At this week’s board of police comissioners meeting Halifax police chief Dan Kinsella said HRP is keeping its plan from June 2019 to purge all data and metadata regarding street checks in December 2020. In March 2019 the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and Scot Wortley released their report on street checks which reported on […]
RCMP
Posted inNews + Opinion
John Perkins says he’ll see Atlantic Gold, RCMP in court
John Perkins has filed a lawsuit against Atlantic Gold Corporation and the RCMP after his hasty caught-on-video arrest at a public information session on mining in Sherbrooke this past May. The information meeting was hosted by Atlantic Gold, whose plans to construct three gold mines in Nova Scotia put them at the forefront of this […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRP and RCMP say ‘not yet’ to Board of Police Commissioners apology request
Slow and steady appears to be the tactic taken by those in power since Scot Wortley’s street check report was released in March. At Monday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, interim police chief Robin McNeil explained why the HRP won’t be apologizing just yet for the harm caused by street checks, saying it would be […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Youth members of street check report working group are fed up and have walked out
T rayvone Clayton, DeRico Symonds, Shevy Price and Kate Macdonald have walked out of the Wortley Street Check Action Working Group. Their statement, released Monday, explains: “During the third meeting, we became aware of the intended purpose of the working group,” it says. “This information we received counteracted with our beliefs and the communities’ beliefs […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Street check suspension buying time before regulation
Last week justice minister Mark Furey announced a moratorium on street checks “until further notice.” The decision followed Scot Wortley’s report for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission that found Black men people are six times more likely to be street checked by police than white men and a strong recommendation from the Board of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Police Commission makes recommendation to suspend street check practice
UPDATE: On Wednesday, April 17, justice minister Mark Furey directed police across NS to suspend street checks of both pedestrians and passengers in vehicles until further notice. The Halifax Board of Police Commissioners put its weight behind ending the practice of street checks at this week’s meeting following Scot Wortley and the NS Human Rights […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Wet’suwet’en struggle is far from over
Sixty-five kilometres up a logging road near Houston, British Columbia, just beyond a river from which you can drink directly, lies an unceded territory actively defended by its original people. To enter, you need to go through a free, prior, and informed consent protocol designed to keep people out who do not benefit the land […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Ted Upshaw’s dedication
Ted Upshaw is gigantic. At six-foot-six, the 60-year-old towers over the average person. But his sunny disposition is more reminiscent of the Big Friendly Giant than the “fee-fi-fo-fum” variety. Robert Graham (Ted) Upshaw became the first African-Canadian to be a commissioned inspector by the RCMP in 1999. Now working as a public safety advisor with […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Breaking news: Halifax RCMP commander Darrell Beaton to be replaced
Darrell Beaton, commander of the Halifax RCMP detachment, will soon be replaced. Beaton holds the rank of superintendent, but RCMP brass has decided to upgrade the commanding rank to chief superintendent. “It’s an opportunity for us now to increase the rank, but also about showing a commitment on behalf of the RCMP to the Halifax […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Cop vs Cop
A bizarre battle between supporters of the Halifax Police Department and the RCMP played out last week, as the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners tried to wrap its head around an unlikely scenario: What would happen if the 30-percent federal subsidy to the city’s contract for RCMP policing services in rural and suburban areas dried […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Do we have too much policing?
The RCMP and Halifax Regional Police have been discussing the pluses and minuses of continuing to have RCMP contract policing in the HRM (See “Cop vs. cop,” Reality Bites by Tim Bousquet, page 4). The question has apparently been decided on cost effectiveness with some politics thrown in and very little public engagement. At present […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rave review
With roughly 100 kids armed with Red Bull in a fume-filled military bunker, no one would confuse the January 30 rave at York Redoubt with a scene from Go. But for a party with near-fatal consequences, the Facebook group memorializing the rave has a surprisingly optimistic tone. “It was sketchy, yes it was dangerous, yes […]