Turmoil continues at the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society

Two more members of the society’s council resigned this month as the self-governing organization charged with regulating the legal profession continues to grapple with accusations of systemic discrimination in its ranks. I am writing to provide my notice of resignation from [the Bar Society] Council, effective immediately. I am resigning as a result of the […]

Richard Goldbloom: What brought him to Halifax?

Dr. Richard Goldbloom, an iconic figure in pediatric care in Canada and the first Chief of Pediatrics at Halifax’s Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children, died on November 18, 2021, at the age of 96. He was a major figure in the development of the IWK and in the book I wrote about the hospital’s […]

Physician assistants: a fast easy small fix for what ails our health system

The Canadian Association of Physician Assistants may have jumped the gun when it welcomed ‘government’ legislation to allow them to practise in Nova Scotia. But it’s past time for the government to make it so. Portrait of a medical team busy having a conversation with each other. Reality not exactly as illustrated. I was — […]

Latest apology accepted, Tim Houston. Now…

If Premier Houston really has “the greatest respect for the workers of NS, especially those making minimum wage,” he will make sure our minimum wage is also a living wage. Why are we always talking about yet another “yesterday” issue long after that train should have jumped the tracks? Consider the living wage… er, the […]

Firing a staff member for racist comments is a start, but…

It’s clear the Houston government has more work to do when it comes to confronting racism in this province and repairing its relations with the Black community. The news late last week that a Tory staffer had been fired for making racist comments about Liberal MLA Angela Simmonds is interesting on a number of levels. […]

How seven Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq First Nations acquired a billion-dollar company

By Stephen Kimber If you want to follow the stuttering steps back to the origin story for last year’s jaw-dropping billion-dollar deal—the one in which seven Mi’kmaq First Nations acquired a half interest in fishery giant Clearwater Seafoods Inc.—you could do far worse than start with the Marshall decision. No, not that one. I don’t mean to suggest […]

Filmmaker Floyd Kane talks life in East Preston, making Diggstown and opening doors for Black Nova Scotians

By Stephen Kimber Floyd Kane was frustrated, restless, anxious. On one level, he knew he shouldn’t have to carry the burden of all those angst-anchoring emotions. He should be basking in the glow of everything he’d accomplished and all he was yet to accomplish, thank you very much. He’d grown up in East Preston, a […]

White lawyer Nash Brogan and Black lawyer Lyle Howe are each charged with professional misconduct, but the Barristers Society is treating Nash with kid gloves while throwing the book at Howe

What’s the difference between a 71-year-old white lawyer charged with professional misconduct and incompetence, and a 29-year-old Black lawyer accused of the same? Interesting question. The allegations against “Sydney’s senior lawyer,” 71-year-old Nash Terrance Brogan, seem, on the face of them, serious matters. According to a bill of particulars filed against him in August by […]

Our new premier seems comfortable in his own skin

It’s early and it doesn’t mean we’ll like where he leads us, but Tim Houston’s human responses to his early missteps are refreshing when compared to Angry Stephen McNeil and his successor, the Puppet Masters’ Script Reader. It’s a… start. I was listening — but distractedly — to the latest provincial COVID briefing last week, […]

Time for full disclosure on how many public dollars we really paid private lawyers to defend healthcare bullies

Tim Houston’s new government deserves credit for releasing a blacked-out 13-year-old document showing how much a previous government claimed to have spent on private lawyers in the Dr. Gabrielle Horne case. Trouble is that number isn’t new — or anywhere near complete. It’s time for actual full disclosure. Jean Laroche, the CBC’s veteran legislature reporter, […]