Commissioner Michael MacDonald, chair, leaves the stage after delivering the Mass Casualty Commission inquiry’s final report into the mass murders in rural Nova Scotia in Truro, N.S., on Thursday, March 30, 2023. The problem begins with the self-serving decision by Ottawa and the province to make the committee that’s supposed to be publicly accountable for […]
- 01/19/2024
- StephenKimber
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As a longtime Halifax Mooseheads fan, I’ve spent some time this spring inside a downtown arena named after a bank watching our Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team compete for the Gilles Courteau trophy as their league’s best. The games on the ice have been excellent, but I often find myself drawn to what’s happening […]
- 05/19/2023
- StephenKimber
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Let’s start with this… Defunding the police is, in many ways, about reinvesting in fundamental, and historically under-funded, community resources… [Our] last recommendations relate to municipal and police budgeting. One of these recommendations is that any funds diverted from the police budget going forward be redistributed through participatory budgeting processes. Defunding the Police: Defining the […]
- 05/05/2023
- StephenKimber
- 1 Comment
There are still too many unanswered questions about what prompted the RCMP to charge Lisa Banfield, the common-law spouse of the Nova Scotia mass killer, for supplying him with ammunition a month before the deadly rampage. That’s one reason why Banfield’s decision to sue the federal and provincial governments for “malicious prosecution” — she says […]
- 11/11/2022
- StephenKimber
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Did the RCMP commissioner attempt to unduly interfere in a police investigation? Or did local Mounties try to unduly control the narrative? Those are the questions at the heart of recent parliamentary hearings. They’re also the subject of this week’s column. The gunman in the deadliest school shooting in Texas history bought two AR-style rifles legally just […]
- 08/26/2022
- StephenKimber
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The latest foundational document from the Mass Casualty Commission details everything the RCMP didn’t say in the days after the worst mass killing in Canadian history. It’s a long list. [Canadian Press:] Canadians would very much like to know how many people have died? [Chief Superintendent Supt. Chris Leather:] I can tell you that in […]
- 07/02/2022
- StephenKimber
- 2 Comments
Despite many early missteps, the commission is now doing what it needs to do — methodically assembling facts and evidence about what happened during Canada’s worst mass shooting and exploring the many larger issues the tragedy requires us as a society to confront. It is impossible not to sympathize with the frustrations of Nick Beaton. […]
- 04/09/2022
- StephenKimber
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What the Mounties are saying is simply this: Yes, street checks do disproportionately affect African Nova Scotians. But no, that’s not our fault. If you get street checked because you’re Black, well… that’s your problem. You’re Black. And so it goes. So, on the one hand, the RCMP “acknowledges the disproportionate harm that street checks […]
- 09/18/2021
- StephenKimber
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Premier McNeil says if the panel reviewing Nova Scotia’s mass shooting believes they need more authority to do their jobs, he’ll give it to them. Their first order of business, therefore, should be to demand the review become a full, transparent public inquiry. Without that, there will never be public confidence in their work. Allow […]
- 08/01/2020
- StephenKimber
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The federal justice department’s 19-page internal review into its role in the the Fenwick MacIntosh extradition process — Aug. 15, 1997 (“Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service contacts the International Assistance Group to discuss potential extradition request”) to July 14, 2006 (“Canada formally requests extradition”) — has no named author. The review itself — which followed […]
- 10/28/2013
- StephenKimber
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STEPHEN KIMBER, a Professor of Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax and co-founder of its MFA in Creative Nonfiction Program, is an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster. He is the author of two novels and eight non-fiction books. Buy his books
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