I started the Halifax Examiner in 2014 precisely in order to do long-form investigative reporting.
Just a few months later, I landed on the story of Glen Assoun’s wrongful conviction. It consumed much of my time for several years, but I’m still reporting on it from time to time. I’ll probably be reporting on it for the rest of my life.
My colleagues have been instrumental in continuing the focus on investigative reporting, both with their individual investigations and collectively (as with the mass murder articles), and I could not be more happy with them and their work.
But as we’ve built a larger Examiner staff and, frankly, as I get older, I increasingly fall into my personal projects where I dive into something for months or even years — the Daniel Sampson story is one of the…
I started the Halifax Examiner in 2014 precisely in order to do long-form investigative reporting.
Just a few months later, I landed on the story of Glen Assoun’s wrongful conviction. It consumed much of my time for several years, but I’m still reporting on it from time to time. I’ll probably be reporting on it for the rest of my life.
My colleagues have been instrumental in continuing the focus on investigative reporting, both with their individual investigations and collectively (as with the mass murder articles), and I could not be more happy with them and their work.
But as we’ve built a larger Examiner staff and, frankly, as I get older, I increasingly fall into my personal projects where I dive into something for months or even years — the Daniel Sampson story is one of them.
The downside to this is that I have too many big projects vying for my time. One such project involves a cross-Canada policing investigation that I need a larger media organization with deep pockets to partner with, and while I’ve asked several, I’ve gotten no bites. Maybe that story will never be told.
There are two other projects sitting on my desk right now that I have every intention of dedicating considerable time to. One is about the sexual abuse of children and the larger community responsibility for it, with a particular focus on one Halifax area abuser whose crimes were abetted by scores of adults and institutions who knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it.
The second is the Michael Resk murder. Resk was found dead in 1955; his is the oldest unsolved murder in Halifax.
I’ve been poking around on this story for about a decade. Partly at the urging of Stephen Kimber, I started looking at the 1968 suicide of Halifax police chief Verdun Mitchell. I very soon heard rumours that Mitchell had murdered Resk. Rumours, of course, are not facts.
Around 2017, I asked then-police chief Jean Michel Blais about it directly, and he told me that he knew nothing about it and “You can’t defame the dead, so write whatever you want.”
I actually think you can defame the dead, if not legally, at least in the public mind. So it’s not enough to simply say “Verdun Mitchell killed Michael Resk” and leave it at that — some evidence has to be collected, and a cohesive argument has to be presented.
So I started researching Mitchell, but soon got pulled away — first by the hell of 2020, then by the facts of Mitchell’s childhood.
Verdun Mitchell, I learned, grew up in the county jail behind the courthouse on Spring Garden Road — his father Malcolm Mitchell was the jailor, and as was the custom at the time, he and his family lived in a cottage attached to the jail cells. This fascinated me, and I wondered what horrors the young Verdun had witnessed, so I spent a couple of months in the municipal archives looking at jail records.
And that led me to the story of the execution of Daniel Sampson, which became its own investigation. I spent eight months working on Sampson’s story pretty much full time, and I’ve conclusively proved that Sampson was framed by the RCMP and that he was an innocent man who was executed.
This morning, the CBC has an article about the murder of Resk. It’s good that this is being highlighted — Resk’s grandson Brian Curtis is frustrated in his search for more information about the murder, and maybe more publicity will open some doors.
It also nudges me to get back into the Verdun Mitchell / Michael Resk investigation.
Curtis has several theories of the case, one in particular which I think needs more investigation. I know how to do that investigation, but it will take a couple of weeks, at least, diving into historic public records. I guess I’ll find a couple of weeks while juggling everything else I do.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, partly because I’m exhausted from working on something else all weekend, and don’t really have anything new to say today. But also because I want to thank readers for their continued support of the Halifax Examiner. I very much appreciate that I can do these crazy investigative stories that take me away from the day-to-day, and I can only do that because of people who subscribe to the Examiner.
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NOTICED
1. Canadian government announces new measures to fast-track international doctors
Credit: Ivan Samkov/Pexels
This item was written by Yvette d’Entremont
On Monday, the Canadian government announced new measures intended to make the path to permanent residence simpler for international doctors.
In a media release, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said it will create a new “express entry” category for international doctors who have at least one year of Canadian work experience in an eligible occupation. That experience must have been gained within the last three years.
“These doctors are already working in Canada on a temporary basis, helping patients and contributing to our health care system,” notes the release. “We’re giving these doctors a clear pathway to permanent residence in Canada to fill critical health workforce gaps, while helping support reliable care and a stable health system for Canadians.”
Invitations for those eligible to apply for the new express entry category will be issued in early 2026.
The federal government said it will reserve 5,000 federal admission spaces for provinces and territories to nominate licensed doctors with job offers. The spaces are in addition to the annual Provincial Nominee Program allocations.
Doctors who are nominated will receive expedited 14-day work permit processing, allowing them to work while awaiting permanent residence.
“Canada’s new government has a mandate to build a strong economy by attracting top global talent and filling critical labour shortages,” Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Lena Metlege Diab said in the news release.
“This dedicated Express Entry category, along with the reserved federal admission spaces for provinces and territories will help bring in and keep practice-ready doctors, so people across Canada can get the care they need.”
**‘Step in the right direction’ **** ** The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is welcoming the news.
“Creating a new express entry program for foreign doctors working here temporarily and extra spaces in the Provincial Nominee Program will help bring more doctors into Canadian communities faster,” CMA president Dr. Margot Burnell said in a media release on Monday.
“This news is a step in the right direction.”
Burnell wrote that more than 13,000 internationally trained physicians in Canada “are not working in their field.”
“We must do more to recognize the medical talent already here – and to attract, welcome and retain more from around the world,” Burnell said.
“If we can combine immigration policies like this with scaling up proven licensing pathways that help doctors enter practice quickly, we can make a real dent in-the-access to care crisis without compromising standards of care.”
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2. Municipal budget
Halifax City Hall on Aug. 19, 2025. Credit: Suzanne Rent
This item was written by Suzanne Rent.
The process for the 2026-2027 Halifax budget process continues with a meeting of the budget committee today.
During each week of budget committee meetings, time will be set aside for the public to provide feedback and comments. Here’s a list of key dates:
- Dec. 9, 2025 – Capital Program Update and Advanced Tenders Report
- Jan. 27, 2026 – Special evening public participation session (6 p.m., following Regional Council)
- Jan. 28 and 30, 2026 – Capital Plan Recommendation (Reserve Withdrawals, Multi-Year Projects)
- Feb. 4 to 6, 2026 – Operations Budget Presentations
- Feb. 11 to 13, 2026 – Public Safety Budget Presentations
- Feb. 18 and 19, 2026 – Corporate Services & Other Budget Presentations
- Mar. 4 and 6, 2026 – Budget Adjustment List debate
- Mar. 31, 2026 – 2026/27 Municipal Budget and Business Plan approval
The special evening public participation session on Jan. 27 is new for this budget process. You can find all the details on each date at this link.
As we reported on Nov. 20, Mayor Andy Fillmore said that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to cuts in next year’s budget. Fillmore introduced this motion that requested Halifax’s CAO prepare options to cut the budget by reducing services and grant funding, proposing hikes to fines and user fees, looking at staffing levels in the municipality, and reviewing previous council decisions that have not yet been operationalized. Halifax is looking at a 10.9% increase on the average property tax bill.
During that same meeting, council voted against hiring seven new RCMP officers for a satellite office in Eastern Passage. Coun. Becky Kent, who also serves as a commissioner on the Board of Police Commissioners, said she’d bring back that RCMP request to the balance adjustment list (BAL) process in the new year.
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3. Logging after the Long Lake fire
A burned out tree trunk and roots in the area of the 2025 Long Lake wildfire in West Dalhousie, Nova Scotia. Photo taken in late November 2025. Credit: Donna Crossland
Last month, Joan Baxter learned that logging operations were in place in the area devastated by the Long Lake fire, so she contacted soil scientist Kevin Keys for an interview. On Dec. 1, we published “After the wildfires: Forest soil scientist offers insights into what we should – and shouldn’t – do to help healthy forests regrow.”
Keys gave us a primer on soil science and how the forest recovers after a fire, then offered a nuanced view about post-fire logging:
KK: This is not an all-or-nothing decision. Having dead wood on the ground in various stages of decay is natural and necessary to enhance biodiversity and maintain forest health. Yes, there is an increased risk of fire after wind-throw events, but this decreases with time as the wood accumulates moisture and starts to decay. We can also salvage some dead wood to lessen the fuel load, since not all this material is needed to maintain ecosystem health. Higher volumes of dead wood can also be removed near common ignition sites where fire risk is higher, such as around woods roads and rural homes.
Removing most or all the wood every time there’s a wind-throw or fire event is not ecologically sustainable, and the rush to salvage this wood can cause additional soil damage when operations are conducted during wet fall and winter months. There’s a balance that can be struck that both reduces fire hazard and maintains ecosystem health. It just requires good planning.
Yesterday, after she finally heard back from DNR, Baxter updated the article as follows:
The Examiner sent DNR questions about salvage work in the area of the Long Lake wildfire on Nov. 24, 2025, requesting a reply by Nov. 26. At that point, there had been no media coverage of a salvage operation, although the Examiner had been tipped off that one was imminent.
When no answers came by the deadline, we sent a reminder email on Nov. 28, asking when we could expect them. Our plan had been to report on the salvage operation, and include quotes from Dr. Kevin Keys – and possibly also a forest ecologist – on best management practices for soil restoration and forest regrowth after a large and hot wildfire like the one at Long Lake.
Because we had no reply from DNR or confirmation of the salvage operation, we eventually decided to go ahead in the meantime with this interview with Dr. Kevin Keys, published on Dec. 1.
We still wanted to report on DNR management plans for the area and any salvage work, so on Dec. 3, we sent yet another email to DNR asking if or when we should expect answers. We received no reply.
At this point, there had still been no media coverage of this story, and we were still waiting in vain for answers from DNR. Then, on Dec. 5, CBC picked up the story, and a reporter had gone to the site to see the salvage operation. Not only did she give it an extremely positive spin, as a “first-of-a-kind” operation in the province being run by the government and the forestry industry. She clearly stated that the government and forestry industry had “invited” her to report on the operation.
She interviewed Ryan McIntrye, regional manager at DNR who is responsible for Crown lands; Breck Stuart, general manager of WestFor, the industry consortium that gets to manage – and harvest – public woodlands in Nova Scotia; and, Marcus Zwicker of Freeman Lumber (formerly general manager of WestFor). They made all kinds of wonderful claims, including that they were making sure the wood wouldn’t be “wasted,” that they would plant a better forest after clearing the trees.
Because no one outside DNR or industry was interviewed, these claims went unquestioned by forest ecologists or biologists. They contradict much of what Keys said in his interview with the Examiner.
CBC’s credulous and unquestioning report on the salvage operation – aired on radio and television – went out the morning of Friday, Dec. 5.
At 3:15 that afternoon, two weeks after our initial email inquiry, DNR finally and belatedly sent this reply, which did not answer several of our specific questions:
The Long Lake wildfire is considered under control. We don’t expect it will be fully extinguished before spring. Rainfall and cooler temperatures are keeping everything very quiet.
How much we monitor the site over the winter depends on conditions. If there is snow/rain, then we wouldn’t need to monitor. If it’s dry, we will.
There are about 7,200 hectares of Crown land within the 8,468-hectare active wildfire zone.
A salvage operation is underway to clear downed and dying trees from Crown land in the area. A lot of this wood does have value for the sawmills within the province, but only for a limited time. Salvaging it from the area makes sure it doesn’t go to waste and keeps money in our rural economy. As part of the salvage operation, we will be leaving material behind to help reforest the site, this could also include the planting of seedling to help reforest the area.
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THE LATEST FROM THE HALIFAX EXAMINER:
Class action launched against Nova Scotia Power over cyberattack, billing
Nova Scotia Power corporate headquarters in downtown Halifax in July, 2024. Credit: Yvette d’Entremont
Jennifer Henderson reports:
Late Friday afternoon, Halifax firm MacGillivray Injury and Insurance Law filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all Nova Scotia Power ratepayers affected by a cyberattack in March that disrupted the company’s customer billing systems.
That class action could apply to almost every household. The preamble in the statement of claim argues that as a utility with a monopoly to provide service to all Nova Scotians, the court must hold Nova Scotia Power to a higher standard.
Click or tap here to read “Class action launched against Nova Scotia Power over cyberattack, billing.”
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Government
City
Tuesday
Budget Committee and Halifax Regional Council (Tuesday, 10am, City Hall) — agenda, agenda
Wednesday
Audit and Finance Standing Committee (Wednesday, 10am, hybrid) — agenda
Regional Centre Community Council (Wednesday, 6pm, hybrid) — agenda
Province
Health (Tuesday, 1pm, hybrid) — Seniors’ and Family Pharmacare Programs; with representatives from the Department of Health and Wellness, North End Community Centre, Caregivers Nova Scotia, CARP Nova Scotia, and Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia
On campus
Dalhousie
Tuesday
Pharmacology Seminar Series (Tuesday, 9:30am, hybrid) — Ying Zhang will present “Multilevel Roles of Spinal V3 Interneurons in Locomotor Control.”
Devi: Film Screening and Discussion (Tuesday, 12pm, online)
DalSalsa Tuesdays (Tuesday, 7:30pm, here) — Free Salsa & Bachata Classes and Social
Wednesday
PhD Defence: Oceanography (Wednesday, 1:30pm, hybrid) — Dugald Thomson will defend “Confronting Acoustic Data Scarcity: A Physics-Informed Approach to Trustworthy Machine Learning in Canada’s Arctic”
Mount Saint Vincent
Tuesday
No events
Wednesday
Trailblazing African Nova Scotian Women Educators: Paintings by Letitia Fraser (Wednesday, 12pm, MSVU Art Gallery) — details
Literary Events
Tuesday
Writing Game Night at Open Book Coffee (Tuesday, 6:30pm, details)
Wednesday
Book Talk (Wednesday, 4:30pm, at Dalhousie) — Kevin Lynch will lead a discussion on his recent book co-authoured by Jim Mitchell, A New Blueprint for Government: Reshaping Power, the PMO, and the Public Service
Bedford Authors Writers’ Group (Wednesday, 6:15pm, details)
Locally Authored Book Club Exchange (Wednesday, 6:30pm, details)
In the harbour
Halifax 06:00: Annie B, container ship, arrives at Fairview Cove from New York 08:00: MSC Kilimanjaro IV, container ship, arrives at Pier 42 from Sines, Portugal 08:30: Zenith Lumos, container ship, sails from Pier 41 for sea 15:30: Annie B sails for sea 22:30: MSC Kilimanjaro IV sails for sea
Cape Breton 01:30: Indigo Sun, oil tanker, sails from EverWind for sea 02:30: Elandra Swallow, oil tanker, arrives at EverWind from Gamba offshore terminal, Gabon 19:00: Algoma Value, bulker, sails from Coal Pier (Sydney) for sea
Footnotes
I had given myself a Monday deadline to finish a story. Monday came and went. Story still not finished. New deadline: Thursday. Cross fingers.