Tamara Tynes after being crowned the inaugural Miss Black Canada, Aug. 30, 1998. Photo: Tamara Tynes Powell.

1st Miss Black Canada crowned 25 years ago this week

25 years ago on this date in Toronto I became the 1st Miss Black Canada. At age 18 no one expected this Scotian girl would take home the crown but I got the judges with my public speaking. Contestants would ask me where I was from as they were from the islands or African countries. Had to give them a history lesson about African Nova Scotians (We Been Here 400 +). Scotian for the win! ?✊?

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Madden Ross (right) participated in an inaugural weekend-long basketball camp in Halifax hosted by Milwaukee Bucks guard, Lindell Wigginton (left). Photo: Lisa Ross.

‘Dream big’: NBA pro Lindell Wigginton hosts basketball camp in Halifax

Dozens of young basketball players from the Halifax area gathered in the Saint Mary’s University gym on Saturday morning to watch as a National Basketball Association (NBA) star stepped onto the court to offer some words of inspiration.

Lindell Wigginton, 25, who grew up nearby in the city’s Uniacke Square area, launched his inaugural weekend-long basketball camp at the university’s Homburg Centre in hopes of developing the next generation of talent.

The Milwaukee Bucks point guard said through his skills academy, he aims to offer resources and insight that weren’t available to him when he first started out.

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Ryan "R$ Smooth" Somers

DJ R$ $mooth celebrates career as host of longest-running Black music radio show in Atlantic Canada [VIDEO]

The longest-running Black music radio show in Atlantic Canada recently celebrated its 25th year anniversary on the airwaves.

Ryan Somers, aka DJ R$ $mooth, has been hosting $mooth Groove$ on CKDU 88.1 FM since 1998. The show, which airs every Sunday from 5pm to 8pm, broadcasts out of the Student Union Building on the campus of Dalhousie University.

“I always think of the show as like a home base, like no matter what’s going on… most people can hear me that Sunday,”

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Graduates and attendees to the Pathway to Success event hosted by The Africadian Empowerment Academy on Friday, June 23, 2023. Photo: Matthew Byard

Grads of Africadian Empowerment Academy find pathway to success with Red Seal certification

Ten students received their Red Seal certifications in skilled trades this year by taking part in the Africadian Empowerment Academy.

The students were honoured at an event dubbed Pathway to Success, which was hosted by the academy on Friday evening.

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Top left photo: Halifax Regional Police officers Const. Mark Pierce & Const. Craig Trudel in Feb. 2020 moments before arresting a 15-year-old Black teenager who suffered injuries during the arrest (seen in the bottom left three photos) before releasing him without charges. Right photo: Const. Mark Pierce entering a restorative justice meeting in May, 2023.

Halifax constable referred to restorative justice for 2020 assault on Black teen [VIDEO]

Const. Mark Pierce, the Halifax Regional Police officer charged with assaulting a 15-year-old Black boy outside of a mall in Bedford in February 2020, came face to face last week with the youth and his parents for the first time since the night of the incident.

Demario Chambers, now 19 years old, said he received a concussion, cuts, bruises, and badly hurt finger at the hands of Pierce and his partner Const. Craig Trudel when they arrested him.

They released Chambers without charges to his parents later that night.

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Isaac Saney, chair of the Black and African Diaspora Studies Degree Major Committee at Dalhousie University. Credit: Matthew Byard

Black and African Diaspora degree program at Dalhousie may be first in Canada, professor says

A Black history professor at Dalhousie University says a proposal to expand the university’s Black and African Diaspora studies minor program into a full degree could make it the first program of its kind in Canada.

The current minor program started online in 2017 within the faculty of arts and social sciences. Isaac Saney, chair of the Black and African Diaspora Studies Degree Major Committee, is now working with other Black professors at Dalhousie on the final proposal for the full degree program.

“Then the idea came out,” Saney said. “Why don’t we have a major where somebody can come in and graduate with a degree in Black and African Diaspora Studies?”

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David Woods accepting an honorary degree. Credit: Matthew Byard

‘Exemplary artist’ David Woods receives honorary doctorate from Dalhousie University [VIDEO]

“All of these stories had a consistent theme of an individual or an event of significance that had been ignored by history and by an accident had been brought to my attention, and through my passion and commitment to create an excellent work I was allowed to become a conduit for their public recognition to give them a second life.”

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Viola Cain, left, and June Ross hug after a ceremony where they were recognized for their longtime roles as foster parents. Credit: Contributed

Women from North Preston, Cherry Brook recognized for longtime work as foster parents

Two women from North Preston and Cherry Brook have been recognized for their work as the most tenured foster parents in the Halifax area.

Viola Cain and June Ross were honoured for their 75 combined years as foster parents at a recent foster families appreciation banquet.

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