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New phone line helps monitor conditions in jails during COVID-19

May 29, 2020 By El Jones Leave a Comment

The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. A new phone line has been launched by East Coast Prison Justice Society (ECPJS) to monitor conditions in provincial jails during the COVID-19 epidemic. Sheila Wildeman, Chair of the ECPJS, says that the line grew out of a planned project to monitor provincial jails. When […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, East Coast Prison Justice Society (ECPJS), Hanna Garson, Harry Critchley, NS prisons, pandemic, prisoners and coronavirus, Sheila Wildeman

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

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

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Brian Borcherdt. Photo: Anna Edwards-Borcherdt

Brian Borcherdt came of age in Yarmouth in the 1990s. When he arrived in Halifax, the city’s famous music scene was already waning, and worse, the music he made was rejected by the cool kids anyway. After decades away from Nova Scotia, he and his young family have settled in the Annapolis Valley, where he’ll zoom in to chat with Tara about his band Holy Fuck’s endlessly delayed tour, creating the Dependent Music collective, and the freedom and excitement of the improvised music he’s making now. Plus: Bringing events back in 2021.

The Tideline is advertising-free and subscriber-supported. It’s also a very good deal at just $5 a month. Click here to support 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

  • Two new COVID cases announced in Nova Scotia, Strang says people are lying to contact tracers January 15, 2021
  • I wanted to help Public Health assuage people’s concerns about the pace of the vaccine rollout, but they declined to speak with me January 15, 2021
  • Halifax council candidates blithely broke the new campaign contribution rules, and the municipality didn’t do anything about it January 14, 2021
  • 6 new cases of COVID-19 are announced in Nova Scotia on Thursday, Jan. 14 January 14, 2021
  • Nova Scotia provides little detail on vaccine plan for provincial jails as advocates call for action January 14, 2021

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