AS105: Race and Ethnic Dynamics in Canada - The Africville Experience

This essay delves into the historical background and social impact of Africville, a Black community in Nova Scotia, Canada, from its establishment in the early 1800s to its forced relocation in the 1960s. The essay explores the community's origins, comprised of Black Loyalists and former slaves, and the challenges it faced, including lack of basic services and the encroachment of industrial development. It examines the concept of environmental racism, highlighting how Africville was disproportionately affected by pollution and harmful infrastructure, despite paying municipal taxes. The essay analyzes the role of societal racism, the impact of urban renewal, and the ongoing effects of marginalization and criminalization on the African Nova Scotian community. It concludes by emphasizing the need for health professionals and policymakers to address the legacy of environmental racism and other structural forms of violence, advocating for a Charter right to a healthy environment for all Canadians. The essay uses multiple sources to support its arguments, including Gregory & Grant (2014), Gulliver & Thurrell (2016), and Waldron (2016, 2018).

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Introduction
Africville, known as a small community was situated on the southern shore of
Bedford Basin in Nova Scotia, Canada which had its existence from the early 1800s to the
1960s. The community was continually occupied from 1970 till date by means of a protest
on the grounds (Pashby, Ingram & Joshee, 2014). The aim of the following essay is to shed
light on the historical background of Africville and the current social impact and situation the
community experiencing which has drawn attention of number of scholars dealing with race,
culture and ethnic dynamics.
Discussion
The community was found by Black Nova Scotians from varied origins. Authors
found that many of the first settlers of the community had been former slaves from originated
from the United States, known as Black Loyalists who were freed by the Supreme during the
American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. All through the 20th century, although it
collected taxes from property owners, the City of Halifax never provided water, paved roads
or sanitation services to its residents (Lee & Ferrer, 2014). However, in 1854, a railway
extension was cut through the village. Number of landlords showed remonstrations claiming
that they did not pay for their land and speeding train gradually posed threats to their lives
thus polluting the village. Comprehensive studies of Mitchell and D'Onofrio (2016) have
mentioned that Africville was distinguished as a culturally significant place. Regardless of
challenging living conditions and the community’s increasing reputation as a ‘slum’ in the
20th century, members of the community upheld a profound honour in their community.
Africville was viewed as a rural paradise apart from Halifax. During the "urban renewal"
development of the 1960s that devastated likewise racialised neighbourhoods across Canada,
Halifax, Nova Scotia restricted the region thus relocating its residents. The region was

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acquired for the purpose of industrial development. However, between 1962 and 1970, city
administrators acquired the land and destroyed Africville residents' households, businesses
along with the church in a process city documents known as "slum clearance”.
Number of correlated factors has been found to add to the disproportionate load of
environmental hazards experienced by low income and other socially and culturally
marginalized communities. One of the factors has been considered to be societal racism. This
has been specifically the case in the southern region of the United States when environmental
justice movement had been introduced (Gregory & Grant, 2014). Similar situations have been
taken place in Nova Scotia during the early 20th century when destructive and menacing
provisions had been located close to the African-Nova Scotian community of Africville.
However, in number of regions in regards to the treatment of Aboriginal communities in
Canada, the environmental racism is still a factor in recent times.
Environmental racism is considered as the development as well as employment of
environmental policy on subjects related to toxic waste disposal sites, contamination in
addition to urban decline in regions with major ethnic or racial populace. However, Canada
has failed to be immune to the environmental policies. However, studies of Waldron (2018)
have mentioned that as per Canada’s unions, there is no vital environmental fairness without
racial justice. This has been claimed by speaking anti-Black racism as an essential part of the
discussion on environmental engagement. Besides, Canada’s Indigenous communities, Black
and people of African background have been unreasonably saddled with critical
environmental threats. Such type of environmental racism has primarily included experience
to toxic waste facilities, garbage landfills in addition to other bases of environmental
pollution that posed harmful impact on the excellence of life and health consequences.
Drawing relevance to this, Waldron (2016) has found that Africville is considered as a vital
example of the way anti-Black racism has been prolonged by environmental policies. In spite

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of reimbursing municipal taxes, the community had been disadvantaged of essential
provisions such as access to clean water, sanitation and waste management. Africville’s
closeness to the growth of a contagious disease clinic, a residential and a waste scrapyard
eventually gave rise to the appalling living conditions imposed by the City. Such a
compulsory transfer after several years of marginalization and relegation by the City of
Halifax affected Africville by relocating its residents from their households as well as place
of their trade and business, thus worsening their financial insecurity.
Racial and ethnic communities still continue to be affected by lack of adequate
economy, unemployment and issues associated with poor living standards, education and
health. Communities for example, Africville fail to afford the luxury of being significantly
concerned regarding environmental quality when bombarded with pressing issues related to
daily existence of its members. Drawing relevance to these factors, Gulliver and Thurrell
(2016) have noted that racial, cultural and ethnic communities have turned out to be
particularly susceptible to the ones who have supported the establishment of hazardous waste
facility as an opportunity for employment services and financial growth. As a result,
important proposals such as monetary incentives must be offered in order to decrease local
opposition to the setting of new harmful waste facilities tend to give rise to troubling social
policy queries. Moreover, recent cases of gun violence in the African Nova Scotian
community have not only thrown light on importance of essential structural forms of
aggression that has been severely affecting Africville (Stanger-Ross, 2014). It has further
focused on the continual criminalization of African Nova Scotians which results to
disproportionate rates of profiling and over policing, incarceration in addition to the
authorization of destructive treatment in the criminal justice system.
Conclusion

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Hence to conclude it is significantly important for health professionals, ethnic and
racial decision makers within Nova Scotia’s health and community system to take into
account and start addressing robust strategies to comprehend and mitigate the legacy of
environmental racism. In addition to this, several other structural forms of violence have
taken on the souls, bodies, spirits and minds of African Nova Scotian people all through the
province. Also, Canada must and recognize that every individual in this nation irrespective
their cultural identities or where they live along with a Charter right to a healthy environment.

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References
Gregory, J., & Grant, J. (2014). The role of emotions in protests against modernist urban
redevelopment in Perth and Halifax. Urban History Review/Revue d'histoire
urbaine, 42(2), 44-58.
Gulliver, T., & Thurrell, K. (2016). Denials of racism in Canadian English language
textbooks. TESL Canada Journal, 42-61.
Lee, E. O. J., & Ferrer, I. (2014). Examining social work as a Canadian settler colonial
project. Journal of Critical Anti-Oppressive Social Inquiry, 1(1).
Mitchell, K., & D'Onofrio, Z. (2016). Environmental injustice and racism in Canada: The
first step is admitting we have a problem. Journal of Environmental Law and
Practice, 29, 305.
Pashby, K., Ingram, L. A., & Joshee, R. (2014). Discovering, Recovering, and Covering-up
Canada: Tracing Historical Citizenship Discourses in K-12 and Adult Immigrant
Citizenship Education. Canadian Journal of Education, 37(2), n2.
Stanger-Ross, J. (2014). Telling a Difficult Past: Kishizo Kimura's Memoir of Entanglement
in Racist Policy. BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly, (181), 39-62.
Waldron, I. (2018). Re-thinking waste: mapping racial geographies of violence on the
colonial landscape. Environmental Sociology, 4(1), 36-53.
Waldron, I. (2016). Op-ed: Environmental racism is violence. Retrieved from:
https://nsadvocate.org/2016/12/01/op-ed-environmental-racism-is-violence/