HALIFAX -- Investigators in Halifax have found "unstable" chemicals in a variety of containers stacked floor to ceiling inside a cottage, the RCMP said Friday.
Chief Supt. Roland Wells of the Halifax RCMP provided an update on their investigation into the discovery of chemicals at a cottage and shed in the community of Grand Desert that have led to the arrest of a 42-year-old man.
"Within the cottage is a variety of containers filled with chemicals stacked from floor to ceiling. Many of these chemicals are unstable, so we must use extreme caution and care," Wells told a news conference.
"It's extremely complex -- unlabelled chemicals piled from floor to ceiling, some inside fridges, some inside other appliances."
Wells said it appears there are dozens of different chemicals in various states of degradation and chemists from the RCMP and Health Canada are trying to determine what they are.
"Common sense would tell you that if these chemicals were degrading, it's probably been some time that it's been there," he said.
"I don't know that I've seen a more complex investigation in terms of public safety and things we're not used to dealing with."
His comments came before Christopher Burton Phillips appeared briefly in Dartmouth provincial court on charges of uttering threats and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Crown attorney Perry Borden said he wants to ask for a psychiatric assessment to determine fitness to stand trial. Legal aid defence lawyer Jill Lacey asked for time to prepare a response to the application.
Judge Flora Buchan adjourned the case until Thursday and Phillips was remanded into custody.
The RCMP brought Phillips back to Nova Scotia from Ottawa on Thursday after he was arrested a day earlier at a hotel that had to be evacuated.
Police allege in a sworn information at provincial court that Phillips, a former U.S. resident, threatened a police officer and possessed osmium tetroxide, a highly toxic chemical.
The document alleges the offences took place between Boxing Day and Wednesday in Cole Harbour, a suburb of Halifax.
Evacuations were ordered Tuesday in the Cole Harbour and Grand Desert communities of Halifax as a result of the investigation. The evacuation at the Grand Desert site remains in effect.
That area is at an "extreme fire risk" due to the volatility of the chemicals found there, Wells said.
Ottawa police arrested Phillips at the Chimo Hotel and linked the arrest to the discovery of the chemicals in Halifax.
