Ethnocultural Initiatives

Africville - Gone But Not Forgotten

(The following is one of a series of News@Work stories on the Pathways Towards Safer Communities conference held in Halifax, NS in March 2008.)

By Bill Rankin, Communications Advisor, Communications and Citizen Engagement Sector

Amongst the many delegates at the Pathways Toward Safer Communities conference in Halifax, March 5-7, was a social crusader named Irvine Carvery, who gave a moving account of a controversial chapter in Canada’s past: the destruction of Africville, a black community that once stood on the southern shore of Bedford Basin in Halifax.

During the 20th century and for generations preceding, Africville was populated entirely by black families from various origins, including refugees/former slaves from south of the Mason-Dixon Line, smuggled north on the underground railroad. Despite their poverty and lack of political leverage, the residents of the tiny community had a strong sense of social unity and activism. 

Carvery was born and raised in Africville. As a teenager, during the 1960s and early ‘70s, he saw Halifax grow and begin to encroach on the southern shores of Bedford Basin. His community was eventually swallowed up through municipal amalgamation. Africville and its dwellings were expropriated, ordered destroyed, and residents evicted to make way for the opening of the A. Murray MacKay suspension bridge, highway turnpike construction and Port of Halifax development to the west. The community was bulldozed into oblivion and replaced with Seaview Park, a place for cyclists, tourists and dog-walkers. Not one reminder of Africville remains except a sundial placed in the middle of the park along with a plaque that bears the names of some of Africville’s former residents.

Carvery and his compatriots are determined to change all that. Despite the fact that they have been fighting for well over 20 years now, Carvery says he won’t quit until the city recognizes its wrongdoing and compensates the former Africville community.

“Through the Africville Geneology Society we are going to have an interpretive centre and a church rebuilt where Africville used to stand. These places will serve as storehouses of our history and culture that can be shared with descendants and with the public for years to come.”

Carvery also has a message for the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC): “CSC has a unique opportunity to influence black people - some of them potential leaders - before they return to their communities. Education programs need to be established that will give black offenders a better understanding of who they are and where they came from. Giving them a sense of history and an awareness of the needs of their communities will motivate some of these offenders to take an active role when they are released. CSC should also take the opportunity to increase their support for black offenders so their transition into the community goes smoothly.”

Postscript: In 2002, the federal government declared Africville a national historic site, and expressed regret over the injustice done to black residents.