It has been more than a month since Progress Conservative premier Tim Houston’s cabinet reveal named Pat Dunn as minister of African Nova Scotian affairs—the third white politician to hold the role since it was created in 2003. In this move the former deputy minister of the department, a Black woman, was replaced with a […]
African Nova Scotian
Posted inNews + Opinion
Vaccine clinics “for us, by us” in ANS communities have given over 600 doses
On a sunny Thursday in early April, the Emmanuel Baptist Church held the first African Nova Scotian community vaccine clinic. The large space was set up with a registration area, 10 vaccination stations and a post-vaccine waiting area. “It happened to be a really nice day, so we had some chairs outside,” says Gina Jones-Wilson, […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
We love that Halifax came together in grief
Grief and ritual normally go hand in hand. Ever since humans began living and dying, people have been moved by the need to fully acknowledge death and move through it—often with the help of their community. And though on the surface COVID-19’s greatest crime is death, its greatest punishment falls on those left behind. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax Regional Council learns about the legacy of anti-Black racism in Nova Scotia
The Coast’s live-gramming of Halifax Regional Council continues with a presentation from Wanda Thomas Bernard and more. The best way to learn about what happened at council this week is to head over to The Coast’s Instagram and watch the 07/07 Council highlight on our profile. That way you can interact with the story as […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Walking to Africville
Getting to Africville on foot is next to impossible—there’s no way to safely (or legally) get there without putting yourself in danger. The site of the former community is severed from the rest of the city by the four lanes of Barrington Street, a rail corridor and Africville Road; no sidewalks lead there, and no […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Honouring the African Nova Scotian community with a concrete legacy
From community consultations to carving in concrete, a new art installation in the Halifax Common to honour the African Nova Scotian community is finally finished. In 2015, Halifax set out to build three art installations around the Halifax Common park, and this week the finishing touches were painted on at the Agricola, Cunard and North […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Youth members of street check report working group are fed up and have walked out
T rayvone Clayton, DeRico Symonds, Shevy Price and Kate Macdonald have walked out of the Wortley Street Check Action Working Group. Their statement, released Monday, explains: “During the third meeting, we became aware of the intended purpose of the working group,” it says. “This information we received counteracted with our beliefs and the communities’ beliefs […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A proposed overdose prevention site on Gottingen raises concerns about location and consultation from community members
More than 40 community members and overdose prevention site advocates attended a meeting at Halifax North Memorial Library this week to discuss the location of a proposed Overdose Prevention Site in the community. Members of the African Nova Scotian and greater north end community spoke about the historic importance of the proposed location at the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Street check suspension buying time before regulation
Last week justice minister Mark Furey announced a moratorium on street checks “until further notice.” The decision followed Scot Wortley’s report for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission that found Black men people are six times more likely to be street checked by police than white men and a strong recommendation from the Board of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax activists get face-to-face apology from Trudeau
Halifax leaders who spoke up about a racist incident at Parliament this month got their apology in a big way yesterday. Prime minister Justin Trudeau met with Halifax activists Trayvone Clayton and Kate Macdonald in a closed-door meeting at the Black Cultural Centre in Dartmouth yesterday. Clayton, a Saint Mary’s University student in Halifax, spoke […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax activists speak out against racism in Ottawa
A coalition of Black, human rights, labour and youth organizations held a press conference at the George Dixon Community Centre in Uniacke Square, Halifax today. Kate Macdonald, Marcus James and Trayvone Clayton spoke to their community and media about an incident of racial profiling that happened on Parliament Hill this past week. Macdonald and Clayton […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Tyson Tolliver is digitizing the cultural markers of African Nova Scotian identity
For Tyson Tolliver, a community advocate and entrepreneur, East Preston is the place of his childhood home on Lower Partridge Road, a few houses away from his maternal grandmother “Big Mama,” matriarch of the large Colley family, and East Preston United Baptist Church where he spent more than two decades of Sundays playing the drums […]