Campaign signs for Tamara Tynes Powell, the Liberal candidate running in Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River, were damaged and burned over the weekend. Photos: Lenore Zann/Facebook

Numerous campaign signs for a Black MLA candidate have been vandalized and burned in Truro, about an hour’s drive north of Halifax.

Tamara Tynes Powell is the Liberal candidate for of Truro–Bible Hill–Millbrook–Salmon River. She is the sole Black candidate in the riding.

Sunday, on Facebook, Tynes Powell wrote:

So sad to see one of my signs be vandalized and stepped on, but hate can not stop hate. Only love can stop hate. I love my community and I will not stop. I will be a part of the change and solution, not part of the problem.

Tamara for MLA

Late Sunday night, about five hours after Tynes Powell’s post, Lenore Zann, the area’s MP and former NDP MLA, made a lengthy post accompanied with photos that seemed to shed further light on the signs.

Zann said she spent time canvassing with Tynes Powell and had spoken to her on Saturday after her campaign signs had arrived. Zann said she was driving at around 1:30am on Sunday, she noticed a large sign was missing near the entrance of Ford Street, off of Robie Street.

Ford Street, also known as “The Marsh,” is one of three historical Black neighbourhoods in Truro’s Black community, and is where Tynes Powell grew up.

A campaign sign from Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River candidate Tamara Tynes Powell were damaged and burned on the weekend. Photo: Lenore Zann/Facebook

Zann’s post read, in part:

So I stopped my car to look closer and this is what I found…. Check the pics I took …

The large fence posts that were holding it up had been dragged out of the ground and the sign dragged about 5 feet where it had been CHOPPED UP and SET ON FIRE.

A neighbour came out to tell me that he had heard chopping sounds, but didn’t know what it was – then a bit later his wife smelled smoke and looked out the window and saw a fire truck putting out a fire in that corner of Ford St at Robie St.

We could still smell the smoke.

…

Tamara is also the first African Nova Scotian candidate to run for MLA — so I am especially proud to support her.

The Halifax Examiner reached out to Powell early Monday morning and is awaiting contact. We will update this article if she responds.

A campaign sign from Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River candidate Tamara Tynes Powell was vandalized at the entrance to “The Marsh”, of Truro’s three historical Black neighbourhoods where Tynes Powell herself grew up on the weekend. Photo: Lenore Zann/Facebook
A smiling Black man with a shaved head and wire rimmed glasses wears a headphone in a recording studio

Matthew Byard, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Matthew Byard writes news, profiles, and stories of the Black Nova Scotia community. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.

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3 Comments

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  2. This is what extremist right wing populist amerika looks like now. Been sitting out in the barn festering in rural NS for years. Now they are emboldened. Scary times.

    1. If only it was just in rural NS. It’s easier to hide it in the rural areas, but it’s definitely still all over NS including Halifax especially among the older and less educated population. All of us need to do a better job not allowing this to happen when we personally witness it. It’s sometimes easier to say/do nothing when you see racist comments/actions, but no matter how minor the offense it has to be rebuked. Otherwise they will grow ever more emboldened as they do at home on their social media and internet forums.