Thinking Out Loud with Sheldon MacLeod

Judy Pal was a spokesperson for Halifax Police in the late 90's and early 2000's. Her career took her to the United States where she worked as an Assistant Commissioner with the NYPD, Director of Operations for FBI-LEEDA, Chief of Staff with the Baltimore and Milwaukee Police Departments, and was a member of the command staff of the Atlanta and Savannah Police Departments. She is a full time teach...

The Mass Casualty Commission is on a break until after the Victoria Day weekend. There have been fewer than 30 witnesses called so far and that has frustrated some of the lawyers representing the families of the 22 victims. And the "trauma informed lens" the committee has been using has also come under criticism. Parker Donham has been a journalist in Nova Scotia for years who now blogs at Contrar...

Steve MacKay spends his time at his day job analyzing data for the Health Authority. And that skill came into play after more than 20 accidents along the residential stretch of Robie Street where he lives. He had noticed some vehicles travelling up to 90km/hr past his home located between Stairs and Columbus Streets. That's just north of where Robie branches off from where Massachusetts Avenue beg...

A recall by a major baby formula manufacturer in the United States has caused a shortage in that country. And so far, the issues in Canada appear to be related to people hording the product rather than a true shortage. But there's another issue according to Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. He's the Senior Director of the Agri-Food Distribution Lab at Dalhousie University. According to Charlebois, most of t...

The eight women and six men are doing their civic duty. They are witnessing the graphic and horrific details of the death of a 19-year old former star athlete as members of the jury in a murder case in Halifax. The 30-day trial is hearing about the bus driver who comforted the young man in his car and the graphic wounds he suffered. And unlike the Mass Casualty Commission, they will see it all. No...

She's been doing morning radio for most of the last two decades on her hometown station. And this week, Ann MacGregor signed off for the last time. She was the very first female morning host on CKEC before they switched over to the FM band and she continued on under new ownership. MacGregor is now reflecting on the time she's spent connecting with people across her home community of Pictou County...

Jenny Li is a youth mental health advocate who is also a featured speaker at an upcoming academic conference discussing their work on Integrated Youth Services Hubs. They are also a recent Honours in Sociology graduate from St. Francis Xavier University who co-authored the study with supervisor, Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Katie Aubrecht. Li speaks about their own mental health challenges...

There's a focus on the front line workers during this National Nursing Week. And that takes in about 8,000 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse practitioners in Nova Scotia. Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy is the Chief Nursing Executive at Nova Scotia Health. And she was recently the co-author of a Royal Society of Canada policy briefing. She's been working on strategies to address the c...

Janet Hazelton has been reluctant to sound the alarm bells in her role as President of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union. She says in her 20 years as a labour leader, she didn't want the public to lose confidence in the system. And she didn't want them to be afraid to get medical help if they needed it. But she's reversed course on that over the last 12 months. She says two years into the pandemic and...

For a man who couldn't read or write, the Westray mine offered him a well paying job when there were few available. And thirty years later, the memories of that place and the people he worked with are still with Vernon Theriault. He was able to turn his anger at the company into action by lobbying the Federal Government for what ended up being Bill C-45, the Westray Bill. Although he says there ha...

Emotions were high at times during the 19th day of testimony at the Mass Casualty Commission hearing in Dartmouth. The two RCMP officers involved in the friendly-fire incident at the Onslow Belmont Fire Hall were questioned and cross-examined. And the two officers involved with accessing the condition of victim Heather O'Brien were also questioned directly. It was the first time significant object...

May 1st-7th is Safety and Health Week in Nova Scotia. Along with raising awareness about physical and psychological healthy and safe workplaces, we have a chance to see the safety statistics from the past year. The Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia notes there were fewer people who lost time from work due to injury in 2021. But there are some jobs where you're more likely to be hurt than o...

Some people in some communities were left behind at the start of the pandemic. It was a big issue when schools and workplaces shifted to being on-line and virtual. Not everyone had access to high-speed internet or devices to be able to connect. And that was a problem Matt Spurway wanted to help solve. He and a team of volunteers started making connections with community agencies to collect money a...

It didn't take long for out of province residents to mount a formal campaign against the Nova Scotia non-resident tax. That's the 2-dollar-per-100 assessment for properties owned by people who don't live in them. There are some conditions, like renting to Nova Scotians that would exempt them from being assessed the extra charge. But that hasn't stopped the numerous letters-to-the-editors and opini...

If you have ever spent any time speaking with Pam Mood, you'd be forgiven for jumping to conclusions. The Mayor of Yarmouth is known for her optimism and cheery disposition and for speaking her mind on issues. But what is less well known is her experience living with depression and anxiety. It's something that she's speaking openly about during Mental Health Week. Mood is one of the participants i...

Living through a global pandemic has been difficult for many of us over the past two years. And experts have recognized the challenges isolation and lock downs have had on our ability to cope and thrive. The Canadian Mental Health Association is about to mark Mental Health Week. The event has been held during the first week in May for more than seven decades. This year, they are holding a week lon...

Retirement has been anything but quiet for Jean-Michel Blais. He left his post as the Chief of Halifax Regional Police in 2019, after a six year term. Before that, he'd spent 25 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His career highlights have included three tours with the United Nations in Haiti. And he's also found and developed another passion on the ice as a hockey referee. He says all...

An advisory panel has found leaders in Canada's military have failed to address discrimination and systemic racism. Their report was recently released along with 13 proposals to remove barriers and change the culture in the Canadian Armed Forces. There's a long tradition of military service by Black Nova Scotians. The Black Cultural Centre has been working to educated all of us on that history, in...

Too many children in Nova Scotia are being held back from reaching their full potential and are being left behind. That is one of the conclusions of a new report from researchers at Dalhousie University. One in five children and youth are living in food-insecure housing or the felt unsafe or threatened at school due to bullying. That had them reporting low life satisfaction. Doctor Laura Stymiest...

Tim Houston's government released its plan to address challenges in health care last Friday on the last day of the Spring Sitting of the Nova Scotia Legislature. It's a 31-page strategic report called Action for Health and it spells out some of the goals and self-described solutions for Healthcare. Critics say it doesn't contain specific benchmarks or timelines and there won't be a chance to quest...

People around the planet have been recognising Earth Day on April 22nd since 1970. The goal in the beginning was to demonstrate support for environmental protection. And over the years, we have seen more focus on the natural world around us and the attention to issues like global warming. But what difference can one individual make? And how do you keep working at effecting change on something that...

This week, the lawyers made their final submissions at the inquiry looking into why a former Afghanistan war veteran killed his family and himself. The judge will present his final report with findings and recommendations later this fall. David MacLeod is also a veteran and he's watched the proceedings and has read all the transcripts. In spite of the argument that it would be easy to blame the go...

It doesn't require an economist telling us that inflation is rising to know that the cost of living is going up. And that is impacting groups and agencies that help people who were struggling even before the price of groceries started to climb. Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank is seeing more clients these days. And as the largest independent, non-affiliated service, they have to come up with...

This week, the Mass Casualty Commission is taking a break from its examination of the facts and circumstances of the events in Portapique on April 18th and 19th of 2020. And out of respect for the families, Colchester North MLA Tom Taggart is also taking time to reflect. He currently represents the region that includes the tiny community where the events unfolded two years ago. At the time, he was...

When the invasion of Ukraine started, Carol Ailles wanted to do something to help the women and children and families who were affected. And that turned into the Atlantic Canada Hosts for Ukrainians group on Facebook. Thousands of people from across the region are going there to find resources and support and to offer space in their own homes to house refugees. Ailles says in spite of the Canadian...