Press release: It has been almost 8 months since the NS Mass shooting and now NS RCMP sends out this press release which includes a charge against the common-law partner of the gunman. In our opinion the NS RCMP December 4, 2020 press release is like a smoke bomb causing chaos and confusion, a rise in misogyny and victim-blaming.
It would be good to know how many African Nova Scotians are being targeted as police get more aggressive in enforcing COVID-19 regulations, and how that number compares to the white population. It was exactly to answer these questions that Dr. Wortley recommended that the police track race-based data on all interactions with citizens. However, we will never know, as work on that recommendation hasn’t even started.
Robin Tress with an excellent article on the self-regulated Mi’kmaq fisheries and the RCMP: “Looking closely at the history of policing of Indigenous movements, and now the policing of the settler fishers enacting violence, intimidation, and vandalism, one thing becomes clear: When Indigenous people protest, they are considered enemies of the state. When settlers protest, they are treated as sensitive stakeholders critical to the resolution of the conflict.”
Raina Young: The violence and harassment against Mi’kmaq fishers is despicable, racist behaviour. Even more concerning is the failure of the police to stop it, revealing deeper systemic racism. Imagine if it were the other way around, and Mi’kmaq fishermen were harassing white people. Such behaviour would never be tolerated. The RCMP would step in immediately. The hypocrisy and double standards show a clear racist bias.
On September 8, 2020, the NS PPWG circulated a questionnaire to all declared mayoral and Council candidates running in the upcoming election. The questionnaire asked 13 substantive questions related to policing in HRM.
Media release: The purpose of the survey is to determine candidates’ stances on key issues related to policing, ahead of the upcoming municipal election on October 17, 2020. Topics covered in the survey range from the Calls for Justice from the Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, to the HRM budget and the delivery of policing services by the Halifax Regional Police and RCMP.
Federal Crown attorneys in Nova Scotia have exercised their discretion to withdraw or refer simple possession charges to restorative justice programs. So why are police still charging people for possession of substances for personal use under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act?
Why are neither Minister for Women and Gender Equality Maryam Monsef nor Nova Scotia Minister for the Status of Women Kelly Regan willing to consider making a feminist analysis part and parcel of the public inquiry into April’s mass shooting?
Black youth on the South Shore are organizing a Black Lives Matter picnic with their supporters on August 30 at 3pm at Hutt Lake in Chester, please come. This picnic is a Black youth response to the hate crime that happened August 15, 2020 at Hutt Lake, a local swimming spot in Chester, NS when a group of families including a Black man and 9 year old child were threatened by local youth waving a noose and confederate flag who made racists threats in person and publicly online.
In terms of racism and policing much of the focus has been on Halifax’s urban core, but what about rural Nova Scotia?. We talk with Jessica Bundy, a young African Nova Scotian academic who wrote about the policing experiences of Black residents of the Town of Digby and surrounding communities.