Month of Action

Over the next month, PATH Legal and the East Coast Prison Justice Society, supported by a coalition of health and prison justice organizations, will send to the government of Nova Scotia, and publish, four letters. Each letter will detail one problem, specified below, and provide solutions to the issues raised in these calls to action.

Find our press release with the four calls to action here.

FATALITIES IN NOVA SCOTIA JAILS

CALL TO ACTION: Mandatory Public Inquiries for Deaths in Custody

The public deserves to know the causes and circumstances of the four deaths in custody in the past twelve months and what measures are being taken to prevent similar tragic deaths. We are calling for (i) transparency around the processes of inquiry that are or are not occurring regarding these recent deaths, and (ii) reforms to the Fatality Investigations Act to make public, transparent, procedurally rigorous review of deaths in custody mandatory in Nova Scotia.

In a twelve-month period, from January 2023 to January 2024, four tragic deaths occurred under provincial supervision. Unlike several other provinces in Canada, Nova Scotia lacks legislation mandating a fatality inquest or inquiry in such cases, leaving grieving families to advocate for themselves.

The lack of transparency surrounding the circumstances of these deaths is alarming. Although the Nova Scotia government announced the formation of a death in custody inquiry committee in June 2023 to review some of these deaths, the terms of reference and progress of these inquiries remain shrouded in secrecy.

DEATHS IN CUSTODY

Speaker Series

Available for viewing on demand.

PANELISTS

Emma Halpern
Legal Director of PATH Legal and Executive Director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia

Harry Critchley
Co-founder of the East Coast Prison Justice Society

Mona O'Brien
Coordinator of Partners in Learning and Change with the Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network

Kathy Denny
Mother of Sarah Rose Denny

Shirley Tuplin
Friend of Sarah Rose Denny

Take action now: click here for a letter to send to the NS Government

CRIMINALIZATION OF MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

CALL TO ACTION: Take Immediate Action to provide community based housing and health supports and services to keep people out of jail

We are calling for more investment in community-based supportive alternatives to criminalization and policing responses to health and substance use problems.

Police should not be the default response to people seeking help for acute and chronic mental health, substance use, and social needs. It is imperative that we prioritize a health-first approach to crisis intervention, involving clinicians and peers, rather than relying solely on law enforcement. We urge evidence-based policy and law reform aimed at developing non-law enforcement administered crisis call centers and crisis response teams, including peer support specialists (El-Sabawi & Carroll, Defund and replace the police: A model act for a behavioral health crisis response team, 2020). Investing in alternative mental health and substance use crisis supports is an essential step in reducing inequitable vulnerabilities to ill-health as well as criminalization and incarceration of poor, racialized and disabled people.

The Nova Scotia government must take immediate action, in collaboration with municipal governments, to address the lack of mental health and substance user supports in our communities and subsequent criminalization. We are calling for more investment in community-based supportive alternatives to criminalization and policing responses to health and substance use problems. This is not a novel call to action. Both the Province and the Halifax Regional Municipality have expressed an interest in civilian crisis response models. By prioritizing a health-first approach to crisis intervention, we can ensure that individuals receive the community-based support and care they need to thrive.

CRIMINALIZATION OF MENTAL HEALTH

Speaker Series

Available for viewing on demand.

PANELISTS

Tiffany O'Donnell

Wije'winen Health Centre, Mobile Outreach Street Health

Mario Rolle

Nuleaf Counselling

Kimm Kent

Peer Outreach Support Services & Education (POSSE) Project

Take action now: click here for a letter to send to the NS Government

MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE NEEDS IN NS JAILS

CALL TO ACTION: Take Immediate Action to provide mental health programming and support inside provincial jails

The increase in prisoner deaths in recent years cannot be separated from ongoing unacceptably harsh conditions of confinement, including lockdowns and a lack of mental health services and programming to support rehabilitation, release and reintegration.

MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORTS IN CUSTODY

Speaker Series

Available for viewing on demand.

Laura Beach

East Coast Prison Justice Society

Sheila Wildeman

East Coast Prison Justice Society & Dalhousie's Health Justice Institute

Renford Farrier

Prison Justice Advocate & Lived Experience Expert

Nicole Kief

BC Prisoners' Legal Services

Take action now: click here for a letter to send to the NS Government

INSTITUTIONAL LOCKDOWNS AND INCARCERATION

CALL TO ACTION: Take Immediate Action to End Illegal Lockdowns and provide community supports and services to keep people out of jail

We call on the Government of Nova Scotia to indicate, without delay, what actions it is taking to respond to the ongoing unlawful violations of the health and human rights of individuals in provincial jails occurring in the form of ongoing “lockdowns”. These responses must explain how government will ensure sufficient staff are available daily to permit prisoners 10-12 hours per day out of cell and access to legal and other visits and communications, services and programming.

Lockdowns and their immensely harmful effects on prisoners have been consistently the most serious and frequent concern raised by ECPJS and PATH Legal, as well as by prisoners on their own behalf. No one, whether they are held in pre-trial detention or provincially sentenced, deserves to be held in these conditions.

INSTITUTIONAL LOCKDOWNS

Speaker Series

Available for viewing on demand.

Ashley Avery

Coverdale Justice Society

Laura Beach

East Coast Prison Justice Society

Hanna Garson

PATH Legal and Hanna Garson Law

Randolph Riley

Prison Justice Researcher / Lived Experience Expert

Take action now: click here for a letter to send to the NS Government

REQUESTING A MEETING WITH THE GOVERNMENT

On June 4, 2024, in response to the Month of Action, the Coalition sent a letter to the government which can be found here.

As pointed out in the letter linked to above, almost 350 communications of concern were sent to the government during this month of action marking four (now five) deaths in provincial correctional custody since January 2023.

The Coalition hopes to discuss how we might work collaboratively with the government and across sectors and areas of influence to improve access to health and justice for the province's most marginalized.

On June 18, 2024, after receiving no response from the government, the Coalition sent a follow up letter to the government which can be found here.

On June 4, the date of the Coalition's first letter to the government, a sixth person died while in custody of Nova Scotia provincial jails - the 6th death in provincial jail custody, and the 5th death at Burnside Jail specifically, since January 2023. This is an unprecedented number of deaths in our jails in a similar period.

The government convened a death review committee many months ago to study the first few of these deaths, but given the ongoing pattern of fatalities, and the lack of public information on what if any immediate actions are being taken to respond to this crisis and address the risk posed to the lives of some of Nova Scotia's most vulnerable, the letter linked to above asks, again, that the government prioritize a meeting with the Coalition in the short term.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN

Write to your MLA and demand change. For every week of action, we will have a template letter you can send to your MLA. Together, we can hold the Nova Scotian government accountable.

To find your MLA, visit Elections Nova Scotia's Who's My MLA tool online.

After you've found your MLA, visit the Nova Scotia Legislature's website to find their constituency address.

You can also send these letters to various Cabinet members, including:

Premier, the Honourable Tim Houston
2042-2 Queen Street
Westville, NS
B0K 2A0
pictoueastamanda@gmail.com
premier@novascotia.ca

Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the Honourable Brad Johns
Unit 103, 1710 Sackville Drive
Middle Sackville, NS
B4E 3A9
mlabradjohns@gmail.com
JUSTMIN@novascotia.ca

Minister of Health and Wellness, the Honourable Michelle Thompson
325 Main St.
Suite 222
Antigonish, NS
B2G 2C3
michellethompsonmla@gmail.com
Health.Minister@novascotia.ca

Minister of Community Services, the Honourable Brendan Maguire
349 Herring Cove Road. Suite C.
Halifax, NS
B3V 1R9
brendan@brendanmaguire.ca
DCSMIN@novascotia.ca