“On the week of the 75th anniversary of Viola Desmond’s courageous stand against racism & segregation, Marci Ien came to #Halifax to meet with black women leaders about the path forward.” Photo: Andy Fillmore / Twitter.

Closed-door meeting on Black women in leadership raises concerns for province’s only Black female political science professor

“It is not the role of the Liberal Party to reach into other people’s communities and determine what leadership looks like,” writes El Jones in letter to Andy Fillmore about meeting hosted by MP Marci Ien.

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Auburn Eagles head football coach Dion Thomas-Hodges, left, with assistant coach Terrence Mendes. Photo: Matthew Byard.

“Anything is possible:” Black coach, officials achieve firsts in Nova Scotia high school sports

Auburn Drive High School football team’s win at the provincial championship this month, was also a big day for head coach Dion Thomas-Hodges and officials Vince Williams, Andre Williams, and Anthony Williams.

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Lionel Desmond in a 2007 tour in Afghanistan that “was said to be the bloodiest of the Canadian Military’s combat mission,” according to Raymond Sheppard.

Lionel Desmond was a victim of racism, cousin testifies at inquiry

“Three guys that had been harassing him jumped Lionel in the men’s locker room and used racial slurs such as “chocolate milk” in reference to his wife (my sister Shanna). Lionel ended up successfully defending himself against the aggressors and ended up going to summary trial in response to the attack. There would definitely be records of that summary trial if we looked into it.”

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A screenshot of Brandon Rolle speaking at a news conference last month.

Brandon Rolle speaks about impact of Race and Culture Assessments

“We’ve gotten some judges who just considered the information but didn’t apply it to sentence, and so I think the Crown, in this case, recognized the need for that guidance from our highest court and they came back with a very clear message saying … you, first of all, should be ordering these any time an African Nova Scotian is sentenced.”

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PC MLA for Pictou Centre Pat Dunn is the newly appointed Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs and the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism Initiatives. Photo: Pat Dunn / Facebook.

Black community reacts to the appointment of a white Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs

In the days following the Nova Scotia provincial election last month, where the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) won a majority government but failed to elect any Black MLAs, the Halifax Examiner was the first to pose the question: Who will be the next minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs?

On Tuesday, that question was answered when Pat Dunn, PC MLA for Pictou Centre, who is white, was announced as the new minister for both African Nova Scotian Affairs and the brand-new Office of Equity and Anti-Racism Initiatives. Dunn replaces Liberal MLA for Cole Harbour, Tony Ince, who is Black.

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Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard speaks at the Emancipation Day celebration in Grand Parade in Halifax. Photo: Matthew Byard

The long road to Emancipation Day

“Twenty-five years ago the Honourable Jean Augustine [the first African-Canadian woman to be elected to as a Member of Parliament] put forward a motion in the House of Commons to have February designated Black History Month. And at the same time, there were lobby efforts being made to have Emancipation Day recognized. So that’s how long this has been in the making. Over 25 years.”

Emancipation Day, August 1, marks the same day in 1834 when slavery was officially banned in all of the British colonies, including in what would eventually become Canada.

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