The number of Public Complaints against Municipal Police Agencies in Nova Scotia have dropped from 2010. In 2012, the number of complaints increased by 46, but decreased in 2013 and 2014. More males than females filed complaints between 2010 and 2014. Though the number of grievances reported decreased, the number of internal discipline cases rose in 2014.

Most complaints filed by civilians were reported in Halifax, Cape Breton, and Truro. Figures demonstrate that over the course of 4 years, the Truro Police Service had 20 out 27 incidents result in internal discipline.

Amongst the complaints filed, allegations ranged from abuse of authority to corruption, discreditable conduct and neglect of duty, which were also the highest criticisms shared by the public. See fig. below.

Public complaints are filed to a member of the police force or the Board of Police Commissioner, and the Police Complaints Commissioner within 6 months of an incident occurring. In cases where complaints are justified, officers are often disciplined, sometimes receiving training. The complaint process can sometimes be timely, as some cases take more than year to be investigated, especially after an appeal.

The Environmental Law Association says it may take the Canadian government to federal court once again due to the content of an anonymous letter sent to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

The letter, which was also sent to Greenpeace Canada and the Environmental Law Association weeks ago, expresses concern that nuclear safety commissioners “do not receive sufficient information to make balanced judgments” when granting licenses to create nuclear plants.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is supposed to act as a watchdog on the nuclear power industry.

But after the Harper government replaced then-president Linda Keen with Michael Binder in 2008, critics say that the commission is more like a lapdog, hastily approving licenses without thorough environmental assessments for the sake of bolstering nuclear power.

The letter highlighted Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Bowmanville, Ont., whose construction license has been at the centre of many disputes between environmental groups and the government.

“The cases are very specific,” said executive director of the Environmental Law Association Theresa McClenaghan. “The letter could only be from someone who is familiar with everything.”

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is now conducting an investigation into the allegations made in the letter.

“As an independent agency, it is up to (the commission) to create specific plans to analyze the recommendations in this letter and take action,” said Department of Natural Resources media relations officer Tania Carreira Pereira.

But the Environmental Law Association could take it one step further by asking the federal court to revoke the construction license for the Darlington nuclear power plant.

Darlington and court challenges: a timeline

Click through the timeline below to see the story of Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, one of the cases highlighted in the letter, and the legal disputes between environmental groups and the government.

Taking immediate action

In the meantime, the commission will hold a public hearing on Aug. 17-18 in Ottawa about the nuclear safety assessments conducted in 2015.

Greenpeace will be there to present its comments on the annual oversight report prepared by the commission. Senior Energy Analyst with Greenpeace Canada Shawn-Patrick Stensil also provided the letter as an annex to the oversight report to make sure that everyone gets a look.

“I did this because the (oversight) report has been provided to Binder — and management,” he said in an email interview. “But not the independent commissioners.”

Commission members develop regulations under the direction of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act as well as function as a quasi-judicial administrative body for licensing decisions.

Greenpeace, the Environmental Law Association, and other groups wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March urging for a review of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act “in light of the lack of institutional independence of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.”

The letter may hopefully hasten this process, Stensil said.

“The government originally brushed us off but it seems there was a crack.”

Catch a news story from the North, and it’s likely to be a sad one: Forgotten indigenous women, a crisis of teenage suicides…

But in Nunavut, different stories are being told: A Los Angeles photographer saved by an Inuit girl; A sled dog puppy destined for great things; A man and a woman fighting for their love in the cold, cold North. With names like Heaven’s Floor, Qummiruluapik, and Two Lovers and a Bear, these stories are films produced in Nunavut by local filmmakers and crew – and they would have been impossible without funding from the Nunavut Film Development Corporation.

Backed by the Nunavut Government, Nunavut Film offers a financial leg-up to practitioners at every level of the industry, from the curious youngsters just starting out, to the production houses whose films screen at the Cannes film festival.

Funding doesn’t necessarily have to be for a film production. Many programs, such as the Industry Training and Development Fund, gives artists the opportunity to train and hone their skills.

“I wanted to apply because I’m a recording engineer, and being one of the only guys up here doing it full time, I do it in isolation,” says Chris Coleman. “I used it as an opportunity to spend a few days in a real sound mix studio, so I could and learn and observe from real people who do it everyday.”

With a small grant from Nunavut Film, he flew down to Toronto to work with people and equipment he otherwise wouldn’t have access to.

“The assistance I got makes all the difference, because it’s so expensive to fly out of here,” says Coleman.

The Spend Incentive is where the big money is. It gives percentage rebates to productions whose companies are partly Nunavut-owned.

Cash rebates to productions vary in size, with funds awarded from $25,000 to over $350,000. With the growing scene, so has the funding grown. The amount awarded through the program in 2015 was double that of 2011. Two Lovers and a Bear was a recipient last year. It’d later be shown at the Cannes film festival, the most prestigious in the world.

Julia Ain Burns, project manager with Nunavut Film, has noticed the growth as well: the number of applications is up, and so is the level of ambition.

“The trend we’re seeing is that the scope of the projects are getting bigger,” says Burns. “The projects are getting large and there are more requests.”

More than just a helping hand to the arts community in Nunavut, there’s a benefit to the economy’s bottom line. In 2015, for every dollar awarded in grants and rebates, over six were spent by film production companies in the province.

But even at the grassroots level, Coleman says the fund is crucial to keeping the industry alive.

“A lot of the projects are smaller, but the funding they’ve gotten has been critical,” says Coleman. “They could’ve not have been made without Nunavut Film.”

Senior officials at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada promise to rein-in growing administrative costs to ecoENGERY, a  renewable infrastructure grant program for Aboriginal and northern communities.

A 2015 audit of the federal grant program found that administration costs for the program increased by three per cent from 2011 to 2014. By 2014, administration costs had risen from 18 to 21 per cent of the total program costs. 

ecoENERGY

The ecoENERGY for Aboriginal and Northern Communities Program was created by the federal government in 2007.

The program offers northern and off-grid communities funding for renewable energy projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in northern communities and become less reliant on diesel in off-grid communities.

A full list of selected projects from 2007-2016 can be found on the government’s website.

2015 Audit

In the report, the audit committee acknowledges that the program’s high administrative costs are necessary because of the technical nature of the proposals.

The audit breaks down the costs of the program, calculating the average amount spent on proposal assessments.

The annual costs of the program are a portion of the department’s larger community infrastructure budget.

 In 2013-2014, the ecoENERGY program accounted for 11 per cent of total money spent on community infrastructure, according to the Public Accounts of Canada 2013, Volume II report by the Receiver General of Canada.

The audit committee calls the increase in administrative costs to the program an issue of ‘economies of scale,” but suggests operating costs could be reduced by working with other branches in the department to share resources.

The suggestion is one of six recommendations put forward by the committee.

 Action Plan

Last month, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada responded to the audit with an action plan.

Assistant Deputy Minister of the Northern Affairs Organization, Stephen Van Dine says he will coordinate with other department branches and use existing resources to maximize the funds used for infrastructure investments in Northern Aboriginal communities.

Van Dine says, the new process is “in-progress for future programming” and will be in place “by December 2016.”

Funding for the ecoENERGY for Aboriginal and Northern Communities Program ended in March 2016.

According to the department’s action plan, a decision about future funding for the program is “pending.”

Budget 2016

A spokesperson for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, Valérie Haché says the 2016 federal budget includes $129.5M, over five years, to improve public infrastructure in northern communities.

She says the money will pick up where programs, like ecoENERGY, left off.

“It will continue the investments made through those programs to carry on to support Indigenous and northern communities adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” says Haché.

The federal budget also proposed and additional $10.7M over two years for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

Haché says the funding is dedicated for, “renewable energy projects in off-grid Indigenous and northern communities that rely on diesel and other fossil fuels to generate heat and power.”

She says the department is working with communities to find new projects that will reduce Indigenous and Northern communities’ dependence on diesel fuel.

Robert Wilson, 64, feels misplaced in the city of Halifax because of the varying age number required to receive services exclusively for older adults and seniors.

“I don’t know where they want to put us,” he said. “Sometimes it’s 65, 64, 58, 55. I just don’t know.”

In Nova Scotia to qualify for Old Age Security (OAS), a person needs to be 65 years of age. For a low-income senior whose partner has deceased, the person has to be between the age of 60 or 65 to qualify for Allowance for the Survivor. While a senior needs to be 58 years of age or older to qualify for public housing.

Wilson expressed that he has financial difficulty because he does not qualify for OAS yet. He is also partially disabled after he was attacked by four men six months ago but needs to be 65 or older to qualify for a seniors bus pass. So he walks from his home in Spryfield to Downtown Halifax to save money.

“I force myself… I try to keep going but its getting worse,” said Wilson. “I have to walk back and forth and it takes me about 4 or 5 hours to walk back home.

Sometimes Wilson sleeps on benches when he can’t make it all the way home because of the pain.

Reinhold Endres, 70, on the other hand doesn’t think being older should be used as a crutch to get assistance from the province.

“People should just carry on with their life as best as they can,” he said. “I don’t see any particular point in having an age barrier where the government should suddenly step in to help people and assist people or to do special things for people.”

Nova Scotia has the highest proportion of seniors in the country with 1,000 people turning 65 every month. The Nova Scotia Department of Seniors has an estimated budget of $149,600 for program expenses and services this year.

Tom Bell, 73, expressed that seniors may feel frustrated because of the rapid changes in their environment and the attitude of the younger generation.

“There’s the question about whether the heath care system and nursing care system will be able to take care of the [aging] population without being too much of a burden on young people,” he said. “The way it’s presented, it tends to almost be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Endres pointed out that being a senior citizen is different compared to 30 years ago. He says expectations aren’t the same anymore.

“Today people live so much longer. People do so much more; they’re so much more gregarious, so much more open-minded. They’re active, they engage which wasn’t always the case.”

Bell says he would like to see the approach towards the aging population change.

“I’d like to hear more about the positive actions that they’re taking to assure that there would be a good quality of life that integrates the older population and the younger population so we can move forward together.”

More than two years ago, Dr. James Gillet published a study contracted by Veterans Affairs that concluded, “It is evident given the extent of anecdotal evidence that [psychiatric service dogs] are effective in the management of PTSD.”

Despite his conclusion, the federal government is still not funding service dogs for veterans, saying more empirical evidence is required. They started a pilot project to study the effectiveness of psychological service dogs for veterans with PTSD and another project set to create national standards for service dogs.

It’s expected both projects will finish in spring of 2018, but In the meantime, veterans who want a dog have to find a way to come up with the money.

All that training doesn’t come cheap. Each dog costs around $3,500 to train, plus the yearly costs of vet bills, equipment and all the usual costs of owning a dog.

Many turn to their local legions. Back in June 2014 legions passed a resolution allowing local branches to use up to 25% of their Poppy Trust Accounts to help veterans get their PTSD service dogs.

That’s how Medric Cousineau met Thai, a golden lab and PTSD service dog from Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Education Services, in Kansas.

“The first night we were together she woke me up from my night terrors,” he says, “it was amazing.”

After Medric found his life back on track, he started Paws Fur Thought, a Nova Scotian non-profit that helps pair veterans with PTSD with service dogs.

Ten of the thirty dogs in the pilot project were placed by his organization.

He says he’s not thrilled with the wait, but he understands.

“I would love if somehow they could magically speed this up, but they can’t,” says Cousineau. “It’s frustrating. It’s aggravating, but because we’ve already placed 60 dogs, I know what they’ll find… The fact that they’re doing the standards and pilot project concurrently to me shows they believe in this. If they wanted to drag their feet, they could have.”

Sometimes the issue isn’t just money. It’s time.

“It takes anywhere between 14 and 18 months minimum to train these dogs… All the qualified schools in Canada, together, might be able to produce 100 dogs in a good year… We’re talking about breeding dogs now so we can place dogs 2 and a half years from now. Spring of 2018 sounds ridiculous to the people who are waiting, but that’s the reality we’re dealing with,” says Cousineau.

As for Veterans affairs not funding the dogs included in the pilot project, “They had to start somewhere. It would have been easier if they stepped up and funded the dogs. I think they were worried about price inflation,” says Cousineau.

Paws Fur Thought was lucky – earlier this month a Florida-based non-profit called Wounded Warriors gave them $175,000, which will allow them to pair 40 veterans with service dogs over the next few years. This allowed them to fund all their dogs included in the veterans affairs pilot project.