🗞️ N.S. children staying in emergency care eight months too long

Good morning Halifax!

Sometimes, with all the doom and gloom in the news, we just need a good old fashioned survival story. And boy, do I have one for you today.

Recently, a Utah couple lost their cat Galena the American Shorthair. They searched everywhere, posted on social media and put up flyers. No kitty.

Until…they got a text saying that Galena’s microchip had been scanned followed by a call saying she was found. In Riverside, California. At an Amazon warehouse. Inside a box of returned steel-toed boots. 7 days after she went missing.

Galena was unhurt, but very thirsty, but this gives a whole new meaning to the term “checking all the boxes”.

Read all about her journey here.

May we all have the survival spirit of Galena today!

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: ☀️ 20°

Tomorrow: 🌤️ 18°

Next Day: 🌧️ 16°

7-day forecast

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

EDUCATION

Nova Scotia children staying in temporary emergency spaces increased exponentially over six years, finds audit

On Tuesday, the auditor general of Nova Scotia, Kim Adair, released a report on how well children are cared for when they're taken into temporary emergency arrangements or child and youth care homes. 

The provincial Children and Family Services Act determines when and how children at risk of harm or neglect can be placed in the custody of the minister of community services. The Act is reviewed every four years, with 2024 being a review year. The law enables the province to intervene on behalf of children who are at risk to arrange for a safer situation.

These temporary emergency arrangements—or TEAs—are meant to only be for a four-day maximum stay and to be used while the department works to find foster care or a child and youth care home for the child. 

The report, however, shows that between the audit period of Apr. 1, 2021 to Sept. 30, 2023, 227 children were placed in TEAs, with an average stay of 252 days, or over eight months.

The Coast’s Lauren Phillips breaks down the different types of TEAs, why they are being used so frequently and what can be done to improve the current situation.

🤔 Need To Know

🚨 Two more teenagers have been charged in connection to threats made towards HRM schools. Halifax police say they have received 25 separate bomb threats since April 1.

🎻 13 fantastic concerts, 30 world-class musicians, two unforgettable weeks of classical music in Halifax. Scotia Festival of Music begins on May 27! Tickets available now.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY CANADIAN MUSEUM OF IMMIGRATION AT PIER 21

Fabulous French-language Film Screening

Ru is a soulful and beautifully shot film about the experience of a young Vietnamese girl and her family’s escape from Vietnam to Quebec. Adapted from the Governor General award-winning and autobiographical novel by Kim Thúy. Thúy and director Charles-Olivier Michaud give a short talk before the screening.

🗞️ In Other News

🚒 Halifax fire and rescue crews were on the scene of a structural fire near Hemlock Ravine early Monday morning that caused significant damage. All occupants are accounted for and one person was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

🏫 SMU and Acadia say changes to international student permits could cost them between $8-12M, but loss of revenue isn’t the only cause for concern. The federal government also decreased the number of undergraduate study permits by 35%.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Taste Asia 2024: Halifax’s Asian food festival offers a platform for Asian restaurants to showcase their food, products and services, interact with customers and build valuable connections within the community. | May 17-20 

🗓 Alkali Collective presents FOLIAGE: Join Alkali Collective—a new and dynamic ensemble dedicated to the creation, performance, documentation, and educational outreach of 21st-century music—for an evening of Canadian contemporary chamber music featuring a world premiere from Julia Mermelstein. | May 18 | $20

🗓 East Coast Cider Festival: Grab a glass and enjoy a two-session cider tasting extravaganza where cider lovers get three hours to taste the fruits of the labour of 21 cider makers from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. | May 18 | $49.50

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🛳️ The Esteem Energy oil tanker arrives in Halifax from Houston at 12:16am.

➡️ The Seamaster container ship leaves Halifax for Kingston at 1:30am.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🥜 Satisfy that sweet tooth in a big way at Rumi’s Coffee Co. with their fudge-licious sea salt mini Reeses brownies topped with dulce de leche and…more mini Reeses!

🍅 Spring has sprung at Black Sheep. Tomatoes on sourdough: heirloom tomatoes, liquid gold white balsamic, house-made cream cheese and fresh basil.

👀 In Case You Missed It

⛺ Tents are up in front of the Henry Hicks administration building on Dalhousie’s Studley Campus. A coalition of students across four Halifax universities—using the name Students for the Liberation of Palestine—renamed the space where tents are located as “Al Zeitoun”, meaning “olive” in Arabic. The Coast’s education reporter Lauren Phillips was onsite Sunday with exclusive coverage from the newly formed encampment.

🎒Two N.S. parents say they are frustrated by a lack of support for students who are at risk of physical violence and bullying in public schools.

🍔This economy… it damn sure ain’t easy. So what’s a hungry person to do? Thankfully, there are still deals to be found across Halifax—and damn good food, too. Setting a price ceiling of $15, The Coast’s Martin Bauman has a list of go-to restaurants to get you started on your cheap eats journey.

That’s it!

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