On Monday, I argued that it was irresponsible for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore to, without evidence, imply that those protesting the Israeli tennis team’s participation in the Davis Cup tournament were responsible for vile graffiti discovered on Halifax synagogues.
The graffiti included the phrase “Jews did 9/11” at one location and a swastika at another.
I wrote:
I think it highly unlikely that anyone associated with the anti-Israel protests had anything to do with the graffiti. For one, as I say, those protestors have been remarkably nonviolent and have gone to great lengths to reach out to Jews who share their moral indignation about what Israel is doing in Gaza. Why would protestors burn that bridge of common cause?
But additionally, 9/11? That’s ancient history. Most people living in Gaza, and most of the people protesting in Halifax, aren’t old enough to have meaningful memories of 9/11. To be sure, they know of historic wrongs done directly unto the Palestinian people, and they know of the tens (and probably by now, hundreds) of thousands of people killed in Gaza recently, but that just begs the question of why they would pluck 911, which had nothing to do with Gaza, out of that long list of legitimate grievances?
It makes no sense that the people protesting the slaughter in Gaza would be responsible for that vile graffiti.
…
To recap, “The Jews did 9/11” has been crazed right-wing conspiracy nonsense for over two decades, since the event itself. I would suggest that if people want to find a source for the recent ugly slur, they look first towards crazed right-wingers.
Later Monday, police issued a photo of a suspect responsible for the graffiti. Yesterday, a social media poster identified a man who appears to be that suspect, and said the police had been notified. I reviewed several images of the supposed suspect, and several of his own social media accounts, and I am convinced he is the person seen in the police-released photo.
And this morning, just as we went to press, Halifax Police issued this statement:
Charges laid for hate crimes
A man has been arrested and charged following an investigation into six antisemitic graffiti messages found in Halifax over the weekend.
Gezim Topalli, 31, was arrested at his residence in Halifax yesterday. He will appear in Halifax provincial court today to face charges of:
1. Mischief related to religious property (x3)
2. Property damage (x3)
3. Public Incitement of Hatred (x1)
“I am pleased with the outcome of this investigation. While I credit the quick and thorough work of HRP’s hate crime investigator, I also want to thank the public who came forward to help identify the suspect,” said Chief Don MacLean. “The swift and seamless collaboration between police and the community represents our city taking a strong and unified stance against the promotion of hatred.”
Topalli appears to be a person in crisis. I’m told that as a child he experienced the horrors of war in deeply traumatic personal fashion (this war had nothing to do with the Middle East) and he has embraced a radical form of Christianity.
Topalli’s social media include a post declaring that “Christ is still king,” and others in which he refers to himself as “God”; I don’t know if that is said jokingly or not. Several posts honour Charlie Kirk.
I hope Topalli gets the care he needs.
I also hope that those who immediately implicated the pro-Palestinian protestors for the graffiti apologize for jumping to that conclusion and recognize the harm that such unfounded allegations can do.
The entire incident and how it played out is sad.
It makes me think of the trauma caused by war. This particular man suffered untold horrors in war, and wobbled through life traumatized until he lashed out with graffiti on synagogues.
I’ve seen war trauma firsthand. My own father clearly had what we would now characterize as PTSD resulting from his wartime experiences in Korea, and he was a “hero,” awarded military honours for his bravery. Dad was never physically violent with his family, but he was absent emotionally, and as I get older I increasingly understand how that absence has affected me, and I see how that plays out in my relationships.
It’s just one instance of intergenerational trauma, trauma passed on from parent to child, from one generation to the next to the next and the next. As I’ve written before, I think each of us suffers from wars we don’t even know the names of — wars that have been lost to history. Whether soldiers or kings or vanquished citizens or hapless relatives, the victims’ skeletons long ago decayed into the blowing dust of deserts, but the pain and fear live on in our psyches, our cultures, our politics.
We should stop having wars.
In her book Doppelganger, Naomi Klein views the current relationship between Israelis and Palestinians as the product of parallel intergenerational traumas, each reeling from very real harms of past catastrophes and unable to heal from their trauma. That is a simplistic read of Klein’s broader thesis, and I probably shouldn’t leave it there (read the book!), but I think that’s a helpful starting point.
And I wonder: if one troubled soul’s experience with the horrors of war led him to defile synagogue walls, what will become of the millions of souls now experiencing the horrors of Gaza?
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NOTICED
1. Locations of glyphosate spraying kept secret
Two of the Allen Hill anti-spray forest protectors, Cassandra Morris (left) and Savanna Callison (right), are relieved that another day has passed with no orange sticker on the aerial spray warning sign that would indicate spraying has already occurred. A pending storm has sent spray helicopters and industry representatives home from the spray site at Allen Hill, Cumberland County. Credit: Allen Hill anti-spray forest protectors
Last year, a group of citizens occupied forest land in Cumberland County to prevent the aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate. As Joan Baxter reported on Sept. 7, 2024:
Despite police warnings that they were trespassing, a group of anti-spray forest protectors camping on land slated for aerial herbicide spraying around Allen Hill, Cumberland County, will continue their efforts aiming to prevent it.
…
A loose group of about 30 anti-spray forest protectors, ranging in age from their mid-20s to 80, had been holding a vigil in the area to try to prevent the spraying.
…
Earlier on Friday, a helicopter carrying spray gear had been circling low over the area, which [Cassandra] Morris admitted was “frightening.”
They’d also had an early Friday morning visit from an RCMP officer. The previous day, an RCMP officer had delivered a verbal warning to citizens camped on the land that they were trespassing.
After that, Morris said, some members of their group packed up their gear and moved to an adjacent property, although others just dispersed into the wooded areas on the site.
Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC) issues the spray permits and regulates the spraying. Morris is frustrated that NSECC is no longer making site maps available to the public that would show exactly where the spraying is occurring.
As the Halifax Examiner reported in 2023, NSECC initially posted maps of the areas to be sprayed along with the permits, until a complaint from Forest Nova Scotia caused them to take the maps down.
This year, one of the citizens in last year’s protest, Savanna Callison, filed a freedom of information request for the spraying locations. She received a response, but the locations were redacted.
NSECC redacted that information citing sections 18(1)(a) and 18(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which read:
Section 18: health and safety.
18(1)(a), The head of a public body may refuse to disclose to an applicant
information, including personal information about the applicant, if the disclosure
could reasonably be expected to threaten anyone else’s safety or mental or
physical health; or
18(1)(b), The head of a public body may refuse to disclose to an applicant
information, including personal information about the applicant, if the disclosure
could reasonably be expected to interfere with public safety.
The obvious question here is: Whose health and safety is being protected?
If the citizen activists again camp out and prevent the spraying of the woods, whose safety is put at risk? Does monetary return — in this case for a company called ARF Enterprises — equate to “someone’s “safety or mental or physical health”? That’s such a broad definition of safety that it could be used to withhold any and all documents requested through the freedom of information process.
The broader point is that we are in a severe drought, and the spraying of herbicides is particularly designed to kill off deciduous trees, making the forests drier and more flammable still. That is, it increases the risk of wildfire, putting many people’s health at direct risk — firefighters, residents who may lose their homes, and the public generally from breathing sooty air.
You can read the entire redacted document here.
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2. Halifax’s firefighters union calls for “change in leadership” in department
Halifax firefighters relax in front of the St. Margaret’s Centre staging area before heading into the Tantallon Fire on June 1, 2023. Credit: Tim Bousquet
Citing what it characterizes as failure to learn from the Tantallon fire of 2023, the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters, the union representing Halifax firefighters, is calling for a “change in leadership” in the fire department.
The union says that after the Tantallon fire, a department-written Post Incident Analysis called for policies of calling in more firefighters during “surge events,” but those policies have not been implemented, putting both the public and firefighters at risk. In particular, the union says that as a result of a lack of staff, this summer’s Ostrea Lake fire could have been disastrous, had the weather not turned.
Additionally, the union says management has mistakenly ordered the wrong kind of protective gear, has not purchased wildland fire-specific gear, and has not trained firefighters for the gear it has purchased.
Moreover, the union says management has engaged in a campaign of retaliation against union leadership.
The full press release from the union reads:
Halifax Professional Fire Fighters Call for Change in HRFE Leadership
Following the wildfire that destroyed 151 homes in May 2023, Halifax Professional Fire Fighters have been calling for meaningful improvements to HRFE policies, preparedness, and equipment. More than two years later, little has changed. The frontline fire fighters who live and work in our communities see few tangible improvements that would make us more capable of responding to similar disasters.
During the June 22 Ostrea Lake fire, evacuations were underway — yet no off-duty fire fighters were called in to assist. This mirrored the delayed response in May 2023, when reinforcements weren’t called until the fire had already spread into Highland Park. Earlier deployment of additional resources could almost certainly have reduced the loss. While Ostrea Lake was eventually brought under control, had the weather not cooperated, we could have been facing another tragic loss of homes and possibly lives.
Today, HRFE has still not updated response guidelines and protocols, still lacks reserve fire trucks fully equipped for up-staffing, and still lacks a system for identifying fire trucks with empty seats where additional fire fighters could be assigned during events requiring upstaffing. These are basic elements of an effective emergency response system. Their absence reflects poor planning and a dangerous indifference to operational readiness.
Since the Tantallon wildfire, frustration among our members has only grown. We were promised training and hands-on sessions that never happened. No new wildfire-specific equipment has been provided in advance of the 2025 wildfire season. Worse, we recently discovered that the protective coveralls issued to HRFE fire fighters were not compliant with the NFPA standard for wildland firefighting. Our members lack proper boots, gloves, and protective gear. Management purchased hundreds of pairs of the wrong coveralls, which now must be re-ordered at a significantly higher cost.
Meanwhile, new sprinkler trailers and structural protection units sat idle on training grounds — inspected and ready — because no direction was given to prepare them, no notice was provided to the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee, and no training had been offered. Management’s efforts to prepare this equipment only began after the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters raised public pressure following Ostrea Lake. At the time, Chief Stuebing claimed the trailers were waiting for inspections — in reality, inspections had been completed a month earlier. The units sat idle without preparation.
Equally troubling is the failure to call in off-duty fire fighters during surge events. This prolongs workcycles in adverse demanding conditions, weakens response capacity, and leaves our members exposed. In 2023, while the councillor for Hammonds Plains was publicly calling for military support, more than 200 off-duty Halifax Professional Fire Fighters were available — yet the employer turned instead to volunteers from outside HRM, as far away as PEI. One of our members, who lives outside HRM, was offered $22/hour through his volunteer department to work in Halifax, rather than being called by the city he has served for over 20 years.
The department’s own Post Incident Analysis later acknowledged the need for a system to up-staff during surge events — the same issue our Association had raised for years before the Hammonds Plains fire.
On June 24, during a heat advisory, HRFE management directed fire fighters to wear full structural bunker gear while fighting wildfires — a directive later amended, but one that demonstrates a startling lack of judgment.
Unfortunately, this is indicative of the leadership, or lack thereof, that has been allowed to flourish under Chief Ken Stuebing. His failures extend beyond emergency operations. Complaints of racist, misogynistic, and homophobic behaviour among HRFE managers have gone unaddressed. At the same time, qualified operational leaders are being demoralized and driven out, while managers with unrelated skillsets are brought in to oversee programs that add little to our core mission of firefighting.
The operational capacity of our fire service is declining. Morale is eroding. Accreditation certificates and image-management projects have been prioritized over the hard realities of firefighting readiness. Repeated warnings from our association have been ignored.
In recent months, management’s actions have gone further, targeting our members directly. One of our executive board officers was attacked for appearing in a short video filmed in front of a fire truck. Two of our members who testified truthfully at a recent arbitration on behalf of the union were also targeted. This pattern of retaliation shows a culture where speaking out in good faith is punished, not respected.
Halifax Professional Fire Fighters have always supported good decisions and worked with our managers when situations merit partnership. We remain committed to serving our communities while seeing positive change within HRFE. But Chief Ken Stuebing and the current Fire Management Group have lost the trust and support of the fire fighters who serve HRM. Our members, and the citizens we protect, deserve transparency and leadership that puts public safety and professional integrity first. We urge HRM management and Council to explore these concerns deeply and critically, engage the leadership of the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters — all of whom still provide front line service — and partner with us to make the necessary changes to ensure HRFE moves forward prepared to provide safe communities in HRM.
I was particularly struck by the claim that not calling in additional firefighters during big fires “prolongs workcycles in adverse demanding conditions” — i.e., has firefighters working very long shifts in an emergency.
One of the Mass Casualty Commission’s findings was that police working very long shifts were making bad decisions because they were exhausted and could not think clearly. In that case, the observation was about police brass in the command centre directing the response to the unfolding murders, but firefighters on the ground in a wildland fire are likewise necessarily making in-the-moment decisions that require clear thinking.
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3. Mickey MacDonald buys former SaltWire printing press building
A 2022 Google Street View image of the building on Bluewater Road in Bedford then hosting SaltWire’s printing press. Credit: Google Street View
A numbered company controlled by Mickey MacDonald, who was successful in telecommunications but failed in chicken and boxing, has purchased the building on Bluewater Road in Bedford that once housed SaltWire’s printing press.
The sale was reported to the court last week as part of the ongoing SaltWire insolvency proceedings. Fiera Private Debt Fund holds SaltWire’s debt, and through a court-appointed monitor is selling SaltWire’s real estate holdings. SaltWire’s media businesses were already sold to Postmedia.
The report relates that the printing press was “fully removed” from the 70,000 square foot Bluewater Road building as of Aug. 5, 2025. “The removal of the press was a substantial undertaking and took approximately eight months to complete.” The report does not say what happened to the press.
A letter of intent from an unnamed potential purchaser was signed last December, presumably with the printing press intact, but that deal fell through. As the printing press was being removed, the property was placed back on the market in July. On Aug. 20, Fiera accepted an offer from MacDonald’s company, “which owns several properties adjacent or close to” the Bluewater building.
The property is assessed at about $5.3 million. MacDonald put a $1 million deposit on the sale, but a final sales price won’t be made public until some time after the sale closes. The closing date of the sale is tomorrow.
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THE LATEST FROM THE HALIFAX EXAMINER:
1. $8.6 billion nursing home expansion plan needs more oversight, auditor general says
New Shannex nursing homes under construction in West Bedford, April 2025. Shannex calls this campus “Bloomsbury.” Credit: Jennifer Henderson
Jennifer Henderson reports:
As more and more Nova Scotians age, Tim Houston’s government is four years into meeting its ambitious commitment to build or replace 5,700 nursing home beds by 2032.
Almost no building took place under the previous Liberal government during the previous decade. As of today, the Department of Seniors and Long-term Care reports five new nursing homes have opened and another 18 are under construction. That’s one-third of the planned total of 54 new nursing homes.
Most of the additional beds will come from renovating existing facilities and ensuring residents have separate rooms and washroom facilities to reduce the risk of infection.
Even as the province has been ramping up the expansion, the wait-list for beds stood at 1,861 as of October 2024.
Because the program is still in its early years and the estimated cost to build and operate these 5,700 beds is $8.6 billion over 25 years, provincial auditor general Kim Adair wanted a look.
When she released her report Tuesday, Adair stated “We made 10 recommendations because we found Nova Scotia’s plan to add or replace thousands of nursing home beds reveals concerning weaknesses.”
Click or tap here to read “$8.6 billion nursing home expansion plan needs more oversight, auditor general says.”
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2. Andy Fillmore says Middle Sackville will get Costco, but John Young says store ‘not confirmed’
Coun. John Young, left, and Mayor Andy Fillmore at the town hall in Lower Sackville on Sept. 15, 2025. Credit: Suzanne Rent
Suzanne Rent reports:
Mayor Andy Fillmore has said a new Costco will be built in Middle Sackville, but Coun. John Young says a new store for the area hasn’t been confirmed.
Meanwhile, the developer for the project says they “feel strongly in the project.”
On Monday night, I attended a town hall in Lower Sackville hosted by Fillmore and councillors Billy Gillis and John Young.
A couple of speakers discussed their concerns about development in an area around Margeson Drive in Middle Sackville, next to Highway 101.
There’s long been speculation that there will be a new Costco store in that growing area, which is now primarily a residential development. At the town hall, Fillmore seemed to confirm that news.
Click or tap here to read “Andy Fillmore says Middle Sackville will get Costco, but John Young says store ‘not confirmed.’”
Rent writes that Fillmore’s announcement of a Sackville Costco “spread like ketchup on a $1.50 hot dog.”
There’s something not right about our society.
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IN OTHER NEWS
No strong mayor
Credit: Montage: Iris; images from Halifax Examiner/ Unsplash
Premier Tim Houston has decided not to amend the municipal act to give strong mayor powers to Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore, reports CityNews.
Drat. I wanted to challenge Fillmore to a weightlifting competition. Is a mayor truly “strong” if he can’t bench press more than a besotted reporter?
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Government
City
Wednesday
Audit Committee, Audit and Finance Standing Committee (Wednesday, 10am, City Hall and online) — agenda 1; agenda 2
Thursday
Appeals Standing Committee (Thursday, 2pm, City Hall) — agenda
Active Transportation Advisory Committee (Thursday, 4:30pm, online) — agenda
Youth Advisory Committee (Thursday, 5pm, online) — agenda
Province
Public Accounts (Wednesday, 9am, Province House and online) — Rent Supplements: Canada Housing Benefit; with representatives from the Department of Growth and Development and Adsum for Women & Children
On campus
Dalhousie
Wednesday
No events
Thursday
Reclaiming Power + Place: The Final Report (Thursday, 12pm, Indigenous Student Centre and online) —group read; repeats weekly to April 30, 2026
Tech Startup Showcase (Thursday, 4pm, Volta, Argyle Street) — details
Mount Saint Vincent
Curling and Empire: Imperial Scottishness at the Halifax Curling Club (Wednesday, 7pm, Halifax Central Library) — Arthur McCalla will talk
NSCAD
Artist talk (Wednesday, 12pm, The Institute) — Sonia Chow, Charlotte Little & Maggie Sigrid Wilde; details
Workshop: Embroidered Photographs (Wednesday, 2pm, Treaty Space Gallery) — details
Literary Events
Wednesday
No events
Thursday
Author talk (Thursday, 7pm, Halifax Central Library) — Donna Jones Alward, Ship of Dreams
Book launch (Thursday, 7pm, Acadia University Art Gallery) — Wanda Campbell’s latest poetry collection, Spring Theory
In the harbour
Halifax
07:00: Armada 78 02, offshore vessel, arrives at Bedford Basin for sea trials
07:30: Vision of the Seas, cruise ship with up to 2,443 passengers, arrives at Pier 22 from Sydney, on a nine-day roundtrip cruise out of Baltimore
10:30: Oceanex Sanderling, ro-ro container, arrives at Autoport from St. John’s
16:00: AlgoBerta, oil tanker, arrives at Imperial Oil from Montréal
16:30: Oceanex Sanderling moves to Fairview Cove
17:00: Armada 78 02 moves to Dartmouth Cove
18:00: Vision of the Seas sails for Baltimore
21:00: CMA CGM Adromeda, container ship, arrives at Pier 41 from Colombo, Sri Lanka
Cape Breton
07:30: Azamara Quest, cruise ship with up to 690 passengers, arrives at Government Wharf from Charlottetown, on a 10-day roundtrip cruise out of Montréal
17:30: Azamara Quest sails for Saint-Pierre
Footnotes
Peace.