🗞️ Budget boost

Good morning Halifax,

On Saturday night, a 25-year-old man died in police custody after they were called to help with a mental health crisis. 

Police say that the man became aggressive and so, they Tasered him; the man’s health began to deteriorate while in custody leading to officers beginning life-saving efforts. EHS and Halifax Fire and Emergency took over when they arrived, but the man was pronounced dead a short time later.

The incident has now been referred to the Serious Incident Response Team—the civilian oversight agency responsible for the investigation of incidents concerning the police.

This latest tragedy only drives home the fact that police are not the appropriate responders to every mental health crisis because they simply aren’t sufficiently trained and equipped to respond. It’s also not a good use of their time; law enforcement should be focused on preventing and solving serious crime. You know? Dealing with actual criminals.

As a province, we need to create an environment that enables better and more comprehensive community mental health services that address mental health needs before they become crises. And when crises do occur, we should have appropriate responses that do not rely solely on police.

I have personal experience with how the police respond to mental health and addictions-related calls and I can say with certainty how terribly de-humanizing it can be. People in crisis should feel safe and not judged. And they certainly shouldn’t be at risk of dying. There has to be a better way.

Please take care of yourself and each other out there,

– Julie

📷 @editorjulesl

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: ☀️ 2°

Tomorrow: 🌧️ 6°

Next Day: 🌧️ 4°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

CITY HALL

Halifax increases police spending

Halifax’s police forces are getting more money for new hires and body cams this year. Unlike other new spending, this new police spending is not going to the Budget Adjustment List for further debate. It is going straight into the budget. 

Councillor Shawn Cleary tried to get his peers to reconsider or at least dig into the police budgets to see if savings could be found, but ultimately, Cleary lost in his annual attempt to aggressively defund Halifax’s police budgets. 

For more on Halifax’s new police budgets, The Coast’s city hall reporter Matt Stickland has filed this report. 

🤔 Need To Know

🚨 Halifax police say a 6-year-old child is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after being stabbed multiple times in downtown Halifax—A 19-year-old woman, not believed to be known to the child, was arrested at the scene for aggravated assault.

💡 Higher power bills in the winter aren’t uncommon—but some Nova Scotia Power customers opened their bills this month to find a shocking increase as some doubled and even tripled.

🇨🇦 Thousands of people have electronically signed a parliamentary petition calling for revocation of Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship over his role in the Trump administration, which is pointedly threatening Canada’s sovereignty.

⚠️ SC Johnson & Son, Inc. is recalling some of its children’s sunscreens due to the presence of a solvent that could pose health risks—according to Health Canada.

SPONSORED BY LIVE ART DANCE

Omote (面) by Shion Skye Carter & Miya Turnbull

Live Art Dance presents Omote (面)

This contemporary dance, uses hand-crafted paper-mâché masks to explore the creator's mixed Japanese Canadian heritage. The performance reflects on identity, contrasting honne (true feelings) and tatemae (public face), while challenging beauty ideals and revealing the layers of self through ritualistic gestures and symbolism.

Omote (面) translates to both ‘surface/face’ and ‘mask’, and explores multitudes of layers of being and the self, manipulating what is revealed and what is hidden, honing in on the churning, transitory nature of identity.

Purchase Tickets
Bus Stop Theatre
February 28, 2025 - 8PM,
March 1, 2025 - 2PM & 8PM

MUSIC

Halifax’s Eliza Rhinelander finds her voice on debut album

“I don’t know where I’m going to,” Eliza Rhinelander sings on “Massachusetts,” the earnest and clear-voiced opener to the Halifax singer-songwriter’s debut album, The Precipice. “And I’ve never had this much to lose.” 

Given the 19-year-old folk singer’s trajectory this past year—from a crowdfunded EP to a sold-out show at The Carleton earlier this month—it would seem Rhinelander has at least one answer, or rather, a clear direction: upward. The young artist just released her debut album on Feb. 9, and it’s the kind of record that feels like warm sunshine on a winter morning.         

Rhinelander calls The Precipice a “coming-of-age story.” She wrote the 12-track album during the transition from her Grade 12 year to her first year of university at Dalhousie and King’s. 

The Coast’s Martin Bauman spoke with the 19-year-old singer-songwriter about the inspiration for her debut album.

🗞️ In Other News

🥶 Close to 3,500 people participated in 18 separate ‘Coldest Night of the Year’ fundraisers across the Maritimes on Saturday—collecting approximately $1.1M for various charities fighting poverty and homelessness.

💸 A HRM councillor is asking the CAO to provide an update regarding the municipality’s buy back rights for the site of the former Bloomfield School in light of a recent fire.

🔃 A number of business sectors in Nova Scotia are welcoming Premier Tim Houston’s national call to reduce interprovincial trade barriers— a new poll suggests broad public support for the idea across Atlantic Canada.

🚨 Halifax Regional Police has identified the victim of a fatal shooting in Halifax on Thursday as 38-year-old Uriah Lemar Black—officers found Black on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound, he died later in hospital.

SPONSORED BY THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF IMMIGRATION AT PIER 21

FREE March Break at the Museum

Looking for a fun and educational way to spend your March Break? Look no further!

Enjoy FREE admission from March 8th to 16th. Embark on a culinary adventure with food workshops, family-friendly crafts, scavenger hunt and so much more from March 10th to 14th! Registration opens February 26th.

SPONSORED BY HALIFAX RECYCLES

Remember, Food Isn't Garbage!

Did you know that each year, the average household throws away up to 140 kilograms of food that could have been eaten? That’s a lot of food and money wasted.

Do your part by reducing food waste in your home and ensuring anything that can’t be used is disposed of in the green cart! 

Learn more about reducing food waste and proper disposal here.

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Dine Around Halifax: Dine Around is coming back for the month of February. Savour special menus from your favourite Halifax restaurants, priced at $10, $20, $30, $40, $50, or $60. | Feb. 1-28

🗓 Free Public Talk Featuring CBC's Elamin Abdelmahmoud with Rhaina Cohen and Francesca Ekwuyasi: Drop by the Halifax Central Library to hear stories and insights to better navigate family, friends and relationships, while being true to yourself. | Feb. 24 | 6:30pm | Free

🗓 Neptune Theatre Presents The New Canadian Curling Club: Inspired by a local refugee resettlement program, a small town organizes a Learn-to-Curl class to welcome newcomers. However, when the organizer slips on the ice and breaks her hip, the rink’s ice maker and former champion curler is forced to step in as the head coach. What follows is an inspiring and hilarious story about a group of unlikely athletes who confront local prejudice and embrace their identity as "new Canadians." | Feb. 25-March 23 | From $33

🗓 The Irish Rovers: The legendary Irish Rovers kick off their 60 Years A~Roving Tour in Halifax! Fans across Canada should fasten their seatbelts for a rollicking night of the hits, Rovers latest, and hilarious stories from their six decades of Rovin’. | Feb. 25 |  7:30pm | $60

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🚢➡️ The Tropic Lissette container ship arrives in Halifax from Philipsburg, St. Maarten at 6:15am and leaves for West Palm Beach, FL at 8pm.

🚢➡️ The Atlantic Star container ship arrives in Halifax from Liverpool at 8:20am and leaves for New York at 6pm.

🚢 The One Falcon container ship arrives in Halifax from Singapore at 10:45am.

🚢 The Vela bulk carrier arrives in Halifax from New York at 4:20pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🧀 Enjoy a Dilly Dally take on a classic lunch combo with the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup: caramelized onions, thyme roasted pears, brie, cheddar, molasses seed bread.

Indulge in the luscious goodness of the Mexican Chocolate Cake Pudding at Antojo Tacos: chocolate sponge cake baked in chocolate custard with sweet raisins, topped with chocolate ice cream, whipped cream and a drizzle of dulce de leche.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🚧 Mountains of rubble piled high on Thursday morning at the same site where, less than a week ago, the former Bloomfield School stood. A hydraulic excavator sat parked inside temporary fencing off Agricola Street, its engine running. The easternmost wing of the former Bloomfield School is now gone. The rest of the crumbling building is still to follow. And after that? A neighbourhood awaits the answer. The Coast’s Martin Bauman reports from the scene of the fire—and the long clean-up ahead.

🚒 Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency has been dealing with the brunt of Halifax’s fiscal unsustainability, and councillors have finally decided to stem the fire department’s slow decline. Over the years, as Halifax has spread out, Halifax’s firefighters have also spread out, but now they’re spread too thin and response times are suffering. To help, council approved 10 new firefighters and may approve another 10 in the Budget Adjustment List debates. For more details on Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency’s budget The Coast’s Matt Stickland has more from the budget committee meeting.

That’s it!

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