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The truth about what police value

The Halifax police department's victim services budget and lie detector budget were about the same; faced with a requirement to cut costs, the department slashed the victim services budget but not the lie detector budget.

September 27, 2020 By El Jones 2 Comments

El Jones is a member of the Nova Scotia Police Policy Working Group discussed in this article. She has also been appointed to help create a committee to work with the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners to define “defunding” of police. Among their concerns arising from a review of the Halifax Regional Police budget, the […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, News Tagged With: defunding police, East Coast Prison Justice Society, Halifax Regional Police (HRP), Harry Critchley, lie detector, Mary Campbell, Nova Scotia Police Policy Working Group, Nova Scotia RCMP Truth Verification Section (TVS), Peter Kelly, polygraph tests, RCMP, victim services

Halifax police want at least $40,000 to release five years of cells data through freedom of information

August 5, 2020 By Zane Woodford 1 Comment

Halifax Regional Police want at least $40,000 in fees in order to hand over five years worth of data on people placed in their cells. That’s part of the response to a request from the Halifax Examiner through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPOP). There’s been heightened scrutiny of the cells […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News Tagged With: cells data, Cheryl Gardner, Chief Dan Kinsella, Const. Donna Lee Paris, Const. Dylan Jackman, Const. Justin Murphy, Const. Ryan Morris, Corey Rogers, Daniel Fraser, drunk tanks, East Coast Prison Justice Society, FOIPOP, Halifax Regional Police (HRP), Harry Critchley, Insp. Greg Robertson, Jeannette Rogers, John Burke, Peter LaFitte, Prisoner Care Facility (PCF), Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), sobering centres, spit hood

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.

June 15, 2020 By El Jones 6 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Commentary, Featured Tagged With: COVID-19, defund police, Desmond Cole, East Coast Prison Justice Society, Halifax Board of Police Commissioners, Halifax Regional Police (HRP), Harry Critchley, Martha Paynter, Microsoft Teams, militarization of police, pandemic, police boards, Police Chief Dan Kinsella, police violence, Toronto Police Service, transparency, Women's Wellness Within

Clearing out the jails

In an extraordinary effort to avoid a COVID-19 outbreak, many prisoners were released this weekend.

March 24, 2020 By El Jones 1 Comment

The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. This weekend, something extraordinary happened in a Dartmouth provincial courtroom. Since the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, advocates have publicly called for the province to address the danger of the virus spreading in provincial jails. Over the weekend, Chief Judge Pamela Williams met that call, […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Ashley Avery, Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility (Burnside), consent release, Coverdale Courtwork Society, COVID-19, East Coast Prison Justice Society, Elizabeth Fry Society, Hanna Garson, Harry Critchley, Justice Pamela Williams, Legal Aid, prisoners and coronavirus, Sheila Wildeman

Halifax police officers in Santina Rao case still working, chief waiting for investigation

January 20, 2020 By Zane Woodford

The officers involved are still on the job and Halifax Regional Police Chief Dan Kinsella had little to say publicly on Monday about the violent arrest of a young Black mother at Walmart last week, citing an ongoing court case and a potential investigation. Kinsella addressed reporters after a meeting of the Halifax board of...

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Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News, Subscribers only Tagged With: Corey Rogers, councillor Tony Mancini, Direction 180, East Coast Prison Justice Society, El Jones, Elizabeth Fry Society, Halifax Police budget, harm reduction programs, Harry Critchley, Leah Genge, managed alcohol programs, Mobile Outreach Street Health (MOSH), North End Community Health Centre, police brutality, Police Chief Dan Kinsella, racial profiling, Santina Rao, Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), shopping while Black, sobering centres, Spryfield Medical Centre, Walmart

Fawning over robots

Morning File, Wednesday, January 15, 2020

January 15, 2020 By Philip Moscovitch 6 Comments

News 1. City keeps policing report secret The city is keeping a $200,000 consultants’ report into police services private. Councillor Lorelei Nicoll requested the report in 2018 as a way to identify service gaps and ways to save money. The report has been completed, but you can’t read it. Zane Woodford writes about the report’s […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AI, Andrew Rankin, Astra Taylor, automation, booting cars, councillor Matt Whitman, drunk tanks, East Coast Prison Justice Society, Emma Smith, Enginuity, Erin MacInnis, fake news, fauxtomation, Finland, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, fires South End, four-day work week, Harry Critchley, Joshua Bernas, Leah Genge, Mary-Dan Johnston, Matt Whitman and Uber, One-Shot Parking Solutions, Paul Palmeter, propaganda, Ramsey McGlazer, robots, Uber in Halifax, Victoria Walton

A case of gangrene raises health concerns at the East Coast Forensic Hospital

December 16, 2019 By El Jones 4 Comments

People in the mental health community who are close to family members of a 45-year-old man are speaking out after the man was admitted to hospital with gangrene in his stomach. The patient, who lives with schizophrenia, has been in and out of the East Coast Forensic Hospital for the past 20 years. Family members […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Burnside jail, East Coast Forensic Hospital (ECFH), East Coast Prison Justice Society, gangrene, Greg Hiles, Martha Paynter, Sheila Hiles, Women's Wellness Within

Whose deaths matter?

The Nova Scotia government has brought in legislation to create expert review panels to look into the deaths of those who die as a result of domestic violence as well as children who die in provincial care. The goal is to "turn tragedy into lessons learned and lives saved into the future." But Justice Minister Mark Furey refuses to extend the new law to include another vulnerable group: adults who die in provincial custody. Why not?

November 3, 2019 By Stephen Kimber

Why do the Liberals continue to get it so wrong even when they seem to be trying to get it right? Early last month, for example, Justice Minister Mark Furey introduced legislation to have expert review committees examine deaths resulting from domestic violence as well as unexpected deaths involving children in the care of the...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Catherine Tully, Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, East Coast Forensic Hospital, East Coast Prison Justice Society, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Prisoners' deaths, Sheila Wildeman

Hanna Garson: a young lawyer dedicated to the long, slow fight for prison justice

April 15, 2019 By El Jones 1 Comment

It’s a Tuesday morning, and I’m sitting in courtroom 302 of the Halifax Supreme Court watching two prisoners, Geevan Nagendran and Tyquan Downey, face the lawyer for the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility (Burnside). I text Hanna Garson, “I’m watching the most upsetting habeas in court right now.” She texts back, “what courtroom?” Two minutes […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: Adam Norton, Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility (Burnside), Claire McNeil, Dylan Gogan, East Coast Prison Justice Society, Eileen Collett, Elizabeth Fry Society, Emma Halpern, Geevan Nagendran, habeas corpus, Hanna Garson, Jessica Rose, Justice Chipman, Legal Aid, lockdown, Maurice Pratt, Planetta Hughes, Sarah White, Schulich School of law, Sheila Wildeman, Tyquan Downey

A prisoner on prisons: “Habeas Corpus in a Nutshell”

Dylan Gogan was incarcerated in terrible conditions, unable to access the most basic resources, but taught himself case law from scratch and changed how Nova Scotian prisons operate.

October 28, 2017 By El Jones 5 Comments

The Journal of Prisoners on Prisons released a special issue on October 19th. From the press release, This special issue, titled “Dialogue on Canada’s Federal Penitentiary System and the Need for Change,” features dozens of contributions written by criminalized women and men currently incarcerated in Correctional Service Canada (CSC) institutions. The writings document the counterproductive changes […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Ashley Smith, Breese Davies, Claire McNeil, Dylan Gogan, Dylan Roach, East Coast Prison Justice Society, El Jones, Habeas Corpus in a Nutshell, Hanna Garson, Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, Rachel Fayter, Sean Kelly, Sherry Payne, Solitary confinement

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Mo Kenney. Photo: Matt Williams

Episode #18 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Mo Kenney’s new record Covers is a perfect winter companion — songs from across the rock spectrum that she’s pared down to piano or guitar and turned them into sad ballads. She joins Tara to talk about choosing and arranging them, and opens up for a frank discussion of the alcohol dependency it took a pandemic for her to confront. Plus: Movies are back (again).

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

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.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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Recent posts

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  • Former city lawyer wins fight with Halifax Water over pipe under her property February 26, 2021

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