Loss and Hope in Black Nova Scotia

A Panel Discussion on Oppression

by Hillary Bain Lindsay

Africville and it's destruction was a major point of discussion on the topic of oppression, loss and hope for Black Nova Scotians. Photo: Bob Brooks, photographer, ca. 1965; NSARM, Bob Brooks fonds, 1989-468, box 16 / neg. sheet 5, image 16

"What have been the greatest  losses encountered by Black Nova Scotians in the face of oppression?"

So began the panel discussion on loss, hope and Black Nova Scotians at the Universalist Unitarian Church of Halifax on Tuesday evening. 

The panelists for the discussion were:

    •    Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard is currently on leave from the Dalhousie School of Social Work where she teaches. Bernard is an author, community researcher and activist.  In 2010 she co-wrote and edited Race and Well-Being: The Lives, Hopes and Activism of African Canadians.

    •    Jon Tattrie is a freelance journalist and writer based in Halifax.  His first non-fiction book, The Hermit of Africville, was released in Africville in July 2010.

    •    Irvine Carvery is President of the Africville Genealogy Society and also serves as chair of the Halifax Regional School Board. He lived in Africville until he was 13 years of age.

The discussion was divided into two parts.  The first part  began with the question, "What have been the greatest  losses encountered by Black Nova Scotians in the face of oppression?"

The second part of the discussion (which can be heard here) began with the question, "Where does hope lie? "

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