In the days before the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, the killer was harassing Lisa McCully, who lived in Portapique, driving in front of her home and “creeping her out,” according to an RCMP officer who knew her. McCully was the killer’s third victim on Saturday night, April 18, when she left her two […]
It’s OK to get rid of books. Really.
Morning File, Friday, April 22, 2022
News 1. Renoviction? What renoviction? The ban on renovictions has been lifted with the end of the provincial health state of emergency. There are new rules in place though around kicking out tenants in order to upgrade properties and jack up the rent. But are landlords following them? In many cases, the answer seems to […]
Systemic racism and the Desmond murder-suicide
The inquiry looking into the 2017 murder-suicide of the Desmond family has been examining the roles played by PTSD and domestic violence in those horrific events. Last week, the inquiry heard from a panel of experts about the impact of systemic racism.
In the early evening hours of January 3, 2017, in remote Upper Big Tracadie, Nova Scotia, Lionel Desmond murdered his wife, Shanna, his daughter, Aaliyah, and his mother, Brenda, then turned the gun on himself. In the wake of such a horrific murder-suicide, two dueling narratives quickly emerged to try to explain the inexplicable. The […]
‘The rest is for the seagulls’
We may never know all the complex factors that led Lionel Desmond to murder his wife and family, and then kill himself. But we're learning. It's complicated.
On the evening of Jan. 3, 2017, Lionel Desmond, a 32-year-old former Canadian soldier, murdered his 31-year-old wife, Shanna, their 10-year-old daughter, Aaliyah, and his 52-year-old mother, Brenda, in their home in tiny Upper Big Tracadie, N.S. Then, he turned the rifle on himself. In the immediate aftermath of that horrific quadruple murder-suicide, we as...
Why people ignore warning signs
Morning File, Tuesday, July 28, 2020
News 1. Witness told police that mass murderer “builds fires and burns bodies, is a sexual predator, and supplies drugs in Portapique and Economy” Tim Bousquet is on vacation, but still reported on documents related to the RCMP’s investigation in the mass murders of April 18/19, which a Nova Scotia judge ordered redacted. And there’s […]
No public inquiry into mass murders
"They keep saying they don’t want to dig stuff up and hurt the families more than they have already been hurt. But a public inquiry is the one and only thing we are asking for and I think we deserve that.”
Just yesterday, 300 people — family and friends of victims of the mass murders of April 18/19 — marched on the Bible Hill RCMP detachment, demanding a public inquiry into the murders. Today, Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey and federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair announced not an inquiry, but […]
Shelter workers also call for public inquiry into mass murder
Nova Scotia transition house workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are adding to the chorus of voices calling for a public inquiry into the mass shooting murders of April 18-19. Members of CUPE’s Nova Scotia Transition House Sector Committee (NSTHSC) issued a media release Thursday morning demanding the provincial and federal […]
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 […]
From cop to survivor
Cary Ryan is a survivor of domestic abuse. She's also a former cop who says she was harassed in the workplace because of her mental illness. Now, she studies how cops respond to domestic violence.
Cary Ryan is a survivor of domestic violence. She’s also a former cop who left her job on the police force because of harassment due to her mental illness. Ryan asked the Examiner not to name the police force she worked for or include the names of her abusers in this article, but she says […]
Not only the lonely are lonely during COVID-19
Morning File, Wednesday, June 17, 2020
News 1. Dead Wrong on Uncover Tim Bousquet’s podcast Dead Wrong, on CBC’s Uncover, is now live and you can listen to the first couple of episodes here. Everyone at the Examiner knows how hard he’s worked on this podcast for the past several months, but, of course, his work on the Dead Wrong series […]