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Defund the Halifax police

With calls around the world to redirect police resources, Halifax city councillors are tripping over themselves to see who can be most "pro police"

June 6, 2020 By Harry Critchley 5 Comments

Since the widely publicized death of George Floyd at the hands of MPD officer Derek Chauvin (what some commentators have called a “televised lynching”), calls for police accountability and even abolition have been growing, with protestors taking to the street in cities across North America, including Halifax. These calls are beginning to be heard and […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: anti-Black violence, anti-Indigenous racism, budget committee, Caora McKenna, councillor Steve Adams, councillor Tony Mancini, defund police, El Jones, Halifax city operating budget 2020/21, Halifax Police budget, Halifax Regional Police (HRP), Hyde Inquiry, Leah Genge, street checks, taser, Wortley report

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

Street checks: there’s not much hope for change

November 8, 2019 By Connor Smithers-Mapp Leave a Comment

This month, Nova Scotia passed a law banning street checks – but what will change? Even before Retired Justice Michael MacDonald’s 108-page report concluded that street checking – the practice of stopping of citizens to collect and record their personal information — contravenes freedoms guaranteed by the Charter and at common law, street checking had […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Commentary, Featured Tagged With: Bill C-46, Connor Smithers-Mapp, Police Chief Dan Kinsella, Retired Justice Michael MacDonald, street checks

What did Halifax’s new police chief Dan Kinsella learn in Hamilton?

Hamilton is the hate crime capital of Canada, but instead of investigating the white supremacist and other right-wing terrorist groups targeting Black, Jewish, and the LGBTQ communities, Hamilton police trained its investigative unit on people of colour and anarchists. And, with Kinsella in an administrative position, the Hamilton police adopted new methods of surveillance of marginalized people, and bloated its budget with the purchase of militarized equipment.

September 23, 2019 By El Jones 5 Comments

Since his arrival in Halifax and swearing in this summer, Halifax police chief Dan Kinsella has been making the rounds, meeting with police and community members. As the legislature returns for the fall session, questions will resume about street checks, and how the government and police intend to address the issues raised by the Wortley […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Ameil Joseph, Caitlin Edwards, Cedar Hopperton, Chief Dan Kinsella, Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE), Fred Eisenberger, Glenn De Caire, graffiti, Hamilton, Hamilton Police, Henri Berube, Heston Tobias, Lauri Sullivan, left wing protests, Marie Fitzpatrick, Matthew Green, police budget, police culture, predictive policing, racial profiling, street checks, systemic racism, traffic stops, white supremacy

Board looks to expand police data collection to identify race-based patterns in all police stops

Morning File, Tuesday, September 17, 2019

September 17, 2019 By Erica Butler 2 Comments

News 1. Police data collection The police board has approved a motion to ask Halifax Regional Police for a plan to implement a Wortley report recommendation that would see racial data collected on all police stops, including traffic stops. Currently, that data is only collected for street checks, and shows that Black Haligonians are six […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Africville, Angela MacIvor, Anjuli Patil, Art of City Building, Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program, Blair Rhodes, botched police investigation, Bry’n Ross, Carrie Low, CFB Shearwater, crane incident, Halifax Regional Police (HRP), Harold Dawson, immigration fraud, Jonathan Benoit Boudreau, kidnapping and rape, Maggie Rahr, Mi'kMaq Friendship Centre, Pamela Glode-Desrochers, racial bias, racial data, Rebecca Carole, sextortion, Shaina Luck, street checks, Tara Wickwire, traffic stops, W.M. Fares

New top cop Dan Kinsella: no racial profiling, just “some inequalities, some negative experiences”

Morning File, Wednesday, July 10, 2019

July 10, 2019 By Philip Moscovitch 9 Comments

News 1. New police chief won’t say “racial bias” Dan Kinsella, the new Halifax police chief was a guest on CBC Radio’s Information Morning today. Host Portia Clark, in her polite and persistent way, pressed him a couple of times on the question of street checks and racial profiling. Asked about street checks, Kinsella replied: […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Adventures in Bubbles and Brine, Airbnb, assholes, baseball, Bill Stewart, Chief Dan Kinsella, Felice's Barber Shop, fermented foods, Jakkar Aliso, Jean Laroche, John Walker, Masoud Alissou, Michael Dunbar, mindfulness, Neighbours Speak Up, Pam Berman, People's Party of Canada, Portia Clark, short term rentals, street checks, umpiring, William Archer, Zane Woodford

A lot of people in Halifax will be hungover at work on Thursday

Morning File, Tuesday, May 21, 2019

May 21, 2019 By Suzanne Rent 14 Comments

News 1. Gold “Here’s the deal,” writes Joan Baxter: On Wednesday, May 14, an Australian gold mining company called St. Barbara Limited, with one gold mine in Australia and a second one in Papua New Guinea, agreed to pay $722 million for Atlantic Gold Corporation, which operates one open pit gold mine in Nova Scotia, […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alex Cameron, Angela MacIvor, Atlantic Gold, Brookfield Golf and Country Club, Catherine Dunphy, Charlene Boyce, employment in NS, freelancing, Jacques Vanasse, James Millard, job hunting, John Gallant, Justice David Farrar, living wage, Mayor Mike Savage, Moose River gold mine, Nova Institution for Women, NS prisons, Rebecca Thomas, Rodger Cuzner, Shelley Lawrence, Springhill Institution, statutory holidays, street checks, Todd Denton, Touquoy mine, toxic workplace, unemployment, Victoria Day

“Do right by me”: by not addressing the systematic racism of street checks, the white power structure is doubling down on Nova Scotia’s well-earned reputation for ignorance, stigma, and stench

May 21, 2019 By Evelyn C. White 4 Comments

“Until you do right by me, everything you think about is gonna crumble.” Voiced by Whoopi Goldberg in her role as Celie in the film adaptation of The Color Purple, the line has recently wafted, repeatedly, through my mind. To be sure, the thought has been prompted by the magnificent production of The Color Purple […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Commentary, Featured, Province House Tagged With: African Nova Scotians, Afua Cooper, Ban the Box, Birchtown, Black Loyalists, Christine Saulnier, Devah Pager, Ellen Page, Environmental Racism, Halifax Police, inclusive education program, Ingrid Waldron, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Nova Scotia Department of Education, Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, Racism, Scot Wortley, street checks, Underground Railroad, white power structure

New police chief Dan Kinsella holds a degree from WalMart U.

Morning File, Tuesday, May 14, 2019

May 14, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 3 Comments

News 1. Ramadan in jail “Malik is calling from the jail asking for the numbers of any Muslims he can contact just to talk to, maybe hear some Quran from,” writes El Jones: The last time he prayed with community was during Ramadan last year, and since then, his requests for spiritual services have been […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 12 Wing Shearwater, Acting Halifax Regional Police Chief Robin McNeil, American Military University (AMU), American Public University (APU), American Public University System (APUS), armoured vehicle, Attorney General Maura Healey, AuraData, Blair Rhodes, Brendan Elliott, Bry’n Ross, Chief Dan Kinsella, Cop Light Bling, David Fraser, DND, El Jones, Forest Confidential, Harold Dawson, Keith Doucette, Linda Pannozzo, mary Ellen Doucet, Melanie Booth, mission creep, Paul Fain, RCMP Insp. Robert Doyle, street checks, tendering fraud, WalMart U, Zane Woodford

A squirrelly situation: lessons in urban planning

Morning File, Thursday, May 2, 2019

May 2, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 9 Comments

1. Active transportation “The nine-kilometre long Burnside Connector highway will cost at least $196 million, more than the entire Integrated Mobility Plan for active transportation and transit projects across the city,” reports Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler. “No one said the highway was too expensive, but councillors cry poverty when it comes to actually addressing […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 99% Invisible podcast, Adam Rogers, Anthony Leblanc, Boudrot Properties, Canada Lands, CFL stadium, Dan Kinsella, David MacKinnon, El Jones, Janette Boudrot, Jason Boudrot, Johnny Mac, Keshen Goodman Library cafe, Mark Elderkin, Mary Campbell, Schooners Sports and Entertainment (SSE), Shannon Park, squirrels, street checks

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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

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  • Nova Scotia’s vaccination registration website overwhelmed, taken off line March 1, 2021
  • 1 new case of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Monday, March 1 March 1, 2021

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