An update is expected today from the committee overseeing how governments and the R-C-M-P are responding to the inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia.
Shortly after the 16-member group met for the first time last September, chairwoman Linda Lee Oland said the group can’t force the Mounties and government officials to do the right thing.
She said the public will play a key role in ensuring the inquiry’s 130 recommendations do not gather dust.
The inquiry’s final report, released over a year ago, found the R-C-M-P missed warning signs about the killer, including reports of domestic violence, possession of illegal firearms and repeated run-ins with the law — and it also found the Mounties were poorly organized and failed to promptly send alerts to the public until it was too late for some victims.
A man wanted in relation to the murder of a 42-year-old man from Sipekne’katik First Nation has been arrested in Montreal. R-C-M-P say the 29-year-old suspect fled Nova Scotia in July 2021 after Douglas Knockwood was found dead in a Millbrook home. Police got a tip after the man was added to Canada’s Top 25 Most Wanted list last Tuesday, and he was arrested days later in Montreal. He was flown back to Nova Scotia and will appear in court in Truro next week.
New data from Statistics Canada shows that Nova Scotia’s rates of poverty and food insecurity in 2022 were the highest in the country. Data from the Canadian Income Survey shows that Nova Scotia’s poverty rate increased to 13.1 per cent in 2022, up from 8.6 per cent a year earlier. This is well above the national average, which was at 9.9 per cent in 2022. As well, the survey found that about 29 per cent of Nova Scotia households had inadequate access to food that year.
A Nova Scotia judge has heard that progress is being made toward securing a deal for the proposed sale of the SaltWire Network and The Halifax Herald. The two financially troubled companies operate Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper chain. Those leading the restructuring process say the deal could see all or part of the insolvent businesses sold to one or more bidders. The judge has extended the companies’ protection from creditors until June 28th. Saltwire owns a number of news publications across Atlantic Canada including Halifax’s Chronicle Herald, and The News in New Glasgow.
On Tuesday night, West Side Community Centre in New Glasgow was announced as one of 14 communities across Canada of a 2024 Field Of Dreams grant by the Toronto Blue Jays’ Jays Care Foundation. The Jays Care Foundation is committing more than $1.5 million in baseball infrastructure funding to the communities. West Side Community Centre was awarded more than $25,000 towards developing a T-Ball field.