No new evidence found during weekend search for missing N.S. children
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CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
RCMP 'ready for the challenges' of expanded role following N.S. policing review
Social Sharing Nova Scotia's commanding RCMP officer says the Mounties are well positioned to take on a bigger role in the province, two years after a public inquiry identified serious failures in its response to the April 2020 mass shooting and called for major improvements. A subsequent review into policing was released last week, with the province indicating an expansion of the RCMP is included in its plans to modernize services. Some municipal leaders have questioned the direction, while Justice Minister Becky Druhan has insisted she is confident it is the correct path. "Based on our improvements, based on our actions in the last five years, we have greatly enhanced and are ready for the challenges that lay ahead," said Assistant Commissioner Dennis Daley, the commanding officer of the Nova Scotia RCMP. The Mass Casualty Commission made 130 recommendations after examining the circumstances around the shooting rampage in which 22 people were killed across Nova Scotia. It contained severe criticisms of the RCMP including the failure to warn people about the danger, as well as not being properly prepared to respond to such an event. Daley pointed to investments in emergency response, technology and improvements in public alerts, while also noting a significant increase in the number of critical incident training scenarios. "We're actually practising much more frequently as either a senior team or a local team on how we would respond to a mass event," Daley said. "Certainly from a Nova Scotia lens, we've had significant progress in implementation." The RCMP has been publicly tracking implementation of the inquiry's recommendations on its website as the force works to restore trust. "I do recognize that some people may be surprised with the direction that the [Justice] Department is going," Daley conceded. "I can only reassure Nova Scotians that we are ready if the department asks us to do something specifically and where we are always searching and trying to develop trust of Nova Scotians." RCMP not looking to take over municipalities There are 10 municipal police services in Nova Scotia communities. Some of their mayors, including those in Bridgewater and Kentville, have expressed concern about how an expansion of the RCMP changes could affect their own forces. Druhan said last week those that cannot meet provincial standards face being replaced by the RCMP "That's not my desire," Daley said. "The municipal police departments here do a very good job." Concerns some of the mayors echoed from the policing report about slow response times and a lack of visibility in rural parts of Nova Scotia can be attributed to the large geographical areas the RCMP is responsible for, Daley explained. Concerns have also been raised over the cost municipalities face to fund new officers. While the RCMP is struggling to staff some areas of the country, that is not a problem in Nova Scotia, he said, referencing recruitment numbers from the last fiscal year. The force welcomed about 70 cadets and 40 experienced officers to Nova Scotia, Daley added. "As the Department of Justice asks us to expand, we can fulfil those needs," he said. It is still early in the process but Daley has already talked to some municipal police chiefs to gauge their reaction. He expects further talks over the next few months.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
'They're like my kids': Mi'kmaw elder stitching together high school memories
Mi'kmaw Elder Nancy (Nano) Bernard has stitched her way into the fabric of Wagmatcook First Nation's history. Every year, a half-dozen of Bernard's quilts are taken out of storage and hung up at Wagmatcookewey School's graduation ceremony as part of a tradition in the Cape Breton community that's now lasted more than 30 years. The quilts are made up of large squares featuring the community's high school graduates that have been sewn onto eight-pointed stars. Since she started making the quilts, Bernard has created more than 200 squares, representing the number of high school graduates in the community over that period. "[It's] just something for them to see year after year," she said. "Some of these graduates have their own families now. It's a good feeling." Bernard, now 82, began the project in 1992. Back then, she only had one graduate's picture to transfer onto fabric. She sews the patches by hand and has designed the quilts using the traditional medicine wheel colours of black, white, red and yellow. Each square takes an hour to finish. Kelly Marshall, a 1996 graduate who is featured on one of the quilts, is now a career navigator at Wagmatcookewey School. "We still snap a picture every year," she said at a recent graduation ceremony. "[You] just don't realize how time went by so fast since we all graduated, and the kids love it. Like next year's grads will be looking forward to seeing all this." Brittany Fitzgerald, a literacy teacher at the school, can also be found on one of Bernard's quilts. She expects to soon see her children's pictures among the graduates. She said the number of patches added each year depends on the number of graduates in the community. "The quilts aren't necessarily one quilt per year, they're just a continuous addition and then when she runs out of space, a new quilt is started again. It's something that's become like a cultural part of our community. It's sort of a symbol of all the hard work of graduates and of our elder as well." Tracy MacNeil, an English teacher at Wagmatcookewey, said Bernard not only creates quilts and dreamcatchers for the community's graduates, she also serves as the school's elder and guidance counsellor. "She's very humble, so she brings humility to our school and there's a calmness about her, a peacefulness about her for sure. I've heard many stories over the years of her working late into the night, trying to complete [her quilts] and get it done on time." Bernard now enjoys watching generations of graduates come out to see her quilts. "Yeah, some of these graduates are moms and dads and grandmas and granddads, some of them are fishermen," she said. "They're all working. I'm proud of them all. They're like my kids."
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Wabana water upgrades a 'dream come true' after a decades-long boil order
An unhealthy municipal water system in the Bell Island community of Wabana is slowly being rid of contaminants like arsenic, manganese and iron, with 150 households being removed this week from a quarter-century-old boil order. Town leaders surprised more than 160 residents with the news during a volunteer appreciation dinner on Wednesday night. "The room went up," said Linda Spencer, a widow who has lived on Valley Hill Road since the early 1970s, and has struggled to keep potable drinking water in her home. Phase 3 of an expensive water system upgrade is complete, with new wells, pumps, filters and pipes, and testing shows the water meets Canadian drinking water guidelines. That means about 250 residents — many of whom are elderly — who live in 150 homes in an area of town known as The Green and The Valley can now turn on their taps and pour up a glass of clear, safe water. "It's a dream come true," said Spencer, who described the water pouring from her tap on Thursday as "amazing, wonderful." WATCH | The water used to look like motor oil. Not anymore: Cheers! After 25 years, hundreds of Wabana residents are drinking water — right out of the tap 12 hours ago Duration 2:22 They join about 200 other households who were connected to a new water supply in earlier phases of the upgrade. Phase 4 is also underway, with dozens more homes in an area known as The Front expected to receive a fresh supply of water later this year. So far, nearly $7 million has been spent on upgrades, said Mayor Philip Tobin, with the town paying a 10 per cent share. The provincial and federal governments covered most of the cost. "To finally get here now to this day and say we can lift this order is amazing to be a part of," Tobin told CBC News on Thursday. A stain on the town's reputation The drinking water problem has been a stain on Wabana's reputation for an entire generation. Residents were tired of turning on their taps and seeing a liquid that resembled cola or motor oil splattering into their sinks, and clothes sometimes looking dirtier when it emerged from the washer. For years, residents like Spencer have been forced to trek — with empty water jugs and buckets in hand — to a dispensing station in the centre of town for clean water. And that poses a big problem if you're elderly and you don't have a vehicle, and you have to depend on others, said Spencer. "It was not easy to get water," she on Thursday morning, Spencer went to her kitchen and felt great relief at being able to turn on her tap, and know the water was safe to drink, and that she no longer has to worry about fetching water. "I'm really, really happy," she said. A succession of municipal leaders have lobbied for financial assistance from the federal and provincial governments, and money finally started to flow in recent years. Tobin gave credit to previous leaders, especially the late Gary Gosine, who passed away in June and served for 30 years as mayor. "He played a big role in getting this accomplished," Tobin said of Gosine. Tobin estimates that nearly $7 million has so far been invested in the water system, but the job is not done. He expects it will be another three or four years before every household in the town of roughly 1,800 residents is connected, and one of the longest running boil water orders in the country is fully lifted.
