Murder While Black : Exemption

"As I have indicated, Mr. Downey has a substantial criminal record involving violence and firearms. I recognize, however, that the aggravating effect of his criminal record is offset in part by the mitigating circumstances of his background, as detailed in the IRCA."

"He grew up in Toronto in predominantly Black and racially diverse neighbourhoods and attended racially diverse schools, and felt that he did not experience overt racism."

"Mr. Downey explained to Dr. Duhaney that his experience living in communities which normalized racial diversity shaped his early sense of identity and belonging."

British Columbia Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes 

Downey's lawyers unsuccessfully argued he should be found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder. (Shane MacKichan)

 

Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs) are a construct for court use in Canada to "Help criminal justice professionals better understand the effects of poverty, marginalization, racism, and social exclusion on Black and racialized offenders and their experiences", according to the Canadian Department of Justice. They are a counterpart to the more well-known Gladue reports used to lighten sentences for Indigenous offenders. And both appear to be beloved by Canada's justice system, where in meting out punishment for grave crimes, lighter sentences always prevail for these categories of criminal offenders.

 

In the latest case to gain some notoriety in news reportage, 35-year-old Everton Javaun Downey, a known criminal, stabbed his girlfriend, 15 times on December 19, 2021, fleeing the scene of the carnage, then later turning himself in to police. He was convicted of second-degree murder for taking the life of 25-year-old Melissa Blimkie for reasons known only to himself. Sentenced to life in prison, Crown prosecutors sought no chance for parole for 15 years, while the presiding Justice Holmes decided on 12 years; a discount for the man because he is Black.

 

"[While Downey had] a significant criminal record that includes serious offences of violence, the IRCA submission made] clear that broader systemic, structural, and community factors relating to Mr. Downey's experience as a Black person have played a part in his life experience, bringing various types of trauma, negative peer influences, and mental health challenges."

"[Under] mitigating circumstances [in the IRCA report] early exposure to violence, chronic instability, poverty, systemic anti-Black racism, and untreated mental health symptoms, such as hypervigilance, that may be trauma related."

"The aggravating effect of his criminal record is offset in part by the mitigating circumstances of his background, as detailed in the IRCA."

Justice Heather Holmes 

University of Calgary social work professor Patrina Duhaney wrote up Downey's case for the IRCA through interviews with the man, prior to  his sentencing. She described him as a Black man of African Nova Scotian, African-American and Jamaican ancestry, noting that in his early life he did not experience 'overt racism'. After moving in 2016 to British Columbia he drifted about in a small Black population with cultural norms he was unfamiliar with, leading to feelings of disconnect and isolation, summed up Justice Holmes, studying the IRCA. 

 

He was familiar with poverty in his early background, a background that included an absent father. At home there had been domestic violence.  The neighbourhood he lived in as a developing child was one that was no stranger to shootings. Leading to a 'lasting sense of danger and mistrust', with mental health effects gained from  previous prison incarcerations and feelings of lonely pique over his separation from the comforting familiarity of his Ontario community.

 

Taking into account the bleak reality of a beloved family member, the friends and family of the murdered woman whom he killed in a stairwell at the Metrotown Shopping Centre in Burnaby, whose grief at her loss must surely have been given fresh impetus with the news that her killer was given a special dispensation of mercy in view of the colour of his skin. While B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Holmes had compassion for a life-criminal-turned-murderer, and she spoke softly of the pain the family was left in, she still gave the man a three-year free pass to freedom. Betrayed by Canadian justice.

 

Murder victim Melissa Blimkie. Photo by Handout/IHIT

"The victims have suffered an almost unbearable loss that affects them profoundly, and, for some, in almost every aspect of their lives."

"The family members feel the loss all the more deeply because they had no opportunity to say goodbye to Ms. Blimkie or to give her comfort in her final moments."

"They also feel betrayed by Mr. Downey, who they welcomed into their homes."

Justice Heather Holmes  

"Following several weeks of investigation, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) attained sufficient evidence for charges.  On January 19, 2022, the BC Prosecution Service approved a charge of second-degree degree murder against 31-year-old Everton Downey. The two had been in a relationship for some time prior to the homicide."

"On August 21, 2025, Everton Downey was found guilty of second-degree murder after a trial in Supreme Court in relation to the homicide of Melissa Blimkie. On February 13, 2026, Mr. Downey, now 35 years old, was sentenced by Associate Chief Justice Holmes to life in prison, with a parole ineligibility period of 12 years. The court also imposed a lifetime firearms prohibition and a DNA order." 

“This was a tragic instance of intimate partner violence that has had a devastating impact on Melissa’s family and her community”, says IHIT spokesperson Corporal Esther Tupper. “IHIT would like to thank the Burnaby RCMP, the BC Coroners Service, and the BC Prosecution Service for their work throughout this investigation. Our thoughts are with Melissa’s family and friends at this time.” 

B.C. Integrated Homicide Investigation Team 

Canada's DND Procurement Efficiency

"The C19 Ranger Rifle remains an effective and accurate weapon, and it continues to be used by the Canadian Rangers without any safety issues."

Cheryl Forrest, DND spokesperson 

 

"The performance requirements detailed performance against specific environmental conditions [cold, wet, etc.], and the C19 met these criteria."

"Therefore, Colt Canada fulfilled its contractual requirements, based on what was asked. There are no warranties that addresses the current issue being faced."

"[The issue] only became apparent and reported after extended field usage in extreme climatic conditions leading to cycles of expansion and contraction in the stock."

"This was not observed during Initial Operational Capability training; it only became apparent in the last two months before the end of deliveries."

DND spokesperson Alex Tetreault

A Canadian Ranger handles the military's new C-19 rifle. Photo by CORPORAL MARC-ANDRÉ LECLERC /CANADIAN ARMED FORCES

 

The Canadian Department of National Defence signed a contract with Colt Canada for $32.8 million in cost for 7,000 C-19 rifles to be provided to the Canadian Rangers; servicemen/women of aboriginal stock living in remote, isolated coast communities across Canada, and operating as a component of the Canadian Armed Forces. They have specific assigned tasks to fulfill, including:

 

Canadian Rangers conduct and provide support to sovereignty operations such as reporting suspicious and unusual activities as well as collecting local information of military significance.

Canadian Rangers conduct and provide assistance to CAF domestic operations such as providing local knowledge and expertise (i.e. advice and guides) or participating in search and rescue operations.

Canadian Rangers maintain a CAF presence in the local community through instruction, mentoring, and supervision of youth in the Junior Canadian Rangers Program.

 

The arms they had originally been supplied with were long outdated and badly in need of replacement. With their usual lack of efficiency in defence procurement, the 7,000 C-19 rifles supplied to the Rangers by National Defence turned out to be defective. Distributed to the Ranger units in 2018, reports from the Rangers indicated that the stocks on the rifles were incapable of surmounting problems with moisture, with the wood stock laminations not only bleeding colour but peeling off their lamination.

 

Canadian Rangers Training Course  DND

In handling the new rifles it became almost immediately apparent that their use in rain caused military personnel to see their hands lathered in red dye. The original contract stipulated that the rifles had to withstand extreme Arctic cold, including moderate-to-high humidity in coastal and forested areas of the country, where in fact the Rangers are tasked to operate. The one-year warranty that came with the bolt-action rifles has long since expired.

 

Despite which, the procurement arm of the Department of National Defence has turned to Colt Canada to expedite repairs to the weapon ... at additional taxpayers' cost. The original contract was for a weapon that was meant to be an improved version of the SAKO Finland, Tika T3 rifle. Which itself replaced the Lee Enfield .303 rifle, the mainstay weapon used since 1947 by the Canadian Rangers.

 

Now, after having been in circulation and use by the Rangers since 2018, replacement stocks for the C-19 will start to be delivered by the end of this year, when installation of the new stocks replacing the substandard originals will take place. So, if Ukraine has not taken up the offer to take possession of the 1947-era Lee Enfields, presumably they will be returned in the interim to the Rangers, while awaiting rectification of their brand-new, faulty replacements. 

 

DND records, obtained under the 'freedom of information' act, reveal through internal documents that Rangers had issued complaints during Initial Operational Capability training of the C-19s that failed to live up to its contract specifications, despite the disclaimer by DND spokesperson Tetreault. After a brief exposure to moisture, the problems with the faulty stocks were identified. Problems with the main firing component on the rifles were also documented at that time.

 

"Obviously from a health and safety perspective having dye released onto the skin is not a good situation", remarked Arthur Hall in 2018, with the Department's small arms program, in respect to the faulty C-19, making it obvious that issues with the rifle saw discussions occurring among DND officials. Complaints continued to arrive from Ranger units when the stocks began cracking. One officer assigned to the Rangers made note of having taken the new rifle out in the rain for a mere five minutes, then returning indoors.

 

"I held the weapon for approximately for 5 - 10 minutes and it started to stain my hand", wrote Capt. T.N. Collier, after noticing the new weapon was dripping red dye after his return indoors. Soldiers were vocal about the problem they were faced with, believing the Canadian Army and DND leadership had been misleading the public about the weapon's worthiness and how well taxpayer funding was being allocated in needed updates to Armed Forces weapons usefulness.

 

The Canadian military will be receiving new stocks for its ranger rifles after the old ones bled red dye. (Photo submitted by Canadian Forces) Photo by CANADIAN FORCES

"The issue is that when exposed to moisture the red dye in the stock will run, and will discolour the hands of the user."

"This is also an indication that the stocks are not properly protected from the elements."

Luke Foster, Directorate of Soldier Systems Program Management 

Despite Danger, the Irresistible Draw of Country and Family

"Australia made the offer because we are so impressed by these women as individuals. The choice that Australia gave, the choice of government officials standing in front of you and saying it is up to you, is a choice that every individual should be entitled to."

"Everything was about ensuring the dignity for those individuals to make a choice. We couldn’t take away the pressure of the context for these individuals, of what might have been said to them beforehand, what pressures they might have felt there were on other family members."

"When those players were silent at the start of their first match in Australia, that silence was heard as a roar all around the world. We responded by saying, the invitation is there. In Australia you can be safe."

"Australia’s objective here was not to force people to make a particular decision. We’re not that sort of nation.” 

"They were given a choice. In that situation what we made sure of was that there was no rushing, there was no pressure." 

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke

 

"Iran welcomes its children with open arms and the government guarantees their security."

"No one has the right to interfere in the family affairs of the Iranian nation and play the role of a nanny who is kinder than a mother."

Iranian first Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref    

A player and staffer with the Iranian women's soccer team, not pictured, sought asylum Tuesday before their teammates flew home where war began on Feb. 28. (Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images)

 

"I want to say about the Iranian women's team that it has between really moving for Australians to see them in Australia."

"I don't want to get into commentary about the Iranian women's team."

"Obviously, this is a regime that we know has brutally cracked down on its people."

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong  

The Iranian women's soccer team left Iran to take part in the Women's Asian Cup match last week, on the Gold Coast, before the February 28th joint U.S.-Israeli aerial attacks on the Islamic Republic. From Australia, while competing, news coming out of Iran briefed them on what was happening in their home country. And the team members, without a doubt, were concerned not only for their country, but for the  safety and security of their family members.

 

During the Second World War, when Britain gave haven to French soldiers and members of the French resistance to the Vichy government under Nazi occupation, many of the French although appreciating the generosity of Britain and their personal safety there, decided, regardless of the dangers they would be exposed to (arrest on arrival in France by the SS where young Frenchmen were shipped to Germany to serve as slave labour) for love of country and concern about their families' welfare.

 

And so, no doubt, it was pretty much the same for the young Iranians in their Australian sojourn, when most members of the team made the self-conscious decision that they would return to their home country and share with their families whatever danger the short-term assaults staged by the U.S. and Israel to destroy the Islamic Republic's missiles, launching sites, nuclear facilities and weapons depots, while also targeting key members of the Islamic Republican Guard Corps, the Basij police, and elite Iranian government figures including the Grand Ayatollah.

 

Iran players standing silent during anthems ahead of their opener against South Korea on March 2.

Albert Perez/Getty Images

 

It was not only the pressure of concern over the potential collective punishment their families might face were they not to return to Iran that created stress for the  young Iranians. Their group commitment over their decision not to sing the Iranian national anthem last week was condemned as a lack of loyalty to their country. Without a doubt their loyalty to the country was undimmed, but their unwillingness to sing along with the anthem reflected their rejection of the theocratic regime that had unleashed violent mass punishment against the massive protests on the streets of Iran by Iranian citizens calling for an end to the regime.

 

For their troubles, they were labelled traitors by an Iranian state TV presenter for remaining silent during the playing of the national anthem on March 2 before an opening loss to South Korea. In later matches, the players did sing the anthem and saluted. Given the circumstances and the possible less-than-warm reception the players may receive on their return to Iran,  the Australian Iranian Council has called on the government to offer their protection, permitting them to  remain in Australia.

 

An online petition launched by the Council garnered over 61,000 signatures on Monday, where Australian authorities were urged to "ensure that no members of Iran's women's national soccer team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain". The centre-left government was also urged to provide asylum to the Iranian team by Australia's shadow attorney general, on Sunday. 

 

A plea was made by the exiled son of Iran's last shaw, Reza Pahlavi, who called on the Australian government to protect the team "and give them any and all needed support". In the end, most of the team made the decision to return to what was, after all, their home and their families, flying out of Australia on Tuesday. In total, seven members of the women's soccer team asked for, and received permission to  remain in Australia.  

 

There was a precedent for this kind of humanitarian gesture, as it happens. Humanitarian visas were granted by Australia to over 20 members of the Afghanistan women's cricket team at a time when the Taliban in 2021 returned to power, and banned women's sport, among many other bans that severely reduced girls' and women's futures in the Islamist nation.  

 

Police officers clear the road for a departing bus transporting members of the Iranian Women's Asia Cup football team to the airport outside the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast on Tuesday, March 10.

Patrick Hamilton/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

Vladimir V. Putin's Deadly Obsession

"As Russia’s war economy strains under growing pressure from sanctions and slumping revenues, even businesses in regions that have benefited from massive increases in military spending are feeling the pain and turning to officials for help."

"A survey of more than 10,000 companies published by the the central Bank of Russia in February showed that businesses nationwide reported weaker demand and tighter financial conditions, and were cautious about investment and hiring."

"Some of the country’s largest businesses are asking the government for aid to ease pressures from high borrowing costs and weaker demand, even as the state budget deficit is expanding amid declining oil and gas revenues."

"Many of Russia’s more than 80 regions face widening budget shortfalls that will force them to depend even more on Kremlin funding at a time when Moscow is prioritizing spending on the war that’s now in its fifth year."

"The combined deficit of regional budgets increased by more than one trillion rubles last year to 1.48 trillion rubles, more than triple the shortfall in 2024, Kommersant newspaper reported Thursday, citing calculations by the Analytical Credit Rating Agency in Moscow."

Alberto Nardelli, Bloomberg News

While predictions of Russia’s economic collapse “are not without grounds,” Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is driven by profound mistrust of the West and will continue until that’s resolved. Photo by ALEXEY DRUZHININ/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

 

"Four years after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s economy has entered a 'death zone'."

"Russia’s economy is stuck in what might be described as negative equilibrium: holding itself together while steadily destroying its own future capacity."

"The most dangerous feature of this new structure is the fuel it burns. Russia’s economy now runs on what might be called ‘military rent’: budget transfers to defense enterprises that generate wages and economic activity."

"The body is metabolizing its own muscle tissue for energy."

"[Unlike a cyclical downturn such as a recession, what Russia is suffering from is more akin to altitude sickness] —the longer you stay, the worse it gets, regardless of rest."

"Russia can probably continue waging war for the foreseeable future. But no climber can survive the death zone indefinitely—and not all climbers who attempt the descent survive it." 

Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center 

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin is entirely fixated on his 'special military operation' in Ukraine, determined to see it through, irrespective of the sacrifices, and there have been many sacrifices; in human life, in political capital; in strained relations with most of Europe; in isolation as a war-mongering outcast; in a conflict-made economic downtown; in resorting to extraordinary wartime measures at home to silence his critics. The single-mindedness of his fixation is in fact, a pathology.

 

Mr. Putin's war, which really began in 2014 but was formalized in February of 2022 with a full invasion of Ukraine that the Russian president felt confident would result in no more than a few months of  combat as Ukraine, with its much smaller, much less-well equipped military would simply fold, allowing the Kremlin to see a quick victory and a Ukraine subdued to the point of subservience which in Russia's opinion, is how it has always been and always will be, despite Ukraine's historical push-back to its neighbour's aggressive occupation.

 

Prior to the war, warning signals of economic stagnation loomed in long-term prospects for the country, with an economy dominated by extraction of natural resources leading to a situation where a need to diversify was never acknowledged as a priority for future prosperity. Now, for the past four years and counting, Russia has poured vast state resources into its president's war that has bogged down alarmingly, draining ever greater resources and forcing a move for higher taxation and prospects of rationing. 

 

Volunteers depart for positions with the Akhmat battalion in Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, at an airport in Grozny, Russia.  Reuters

 

The financial cushion built over the years with oil and gas revenues, the National Wealth Fund that stood at $112 billion pre-war, has now been reduced to $55 billion even as 40 percent of the national budget is devoted to the military campaign and national security. Interest payments on the debt required to finance the war eats up another 9 percent of the federal budget. Technical innovation looking into the future of artificial intelligence is ignored while the two world powers, China and the U.S. compete, while Russia remains focused on weapons production. 

 

Foreign investment is Russia is a thing of the past. High interest rates to tame inflation has crimped domestic investment. Up to an estimated 1.2 million Russians have been killed or wounded. Some 325,000 Russian troops, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, have died on the battlefield. There are predictions that the Russian population could plummet under 100-million, from a pre-war population of 145-million. Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled abroad to escape wartime legal crackdowns on dissent.

 

A Ukrainian serviceman fires a Bohdana howitzer toward Russian troops at the frontline at Donetsk region. Reuters

 

Chronicles, an independent Russian polling group, found 59 percent of Russians age 18 to 29 support withdrawal from Ukraine in the absence of Mr. Putin's goals being achieved, as opposed to 42 percent of all surveyed Russians; younger Russians are not enamoured of this war. Russia's oil and gas revenues experienced a steep drop as global prices fell and sanctions struck to impose Russian crude discounts. While businesses related to the military have profited, Russia's other businesses are struggling. Manufacturing has dropped, while higher taxes and costly loans are taking their toll. 

"You have lots of money spent on tanks, shells, bombs, military benefits and other things -- no long-lasting value, nothing that works on what we call development."

"This is a structural change of the Russian economy, of the design of the Russian economy, which is not easy to turn back."

Alexandra Prokopenko, Carnegie Russian Eurasia Center, Berlin 

The 'Creative Destruction' of Artificial Intelligence

"Having some boom-bust in a sector is normal. Maybe even how it has to be. [But as companies go under it can create wider risks, particularly when failed businesses borrowed big funding]."

"What  you don't want is to infect the credit, and  you definitely don't want to get inside the banking system."

Simon Johnson, MIT, Nobel laureate in economics

 

"The key difference from the 1990s is that the internet only disrupted information distribution."

"AI disrupts cognitive production at large. That's a much bigger economic surface area."

Anton Korinek, AI expert, University of Virginia 

 

"[Management] was like, ‘Okay, this is a nice tool that you can use to make your job easier’."

"It felt like the rug was being pulled out from under me."

Devin Marsh, 36, senior agent handling customer support and sales for telecom giant Rogers through a third-party company, Foundever

 

"Our AI policy in Canada is really being focused primarily on the priority of stimulating the industry in Canada … with almost no attention to the impact on work and preparing workers to navigate the changing nature of work."

"That's a real frustration."

 "It’s very hard to disentangle the incredible disruption that’s going on in the Canadian economy generally from these longer-term technological changes that are also beginning to ripple through the economy more slowly."

Chris Roberts, director, Social & Economic Policy department, Canadian Labour Congress

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

 

It seems not that long ago that ultra-computer-literate ambitious young people entering university chose programs like web development and areas of computer science to distinguish themselves as job applicants whose expertise would be in demand in a job market hungry for good, reliable coding workers as cybersecurity and cloud systems, along with machine learning dominated the field, along with upcoming artificial intelligence. Now, it's suddenly all artificial intelligence and those with secure employment suddenly begin to wonder, for how long?

 

A shadow of uncertainty now looms over companies in the field of internet and computer science  technology as creeping concerns enter their minds at future prospects of ongoing prosperity linked to IT technology. Will they still be in business, will they need their current stable of employees, or will they just harness AI to their programs and manage to cope? The expectation is that artificial intelligence will be the ultimate source of higher productivity. 

 

There was a disruption of the status  quo with the IT revolution that made some industries redundant; classified advertising and newspapers, video rental stores, travel agents, stockbrokers to name a few. There is growing nervousness about what will change in the wake of rising AI development and use, and the potential of disruptions on a much larger scale than what occurred with the IT revolution. 

 

"Is this time bigger? Yes"; perhaps by a factor of ten, mused Anton Korinek, AI expert at University of Virginia. Yes, most certainly AI though still an untested technology, holds the promise to enable more productivity from workers using it. But then, what happens when AI itself, no longer requires a human mind to direct it toward its functional capabilities? Productivity, a measure of worker output using available tools, has surged upward since 2023.

 

While it remains as yet uncertain how much this productivity acceleration owes to AI, analysts believe AI efficiency has had a large part to play in the productivity rise. Since the release of Chat GPT in 2022, capital markets have risen spectacularly; gains driven by surging value of AI companies and their suppliers; Meta Platforms, Nvidia Corp. The concern is the continued rise of productivity to the point where white-collar layoffs and company irrelevance means both will become inevitable.

Jack Dorsey. Photo: Richard Drew/AP

 

Businesses begin to cut payroll costs when technology enables them to produce more with fewer employees resulting in more profit for shareholders. The fintech firm that Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder runs, announced the halving of its staff, while depending on AI productivity, and saw its shares rise over 15 percent. Columbia Business School Daniel Keum studying automation technologies change the balance within companies found employees being referred to as 'costs'. 

 

He concludes that even if jobs and wages are not yet being cut, areas like health care, remote work and freebies are being trimmed. "These side benefits are what the companies go after first, before they go after reducing your paycheque." Businesses fall by the wayside in response to advanced technologies, like Kodak and the Blockbuster chain, left behind by the internet. What the economist Joseph Schumpeter refers to as the "creative destruction" leading to progress.

Illustration by Stephan Dybus

 

"That's been happening for hundreds of years in this country. It's part of the essence of capitalism", stated Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond president Tom Barkin when asked if the Fed should attempt to counter disruption to business and the labour market by AI disruption.  

"Eventually, the disruption will extend to any firm whose competitive advantage lies in human expertise that AI can replicate."

"The transition period may involve stranded assets, debt overhang and the potential for sharp market corrections."

Anton Korinek 

Jewish Children in Canada Outcasts of the Public School System That Will Not Protect Them

"He literally doesn't go to school anymore. He has absolutely no desire to be in school."

"I've pulled him out completely. He's got no desire to learn."

"He has no faith in any of the school[s], the systems or anything of that sort." 

"I was at my wits' end. I was like, 'If they're [police] not going to do anything, then goddammit, I'm doing something. [However], the only thing that I could do was put the kids through restorative justice."

"The fact that my son does not go to school anymore just tells you he's petrified. He doesn't want to go to school; he doesn't want to be around these kids. He knows he's just going to be bullied again."

"We could move, but why am I forced to move out of an area that I lived in for over 23 years? You want me to pick up and move because of what's going on with the demographics in my area?"

"Guess what. I'm staying here. It is my house." 

Aviva Rubin-Schneider, Halifax 

 

"Three youths were referred to the Restorative Justice process, which is led by Coverdale Justice Society."

"Restorative justice is tailored to each individual situation, but in some cases it could involve police and/or the victim attending meetings with the participant so that all involved can speak to how the incident affected each person and the community."

Halifax police spokesman Martin Cromwell 

 

"All schools in the Halifax Regional Centre for Education are committed to providing safe, welcoming and inclusive learning environments for students and staff."

"Antisemitism -- including the use of slurs or symbols of hate -- is unacceptable and addressed as discriminatory or racist behaviour under Nova Scotia's Provincial Code of Conduct."

"Behaviour of this nature is taken seriously and addressed consistently in accordance with policy."

Kelly Connors, spokesperson, Halifax Regional Centre for Education 

 

 

At age 14, a Halifax school student after undergoing years of harassment and antisemitic slurs, now pursues his school studies online, no longer willing to submit himself to more of the same and worse, by physically attending Park West School in Halifax. Where classmates called  him 'Jewseph' and 'Jewboy' and when passing him in the school hallways, executed the Nazi salute in his direction. Brought to the attention time and again of the school authorities, nothing was ever done to put a stop to the bullying antisemitism.

 

And then, things became even more dire for the boy following October 7, 2023, when Palestinian terrorists flooded into southern Israel, headed by thousands of Hamas operatives as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to execute a barbaric sweep of Israeli farming communities, raping girls and women, shooting and stabbing people to death, immolating families sheltering in their safe rooms by setting fire to their homes, savagely torturing women, then abducting children, the elderly, men, women, and foreign farm workers.

 

This event spurred an immediate reaction among Palestinian-Canadians and other Muslim groups, when they assembled in large numbers at demonstrations in the streets of Canadian cities against Israel, defending Hamas's atrocities as a response to Israeli 'occupation', which constrains Palestinians from carrying out their incessant 'martyrdom' attacks on Jews in Israel, incited by their leadership as a 'struggle' against the 'occupiers', who convince Palestinian youth that there is no greater glory than to become a martyr.

 

From Palestinians encouraged to use any means at their disposal to kill Jews, to Muslim and leftist sympathizers in Canada taking up the challenge to harass, intimidate, and threaten Canadian Jews, moving on to firebomb and shoot up synagogues and Jewish schools while propagandizing Israel as 'genocidal' and 'apartheid', the world changed for Jews in Canada. And 14-year-old Joseph Rubin-Schneider was one of many victims. 

 

Wall/Instagram

Matters changed for the worse for the boy when in January of 2024 several of his fellow students assaulted him on school grounds, punching, kicking, throwing him to the ground while he was being name-called by watching students. "My son didn't throw a punch", his mother said later. The school authority continued to fail to provide the boy with a safe learning environment. He is now in therapy while conducting studies online through the public school system. 

 

When Aviva Rubin-Schneider contacted the Halifax Regional Police and their hate crime unit in 2023, a plainclothes police officer met with the principal and vice-principal of the Park West  elementary and middle school following which a police officer delivered a few lectures on racism, intolerance and hate crimes to students between grades 6 and 9. This intervention failed to produce a safe learning environment for her son; the harassment simply continued.  

"More antisemitic incidents were documented last year in physical spaces than the year before. These included street assaults, attacks on synagogues, targeted harassment of Jewish communities, and repeated harm to Jewish institutions."

"Antisemitism in Nova Scotia Schools is a concerning issue, and we get many complaints from students and parents every year."

Atlantic Jewish Council 

 Many Jewish-Canadians now wonder, as the country they were born in, where their parents were born and raised them has become unfamiliar, whether this is no longer their country in equal measure with all other Canadians. The house that Aviva Rubin-Schneider claims as her own, her neighbourhood, her city, her province and her country has been invaded by a culture, a social system, a religion and an ideology completely adverse to the values and social mores she grew up with and valued, trusted and loved. Leaving behind, beside, and before Canadian Jews the confrontational question: Is Canada still their 'house'? 

In All Decency and Fairness, Mr. Trump!

"We're at the point where we're saying enough is enough."

"If we're going to have a delay [in opening] the Gordie Howe bridge, great, then you know what the city wants? We want to make sure that we're collecting enough money to help refill our coffers, make taxpayers whole, and not leave taxpayers on the hook for these expenses, which are atypical for any municipality to have to deal with."

"It's just another chapter in the saga of seeing this new bridge built, where you have the president of the United States saying 'We're not going to open it'. He throws out some arbitrary conditions. And then two days later, it's reported that Mr. Moroun met with Secretary Lutnick, who called the president. And several minutes later, a Truth Social post was put out. And it just picks at the scab that's there."

Windsor, Ontario Mayor Drew Dilkins 

Traffic on Huron Church Road heads away from the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. Photo by Taylor Campbell /Windsor Star

 

The privately owned Ambassador Bridge linking Canada to the United States for travel and trade to and from each country has operated a monopoly for decades. The Lebanese-American family that owns the bridge had spent a fortune in unsuccessfully opposing the building of a new bridge that would cut into its profits. Plans for a new bridge, entirely funded by Canadian taxpayers proceeded for the purpose of a second traffic link between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan. The bridge, named after Canada's hockey legend, Gordie Howe, was funded entirely by Canada, although both Canadian and American labour and steel went into its building.

 

Underhanded activity on the part of the private-interest Ambassador Bridge failed to stop the Gordie Howe Bridge from being built, posing a competitor in the collection of traffic tolls. Whereas the tolls charged by the Ambassador Bridge company is destined for the bank accounts of the bridge owner, Matthew Moroun, all tolls collected when the new bridge opens will pay for the astronomical $6.4 billion cost of the bridge. After which, toll proceeds are to be divided between Windsor and Detroit, with a joint ownership agreement.

 

On February 9, President Trump threatened to block the bridge opening, until the U.S. "is fully compensated for everything it has given Canada". Well, in this particular instance, the U.S. gave Canada nothing; it was the reverse that was the reality. The Ambassador Bridge is North America's busiest and as a result, most toll-lucrative crossing for commercial truck traffic. For every day that the new bridge remains closed Windsor is exposed to and liable for traffic congestion and damage to roads for which repairs come at a cost to Windsor taxpayers. 

"Windsor is the auto capital of Canada. Detroit is the Motor City. We've built some great things together. We want to keep that ball rolling and make sure that we create good jobs in both countries for the benefit of both of our economies, and we hope that we never get to a point where tolling is required."

"But if the Gordie Howe Bridge isn't going to open as a result of a decision by President Trump, all options are on the table on our side."

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens 

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens is shown near the Ambassador Bridge on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. Photo by Dan Janisse /The Windsor Star

 

Which has led to the Windsor mayor asking the province of Ontario for an exemption to section 40 of the Municipal Act, preventing municipalities from imposing their own tolls on highways, bridges or tunnels unless they have specific provincial approval. This would be a temporary assist to Windsor, until the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge on May 1. The city of Windsor spends millions annually on the main thoroughfare leading from the Ambassador Bridge, a result of some 10,000 trucks using it each and every day in cross-border traffic. 

 

The city has had to contend with the owner of the Ambassador Bridge expecting Windsor to repair roads  that its own bridge traffic wears out, while it retains the revenues it collects from their use of the bridge. "It's several million dollars to repair that roadway. It's a concrete roadway. It supports heavy trucks, and again, another few million dollars to fix that roadway", on top of the millions to fix other parts of the road as well as millions spent in other disputes with the Ambassador Bridge company.

 

According to a report in The New York Times, the post that President Trump put out on his social media site came in the immediate wake of a meeting between U.S. secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick, and Matthew Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge. Also reported by The Times was that Moroun had donated $1 million in January to the MAGA Inc. super PAC.

  

Ontario Premier Doug Ford will 'consider' Windsor's request to levy tolls on trucks coming from and going to the Ambassador Bridge along Huron Church Road during any delays in opening Gordie Howe International Bridge. Shown here, a truck carrying Windsor-built Chrysler Pacifica minivans is shown among traffic on Huron Church Road in Windsor heading to the Ambassador Bridge on Thursday, March 5, 2026. Photo by Dan Janisse /The Windsor Star

"Why are we continuing to spend millions of dollars in support of these endeavours [pressed by the American private owners of the Ambassador Bridge company to repair Windsor-area roads for their profit] at municipal expense when we have no revenue coming in from it?"

"There's no revenue stream derived from this. It's all expense to municipal taxpayers." 

Mayor Drew Dilkins