Stephen Kimber

In the 1990s, I wrote a weekly series for the Halifax Daily News, profiling interesting individuals in the community. In May 1995, I wrote this profile of

The problem with trying to police truthiness in political debate is where should it begin and where will it end? Let’s begin with the Preston byelection. Voters there are/were scheduled to go to the polls today (Tuesday, August 8). The Houston…

The problem with trying to police truthiness in political debate is where should it begin and where will it end? Let’s begin with the Preston byelection. Voters there are/were scheduled to go to the polls today (Tuesday, August 8). The Houston…

“I have confidence in Chief Daniel Kinsella’s ability to lead the Halifax Regional Police…” Yes: 3.4 percent.No: 96.6 percent of the 83.7 percent of the Halifax Regional Police Association’s more than 600 members who voted in a recent union-organized…

When I heard last week that Frank Magazine had announced its own demise — “regret to announce the death of Frank Magazine Atlantic … September 14, 2022″ — then disappeared off social media while its last editor disappeared from inquiring journalists,…

Last week, Examiner editor Tim Bousquet asked ‘What’s the point of the Mass Casualty Commission?’ In his column today, Stephen Kimber offers a (slightly) more hopeful take. He says it’s too soon to know. So… is it already too late for the Mass…

The Mass Casualty Commission, with (left to right) commissioners Leanne Fitch, Michael MacDonald, and Kim Stanton, in February 2022. Pool photo by Andrew Vaughan/ Canadian Press So… is it already too late for the Mass Casualty Commission’s final…

The now-available video of the bar society’s incoming president’s remarks to the annual general meeting puts a new — and more hopeful — spin on what she actually said than the one I suggested in last week’s column. In last week’s column about the…

In last week’s column about the annual meeting of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society — “NS Bar Society: Another Day, Another Racism Investigation” — I highlighted criticism of a talk by the society’s incoming president, Melanie Petrunia. I quoted…

The Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society’s new president, already under fire from within over her speech at the society’s AGM, has hired a Toronto law firm to investigate more allegations from within of “direct and systemic discrimination and harassment.”…

We can only hope that former provincial ombudsman Doug Ruck’s internal review into allegations of systemic discrimination at the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society is completed before the last person left in the office turns out the light and closes the…

Three-hour meetings have turned into seven-hour screaming matches with official agendas abandoned… Confidential deliberations have been leaked to the media before the minutes can be distributed… It’s like high school but not as much fun. Can even…

It only feels like I’ve been writing about the turmoil inside the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society for forever. For me, it began in 2016 with my fascination with what would become the society’s “longest, most expensive” — and still seemingly…

Nova Scotia’s legislature met for just 19 days. It didn’t do much. And then it adjourned. That is the plan. It was pushing 11 pm on the night of April 22, 2022, and everything that was going to be done — however little of that there might have been —…

Can we ever really know why Lionel Desmond killed his wife, daughter and mother, and then himself? Does that matter? Don’t we know enough now about all that went wrong in the years and months leading up to the murder-suicide to begin demanding change…

Was Cpl. Lionel Desmond a victim of a foreign war, systemic racism and siloing of medical records, or was he a perpetrator of domestic violence who murdered the women closest to him? And how do we reconcile it if he was both? — Aaron Beswick Saltwire…

The case of the “disappeared” governance review. And so it continues. According to a new report on the inner workings of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, “some council members are so concerned with being heard that they cannot listen… New members…

According to a new report on the inner workings of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society,“some council members are so concerned with being heard that they cannot listen… New members often feel dismissed and disrespected… Some members are focused on who…

Not based on the actions of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society over the past two years. Perhaps it’s time we followed the path of most Commonwealth countries and decided it’s time — past time — to reconsider letting lawyers be their own judges. A…

The inquiry looking into the 2017 murder-suicide of the Desmond family has been examining the roles played by PTSD and domestic violence in those horrific events. Last week, the inquiry heard from a panel of experts about the impact of systemic…