Restorative Justice Week 2009

The Need to Restore the Relationship with African Nova Scotian Communities
Yvonne Atwell and Gola Taraschi

We begin here in a place where it is sometimes difficult to stand. The ground upon which we place our feet is not yet solid. It rises and falls as it searches for its own balancing point. Sometimes it quakes silently for a long time and only those who have ears to hear will notice. It is easy to avoid the ground upon which we stand. It can be uncomfortable and intimidating to open a dialogue on some issues. It is much easier to look away. But this never works. In looking away, harm can never be truly understood. It certainly can never be repaired and restored. And it continues to linger from one generation to the next, defying any hope of reconciliation.

People of African descent have lived in Nova Scotia for almost 250 years. Present day African Nova Scotian communities were seeded and nurtured by the ancestors that came - soldiers loyal to the British Crown; entrepreneurs, builders and masters of craft and art; refugees of war; and men, women and children who defied death and slavery through the Underground Railway. They settled throughout Nova Scotia and carved out places of refuge for their families within defined communities. They thrived despite overt expressions of hatred and violence, legislated exclusion, policies that supported forced relocation and the inequitable distribution of resources. African Nova Scotian communities each have their own histories, leaders and elders, expressions of faith, traditions and unique roots.

Each community identifies as indigenous to each area. And people remain tied to their communities in ways that are more meaningful than a simple calculation of geography. Every year, descendants of Africville gather in what is now a city park on the edge of the Bedford Basin in Halifax Harbour to remember their community. Africville was founded in the 1840's and was home to 80 families for more than 120 years. Following a history of municipal decisions that began in the early 1850's, Africville and its 400 residents found their community in time, sharing space with a prison, soil disposal pits, infectious disease hospitals, an open city dump, incinerator and slaughterhouse. In the late 1960's, a final municipal decision caused Africville to be demolished to further the expansion of urban Halifax. Residents were relocated to nearby public housing projects and far off communities such as East Preston, North Preston, Cherrybrook or Lake Loon. But yet, every summer descendents of Africvillle return to remember and honour their community.

Each African Nova Scotian community continues to rise from the experiences of its ancestors. But sadly, projects such as the Racism, Violence and Health Project of Dalhousie University continue to document new difficulties that spring from old ones. African Nova Scotian communities continue to experience racism and exclusion, internalized and externalized oppression, increasing family violence and abuse, the over-representation of African Nova Scotian youth in the justice system, and challenging determinants of health. Such findings fuel the wounds of the past. And they contribute to the unstable ground upon which a new generation must live in the future.

When we use a restorative justice lens, we are moved to make space for the idea of relationship. This relational view of justice tells us that when good relationships are nurtured between people, experiences of justice are more likely to occur. We must be prepared to fully answer the endless list of questions that begins to flow from view: How do you practice restorative justice when there appears to be no relationship at all? What if the relationship is so badly damaged that it seems to be beyond restoring? Who are those that have been hurt? What are their needs? Whose obligations are these? What needs to be done to make things right? In this case, we must be able to stand with certainty and believe that restorative justice processes can be used to build good relationships between communities. And then we must simply act. We must get down to the business of creating opportunities for dialogue that will build relationships in a good way.

In the end, this is a matter of faith. And faith is something that runs deeply in African Nova Scotian communities. There are a thousand reasons to avoid a risky venture such as this. But they are based in fear and they come from all sides. A restorative path prefers to make space for the other thousand important reasons to press forward anyway. It is not easy as we have learned from the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. But harm can be healed in no other way than through open dialogue that deliberately focuses on transforming relationships for the better. Ultimately, that is where we as a society need to be - reconciled to ourselves and also to each other so that all might thrive. There is no other way.

Please register for the National Symposium on Restorative Justice
to be held in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, November 18th - 20th, 2009
Contact Noreen Byrne at (709) 631-0069, cms@nfld.net