Africville
February 23, 2010 - 1:36pm
Former residents of Africville and their descendants are getting an official apology - four decades after the City of Halifax razed their black community to make room for a bridge.
Mayor Peter Kelly said he will apologize on behalf of the Halifax Regional Municipality and council at an event on Wednesday.
He'll also reveal the details of a settlement with the Africville Genealogy Society to "commemorate the past and take positive steps for the future."
The former residents of a bulldozed black community and their descendants have received an official apology from the mayor of Halifax.
Peter Kelly apologized Wednesday for the loss of Africville, the black community that stood along the Bedford Basin for more than a century before it was razed to make room for a bridge in the 1960s.
"We realize words cannot undo what has been done. But we are profoundly sorry and apologize to each and everyone of you," Kelly said at a ceremony.
"The repercussions of what happened to Africville linger to this day. They haunt us in the form of lost opportunities for the young people who never were nurtured in the rich traditions, culture and heritage of Africville."
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2010/02/24/ns-africville-apology.html#ixzz0gTXddTf6
Random questions as I pound my head against my desk to ease the pain of it all.
1. Is this the era of bullshit apologies that attempt to erase past inhumanities and atrocities done by the Canadian government against its own people?
2. Money going to a geneology society, wow that will sure help everyone who had their homes taken away, won't it?
3. Why oh why do I read the comments??? Someone stop me, please!
Fuck.
1. Yes.
2. Here is a link to information on the Society http://www.multiculturaltrails.ca/level_3/number97.html
3. I avoid them like the plague.
Just to clarify, I don't mean to minimize the value of the Africville Geneology Society or the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, whose presence has meant that the story of this abomination has remained alive. But $3 million is nothing. And more money should have gone to the families who were evicted.
Agreed. Saint John undertook an "Urban Renewal" in the late sixties which although it did not have the racial component of the Africville saga, it was definitely class based.
So much crookery over the years, on the part of the Govt and Africville leaders.
No conrad, the government and it's evictions are to blame. The decision to level Africville was based on racist and classist laws and is an inhumane atrocity that is part of Canada's history. Shame.
Stop posting in this thread, conrad.