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Two years after Portapique, call-takers and dispatchers are still struggling

June 14, 2022 By Jennifer Henderson Leave a Comment

Organized chaos. The worst day of my life. Beyond the scope of anything I’ve dealt with. It seemed unreal. No time to feel. Those are a few phrases two shift supervisors used to describe the working conditions on Sunday morning, April 19 2020 at the RCMP Operations Communications Centre (OCC), where 911 operators answered call […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: 911 operators, Alert Ready, Brian Rehill, Bryan Green, gun violence, Kirsten Baglee, Krista Smith, mass killing, mass shooting, murder spree, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission (MCC), Policing, RCMP Operations Communications Centre (OCC)

‘We really don’t need any more police officers; we really don’t need any more money’

Morning File, Friday, June 10, 2022

June 10, 2022 By Tim Bousquet 3 Comments

News 1. When the hammer drops If all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail. I’ve been thinking a lot about that aphorism — attributed both to psychologist Abraham Maslow and philosopher Abraham Kaplan, but it’s probably as old as hammers and nails — as I watch the Mass Casualty Commission. It’s just […]

Filed Under: Featured, Morning File, Policing Tagged With: armoured police vehicle, COVID-19, defund the police, Department of Health and Wellness, El Jones, Halifax Regional Police, Lisa Banfield, Mass Casualty Commission (MCC), mass killing, mass shooting, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Health, Patricia MacPhee, Policing, Portapique, RCMP, Staff-Sergeant Addie MacCallum

27 minutes: the RCMP’s communications division hesitated when the public most needed to be warned about the mass murderer

June 9, 2022 By Tim Bousquet 3 Comments

Twenty-seven minutes. That’s how much time passed during which a written tweet sat on a computer screen before someone pressed “tweet” to make it public. The prepared tweet read: “#Colchester: [perpetrator’s name] may be driving what appears to be an RCMP vehicle & may be wearing an RCMP uniform. There’s 1 difference btwn his car […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Aaron Patton, Adam Merchant, Alert Ready, Chief Dave MacNeil, Cpl. Jennifer Clarke, Cst. Heidi Stevenson, Debert, Emergency Alert Team (ERT), Enfield, gun violence, Hunter Road, Immediate Action Rapid Deployment (IARD), Jeff West, Lia Scanlan, mass killing, mass shooting, massacre, murder spree, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission (MCC), Onslow Fire Hall, Policing, Portapique, rampage, RCMP, RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather, RCMP twitter alert, Shubenacadie, SIRT, Staff Sergeant Steve Halliday, Staff Sgt. Al Carroll, Staff Sgt. Brian Rehill, Staff Sgt. Bruce Briers, Staff-Sergeant Addie MacCallum, Stuart Beselt, Wentworth

Bodies of five murder victims weren’t discovered by the RCMP for more than 18 hours after they were killed

May 29, 2022 By Tim Bousquet Leave a Comment

The bodies of five victims on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020 — Joy and Peter Bond, Aaron and Emily Tuck, and Jolene Oliver — were not discovered by the RCMP until 4:45pm on Sunday, April 19, more than 18 hours after they were shot by the killer. Why the delay? “It did not […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: blueberry field road, crime scene, Cst. Nick Dorrington, Cst. Trent Lafferty, Dawn Dorrington, Debert, Debra Thibeault, Enfield, fake RCMP car, gun violence, Hunter Road, mass killing, mass shooting, massacre, murder spree, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission (MCC), Onslow Fire Hall, Policing, Portapique, rampage, RCMP, Shubenacadie, Staff Sgt. Al Carroll, Wentworth

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

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.”

July 23, 2020 By Tim Bousquet, Yvette d'Entremont and Jennifer Henderson 6 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Anne McLellan, Archie Kaiser, Chief Justice Michael MacDonald, domestic violence, gun violence, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Leanne Fitch, mass killing, mass shooting, massacre, Minister Bill Blair, misogyny, murder spree, Nova Scotia, Policing, Public Inquiries Act, Public Inquiry, rampage, RCMP, Rob Pineo, Ryan Farrington, Sheri Lecker, transparency

“An epic failure”: The first duty of police is to preserve life; through the Nova Scotia massacre, the RCMP saved no one

July 18, 2020 By Paul Palango 35 Comments

The RCMP has claimed it did its best in trying to deal with the Nova Scotia mass killer on the weekend of April 18 and 19, but a reconstruction of events by the Halifax Examiner strongly suggests that the police force made no attempt to save lives by confronting the gunman or stopping his spree […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: fake RCMP car, gun violence, Immediate Action Rapid Deployment (IARD), mass killing, mass shooting, massacre, murder spree, Nova Scotia, Police Chief Dwayne Pike, Policing, Portapique, rampage, RCMP, RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather, RCMP Supt Darren Campbell, Sgt. Rick Hickox, Staff-Sgt Allan Carroll

Shelter workers also call for public inquiry into mass murder

July 16, 2020 By Yvette d'Entremont Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Colin Deacon, CUPE, Department of Justice, domestic violence, gun violence, Jill McKenzie, Mary Coyle, mass killing, mass shooting, massacre, murder spree, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Transition House Sector Committee (NSTHSC), Patricia Perry, Policing, Public Inquiry, rampage, RCMP, Senator Daniel Christmas, Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard, Stan Kutcher

Son of mass murder victim calls for public inquiry

July 16, 2020 By Jennifer Henderson Leave a Comment

Three months after the mass murder that claimed 22 lives and forever disrupted dozens more in northern Nova Scotia, there remain many unanswered questions about what happened and why. The gunman, whom the Halifax Examiner refers to as GW, is dead. Meanwhile calls for a public inquiry are still very much alive. Federal and provincial […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Dawn Gulenchyn, Frank Gulenchyn, gun violence, mass killing, mass shooting, massacre, murder spree, Nova Scotia, Orchard Beach Road, Policing, Public Inquiry, RCMP, Ryan Ferrington

“Body parts still in the automobile” of mass murder victim when RCMP released the car to the victim’s family, claims lawsuit

June 17, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 1 Comment

A newly proposed class action lawsuit names the RCMP and the Attorneys General of Canada and Nova Scotia for alleged improprieties during and after the mass murder spree of April 18/19. One of the representatives of the class action is Tyler Edison Blair, the son of Greg Blair and the stepson of Jamie Blair, both […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Andrew O'Brien, fake RCMP car, gun violence, gunman Nova Scotia, Heather O'Brien, mass killing, mass murder shooting spree, mass shooting, massacre, murder spree, Nova Scotia, Patterson Law, Policing, Portapique shooting, RCMP, RCMP class action lawsuit, Tyler Edison Blair

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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 white woman with dark hair and a purple shirt lies on a large rock at dusk, looking up at the sky and playing her banjolele.

Episode 85 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Logan Robins (writer/director/composer) and Katherine Norris (star/composer) of the Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company are on the show this week ahead of their provincial tour of HIPPOPOSTUMOUS, Robins’ musical exploration of invasive species, colonization, environmentalism, and history. Hear how Pablo Escobar’s personal hippos have invaded and are ruining a section of Colombia, why Robins was intrigued to make a show about it, and all the places you can catch it this July. Plus Norris cracks out the banjolele to perform one of the show’s songs. And the new jam from Beauts!

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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Recent posts

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  • Nova Scotia’s second busiest emergency department is dealing with record-breaking overcapacity June 30, 2022
  • What’s the “one small habit” that keeps a man organized? A wife June 30, 2022
  • Stuck on stick: clinging to the manual in an automatic world June 29, 2022

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