Dec 1 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — Transcripts of calls between the RCMP and search and rescue officials in Halifax show an overall lack of understanding of what was required to have a military aircraft assist during the search for a gunman who killed 22 people in April 2020. ...
Nov 3 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — The pride in Blanche Bennett’s voice was evident as she vividly recounted the day 80 years ago when she volunteered to serve in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps. Bennett, who turns 100 on Nov. 12, was just 19 when she signed up in 1942 to beco...
Oct 25 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — An affidavit by an RCMP security investigator details how the force obtained recordings of a tense meeting at the centre of allegations of political interference into the Mounties' investigation into the Nova Scotia mass shooting. The affidav...
Aug 22 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — The former RCMP commanding officer in Nova Scotia told the inquiry into the April 2020 mass shooting on Monday that the officers who responded to the rampage did the best they could, but she admitted not everything went smoothly. The first officers on the scene in Portapique, N.S. — including members of the […]
May 16 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — The RCMP's treatment of their tactical team in the days following the April 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia was characterized as “absolutely disgusting” Monday during testimony before the public inquiry examining the killings. Retired corporal Tim Mills, who headed the 13-member Emergency Response Team, told the inquiry that a lack of mental […]
May 5 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — Two RCMP officers who mistakenly opened fire at a man outside a rural Nova Scotia firehall as they searched for a rampaging gunman said Thursday they believed they had found the shooter and defended their actions as consistent with their training. Const. Terry Brown and Const. Dave Melanson made the assertion as they […]
May 3 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — A new document shows that the gunman who killed 22 people in rural Nova Scotia had been on the radar of police a decade before his two-day rampage in April 2020. The report tabled Tuesday by the public inquiry into the killings says Gabriel Wortman was the subject of police investigations on at […]
Apr 11 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — An RCMP officer who was killed in Nova Scotia’s 2020 mass shooting was racing to support another officer when the fatal encounter with the gunman occurred near a highway interchange. New documents tabled at the public inquiry into the killings show Const. Heidi Stevenson died following a frantic exchange of gunfire with the […]
Feb 15 2022 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — Search and rescue teams were expected to continue operating overnight after 10 members of a Spanish fishing boat died and 11 were missing in the icy waters of the North Atlantic east of Newfoundland. The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax updated the number of dead Tuesday night after three more bodies were […]
Nov 29 2021 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — Nova Scotia RCMP confirmed to The Canadian Press Monday that all 22 victims of the April 2020 mass killing in the province were shot. The Mounties had never stated whether all victims died as a result of being shot or whether some died in fires, but the national police force confirmed the manner […]
Nov 25 2021 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — The mass killing in Nova Scotia and the COVID-19 pandemic helped push the number of homicides nationally in 2020 to its highest level in nearly 30 years, Statistics Canada reported Thursday. The new survey says 743 homicides were reported by Canadian police in 2020 — a figure that was the most since 1991 […]
Nov 16 2021 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — A new report says Canadian fisheries management has "fallen short" over the last five years, with nearly one in five fish stocks still "critically depleted." More than 80 per cent of the critically depleted stocks lack rebuilding plans to restore them to healthy levels, says the fifth annual audit report released Tuesday by […]
Aug 15 2021 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — As Nova Scotia's month-long election campaign draws to a close, it appears Tuesday's vote could be a lot tighter than initially expected. The incumbent Liberals, who are seeking a rare third term in office, were widely expected to cruise back to power at the start of what many predicted would be a quick […]
Feb 20 2021 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — The spouse of the gunman who killed 22 people in Nova Scotia last April told police that she has had guilty feelings and wonders whether others died because she ran away from her partner when his rampage began. Lisa Banfield told police that she questions whether Gabriel Wortman went to locations she might […]
Jan 18 2021 — Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press — HALIFAX — Nova Scotia is now the first jurisdiction in North America to implement presumed consent around organ donation, a move health officials believe could see a significant rise in the number of donors over the next few years. Legislation passed in April 2019 finally took effect Monday following more than 18 months of work […]