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Desmond Inquiry Final Report Delayed Again [AUDIO]

Raymond Sheppard talks to The Todd Veinotte Show on News 95.7FM in Halifax – July 7th, 2023. 

Via City News: “The Nova Scotia government has dismissed the judge presiding over an inquiry that has spent much of the past five years investigating why Afghanistan war veteran Lionel Desmond killed three family members and himself in 2017.

Brad Johns, Nova Scotia’s attorney general, confirmed Tuesday he has asked the chief judge of the provincial court to assign a new judge to finish the work started by provincial court Judge Warren Zimmer, saying the province has waited long enough for Zimmer’s final report.” 

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The Desmond family

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Twila Grosse during her announced that she's running for the PCs in the upcoming Preston byelection. Photo: Matthew Byard

Twila Grosse running for PCs in Preston byelection [VIDEO]

The final candidate of the three major political parties has been announced for an upcoming byelection in the Preston riding.

Twila Grosse was announced as the PC Party’s candidate in an event in the riding on Tuesday night attended by Premier Tim Houston and members of the PC Caucus.

Grosse worked for 36 years as an accountant for the Halifax International Airport Authority before retiring in 2020.

Lionel Desmond in a 2007 tour in Afghanistan that “was said to be the bloodiest of the Canadian Military’s combat mission,” according to Raymond Sheppard.

Lionel Desmond was a victim of racism, cousin testifies at inquiry

“Three guys that had been harassing him jumped Lionel in the men’s locker room and used racial slurs such as “chocolate milk” in reference to his wife (my sister Shanna). Lionel ended up successfully defending himself against the aggressors and ended up going to summary trial in response to the attack. There would definitely be records of that summary trial if we looked into it.”

New Chief Judge of Provincial, Family Courts, Perry Borden.

First African Nova Scotian Chief Judge of Provincial, Family Courts Appointed: Perry Borden

Judge Perry F. Borden will be the new chief judge of the Nova Scotia provincial and family courts.

Judge Borden was appointed to the bench in 2020 after serving as a Crown attorney with the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service. His time there included five years in the special prosecutions service, focusing on cybercrime, child pornography, child-luring and sexual assault offences.

Kerian Burnett receiving treatment. Credit: Contributed

Migrant worker facing bill from Nova Scotia after insurance for cancer treatment cancelled

A migrant worker from Jamaica who learned she had cervical cancer shortly after she started working at a farm in

Upper Hammonds Plains believed to be spared from wildfire damage thus far: Pastor Lennett Anderson [AUDIO]

As a wildfire continues to burn in Tantallon and Hammonds Plains, Pastor Lennett Anderson of Emmanuel Baptist Church said he believes there is, thus far, no fire damage to any homes or structures in the Black community of Upper Hammonds Plains.

“Today they’re reporting over 200 homes [damaged] in the Hammonds Plains, Tantallon region. Thankfully no damage is being heard of in the community of Upper Hammonds Plains. But the smoke has really built up today,” said Anderson.

Left: Raymond Sheppard, Right: Lionel Desmond

Lionel Desmond was a victim of racism, cousin testifies at inquiry

It was two years ago this month that Raymond Sheppard first wrote in the former Nova Scotia Advocate about the role racism played in the case of his younger cousin, Lionel Desmond, who, in 2017, killed his wife, Shanna, mother, Brenda, and 10-year-old daughter, Aaliyah, before killing himself.

Desmond who served in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in the war in Afghanistan suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). An inquiry into deaths is now underway.