Latest news with #MountSaintVincentUniversity
Global News
3 days ago
- Global News
Questions being raised about police response to Halifax university lockdown
One day after an armed robbery prompted a lockdown at Mount Saint Vincent University and a heavy police presence, questions are being raised about whether the response was appropriate. At around 1 p.m. Thursday, Halifax Regional Police, RCMP and EHS responded to second-hand reports of a robbery at the university cafe. Students were told to shelter in place while police arrived on the scene with tactical equipment and drones. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'It didn't seem like the type of thing I would imagine to happen at the Mount,' said student Erika Neufeld. Neufeld had a friend on campus at the time and was growing increasingly worried about her safety. 'She was just leaving so thankfully she wasn't caught up in any of it, but she said it was looking pretty scary and I was obviously concerned about what could be happening,' she said. Story continues below advertisement Halifax Regional Police defend the scale of response. 'It's always good and appropriate to be upfront, just in case, right? Always good. Safety first. Remember, safety always first, we can always draw back and that's exactly what happened yesterday,' said Const. Paul DesRochers. 'Any time that the police received information on any incident that could involve weapons, we're not sure, we would conduct the appropriate response in relation to such an incident.' For more on this story, watch the video above.
Global News
5 days ago
- Global News
MSVU under lockdown, Halifax police investigating weapons complaint
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook There is a heavy police presence at Mount Saint Vincent University in Bedford as Halifax Regional Police investigate a weapons complaint. The university is under lockdown and people are being asked to avoid the area. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy In a 2 p.m. news release, police said 'it is not believed' this incident is connected to the fatal shooting in Dartmouth where a man was killed at around noon. — more to come
CBC
26-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Liberals on course to take majority of N.S. seats, polls and experts agree
When Nova Scotia Liberals were nearly wiped off the map in a provincial election five months ago, it looked like their federal cousins were on a similar path. But now, with the final ballots in the federal election to be cast and counted on Monday, a very different outcome seems likely. Public opinion polls and political experts are projecting the federal Liberals could take most of the 11 seats up for grabs in Nova Scotia. "This is just going to be an extraordinary case study in the future for politics classes," said Meredith Ralston, a professor of political studies at Mount Saint Vincent University. Ralston and other observers who spoke with CBC News attributed the reversal of fortunes in Nova Scotia to the same factors that have shaped the race nationally: the change in Liberal leadership and the intrusion of U.S. President Donald Trump into Canadian politics through tariffs and threats to Canadian sovereignty. However, there are local factors that will also shape the outcome on a riding-by-riding basis. Jean Chrétien speaks in support of Acadie-Annapolis candidate 9 days ago Duration 3:31 Local factors Tom Urbaniak, a professor of political science at Cape Breton University, pointed to the fisheries as an issue that favours the Conservatives in ridings that are highly dependent on that industry. He also noted the "star" factor for the Conservative candidate in Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish, Allan MacMaster. MacMaster was a longtime Progressive Conservative MLA who recently served as finance minister and deputy premier until stepping down last fall to seek the federal nomination. "That will count for something in that riding," said Urbaniak. Poll aggregators and both favour the Liberals in eight of Nova Scotia's ridings, projecting the other three as either leaning Conservative or a toss-up between the Liberals and Conservatives. The projections are similar to where Nova Scotia stood at dissolution of Parliament. The Liberals held seven seats, the Conservatives held three, and one was vacant that had been held by Liberal Andy Fillmore before he stepped down to run for mayor of Halifax last fall. The three Conservative incumbents are re-offering, as are six Liberal incumbents. Up until the first week of the campaign, only five Liberal incumbents were re-offering, but Sean Fraser — the former Trudeau cabinet minister — changed his mind at the behest of Liberal Leader Mark Carney. Hoping against a sweep Acadia University Prof. Alex Marland said he expects "many, many" Liberal MPs out of Nova Scotia, but he hopes not to see a sweep, which happened in 2015. Marland said he anticipates a Liberal sweep in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Prince Edward Island, and a Liberal majority in New Brunswick. He said a sweep across the region by any party would be a "bad outcome." "Regardless of where things end up, it's important to make sure that national parties have representation from Atlantic Canada in their caucuses," he said. Conservatives still running to win In spite of the apparent Liberal edge, Conservatives in Nova Scotia are still treating the race as competitive, Urbaniak said. In Cape Breton, he said, the campaigns are "energized." "They've got a lot of volunteers knocking on the doors, a lot of literature going around. They're trying to show up in a lot of places," Urbaniak said. Conservatives may be showing up on doorsteps, but many Conservative candidates are declining to participate in other traditional aspects of political campaigns. Seven out of 11 Conservative candidates in Nova Scotia declined or did not respond to interview requests from CBC News. Some also declined to speak to other media outlets and declined to participate in local candidate forums and debates hosted by non-partisan groups. Ralston said it's "not a good strategy." "What it's doing is just again making them look even more like mini Trumps. And so that's why a lot of people are very worried about a Conservative government." Urbaniak said it's "a huge mistake" to make candidates scarce. He said it puts too much focus on the party's leader, Pierre Poilievre. "People need to see that there's a team, they need to see that the local MPs would have influence to be able to bring local issues to Ottawa, to be able to bring funding and infrastructure to the ridings," said Urbaniak. NDP collapse Races across the province are mostly projected to be between the Liberals and Conservatives — some closer than others — but Marland said the New Democrats should not be forgotten. He doesn't expect the party to win any seats in Nova Scotia, but he said their "collapse" is an important part of the story. He pointed to the riding of Halifax, where candidate Lisa Roberts is running for the second time. The former Nova Scotia NDP MLA lost narrowly to Fillmore in the 2021 election. Marland said Roberts's campaign was well organized and she seemed, just a few months ago, poised for victory. "And, you know, it seems quite likely now that it will end up being Liberal," Marland said.
CBC
10-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Midwifery training in Nova Scotia? Education, health officials are talking options
Conversations are happening in Nova Scotia about developing the first midwifery education program east of Quebec. Documents released to CBC News under freedom of information laws show correspondence between provincial officials in recent months that mention Mount Saint Vincent University and Cape Breton University as possible locations. It's welcome news to midwives in Nova Scotia, who have been advocating for a midwifery education program for years. "We need to be growing our own midwives here and we need to be supporting midwifery to grow," said Liz Fraser, a registered midwife and spokesperson for the Association of Nova Scotia Midwives, in an interview. She said having a midwifery school in Nova Scotia would create a pathway for new midwives, and it could act as a recruitment tool for midwives now practising elsewhere who are interested in both clinical work and teaching. Health Minister Michelle Thompson said the conversation is in its infancy. "I think there is more conversation to be had, but I think it is very preliminary at this point," she said in an interview. Crossroads of health, advanced education The conversation appears to be happening at the crossroads of two of the Progressive Conservative government's undertakings: recruiting for the health-care workforce and becoming more involved in university operations. One clear example of this is an email sent last November from Kathleen DeCoste, a senior executive director with the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment, to Lindsay Wadden, a senior director with the Department of Advanced Education. DeCoste refers to "ideas that came forward from the universities" as part of the provincial government's new requirement for strategic alignment plans from each of Nova Scotia's 10 degree-granting institutions. She says there are "approximately 20 ideas that DHW [the Department of Health and Wellness] supports moving forward to the next step of exploration." Most of what follows is redacted, except for a bullet point that says the Health Department supports exploration of the development of an Indigenous midwifery program with Tajikeimik — a Mi'kmaw health organization — and Unama'ki College at Cape Breton University. CBU 'very open' to developing midwifery program A spokesperson for Tajikeimik said in an email that it's "a little too early to discuss" the project. A spokesperson for CBU said there have been discussions about midwifery, but there is no immediate plan to develop a program. "However, it is something they're very open to for future possibilities," the spokesperson said by email. Similarly, the idea of a midwifery education program at Mount Saint Vincent University comes up in the context of university strategic alignment plans. A slide deck shared between government officials says the Department of Advanced Education "may suggest" MSVU consider developing a new bachelor's degree in midwifery program. It does not seem, however, that this suggestion was made. An unattributed comment in a separate document says, in reference to midwifery at MSVU: "This is apparently an acknowledgement of MSVU's focus on women's health — would be much more feasible to implement this at a school with a nursing and/or medical school." A spokesperson for MSVU said a midwifery program would fit with the school's mission and values, "and we would welcome a discussion with the province." But they said there are no immediate plans to develop the program. Atlantic feasibility study The idea of a midwifery education program in Atlantic Canada has been bandied about for several years, and the four provinces agreed in 2022 to partner on commissioning a feasibility study about a regional program. The study was completed last November, but it has not been released publicly. Thompson said her department is still reviewing the contents and she has not yet read it or been briefed on it. She said the study will inform where the conversation about a midwifery school goes. There are six four-year bachelor's programs in midwifery at universities in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Fraser, of the Association of Nova Scotia Midwives, said the training is similar to nursing baccalaureate programs insofar as they are four-year specialized degree programs that include clinical placements. But midwifery focuses strictly on sexual, reproductive and newborn health. Fraser said midwifery programs are typically competitive to enter and most people have prior post-secondary or work experience. Graduates are required to complete a one-year residency and pass a national licensing exam to become registered midwives. There are also two Indigenous midwifery education programs in Canada — one in Ontario and one in Quebec — that have different curricula and licensing standards than the bachelor's programs.
CBC
20-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
2SLGBTQ+ people face barriers when accessing food services in N.S.: study
While the boom in inflation has made housing and food insecurity a reality for many Nova Scotians, a recent study shows that 2SLGBTQ+ people face higher rates of food insecurity and greater barriers accessing support services. The study by a research team at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax surveyed 11 people in 2024 who self-identified as 2SLGBTQ+. Of those, 10 were identified as being moderately to severely food insecure over the previous 12 months — all having reduced food quantity and quality, often skipping meals due to the inability to buy food. Principal researcher Phillip Joy said the research team found that the study participants were hesitant to access food programs because they were wary of religious institutions, concerned about data collection practices or a perceived lack of understanding among staff and volunteers regarding 2SLGBTQ+ issues. "There are very few resources in Nova Scotia, particularly for LGBT folks, relating to food insecurity," he said. The study found that several participants described hiding their gender or sexuality presentation while accessing support services in order to avoid possible discrimination from food bank workers or volunteers. Yvren Mestres-Wyenberg, a Halifax resident who identifies as a transgender person, said those findings struck a chord. They said they also tend to avoid food banks that are located in religious institutions for fear they won't be welcomed. "I just don't feel comfortable or safe going in there. As much as I know that there are going to be friendly people within those institutions, as there are everywhere, I'm not willing to risk the amount of unfriendliness I might face," they said. The 20-year-old said they have also experienced feeling "uncomfortable" at meal programs because they "stand out" as visibly queer. Mount Saint Vincent professor Megan White, a research assistant on the study, said a number of risk factors that are unique to the 2SLGBTQ+ community combine to increase the likelihood of experiencing things like food insecurity. "Often there are concerns around folks having been kicked out of their homes and discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, that happened in workplaces," said White. Mestres-Wyenberg agreed, saying they have never been formally employed as an openly trans person. "The only time I've ever been hired for any formal employment has been before I came out, and since I refuse to go back in the closet, that makes accessing food difficult since it costs money," they said. "Also, being that I'm estranged from my family, I can't just show up to my parents' door and be like, 'Hey, I'm hungry, you got food?'" Data collection an added concern White said some participants recalled being asked to share information at food support services for data collection purposes but it was not properly explained how their data might be used. She said that raised concerns that sharing their legal names, gender or sex might be a way of being "outed." "Some of our participants mentioned to us feeling really uncomfortable because they weren't sure about the purpose of collecting this data," said White. "And there was some suspicion that it was just out of personal interest of the volunteer. "Like, 'you just want the gossip.'" Policy changes under discussion Sue Kelleher, director of innovation and learning at Feed Nova Scotia, said the registered charity is now working with a group of community members to improve accessibility and inclusivity of their services. "The group met four to six times between October and December. And in parallel to that we also had service providers who work in the community and also some folks who are service providers also hold queer/trans identities who are working in parallel," said Kelleher, a co-principal investigator on the study. She said they are collaborating to launch and test a queer-focused food access program in Halifax this summer, guided by the study findings. Mestres-Wyenberg said they hope changes are coming that will help people who are struggling to access the services they need. "I'm not looking for this for any other reason than anyone else is. I'm just looking for food because I'm hungry," they said.
