouman, Sarah Herring, Second World War, Skills and Immigration Jill Balser, subdivision, Tom Ayers, Transparency International Germany, Victoria County, Viewpoint Nova Scotia, waterfront, Wissensmaufaktur

Marketing Cape Breton as a “refuge” for “clear thinkers”

Two development companies have sold 144 lots in Richmond and Inverness counties to German-speaking non-residents "who want to live with the values of Germany from 1933 to 1945."

November 19, 2021 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Nova Scotia has long been a popular place for settlers, but in the last century it also became a popular place for non-residents — including many well-heeled Americans and Europeans — to purchase properties.[1] For decades, scholars and successive governments have debated the issue of non-resident land ownership in a province with relatively little Crown […]

Filed Under: Featured, Investigation Tagged With: Adolf Hitler, Alexandra Mashaghati, Andreas Popp, Beaver Lodge Estates, Bras d'Or Lake, Cape Breton, Cape Breton Real Solutions, climate change, climate crisis, Condor, conspiracy theories, conspiracy theorists, Crown land, cult, Der Spiegel, Elizaveta Firsova, Eva Herman, Evans Island, George Monbiot, German Politics and Society Journal, German-speaking Europeans, Germany, Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Golden Lake Estates, Gottfried Feder, Iain Rankin, immigrants, Inverness County, Juergen Gindner, Leibniz University Hannover, Mehrab Mashaghati, Michael Vogt, Nazism, non-resident landowners, ocean access, Owls Head Park, Patricia Anne Simpson, Querdenker, real estate, refuge, refugees, refugium, Reichsbuerger [Reich Citizens’] Movement, Richmond County, Save Owls Head Provincial Park, Stephen McNeil, Telegram channel, The Guardian, Third Reich, Transparency International Germany, waterfront, Wissensmanufaktur

A Q and A with the German journalist who broke the story of an extremist colony in Cape Breton

July 30, 2020 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

On July 23, 2020, Der Spiegel, Germany’s largest weekly magazine, published an article by Martin Doerry, entitled “Moose, Bears, Eva Herman: Right-wing ideologues and conspiracy-theorists, including the former “Tagesshau” presenter, lure Germans to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. ‘New settlers’ can buy real estate in a colony of like-minded people.”  The article was written […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Andreas Popp, AZK (AntiZensurKoalition /Anti-censorship Coalition), Cape Breton, Der Spiegel, Eva Herman, far right extremists, far right Germans Cape Breton, Frank Eckhardt, hard-right, Ivo Sasek, Martin Doerry, Nazis, Organic Christian Generation, Reichsbuerger [Reich Citizens’] Movement, right-wing

Germans in Nova Scotia ‘devastated’ by reports of hard-right extremist colony in Cape Breton

July 29, 2020 By Joan Baxter 7 Comments

Recent media reports about conspiracy-theorizing and hard-right extremists buying and selling land in Cape Breton, and setting up a colony of like-minded German-speakers from Europe on the island have shaken up many people in Nova Scotia, none more so than in the German-Canadian community. The reports have “devastated” her German business clients in Nova Scotia, says […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Andreas Popp, Bras d’Or Strategy, Cape Breton, Cape Breton Real Solutions, Der Spiegel, Dundee Resort and Golf Club, Eva Herman, FE Property Sales, Frank Eckhardt, Golden View Estate, Herman and Popp Show, Immigration, Juergen Gindner, Luis Pazos, Nazis, Neusiedler, preppers, Reichsbuerger [Reich Citizens’] Movement, Renate Sedlmeier, Sonny Grewal, Wissensmanufaktur

Not having a public inquiry into the mass murders is a disservice to victims’ families, the public, and common sense

Morning File, Friday, July 24, 2020

July 24, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 15 Comments

News 1. No public inquiry into mass murders “Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey and federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair announced not an inquiry, but rather a three-member Independent Review Panel to look into the mass murders [of April 18/19],” Examiner reporters Yvette d’Entremont, Jennifer Henderson, and myself reported yesterday: […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Andreas Popp, Archie Kaiser, being late, Der Spiegel, Eva Herman, far right Germans Cape Breton, Frank Eckhart, gun violence, Hotel Barmecide, Justice Minister Mark Furey, lateness, mass killing, mass shooting, massacre, Minister Bill Blair, murder spree, Nazis, Nova Scotia, Policing, Premier Stephen McNeil, press conference, Public Inquiry, rampage, RCMP, Reinhard and Romana Fugger

PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

A young man wearing a purple jean jacket and sporting a moustache lies on the green grass surrounded by pink plastic flamingos

Episode 80 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Singer-songwriter Willie Stratton has wandered a number of genre paths, starting with raw acoustic folk as a teen phenom, moving through surf rock as Beach Bait, and landing in a Roy Orbison-style classic country on his new album Drugstore Dreamin’. Ahead of his release show at the Marquee on Friday, he stops in to explain why mixing influences makes the best art, how he approaches the guitar, and what he likes about his day job as a barber.

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

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  • “I have to live with that, and I’ve lived with that for two-plus years”: emotional testimony about RCMP mistakes during the mass murders May 26, 2022
  • ‘Next thing I know I’m getting tased:’ Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing into 2019 arrest on Quinpool Road underway May 26, 2022

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