Judy Pal was a spokesperson for Halifax Police in the late 90's and early 2000's. Her career took her to the United States where she worked as an Assistant Commissioner with the NYPD, Director of Operations for FBI-LEEDA, Chief of Staff with the Baltimore and Milwaukee Police Departments, and was a member of the command staff of the Atlanta and Savannah Police Departments. She is a full time teacher and consultant on Law Enforcement image and media training with 10-8 Communications. 10-8 is a po...
May 20, 2022•17 min
The Mass Casualty Commission is on a break until after the Victoria Day weekend. There have been fewer than 30 witnesses called so far and that has frustrated some of the lawyers representing the families of the 22 victims. And the "trauma informed lens" the committee has been using has also come under criticism. Parker Donham has been a journalist in Nova Scotia for years who now blogs at Contrarian.ca and on his social media accounts. He's been one of the loudest critics of the way the process...
May 19, 2022•17 min
Steve MacKay spends his time at his day job analyzing data for the Health Authority. And that skill came into play after more than 20 accidents along the residential stretch of Robie Street where he lives. He had noticed some vehicles travelling up to 90km/hr past his home located between Stairs and Columbus Streets. That's just north of where Robie branches off from where Massachusetts Avenue begins. He admits he did go through the formal process of writing emails and lodging complaints with hi...
May 18, 2022•12 min
A recall by a major baby formula manufacturer in the United States has caused a shortage in that country. And so far, the issues in Canada appear to be related to people hording the product rather than a true shortage. But there's another issue according to Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. He's the Senior Director of the Agri-Food Distribution Lab at Dalhousie University. According to Charlebois, most of the formula in Canada is imported even though we have a large manufacturing plant in Kingston, Ontari...
May 17, 2022•13 min
The eight women and six men are doing their civic duty. They are witnessing the graphic and horrific details of the death of a 19-year old former star athlete as members of the jury in a murder case in Halifax. The 30-day trial is hearing about the bus driver who comforted the young man in his car and the graphic wounds he suffered. And unlike the Mass Casualty Commission, they will see it all. Nothing is being redacted or presented in a "trauma-informed way". And after they give their verdict, ...
May 16, 2022•16 min
She's been doing morning radio for most of the last two decades on her hometown station. And this week, Ann MacGregor signed off for the last time. She was the very first female morning host on CKEC before they switched over to the FM band and she continued on under new ownership. MacGregor is now reflecting on the time she's spent connecting with people across her home community of Pictou County in this role. And she shares why radio was something she was attracted to and answers the question, ...
May 13, 2022•17 min
Jenny Li is a youth mental health advocate who is also a featured speaker at an upcoming academic conference discussing their work on Integrated Youth Services Hubs. They are also a recent Honours in Sociology graduate from St. Francis Xavier University who co-authored the study with supervisor, Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Katie Aubrecht. Li speaks about their own mental health challenges and how they were able to overcome cultural differences coming to Canada at the age of five. Fixing...
May 12, 2022•10 min
There's a focus on the front line workers during this National Nursing Week. And that takes in about 8,000 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse practitioners in Nova Scotia. Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy is the Chief Nursing Executive at Nova Scotia Health. And she was recently the co-author of a Royal Society of Canada policy briefing. She's been working on strategies to address the current and longstanding nursing shortage and exodus that's happening in Canada. And it's why she's a...
May 11, 2022•16 min
Janet Hazelton has been reluctant to sound the alarm bells in her role as President of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union. She says in her 20 years as a labour leader, she didn't want the public to lose confidence in the system. And she didn't want them to be afraid to get medical help if they needed it. But she's reversed course on that over the last 12 months. She says two years into the pandemic and nurses have never been as battered and bruised and they've had enough. She weighs in on some of the ...
May 10, 2022•14 min
For a man who couldn't read or write, the Westray mine offered him a well paying job when there were few available. And thirty years later, the memories of that place and the people he worked with are still with Vernon Theriault. He was able to turn his anger at the company into action by lobbying the Federal Government for what ended up being Bill C-45, the Westray Bill. Although he says there hasn't been justice for the 26 men who died, he continues to fight for worker safety. The co-author of...
May 09, 2022•18 min
Emotions were high at times during the 19th day of testimony at the Mass Casualty Commission hearing in Dartmouth. The two RCMP officers involved in the friendly-fire incident at the Onslow Belmont Fire Hall were questioned and cross-examined. And the two officers involved with accessing the condition of victim Heather O'Brien were also questioned directly. It was the first time significant objections were raised by the lawyer representing the RCMP members. And one family member was frustrated e...
May 06, 2022•17 min
May 1st-7th is Safety and Health Week in Nova Scotia. Along with raising awareness about physical and psychological healthy and safe workplaces, we have a chance to see the safety statistics from the past year. The Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia notes there were fewer people who lost time from work due to injury in 2021. But there are some jobs where you're more likely to be hurt than others that might come as a surprise along with the most prevalent types of injuries including PTSD. ...
May 05, 2022•17 min
Some people in some communities were left behind at the start of the pandemic. It was a big issue when schools and workplaces shifted to being on-line and virtual. Not everyone had access to high-speed internet or devices to be able to connect. And that was a problem Matt Spurway wanted to help solve. He and a team of volunteers started making connections with community agencies to collect money and equipment to make a difference. That has now evolved into the not-for-profit agency known as Get ...
May 04, 2022•15 min
It didn't take long for out of province residents to mount a formal campaign against the Nova Scotia non-resident tax. That's the 2-dollar-per-100 assessment for properties owned by people who don't live in them. There are some conditions, like renting to Nova Scotians that would exempt them from being assessed the extra charge. But that hasn't stopped the numerous letters-to-the-editors and opinion pieces being published about the practice. It's not entirely clear if this is about freeing up mo...
May 03, 2022•13 min
If you have ever spent any time speaking with Pam Mood, you'd be forgiven for jumping to conclusions. The Mayor of Yarmouth is known for her optimism and cheery disposition and for speaking her mind on issues. But what is less well known is her experience living with depression and anxiety. It's something that she's speaking openly about during Mental Health Week. Mood is one of the participants in the Canadian Mental Health Association's Empathy in Action speaker series. Her conversation will b...
May 02, 2022•13 min
Living through a global pandemic has been difficult for many of us over the past two years. And experts have recognized the challenges isolation and lock downs have had on our ability to cope and thrive. The Canadian Mental Health Association is about to mark Mental Health Week. The event has been held during the first week in May for more than seven decades. This year, they are holding a week long series of online conversations called Empathy in Action. And among the nine mental health advocate...
Apr 29, 2022•14 min
Retirement has been anything but quiet for Jean-Michel Blais. He left his post as the Chief of Halifax Regional Police in 2019, after a six year term. Before that, he'd spent 25 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His career highlights have included three tours with the United Nations in Haiti. And he's also found and developed another passion on the ice as a hockey referee. He says all of his experiences have been distilled down to the characteristics a good leader needs to be able to...
Apr 28, 2022•15 min
An advisory panel has found leaders in Canada's military have failed to address discrimination and systemic racism. Their report was recently released along with 13 proposals to remove barriers and change the culture in the Canadian Armed Forces. There's a long tradition of military service by Black Nova Scotians. The Black Cultural Centre has been working to educated all of us on that history, including the No. 2 Construction Battalion. The Centre's Executive Director, Russell Grosse says a sig...
Apr 27, 2022•12 min
Too many children in Nova Scotia are being held back from reaching their full potential and are being left behind. That is one of the conclusions of a new report from researchers at Dalhousie University. One in five children and youth are living in food-insecure housing or the felt unsafe or threatened at school due to bullying. That had them reporting low life satisfaction. Doctor Laura Stymiest is a pediatrician and is director of Advocacy for Children and Youth at Dalhousie's Department of Pe...
Apr 26, 2022•13 min
Tim Houston's government released its plan to address challenges in health care last Friday on the last day of the Spring Sitting of the Nova Scotia Legislature. It's a 31-page strategic report called Action for Health and it spells out some of the goals and self-described solutions for Healthcare. Critics say it doesn't contain specific benchmarks or timelines and there won't be a chance to question costs or other details because the House has risen for the session. Doctors Nova Scotia (DNS) is...
Apr 25, 2022•13 min
People around the planet have been recognising Earth Day on April 22nd since 1970. The goal in the beginning was to demonstrate support for environmental protection. And over the years, we have seen more focus on the natural world around us and the attention to issues like global warming. But what difference can one individual make? And how do you keep working at effecting change on something that can seem so overwhelming? Joanna Bull is the Community Engagement Manager with the Ecology Action C...
Apr 22, 2022•15 min
This week, the lawyers made their final submissions at the inquiry looking into why a former Afghanistan war veteran killed his family and himself. The judge will present his final report with findings and recommendations later this fall. David MacLeod is also a veteran and he's watched the proceedings and has read all the transcripts. In spite of the argument that it would be easy to blame the government for what happened, he says Veterans Affairs has been advocating for the status quo. And tha...
Apr 21, 2022•13 min
It doesn't require an economist telling us that inflation is rising to know that the cost of living is going up. And that is impacting groups and agencies that help people who were struggling even before the price of groceries started to climb. Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank is seeing more clients these days. And as the largest independent, non-affiliated service, they have to come up with ways to manage their inventory with demand rising. Amgad Zaky is their Director of Donor Relations. ...
Apr 20, 2022•10 min
This week, the Mass Casualty Commission is taking a break from its examination of the facts and circumstances of the events in Portapique on April 18th and 19th of 2020. And out of respect for the families, Colchester North MLA Tom Taggart is also taking time to reflect. He currently represents the region that includes the tiny community where the events unfolded two years ago. At the time, he was a municipal councillor for the area. He was part of a ceremony last week that saw Portapique and it...
Apr 19, 2022•9 min
When the invasion of Ukraine started, Carol Ailles wanted to do something to help the women and children and families who were affected. And that turned into the Atlantic Canada Hosts for Ukrainians group on Facebook. Thousands of people from across the region are going there to find resources and support and to offer space in their own homes to house refugees. Ailles says in spite of the Canadian Government saying it wants to help, there doesn't appear to be any leadership on this issue. And th...
Apr 18, 2022•13 min
Thousands of documents have been presented so far, but only fourteen days of testimony has been heard at the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) Hearing. Since it got underway in February, there have been twelve foundational documents presented. They cover the timeline of events on April 18th and 19th, 2020 from the first 9-1-1 calls to Portapique until the death of the killer at a gas station outside of Halifax. And while there have been five RCMP officers who have been called as witnesses, there ar...
Apr 14, 2022•17 min
Some of the new residents of Nova Scotia may not know that wildfire season runs from mid-March to mid-October. And for almost a decade, there has been a system in place to let people know the risk of fire spreading in wooded areas. Instead of requiring residential permits, people are asked to check the Burnsafe map on the Nova Scotia government website after 2pm on any day they want to burn organic materials on their property. It shows a colour-coded guide to when burning can be done within the ...
Apr 13, 2022•14 min
It was to help create a safe and accessible space for people with disabilities to be able to enjoy the view of the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse. And the multi million dollar project was also expected to help make it safer for the 700-thousand annual visitors. But once again emergency responders were called in to help rescue two people in the water on the evening of April 11th, 2022. A 23-year-old Dartmouth man was located in the ocean and was pulled on to to a Coast Guard Cutter and airlifted to CFB ...
Apr 12, 2022•12 min
Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservative government struck the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Housing Task Force to address the lack of housing in HRM. It says the changes will streamline the process with changes to the Halifax Charter. When it becomes law, council will no longer be permitted to refer development plans to community council or to an advisory committee. Housing Minister John Lohr says “It will clarify approval processes and remove duplication of public engagement. It will reduc...
Apr 11, 2022•15 min
In the fall of 2020, the Fabienne Colas Foundation put out a call for entries from young filmmakers for a series called Being Black in Canada. Recently, the four filmmakers who made up the Being Black in Halifax entry won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in a Documentary series. The winners included Lily Nottage, Dena Williams, Tyler Simmonds and Kardeisha Provo who's entry was titled North Preston: The Untold Story. Spliting her time between Toronto and her home community of North P...
Apr 08, 2022•13 min
