Stephen Kimber

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About Stephen Kimber
Stephen Kimber is an award-winning Canadian journalist and the author of 13 books, including two novels and 10 works of nonfiction. He is a Professor of Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax, Canada, where he is the co-founder of its Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction Program.
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Blog postIt’s not clear what will happen next at the homeless encampment at Meagher Park. What is clear is that whatever it is won’t solve the real issues. I do not believe further civilian efforts will result in the park being vacated, as such I am asking your help to enforce the relevant provisions of the Municipal Parks By-law and the Protection of Property Act as set out in the notice.
Between now, and when you enforce, we will continue to work to ensure supports are provided to those she4 days ago Read more -
Blog postLast week, Examiner editor Tim Bousquet asked ‘What’s the point of the Mass Casualty Commission?’ In his column today, Stephen Kimber offers a (slightly) more hopeful take. He says it’s too soon to know. The Mass Casualty Commission, with (left to right) commissioners Leanne Fitch, Michael MacDonald, and Kim Stanton, in February 2022. Pool photo by Andrew Vaughan/ Canadian Press So… is it already too late for the Mass Casualty Commission’s final report to matter?
Was its credibility2 weeks ago Read more -
Blog postCross-examination isn’t the only valid — or always best — truth-seeking method of testing evidence. And, in light of last week’s controversy over Lisa Banfield’s appearance before the mass casualty commission, it’s worth asking whether the truth was all that was being sought. “We keep getting confronted by people who seem to have a perception of what a cross-examination is from television,” [Michael Smith, lawyer for families of victims of the Nova Scotia mass shooting] said. “They say, ‘W3 weeks ago Read more
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Blog postThe now-available video of the bar society’s incoming president’s remarks to the annual general meeting puts a new — and more hopeful — spin on what she actually said than the one I suggested in last week’s column. In last week’s column about the annual meeting of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society — “NS Bar Society: Another Day, Another Racism Investigation” — I highlighted criticism of a talk by the society’s incoming president, Melanie Petrunia.
I quoted from an email by Linda Wo1 month ago Read more -
Blog postThe Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society’s new president, already under fire from within over her speech at the society’s AGM, has hired a Toronto law firm to investigate more allegations from within of “direct and systemic discrimination and harassment.” Photo from the webpage of the Nova Scotia Barrister’s Society illustrating diversity. We can only hope that former provincial ombudsman Doug Ruck’s internal review into allegations of systemic discrimination at the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Socie<1 month ago Read more
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Blog postThe latest foundational document from the Mass Casualty Commission details everything the RCMP didn’t say in the days after the worst mass killing in Canadian history. It’s a long list. Nova Scotia RCMP’s Chief Superintendent Chris Leather. Photo: Halifax Examiner. [Canadian Press:] Canadians would very much like to know how many people have died?
[Chief Superintendent Supt. Chris Leather:] I can tell you that in excess of 10 people have been killed, but the investigation is still ong2 months ago Read more -
Blog postWhatever happened to Thursday? What’s so affordable about so much housing? Why so little information about power company pay? And other thoughts on a June day. The Alakai, aka The CAT, docked at Yarmouth in 2019. Photo: Suzanne Rent Whatever happened to Thursday?
On Thursday, the CBC’s Anjuli Patil reported the Houston government had decided not to release passenger numbers for our controversial, heavily subsidized Yarmouth-to-Bar-Harbor ferry.
When asked directly about passe2 months ago Read more -
Blog postIt’s been a month since a Michelin worker died at the Waterville plant. Why don’t we know more about what really happened? Will we ever? Michelin’s Waterville plant I WAS CURIOUS. I thought I remembered seeing a brief news report last month about a man who’d died in an industrial accident at Michelin’s Waterville plant.
The details I recalled were sketchy to non-existent, so I wanted to know what had been learned in the more than a month since the incident and get an update on the st2 months ago Read more -
Blog postNova Scotia Power doesn’t want you to know how much it pays its executives, or why. There are lots of things the utility doesn’t want you to know. But it still wants more of your money. Nova Scotia Power… not exactly as claimed (Facebook) You might imagine that somewhere in its controversial, hydro-damn-blocking 3,100-page(!) application for an electricity rate increase, Nova Scotia Power would have found even a few short paragraphs to explain how it had multiplied, divided, compared and ca<2 months ago Read more
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Blog postAllowing two RCMP officers to testify in pre-recorded sessions without the direct involvement of lawyers for the families undermines the credibility of the commission. And that’s unfortunate for all of us. Retired RCMP Staff Sergeant Al Carroll. I have not watched every minute of every witnesses’ testimony at the Mass Casualty Commission. As I have with the commission’s 18-and-counting foundational documents and 1,400 itemized source materials, I’ve sampled, closely watching the testimony2 months ago Read more
Titles By Stephen Kimber
She met the man of her dreams and suddenly had it all. Then, in one fateful night, she lost everything, and the nightmare began
Jennifer Robertson was working hard to build a life for herself from the ashes of her first marriage. Still only twenty-six, she swiped right on a dating app and met Gerry Cotten, a man she would not normally have considered—too young and not her type—but found she’d met her match. Eccentric but funny and kind, Cotten turned out to be a bitcoin wizard who quickly amassed substantial wealth through his company, Quadriga. The couple travelled the world, first class all the way, while Cotten worked on his multitude of encrypted laptops. Then, while the couple was on their honeymoon in India, opening an orphanage in their name, Gerry fell ill and died in a matter of hours. Jennifer was consumed by grief and guilt, but that was only the beginning. It turned out that Gerry owed $250 million to Quadriga customers, and all the passwords to his encrypted virtual vaults, hidden on his many laptops, had died with him. Jennifer was left with more than one hundred thousand investors looking for their money, and questions, suspicions and accusations spiralling dangerously out of control.
The Quadriga scandal touched off major investment and criminal investigations, not to mention Internet rumours circulating on dark message boards, including claims that Gerry had faked his own death and that his wife was the real mastermind behind a sophisticated sting operation. While Jennifer waited for a dead man’s switch e-mail that would probably never come, it became clear that Cotten had gambled away about $100 million of the funds entrusted to him for investment in his many schemes, leaving Robertson holding the bag.
Bitcoin Widow is Catch Me If You Can meets a widow betrayed, a life of fairy-tale romance and private jets torched by duplicity, as Jennifer Robertson tries to reset her life in the wake of one of the biggest investment scandals of the digital age.
The few hundred loyalists who gathered at Roubalet’s Tavern in New York on the night of Saturday, November 16, 1782, shared a vision of the future intended to sustain them through the nightmare of the present. Abandoned by the king to whom they had promised their loyalty, unwelcome in the land that had so recently been theirs, they had no choice but to flee. But to where? And for what?
Their dream was to build a new and improved New York City. They would do this on the rocky shores of Roseway Bay, on the south coast of Nova Scotia, beside one of the best harbours in the world. The city would be cosmopolitan, but more refined, more royal, more loyal, and certainly more exclusive than the one they were now preparing to leave behind forever. At first, it seemed as if their dream would come true. Within the decade, however, Shelburne was a wasteland of abandoned homes and shops.
What happened? Plagued by drought, fires, and poor land quality, Shelburne’s fortunes quickly fell. Vividly told through the intertwined narratives of an eclectic collection of its early settlers, Loyalists and Layabouts is the fascinating story of Shelburne’s “rapid rise and faster fall.”
Alexa McDonough’s impact on Canadian politics cannot be measured solely by election victories or seat tallies. As the first female leader of a mainstream Canadian political party, she helped transform Nova Scotian and Canadian politics. In the process, she transcended party affiliation and gender to become simply "Alexa" to Canadians across the country.
In this authorized biography, veteran author Stephen Kimber chronicles Alexa’s life and political career and with it, weaves a narrative of the changing attitudes towards women in politics, from her early battles as the lone female MLA in a hostile Nova Scotian legislature to her leadership of the federal NDP to her role as senior stateswoman in Jack Layton’s shadow cabinet. Along the way, Kimber delves into McDonough’s personal life to uncover the origins of her political career: her upbringing in a wealthy family committed to progressive politics, her tightknit circles of female friends, her personal metamorphosis from "wife-of" to "leader-of," and her emergence as a political leader whose importance goes beyond partisan politics. The result is an engrossing story of one of Canada’s most beloved politicians, whose common touch and lifelong advocacy of progressive causes made her a significant player in Canadian public life.
The ebook includes updated material and links to additional information about the crash, its causes and consequences.
Acclaimed journalist Stephen Kimber tells the moving story of the crash and its far-reaching human consequences. Kimber introduces us to a wide variety of people: from the victims and their families to the recovery teams, reporters, pathologists and investigators who searched desperately for answers. In a fast-paced and compelling style, Flight 111 traces the interconnected paths of the people whose fates were forever altered by what happened that night.
Says the Ottawa Citizen: "Deftly recreates the events leading up to the crash, along with the aftermath, and puts a much-needed human face on the incident."
This new edition includes an afterword with updated information from the investigation.
Eli Cooper is a resolutely single, fifty-something newspaper copy editor. He spends his nights obsessing over reporters’ unnecessary “thats” and his days caring for a demented father he knows should be in twenty-four-hour care. Eli is too busy—and too self-absorbed—to acknowledge what’s missing in his life.
But then, on a single day in February 2008, Eli loses his job and his father. Alone and adrift, he begrudgingly accepts his sister’s gift: a two-week forget-it-all vacation to Cuba. After a series of misadventures, he meets Mariela—an off-the-books, thirtysomething tour guide—and falls in love. But does Mariela fall for Eli, or is he just her ticket to a new life? Eli and Mariela each have secrets they’re not ready to share—until they have no choice.
A bittersweet story that takes readers from Havana, to Halifax, to Miami, and back again, The Sweetness in the Lime is a charming, clever novel that peels back the rind to discover there really is sweetness in the lime of life.
“A quietly powerful novel—poignant with the sorrow of great loss, uplifting with the joy of discovery.” —The Miramichi Reader
“A tense, honest and moving tale of latter-life love in the time of post-colonial globalization. You won’t want to put it down.” —Chris Benjamin, author of Boy With a Problem
“A story about home, friendship, loss and new beginnings; about second chances and the power of loyalty and abiding love.” —Carmen Rodríguez, author of Atacama
It depends.
What Lies Across the Water is a narrative nonfiction thriller. About terrorists who blow up airplanes and try to overthrow governments. About intelligence agents who try to stop them.
The twist is that these terrorists are not Muslim. They’re Cuban exiles. And the men trying to stop them? Cuban intelligence agents.
What Lies Across the Water examines the post-9/11 Bush doctrine—“Any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime”—by focusing on what happened in Miami and Havana in the 1990s when the American government—and Miami’s Cuban violent exile community—ratcheted up their attacks against Cuba.
Cuba responded by sending intelligence agents to South Florida to penetrate the plotters.
What Lies Across the Water uses an in-the-moment narrative to tell the parallel, converging, diverging stories of the exile militants, Cuban intelligence officers and FBI agents as they clash in Havana, Miami and the Straits of Florida. The story moves from the streets of Little Havana to real Havana’s Tropicana nightclub, from the hotel bar at the Copacabana Hotel to the inner sanctum of the White House—and back.
What Lies Across the Water climaxes when Cuba’s intelligence agents—the Cuba Five—are arrested and sentenced to long prison terms while the exile terrorists go free.
Who’s really a terrorist and who’s really a freedom fighter?
After that… well, that's when things got interesting.