“Who are you when the world is not looking at you? What do you fight for even if it seems nobody is paying attention?” These were questions posed by African Nova Scotian activist Lynn Jones to the graduating class of Mount Saint Vincent University at their convocation ceremony last week. Jones received an honourary doctorate […]
On the set as filming of documentary Black Ice begins in Nova Scotia
Director Hubert Davis interviewing descendants of players from the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes so the stories "don’t kind of get lost from generation to generation.”
Last week, Oscar-nominated director Hubert Davis and a film crew from Toronto flew to Nova Scotia to interview descendants and family of the former all-Black hockey league. The filming is for a new documentary based on the book Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925, which written by […]
Black News File
Stories from the Black community in the Maritimes, October 14 to October 24.
1. Laura Daye passes away Laura Daye, the widow of the late Delmore “Buddy” Daye, passed away last Monday in hospital at the age of 90. Daye was a teacher assistant in special education and resource for 27 years. She was the youngest of 17 children. Daye was just a toddler when her own mother […]
“We lost one of the good guys:” Robert Devet’s impact on African Nova Scotian stories
Activists said Devet was "one of the truest allies" and gave voice to the voiceless in the Black community.
Poet and author Angela Bowden said before she ever met Robert Devet or knew his name she saw him at various social justice events in Halifax. “[He had] a tape recorder in one hand, notepad in the other, ready to create space, and provide a platform for every vulnerable and marginalized person, community, or circumstance,” […]
Blackface effigy erected in Parrsboro is just the latest example of Nova Scotia’s ingrained racism
"While this figure appears to have their hand raised in a wave, it is not saying hello. Instead, it is signalling that Black bodies are not welcome in the vicinity of this house."
A blackface effigy on a property outside Parrsboro has been removed after concerns were raised by African Nova Scotians and Cumberland-Colchester MP Lenore Zann. The figure referenced traditional minstrel show symbols including the white glove and painted features exaggerating the lips and staring eyes. These elements of blackface costuming were intended to exaggerate African features […]
Black people die; corporations get rich
New policing technologies like body cameras don't help Black people; they're just another way to enrich corporations and police departments preying on Black people
CBC reports that the Truro police have started wearing body cameras. Truro Police Chief Dave MacNeil suggests the cameras are “partially a response to the global Black Lives Matter protests and partially to take advantage of improving technology.” The Truro police have been supplied with WatchGuard cameras. WatchGuard is owned by Motorola Solutions. In 2019, […]
One day in the streets doesn’t stop injustice, but it does show how Black lives matter
I’m standing in front of the Black Lives Matter banner at the protest for Regis on Saturday when my phone starts ringing insistently. It’s the jail. I walk away from the crowd and answer. A young Black man is calling from segregation at Burnside. Along with other prisoners, he filed a habeas application challenging their […]
Letter from Black community to Premier and Chief Medical Officer has been vandalized with racist comments
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Organizers of an open letter from the Black community to Premier McNeil and Chief Medical Officer Robert Strang say that the letter has been vandalized with racist comments. The letter, which collected over 250 signatures in two days, calls for an apology for the […]
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage recognizes “Wrongful Conviction Day” but takes no action on the wrongful conviction his city is responsible for
Morning File, Monday, October 7, 2019
1. Boat Harbour “The day-by-day countdown to the closing of Boat Harbour happens on a large painting erected in front of the Pictou Landing First Nation band council office, reports Joan Baxter: The painting depicts Boat Harbour as it was before it was dammed (and damned) in 1966, transformed from a healthy tidal estuary to […]
Photos of Trudeau in Blackface don’t surprise Black people; we live this racist reality
When the furor over Trudeau's Blackface photos dies down, to be referred to as an "embarrassing incident" or "controversial," Black people like Abdilahi Elmi will still be facing deportation. Muslim Canadians will still be on the no-fly list. White nationalist editorials will still be commissioned by major newspapers under the guise of "debate." And immigration will still be referred to as a "crisis."
The closest I’ve been to Justin Trudeau was in January, 2017, when I stood beside former Somali child refugee Abdoul Abdi’s sister Fatouma as she asked the Prime Minister if he would deport his own children. Fatouma was seven months pregnant, and was supposed to be on bed rest. When she heard Trudeau would be at […]