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We need to stop incarcerating pregnant people

October 5, 2019 By Martha Paynter Leave a Comment

How many infant deaths, stillbirths and untreated miscarriages will incarcerated people have to experience before we recognize prison is an unacceptable place for pregnant people and end the practice entirely? Yesterday, the BBC reported a baby was born and died at Bronzefield, Europe’s largest prison for women, located in Ashford, England. Exactly a month ago […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: Bangkok Rules, Diana Sanchez, incarcerated women, Julie Bilotta, pregnant in prison, reproductive justice for incarcerated women, women in prison

Sexual assault in prison: vulnerable women prisoners have few protections and face reprisal for reporting attacks

May 24, 2019 By Martha Paynter 1 Comment

On May 22, three women incarcerated at the Nova Institution for Women federal prison filed civil suits against the Attorney General of Canada, alleging they were each sexually assaulted by correctional officer Brian Wilson over the course of the past five years. The allegations included in the lawsuits are harrowing: when the first of the […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: Avalon Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, Brian Wilson, Correctional Service Canada, incarcerated women, Nova Institution for Women, Public Safety Canada, Robyn Doolittle, sexual assault in prison, Waterville Youth Facility, women in prison, Women's Wellness Within, Wood Street

Nurse: We should support prisoners’ demands for better health care

"There have been claims that health care is better at Burnside than outside. This is simply not true."

August 24, 2018 By Martha Paynter 4 Comments

Martha Paynter is a nurse, nursing PhD student, and director of Women’s Wellness Within. On August 21, the prisoners at the Burnside provincial jail launched a peaceful protest, in solidarity with a large prisoner strike in the United States, to call for basic improvements in health care, rehabilitation, exercise, visits, clothing, food, air quality and […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Burnside jail, health care in Burnside jail, Martha Paynter, prisoners protest, women in prison, Women's Wellness Within

“No Reason to Treat Us Like Garbage”: Life and Death in Canadian prisons

February 10, 2018 By El Jones 3 Comments

1. The Weekenders Recently, news stories circulated about incarcerated women in Arizona being denied access to menstrual products.  When we hear stories about prison conditions in the United States, people in Canada often believe that these injustices do not happen in our prisons and jails. This is a mistake. I have been hearing for a […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, Charles Murray, death in custody, death of Matthew Hines, El Jones, internal investigation in prison, Justice Minister Denis Landry, Karissa Donkin, Rebecca Lau, Sherene Razack, Southeast Regional Correctional Centre, weekend incarceration, women in prison

Now there’s a reason to go to the community mailbox: Morning File, Wednesday, October 11, 2017

October 11, 2017 By Tim Bousquet 15 Comments

News 1. Women in prison “The number of women in federal prisons has jumped significantly in Canada in the last decade, and advocates say that’s evidence of what happens when community support programs are cut,” reports David Burke for the CBC: There are 37 per cent more women behind bars than there were 10 years ago, according […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: David Burke, Driver's licences, Energy East Pipeline dead, Keith Doucette, Northern Pulp, Peter McCurdy, Richard Starr, Sidney Crosby, women in prison

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

  • After reading a Halifax Examiner article, two cops showed up at an author reading at Mount Allison University January 23, 2021
  • A heritage property in Sir Sandford Fleming Park is falling apart. Will the city do anything about it? January 23, 2021
  • Zero new cases of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Saturday, Jan. 23 January 23, 2021
  • COVID update: team sport competitions can resume; 4 new cases announced in Nova Scotia on Friday, Jan. 22 January 22, 2021
  • Three times in the last year, violent men have been driving look-alike police cars January 22, 2021

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