ST F-X STUDENT MAKES HEADLINES FOR ACCUSATIONS OF PIMPING A TEENAGE GIRL IN ONTARIO
A first-year student at St. F-X in Antigonish is facing human trafficking and other charges connected to that activity in Southern Ontario.
20-year-old Justin Barrett, of Brampton, just west of Toronto was arrested by York Regional Police in December for allegedly exploiting a 16-year-old girl in the sex trade and forcing her to turn over her earnings.
Barrett faces charges of trafficking and distribution of lewd underage photos along with luring a child under 18. The girl’s family is from York Region, a large suburban area just North of Metro Toronto. Barrett was a goalkeeper on the men’s soccer team at St. F.X. but is no longer listed on the team roster. (St FX File Photo)
REMARKABLE NEW MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT SPREADING OUT IN NOVA SCOTIA
The Valley Regional Hospital and the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth about to offer a new type of treatment for depression, PTSD and other mental health disorders. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, which involves sending short, magnetic pulses to the brain to stimulate nerve cells, will be offered at both facilities. Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Flynn says during treatments, the patient sits in a customized recliner-style chair and remains awake. Magnetic pulses stimulate neurons and change the functioning of brain circuits, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
The centre’s website says the treatment has been used in the past for neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease, but is now considered a treatment option for major depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and PTSD.
Patients can return to normal daily activities immediately following treatment. A typical treatment course is lasts only four to six weeks, with sessions ranging between five and 40 minutes, five days a week. People can leave the chair and go straight back to their day to day routine within minutes. That because there are no pills or muscle relaxants required. (Photo – QEII Foundaton)
COVID CASELOAD HAS PREMIER ENOURAGED, STRANG STILL NERVOUS ABOUT NEXT FEW DAYS
No new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Nova Scotia on Sunday.
Premier McNeil says he’s encouraged.
Dr. Robert Strang says he’s optimistic, but says Nova Scotia is “not out of the woods yet.”
There are 28 active cases of the novel coronavirus in Nova Scotia, with no one currently being treated in hospital. The latest COVID exposure sites are here, and they include an Air Canada flight from Montreal to Halifax last Tuesday. Potential COVID Exposures | Nova Scotia Health Authority (nshealth.ca)
RELIGIOUS GROUP AND HALIFAX RESTAURANT OWNER FINED FOR BREAKING COVID RULES
Police in Halifax say they’ve issued a ticket to a “religious organization” for failing to comply with COVID-19 rules.
Police say the Bedford organization was holding events that violated provincially-mandated gathering limits under the Health Protection Act. The fine they’re being ordered to pay is $7500. Police have also issued a thousand-dollar ticket to the owner of a Halifax-area restaurant for failing to wear a mask. John Giannakos, the owner of Hellas Family Restaurant in Lower Sackville, says he was charged after complaining about mask-wearing on facebook. When health inspectors showed up at his business, they issued that stiff fine to remind him that this province continues to be in an official State of Emergency.
In case you missed in on the weekend, travelling from here to New Brunswick is now more time-consuming. Nova Scotia is tightening restrictions, which means that each time you come back from our neighbouring province, you’ll have to quarantine yourself for 14 days. Special rules are being set up for people in the Amherst area who need to cross the border for work or medical treatments.
Speaking of crossing the border, the Tory Candidate in Hants West is jumping on the bandwagon with our story about the armed man who ended up driving from Moncton to Amherst last week after taking shots at a teacher. Despite a series of interviews and excuses for inaction about it following last week’s cabinet meeting, P-C hopeful Melissa Sheehy-Richard is bringing up the point that Ministers should have immediately set up a stronger border check-point between Sackville and Amherst last Wednesday morning, when the 24-year-old armed man was known to be on the loose with an accurate description of his car, which later turned up in downtown Amherst.
PROUD BOY TO BE NAMED AN OFFICIAL TERRORIST GROUP IN CANADA?
Authorities are collecting information about the right-wing Proud Boys group as part of a possible terrorist designation, the federal Liberal government said Sunday as it faced calls to ban the organization over its role in last week’s Capitol Hill riot.
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair’s office stopped short of saying when — or even if — the Proud Boys would actually be added to Canada’s national list of terrorist organizations, which includes such groups as al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and the Islamic State.
Blair spokesman Mary-Liz Power instead specifically named it as one of the “ideologically motivated” extremist groups that are being closely watched as Ottawa looks to counter the threat posed by white supremacists and other right-wing organizations. (Cdn Press)
NEW LAW SHOWS WE’RE NOT LIKELY TO SEE A PROVINCIAL ELECTION UNTIL THE FALL
If planned new rules included as part of a revised Nova Scotia Elections Act get proclaimed into law, we won’t be ready for a provincial election until September 1st. That new law could delay a province-wide vote until the fall, since it aims to provide taxpayers’ money for candidates who need child or parent care, or money to care for a partner while they campaign. The legislation also enshrines the need to print new returning office materials, manuals and update training for the people staffing the next election.
The details are contained in this week’s Nova Scotia Elections Readiness Report.
The report reads …“With the guidance of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Strang and his staff, we are now confident we can safely deliver an election in-person.” But don’t hold your breath that we’ll get to test whoever takes over as Liberal Leader from Premier Stephen McNeil until the fall. (With files from NS Legislature, Saltwire News)
