News 1. Gold and silver awards for Examiner contributors at the Atlantic Journalism Awards Congratulations to the members of the Examiner team who won gold and silver at yesterday’s Atlantic Journalism Awards. Rather than being held in-person, of course, the event was online, with winners announced via YouTube videos. Yvette d’Entremont won gold in the […]
Time for a serious rethink of the Serious Incident Response Team?
A mentally disturbed man holding a pellet gun is shot and killed by police who mistook it for a handgun. The officer who killed him fired when the man pointed his fake gun at police after another officer had fired a rubber bullet at him and missed... There must be better ways to handle these cases. Just don't ask SIRT to suggest those ways.
On July 9, 2020, the RCMP responded to a “call of an armed man who was uttering threats” at a home where he lived with his mother in Eastern Passage. “When police arrived,” the Mounties said in a news release after the incident, “they located the man, a 60-year-old from Eastern Passage, armed with a […]
Santina Rao: The charges against me have been dropped, but the battle continues
Today is going to be a day I remember for the rest of my life. On July 6, 2020 the charges against me were dropped by the Crown Attorney. I no longer have to live another day being scared of what my future will look like, or worried if I’ll be able to spend precious time […]
Police brutality? Think globally, act locally
We're right to speak out about the murder of George Floyd and about the global pandemic of state violence against black people, but we — white people — also need to act locally. There's plenty for us to do right here in our own backyard.
Call it the dance of the dodge. • We need to wait, we need to respect the process, we need to make an informed decision based on the appropriate investigation…” — Halifax Police Chief Dan Kinsella, Jan. 20, 2020. • “After some initial investigation, it has been determined, based on medical records, the matter meets […]
One day in the streets doesn’t stop injustice, but it does show how Black lives matter
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 […]
When is a deadline not a deadline?
Morning File, Wednesday, January 22, 2020
News 1. Boat Harbour Though the deadline of January 30, 2020 was set five years ago, it’s looking as if the province of Nova Scotia will not be strictly enforcing the Boat Harbour Act until April 1 this year, to allow Paper Excellence to run a power boiler throughout remaining winter months. Joan Baxter and […]
Halifax police officers in Santina Rao case still working, chief waiting for investigation
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...
Puzzling developments with Cape Breton’s non-existent container terminal
Morning File, Monday, January 20, 2020
News 1. Walmart incident “When a young black woman accused the Halifax police of racially profiling and abusing her in connection with an alleged shoplifting incident at Walmart last week, officials did what officials do,” writes Stephen Kimber. “They obfuscated, they passed the buck, they pretended to take it seriously.” Click here to read “Can […]
Shopping while Black: Santina Rao’s experience at Wal-Mart
Morning File, Friday, January 17, 2020
News 1. Racial profiling “Santina Rao was at the Walmart at the Halifax Shopping Centre on Wednesday when she was accused of stealing by store staff, assaulted by the police, and arrested,” writes El Jones: Rao was shopping with her two young children, age 3 and 15 months. She paid for $90 worth of items […]
Halifax woman says she was racially profiled by Wal-Mart employees who wrongfully accused her of theft, then beaten by police
Santina Rao was at the Walmart at the Halifax Shopping Centre on Wednesday when she was accused of stealing by store staff, assaulted by the police, and arrested. Rao was shopping with her two young children, age 3 and 15 months. She paid for $90 worth of items in the electronics department. The cashier told […]