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Halifax releases police union’s collective agreement

When cops are accused of wrongdoing, the public pays for their legal defence.

June 17, 2020 By Zane Woodford 3 Comments

Halifax created a new page on its website Wednesday morning, posting all of its contracts with public sector unions — including, for the first time, police. The addition follows two requests from the Halifax Examiner for the contract between the municipality and the Halifax Regional Police Association (HRPA), the union representing Halifax Regional Police officers and […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News Tagged With: Const. John MacLeod, Freedom of Information request, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency budget, Halifax Regional Police Association (HRPA), HRP police contract collective agreement, Patti McKelvey, Police Act, police violence

We need to keep talking about racism

Morning File, Tuesday, June 16, 2020

June 16, 2020 By Philip Moscovitch 10 Comments

News 1. Board of police commissioners’ meeting cancelled and other tales of non-transparency and lack of accountability El Jones writes about the cancellation of today’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, ostensibly because — three months into the pandemic — they can’t figure out how to use Microsoft Teams. Jones writes: As the movement to defund […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Adrian Harewood, anti-racist, Ashley Thompson, body cameras, Capt. Jenn Casey, Catherine Wright, Chief Allan Adam, Christine Genier, coronavirus, COVID-19, David Pugliese, Desmond Cole, ejection seat, Gabbie Douglas, Halifax Board of Police Commissioners, Kentville Police, Kim Wheeler, long term care (LTC), Magnolia residential care home, Martin-Baker, Mike Harris, non-racist, Northwood, Nova Scotia Policing Policy Working Group, nursing homes, Pam Berman, pandemic, police violence, Racism, racism in journalism, RCMP violent arrest, Rhonda Britton, Shaina Luck, Sharisha Benedict, Sherri Borden Colley, Snowbirds crash, speed bump vs speed hump, Terence McKenna, Waubgeshig Rice

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

The racist (and dumb) iconography of the anti-gun control zealots

Morning File, Monday, June 15, 2020

June 15, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

News 1. Black Lives Matter “We have been watching the Black Lives Matters protests and the conversations about police violence,” write a group of people in a federal prison. “We have been taking part in our own conversations with prisoners of all races. We would like to share some of our conversations and conclusions with […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: anti-gun control meme, Black Lives Matter, Doctors for Firearm Safety & Responsibility (DFSR), Evelyn White, gangbanger, gangster, gun control, Jason Stitt, Joe Bass Jr., Joe Logon, mass murder shooting spree, Michael Ackermann, pit bull, police violence, Portapique cemetery, Robyn van Nus, Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard, tank armoured vehicle

Ice cream and the Long Hot Summer

June 15, 2020 By Evelyn C. White 2 Comments

The worldwide Black Lives Matters protests against police brutality and racial injustice have prompted me to meditate on (among other topics) … vanilla. For vanilla — one of the most expensive spices on the planet — loomed large in my youthful witnessing of a quiet act of resistance against forces that have kneed the necks (literally […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: anti-Black racism, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Carolyn Lochhead, DeeDee's Ice Cream, Edmond Albius, ice cream, Isabel Wilkerson, Joe Bass Jr., Long Hot Summer, Martin Luther King Jr., police violence

Black Lives Matter in prison, too

June 14, 2020 By El Jones 3 Comments

A group of federally incarcerated Black prisoners have written the following statement. It was read to El Jones, and has been slightly edited for length and clarity. We have been watching the Black Lives Matters protests and the conversations about police violence. We have been taking part in our own conversations with prisoners of all […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: Black Lives Matter (BLM), defund police, life in prison, police brutality, police violence, racism in the justice system and in prison, Rodney Levi, Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard

How Halifax council can (and must) regulate police use of force

June 9, 2020 By Harry Critchley 4 Comments

As has already been reported, at today’s Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Budget Committee meeting, every councillor with the exception of Steve Adams voted to approve an amendment to the budget that cancelled the purchase of an armoured vehicle for the Halifax Regional Police (HRP) and instead reallocate the funding. Specifically, after an hour in camera […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: anti-Black racism, Board of Police Commissioners, Corey Rogers, Councillor David Hendsbee, Councillor Lindell Smith, councillor Matt Whitman, councillor Steve Adams, councillor Tony Mancini, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Budget Committee, Halifax Regional Police (HRP), John Traves, Kirk Johnson, Lisa Blackburn, Martha Paynter, Police Act of Nova Scotia, police use of force, police violence, spit hood, tank armoured vehicle, taser

Putting body cameras on cops won’t solve the problem of police violence

Morning File, Monday, June 8, 2020

June 8, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 8 Comments

News 1. Police violence Stephen Kimber speaks to white people: Still, we — white people again — are at least in a more honest place today than where we were before May 25 when a Minneapolis cop named Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against George Floyd’s neck and squeezed the life out of him. The […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alexander Coppock, armoured vehicle, Asaf Rashid, body cameras, body-worn cameras (BWC), defund police, Jason Forcillo, Northeast Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, Pictou jail, police violence, prisons, restorative justice, Sammy Yatim, tank

Halifax cops and Black people: the Rodney Small case

Morning File, Thursday, June 4, 2020

June 4, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 7 Comments

News 1. Police and Black people in Halifax The police murder of George Floyd is highlighting what Black people have known forever: there is too much policing. On Tuesday, Sarah Dobson drew our attention to the Halifax case of Rodney Small, then a 15-year-old living in Uniacke Square. An appellant court ruling explained the (alleged) […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alex Mason, anti-Black racism, anti-Black violence, Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), Constable Donald Stienburg, coronavirus, COVID-19, Dr. Robert Strang, Halifax Regional Police (HRP), Heather Cameron, Judge Corinne Sparks, Justice Gerald B Freeman, Justice John Edward Flinn, Justice Ronald Newton Pugsley, living wage, minimum wage, pandemic, police violence, Premier Stephen McNeil, Robert Lutes, Rocky Jones, Rodney Small, Sarah Dobson, shit wages, street checks

One day in the streets doesn’t stop injustice, but it does show how Black lives matter

June 2, 2020 By El Jones 2 Comments

I’m standing in front of the Black Lives Matter banner at the protest for Regis on Saturday when my phone starts ringing insistently. It’s the jail. I walk away from the crowd and answer. A young Black man is calling from segregation at Burnside. Along with other prisoners, he filed a habeas application challenging their […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: anti-Black racism, anti-Black violence, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Blocko, Eishia Hudson, George Floyd, justice, Justice for Regis, Lynn Jones, OmiSoore Dryden, police violence, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Renous, Santina Rao, Sharisha Benedict, Soleiman Faqiri, Take a Knee protest, Yusuf Faqiri

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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Phyllis Rising — Rebecca Falvey (left) and Meg Hubley. Photo submitted

Episode #19 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Meg Hubley and Rebecca Falvey met as theatre kids at Neptune and have been friends ever since. As Phyllis Rising — that’s right, Mary Tyler Moore hive — they’re making films, plays, and are in production on The Crevice, a three-part sitcom streaming live from the Bus Stop in March. They stop by to talk with Tara about its development, their shared love of classic SNL and 90s sitcoms, and the power of close friendship. Plus: A new song from a new band.

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

  • Nova Scotia will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine; 3 new cases of COVID-19 announced on Wednesday, March 3 March 3, 2021
  • SIRT says ballistics report confirmed officers fired just five shots outside Onslow Fire Hall March 3, 2021
  • The new provincial rebate is just the first step to getting more electric vehicles on Nova Scotia roads March 3, 2021
  • The cops who shot up the Onslow Fire Hall committed no crime, rules SIRT March 3, 2021
  • Greenwashing the goldfields March 3, 2021

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