Employment Lawyer Nova Scotia
Employment Lawyer Nova Scotia
Africville was a small unincorporated community located on the southern shore of Bedford Basin, in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. During the 20th century, the City of Halifax began to encroach on the southern shores of Bedford Basin, and the community was eventually included as part of the city through municipal amalgamation. Africville was populated almost entirely by black families from a wide selection of origins. The community and its dwellings were ordered destroyed, and residents evicted during the late 1960s in advance of the opening of the nearby A. Murray MacKay suspension bridge, related highway interchange construction and related Port of Halifax development at Fairview Cove to the west.
History
Settled in earnest after the War of 1812, it all began with a promise to Black Loyalists of free land and equal rights. The community of Africville was never officially established, but the first land transaction documented on paper was dated 1848. The community had a population of approximately 400 residents. Many thought it was named Africville because the people who located there were African, yet this was not the case. These people had no emotional connection to Africa, or considered it their home. One elderly women, a resident of Africville, was quoted saying, "it wasn't Africville out there. None of the people came from Africa...it was part of Richmond (Northern Halifax), just the part where the colour folks lived."
Africville began as a small and poor, but self-sufficient rural community of about 50 people in the 19th century; however, an influx of population and the imposition of industries and facilities starting in World War I led the community to evolve to a more crowded and neglected urban neighbourhood whose population peaked at 400 at the time of expulsion. The community's haphazardly positioned dwellings ranged from small well-maintained and brightly-painted homes to tiny ramshackle dwellings converted from sheds. In the late 1850s, the Nova Scotia Railway, later to become the Intercolonial Railway was built from Richmond to the south, bisecting Africville as the railway's mainline along the western shores of Bedford Basin. A second line arrived in 1906 with the arrival of the Halifax and Southwestern Railway which connected to the Intercolonial at Africville. The Intercolonial Railway, later Canadian National Railways, constructed Basin Yard west of the community, adding more tracks. Trains ran through the area constantly.
In the Halifax Explosion of 1917, elevated land to the south protected Africville from the direct blast and complete destruction which leveled the neighbouring community of Richmond. However the community did suffer considerable damage. A doctor of a relief train arriving at Halifax made note of Africville residents "as they wandered disconsolately around the ruins of their still standing little homes". Four Africville residents (and one Mi'kmaq woman visiting from Queens County, Nova Scotia) were killed in the community. In the aftermath of the disaster, Africville received modest relief assistance but none of the reconstruction and none of the modernization which was invested into other parts of the city after the explosion.
Daily life
Economically, the first two generations were not prosperous. Jobs were scarce and racism held them down. Many men found employment in low paying jobs, many worked as seamen, Pullman porters, would clean and work on train cars. Only 35 percent of labourers had regular employment, and 65 percent of the people worked as domestic servants. They had limited opportunities. Women were also hired as cooks, to clean the hospital or prison, and some elderly women were hired to clean upper class houses.
Opportunities were not only lacking in employment, but education was always a problem in the community. In 1883 they received their first elementary school, but were fully responsible for its funding. It was a poor community, so up until 1933 none of the teachers had obtained formal training. However, even with the school, only 40 percent of boys and girls received an education up to grade 6 or less, and only 60 children reached grade 7 and 8, while only four boys and one girl reached grade 10, out of the 140 children ever registered.
To understand Africville, "you got to know about the church" The church was established in 1849 and joined up with other black Baptist Congregations to make the African Baptist Association in 1854. Their social life revolved around the church. Baptisms, weddings and funerals brought a sense of community for the people. Many other black communities would choose Africville as their location of choice for Sunday picnics and events. Everything was done through the church, "clubs, youth organizations, ladies' auxiliary and Bible classes". The church was the center of their unity and stability for so long. It showed the life and heart of the town.
Throughout its history, Africville was confronted with much racial isolation. The town never received proper roads, health services, water, streetlamps or electricity. Simple things all towns received, they did not. The continuing issues and protests for water and sewage, clearly show the relationship between the city of Halifax and the Africvillians. The lack of these services had serious health implications for the lives of the people, and the city's concerns for them was as existent as these facilities they demanded. Contamination of the wells was a serious and ongoing issues, so even the little water they did receive needed to be boiled before use. As the City of Halifax expanded, Africville became a preferred site for all types of undesirable industries and facilities—prison in 1853, a slaughterhouse, even a depository for fecal waste, from nearby Russellville. In 1958 the city decided to move the town garbage dump to the Africville area. While the residents knew they couldn't legally fight this, they illegally salvaged the dump for usable goods. They would get clothes, copper, steel, brass, tin..etc. The dump was the final pin in labeling this area an official slum. In 1870 Africville also received an infectious disease hospital.
Eviction
During the 1940s and 1950s in different parts of Canada the Federal, Provincial and Municipal Governments were working together to take communities labelled slums and relocate the people to better housing. Their intent was to use the land for business and industry. Many years prior to this, and again in 1947 after a major fire burnt several Africville houses, the topic of relocation of Africville had been discussed. Concrete plans of relocation did not officially emerge until 1961. Two reports helped make the relocation a reality. Stimulated by the Stephenson Report of 1957 and the creation of the City's Department of Development in 1961, the topic of relocation became a reality. In 1962 Halifax adopted the relocation proposal unanimously, and the Rose Report, published in 1964, was passed 37/41 in favour of relocation. The Rose report finalized everything. It promised free lawyers and social workers, job training, employment assistance, education services...etc. The report never went into details or analysed how the lives of residents would be in their new homes, but was insistent that their best interests were at heart.
The actual relocation took place between 1964 and 1967. The residents were assisted in their move, Halifax literally moved the Africvillians with the city dump trucks. This image will forever stick in the minds and hearts of people and clearly indicates the degrading style in which these people were treated before, during and after the move. There were much hardships, suspicion and jealousy which emerged, mostly due to complications of land and ownership claims. Only 14 residents held clear legal titles to their land. Those with no legal rights were given a $500 payment and promised a furniture allowance, social assistance, and public housing units. Young families would make enough money to begin a new life, but most of the elderly residents would not budge. They had much more of an emotional connection to their homes. They were filled with grief and felt cheated out of their property.
After relocation, Africvillians were faced with just as many problems as before. Their cost of living went up in their new homes, more people were unemployed and without regular incomes, no employment or education programs which were promised were set up, none of their promises were once again granted. "benefits were so modest as to be virtually irrelevant...within a year and a half this post-relocation program lay in ruins." Family strains and debt forced many to rely on public assistance, and anxiety was high among the people. One of the biggest complaints was that "they feel no sense of ownership or pride in the sterile public housing projects."
Legacy
Part of Africville is now occupied by a highway interchange that services the A. Murray MacKay Bridge; however, the port development at Fairview Cove did not extend as far east as Africville, leaving the waterfront intact. In light of the controversy surrounding the community, the city of Halifax created Seaview Memorial Park on the site in the 1980s, preserving it from development. Former Africville residents have carried out periodic protests at the park throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including one squattings attempt which lasted over two years.
In May 2005, New Democratic Party of Nova Scotia MLA Maureen MacDonald introduced a bill in the provincial legislature called the Africville Act . The bill calls for a formal apology from the Nova Scotia government, a series of public hearings on the destru
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