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COLE HARBOUR, N.S. – As police investigate the killing of a 71-year-old woman in Nova Scotia by her male partner, the head of an Ontario research group on violence against women says the situation is all too familiar.

Homicides involving older couples are among the fastest-rising rates of intimate partner killings in Canada, said Katreena Scott, who runs the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women and Children at Western University.

“It makes me feel all the more determined to do something about this,” Scott said in an interview Wednesday. “People don’t think about this happening (among older people). It can, and it does.”

RCMP said officers found the bodies of a 71-year-old woman and a 72-year-old man in a residence in the community, located across the harbour from downtown Halifax. A police investigation determined the man had killed the woman, and that he died from self-inflicted injuries, the Mounties said in a news release Tuesday.

“The investigation shows this to be an incident of intimate partner violence,” the release said.

It does not provide the name of the deceased man or his victim. A spokesperson for the RCMP said the names were withheld because of privacy concerns.

Police-reported intimate partner violence among people aged 65 and older increased by 45 per cent between 2014 and 2022, according to Statistics Canada. In 2022, about 34 in 100,000 senior women and 23 in 100,000 senior men reported being victims of intimate partner violence, the figures show.

Older adults face several unique risks for such violence, Scott said. For example, retirement is a massive change for some people that can add stress and uncertainty to their lives. As well, retired people can lose access to workplace resources that can help protect them from domestic violence.

Strain from declining health can be a “tipping point” that either initiates abuse or exacerbates violence already taking place, she added.

Older adults are at a high risk of becoming socially isolated, and “violence thrives in isolation,” she said.

“We need to bring in our health services, and our services around dementia and elder care, and think about how we, as a community, are connecting with older people and supporting them,” Scott said.

No matter the age of the victim, there are often clear warnings signs that precede intimate partner killings. Those signs include a history of violence in the relationship, or a spike in the perpetrator’s paranoia, obsessiveness or depression.

She pointed to the report from a public inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, during which the perpetrator killed 22 people after abusing his common-law spouse. One of the core recommendations from the report, Scott said, is for people to learn to recognize and respond to risk factors and warnings signs of intimate partner violence.

During a campaign stop in Halifax Wednesday, Claudia Chender, leader of the provincial NDP, said the killing in Cole Harbour was more evidence that intimate partner violence is an epidemic in Nova Scotia.

“We have to have epidemic-level funding to the front-line organizations that are working with women in communities to ensure this doesn’t happen,” she told reporters in Halifax. “If the (current) funding were sufficient, we would be seeing progress.”

RCMP in Nova Scotia said they are investigating the deaths alongside the provincial medical examiner service.

The Canadian Femicide Observatory says that as of Oct. 31, at least 155 women and girls have been killed so far this year in Canada and in 95 per cent of those deaths, a male was accused in their killing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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HALIFAX – Low-income tenants in Nova Scotia who fall behind on their rent could soon turn to a rent bank for a no-interest emergency loan if the Liberal party wins the provincial election on Nov. 26.

Party leader Zach Churchill, who is trying to unseat Progressive Conservative Premier Tim Houston, talked about the key election pledge Wednesday during a campaign event at Liberal campaign headquarters in Halifax.

“We’ve had some of the highest rental increases in the country,” Churchill said, adding that low-income tenants are frequently finding themselves in financial distress. “Renters often have difficulty qualifying for loans, but they, too, deserve the security that homeowners enjoy.”

The party’s platform, released Monday, says the proposed rent bank — an idea borrowed from British Columbia — could provide quick-turnaround loans of up to $3,500.

The Liberals say the B.C. government spent $10 million establishing the BC Rent Bank, which now supports a loan network across the province. Based on population, a similar bank in Nova Scotia would cost about $2 million to set up, the Liberals say.

The BC Rent Bank was started as a pilot project in 2019. Its initial three-year mandate was to support seven independent rent banks and establish new ones. With the help of community partners, it also provides eviction prevention and housing stability services to prevent homelessness, as well as financial literacy programs and connections to government benefits and housing supports.

“Our comprehensive services and non-judgmental approach help alleviate stress and ensure people have a plan to get back on their feet and maintain their housing,” the organization says on its website.

In 2023-24, the BC Rent Bank distributed more than $2.4 million through 18 rent banks to support 3,436 renters in over 1,500 households. The organization has also moved beyond offering traditional loans to distributing grants in some regions.

Churchill said a Liberal government would improve rent controls by replacing the province’s fixed-rate rent cap — now at five per cent — with a variable cap based on inflation, market conditions and regional vacancy rates.

Plans are also in the works to close loopholes in the province’s rules for fixed-term leases, Churchill said. Under the party’s proposal, landlords could no longer offer tenants leases longer than one year unless both parties agree.

The Liberal platform also calls for establishing a residential tenancies enforcement unit and reversing the Tory government’s cuts to the rental supplement for those who pay more than 30 per cent of their pre-tax income on rent.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, NDP Leader Claudia Chender announced that, if elected, a New Democratic government would open 15 doctor clinics across the province during its first year in office at a cost of $60 million.

She said the clinics would be collaborative practices staffed by doctors, nurses and other health-care providers, with the aim of clearing the backlog of people looking for a primary care provider, which has doubled over the past three years to include about 145,000 people.

“The Nova Scotians I talk with tell me they’ve had enough of the patchwork health-care system,” Chender said. “We will make sure that Nova Scotians can get the health care they need, when they need it.”

Chender made the announcement outside the North End Community Health Centre in Halifax.

“I think the vision is well expressed in the building behind me,” she said. “It is a clinic that is connected to the community, that has a diverse number of services and health-care professionals that can meet the needs of the community.”

After establishing the initial 15 clinics, the NDP’s long-term plan is to open 15 doctor clinics in the second year of its plan and another 15 in the third year. “This is a priority of an NDP government, so absolutely we will get them set up quickly,” Chender said.

Tim Houston, leader of the incumbent Progressive Conservatives, was campaigning in the suburbs of Halifax and had no plans to make any formal announcements on Wednesday.

Wednesday marked the final day for candidate nominations. The three main parties contesting the election have already confirmed they will each have a full slate of 55 candidates.

At dissolution, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats, the Liberals had 14 seats, the NDP six and there was one Independent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

HALIFAX – A commercial lobster fishing group in Nova Scotia has gone to court seeking $10 million in damages against companies it alleges are buying illegally caught lobster.

The Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance filed notice in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on Tuesday against Independent Fisheries Limited of Little Harbour, N.S., and its president Xiaoming Mao.

The alliance is also suing the owners and operators of Fisher Direct Ltd. and Seawell Holdings Ltd., both based in Shag Harbour, N.S.

The allegations have not been proven in court, and the defendants either declined to comment or were not immediately available to respond on Wednesday.

Commercial fishers allege the defendants are engaged in a conspiracy to violate the federal Fisheries Act and have diminished the lobster stock in St. Mary’s Bay, in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The statement of claim says the defendants receive the lobster at Saulnierville wharf and it is transported “by various means” to the fish plant owned by Independent Fisheries in Sable River, located on the other side of the province.

The alliance alleges in the court document that its investigation yielded “evidence linking each of the defendants to a conspiracy or conspiracies to transport, deliver, process and sell illegal lobster in Nova Scotia.” It says the alliance members’ livelihoods have been harmed by the defendants’ actions.

Michel Samson, a lawyer representing the alliance, said in an interview Wednesday the lawsuit is the result of “years of frustration” at what he said is inaction from the federal and provincial governments to address unauthorized lobster sales.

“We’re hoping that it’s going to have a chilling effect and send a warning to everyone else that they’re being watched,” he said.

The federal Fisheries Department has previously said in news releases that it is carrying out enforcement actions in southwest Nova Scotia.

For example, on Sept. 9 it issued a release saying, “fisheries enforcement activity in the Maritimes region is active — to suggest otherwise is false,” and said the department’s actions ranged from educating fishers about regulations to seizing unauthorized catch, equipment and vessels.

In an email sent Sept. 27, the department said its officers had seized over 800 lobster traps and three vessels in summer operations, and in 2023 it laid 86 charges for unauthorized lobster fishing.

In the lawsuit, the alliance says that illegal lobster fishing in southwest Nova Scotia has “threatened and will continue to threaten the stock of lobster available to fishers.”

According to statistics provided by the federal Fisheries Department, the amount of lobster caught in the southwestern region has fluctuated since 2019.

In 2018-19, about 20.5 million kilograms of lobster was landed in the zone known as lobster fishing area 34. That figure had risen to 21.3 million kilograms in 2020-21, but by 2022-23 it had dropped to about 16.7 million kilograms.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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