News 1. Has the RCMP’s move away from community policing created an information gap? Colchester County councillor Mike Gregory used to be an RCMP officer, working out of the force’s now closed building on Main Street in Tatamagouche. He understands that policing has changed over the years, but he wonders if the force’s move away […]
RCMP’s rural policing is an ongoing disaster, say Colchester County councillors
The RCMP’s rural policing strategy has been for many years an ongoing disaster and a danger to the public in Colchester County, say two municipal councillors with law enforcement backgrounds. Most of the victims killed in the Nova Scotia massacre of April 18-19 lived in Colchester County, the majority of them at Portapique at the […]
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?
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...
Stephen McNeil and the Crowns: Magic realism meets reality
After a crazy week of blind-siding legislation, insults, distortions, bluster, meaningless committee hearings and more fact-free moments than you'd find in a Trumpian White House, the province and its Crown attorneys are right back where they began — at the bargaining table. Well, not exactly as illustrated...
So let us review. On Mar. 31, 2019, the collective agreement between Crown prosecutors and the Nova Scotia government expired. As part of the previous contract, signed in June 2016, the prosecutors had agreed to accept a draconian wage package the government was imposing on all other public servants. At the same time, however, the...
Street checks are banned. Now what?
On Friday, Justice Minister Mark Furey announced that street checks would be permanently banned following a legal opinion written by former Nova Scotia Chief Justice Michael MacDonald and researcher Jennifer Taylor that concluded street checks are illegal. We should, of course, not have needed this opinion to ban checks, which the Black community has already […]
Cheques for mining propaganda, but not for corporate registry
The lobbyist group Mining Association of Nova Scotia receives a lot of public money from the province, and yet it is in default for its provincial registration fees.
About a week ago, one of this province’s most active investigative citizens, Stacey Rudderham, contacted me to say she “got curious” when she heard that uranium exploration, which has been prohibited in the province since 1981, was back on the provincial agenda, after the Progressive Conservative caucus decided to it should be discussed by the […]
Glen Assoun will receive early compensation
Morning File, Friday, September 13, 2019
News 1. Glen Assoun will receive early compensation “The federal and Nova Scotia governments are making an initial payment to Glen Assoun, a man who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder,” reports Michael Gorman for the CBC: Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey told reporters Thursday the payment would be made […]
A fascinating (and disturbing) look at North End Dartmouth, circa 1970s
Morning File, Friday, August 30, 2019
News 1. Politicians respond, sort of, to Greg Hiles’ death This item is written by Jennifer Henderson. Premier McNeil, Health Minister Randy Delorey, and Justice Minister Mark Furey all read from the same script after Thursday’s meeting of Cabinet ministers in charge of the province. There will be no consideration given to any sort of […]
A bunch of uninspired glass schlock may soon clutter up Wyse Road in Dartmouth
Morning File, Wednesday, August 21, 2019
News 1. Compensation for Glen Assoun “Nova Scotia’s justice minister says officials in his department and at the federal level are working on ‘early’ compensation for Glen Assoun,” reports Michael Gorman for the CBC: In an interview Tuesday, Justice Minister Mark Furey said no decision has been made yet about an inquiry or an apology […]
Roughed up by the RCMP at a public meeting, John Perkins sues Atlantic Gold and the cops
Sixty-eight-year-old John Perkins of Earltown is striking a blow for democracy after he says he was forcibly hauled out of a public meeting by an RCMP officer last May. Perkins held a news conference in Halifax yesterday to explain why he is filing a lawsuit against Atlantic Gold Corporation which hosted two information sessions on […]