Category: Community News

As the days grow colder, the region’s charitable organizations are gearing up for another season of supporting area residents facing economic challenges as well as outright poverty. Sackville’s Christmas Cheer program and Port Elgin’s Christmas Box campaign collectively help hundreds in the region celebrate the holidays.

PEDVAC Foundation director Jodi MacRae says the organization’s annual Christmas Box campaign provides families with “three days worth of food along with all the food required for a traditional Christmas meal, including a turkey or ham. We also provide all gifts for all members of the family right up to and including the pets.” The program is made possible through donations of money, toys and food from community members and local businesses.

Hear Jodi MacRae on Tantramar Report:

This year, McCrae says she expects 75 families to take part in the program. “It is a big number,” says McCrea. “And I know that each year it has grown.” Five or more years ago there were about 40 families making use of the support, she says. “So it has almost doubled. And we’re certainly seeing new families or an increase in use on a monthly basis.”

In addition to the Christmas Box program, the PEDVAC foundation also runs a food bank, a range of social programs, and a second hand boutique.

In the Sackville area families have been relying on the Christmas Cheer program to provide extra support during the holiday season, in the form of food and gifts.… Continue

Longtime customers of Maritime Fuels are concerned they might be out hundreds or thousands of dollars each, after the company declared bankruptcy last week.

Dawn Richards of Bridge Street After School Academy says her business is owed at least $2000 by the defunct company that convinced her to sign a contract requiring pre-authorized bank withdrawals.

And Richards is not alone. According to documents from appointed insolvency trustees PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), former customers on pre-authorized payment plans are owed $2.5 million by the bankrupt company. The round number is likely an estimate, as PwC says it has yet to do a full reconciliation of Maritime Fuels records. It’s also just a fraction of the total debts of the company, which total nearly $44 million dollars.

Once customers like Richards file the paperwork, they will be considered unsecured creditors. The odds of getting repaid do not look good, says Richards. “I’m not holding my breath,” says the daycare operator. “I’m sure that there are people who are probably owed a lot more than $2,000. And where’s that money going to come from?”

The largest creditor listed in the insolvency documents is Western Petroleum, a Newfoundland company owned by Ivan Cassell, the co-owner of Maritime Fuels. According to PwC’s summary, Cassell’s Maritime Fuels owes his other company, Western Petroleum, a round figure of $20 million. Western Petroleum is listed as an unsecured creditor. The Bank of Nova Scotia is owed over $17.8 million, but that debt is secured, and appears to be related to a long list of vehicle loans and mortgages.… Continue

The South East District RCMP think a second driver and vehicle were involved in a crash that killed a 17-year-old on Route 106 in Memramcook in September, and they are asking for the public’s help to find the driver. 

At around 1:20am on Friday, September 29, police and emergency crews from Sackville and Dorchester were called to the crash, which appeared to involve a single vehicle whose driver had lost control, left the road, and entered the ditch.  Police say speed was a factor in the accident.  

The passenger of the crashed vehicle, a 17-year-old boy from Moncton, died at the scene. There were no other reported injuries.

In a release last week, police say they have determined a second vehicle was involved in the crash, and that driver fled the scene before emergency services arrived on September 29. Police are searching for a 2019 grey or silver Chevrolet Silverado, and have released photo of the truck from CCTV footage, as well as a stock photo of the make and model.

Constable Rob Driscoll of the Southeast District Crime Reduction Unit said in the RCMP release, “investigators are aware that there are witnesses who know what happened during that evening. We are asking those people to come forward with any information that they may have, so that we can bring closure to the boy’s family.”… Continue

Tantramar council is opting to spend another $170,000 a year in order to hire a 14th RCMP officer to help patrol the Tantramar municipality. But the move may not result in an additional working officer for quite some time, due to issues filling RCMP vacancies.

On Tuesday night, after Councillor Allison Butcher moved a staff recommendation to increase the Tantramar RCMP complement to 13 officers, Councillor Matt Estabrooks made a second motion that asked for that number to go up to 14, to bring Tantramar’s ‘cop to pop’ ratio above 1.5. The staff and RCMP recommendation would see the ratio sit slightly above 1.4.

“Personally, I’ve heard a lot about policing in the last bit in Tantramar, the last couple of years I’ve been on council. And I’m always very financially responsive. If there’s something that I’d like to spend money or extra money on, it’s policing,” said Estabrooks, after a presentation from RCMP representatives. “After doing a little bit of research on my own, certainly not as in depth as yours, I have a comfort level around the 1.5 [cop to pop] number.”

There are currently ten officers allotted to the former town of Sackville under its Municipal Police Services Agreement (MPSA), and the rest of the municipality is covered under a complement from the Provincial Police Services Agreement (PPSA). Since amalgamation in January 2022, the geographic size of the new municipality is nearly ten times the size of the former town, and the population increased by nearly 3000 people.… Continue

Tantramar residents will mark Remembrance Day this Saturday with two services: one at Convocation Hall with a parade to the cenotaph at Sackville’s Memorial Park, and a ceremony at the cenotaph in Dorchester, hosted by the IODE Shepody Chapter. But for weeks now the streets of both Sackville and Dorchester have been honouring some of the region’s veterans.

A memorial banner program which started in Sackville in 2016 and expanded to Dorchester in 2019 now features 192 banners featuring photos and basic information submitted by family members. The banners are organized by Garth Zwicker and Mike Gillespie, with printing and design costs covered by family members, and installed on lightpoles done by the town of Tantramar public works staff.

This September, Zwicker, Gillespie and about 25 family members attended a ceremony at the Tantramar Civic Centre to unveil 10 new banners to add to the collection.

CHMA spoke to some of those gathered for the occasion:

Darla MacPherson’s grandfather, Russell Kaye, is featured on one of this year’s newest banners. Kaye served as an engineer in World War II, volunteering when he was 33 years old. “He was making $1 a day in the woods,” says MacPherson. “He had one child and my mother was on the way. So he said, I’m going, because that’ll be a good paycheque for my family.”

MacPherson’s mother was born while Kaye was in basic training, and she was five years old before he returned home in 1946.… Continue

Roger Hilyard Crossman appeared by video link in a Moncton provincial court room on Thursday.  The 62-year old Sackville man is charged with the first degree murder of his spouse, Marlene Arsenault-Crossman, at their home on King Street in Sackville on October 12.  

Marlene Arsenault-Crossman was an Amherst native, and for the past few years beloved manager of the Amherst Theatre.  She left behind two sons and their families, as well as a number of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. Members of Marlene’s family were in court on Thursday.

Shortly after Roger Crossman appeared in court, Crown Prosecutor Martine Cormier asked Constable Andrew Paynter of the RCMP Major Crimes Unit to bring forward new charges against him.  In addition to first degree murder, Crossman is now also charged with the dismemberment or mutilation of his wife’s remains.  

Crossman did not have a lawyer present, and told the court he had applied for Legal Aid assistance and was waiting to hear back.  After Judge Ronald LeBlanc temporarily cleared the courtroom, a legal aid lawyer on duty met with Crossman privately.  When court resumed, that lawyer told court that Crossman had applied to Legal Aid two and a half weeks before, and requested an adjournment to allow time for Crossman to be assigned and meet with a new lawyer.  

Crossman has been in custody since October 12, undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.  The results of that evaluation were not discussed in court Thursday, which had originally been slated as a fitness hearing.  … Continue