The municipality’s next poet laureate has no shortage of work experience. Afua Cooper, best-selling author and one of the country’s most celebrated voices of Black Canadian history, is now Halifax’s poet-in-residence. “Poetry brings people together,” Cooper writes in a press release announcing the news. “It is my honour to serve as the municipality’s poetry ambassador.” […]
African Nova Scotian
Gentrifying Blackness in Halifax’s inner city
Agricola, North, Barrington and Cogswell Streets were my old boundaries—my safe place, my sanctuary, my community, my hood. Now it seems as though it belongs to someone else. Its gradual transformation from a historic Black community to a trendy place to live and be entertained has rendered unfamiliar, uncomfortable and unaffordable spaces for many of […]
Ancestral Roots Awards offers overdue recognition to young Black leaders
An upcoming awards ceremony is currently accepting nominations for African Nova Scotians overcoming challenges and making a positive impact in their communities. Kyah Sparks is gearing up to host the African Nova Scotian Communities Ancestral Roots Awards: Recognizing Young Adult Leaders, scheduled to take place on June 9. “I feel like not a lot of […]
Building a case for an Africentric school
The community my father grew up in went without a school for 40 years. My father, Charlie Wilson, was born into segregation in 1927. He grew up during a time when schools were funded by the communities in which they were located. If your community could not afford to build a facility and pay a […]
King’s College to examine school’s connection to slavery
The University of King’s College is taking a serious look at its own historical connections to the slave trade. The school announced on Monday it’s creating a scholarly inquiry to examine the direct and indirect benefit King’s has received from slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries. According to an accompanying press release, the inquiry […]
A roundtable discussion with the vanguard of Halifax activism
The major news stories of 2017 highlight how much labour has come off the backs of activists, but they also emphasize how much further we still need to go. From Cornwallis and street checks to white fragility and Pride’s pinkwashing, Halifax has a lot of work to do. Fortunately, the resilient spirit of resistance in this […]
African Nova Scotian communities form an integral part of our past, present and future
The African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition welcomes the recent report from the United Nations Group of Working Experts on People of African Descent on its mission to Canada. More than 25 African Nova Scotian organizations presented to the Working Group in October 2016 and are pleased to see many of […]
The fighting Dave Downey celebrated at gala tribute
WORDS BY Kaila Jefferd-Moore COMIC BY Bill MacGregor More about Dave Downey Related Stories
Street checks and balances
Do you trust the police? The Board of Police Commissioners would like to know. “You have to be open,” says BPC chair and deputy mayor Steve Craig. “You have to hear what’s being said and take that all in, whether you like what’s being said or not.” The Halifax police department’s civilian overseers are quietly […]

