Africville, Nova Scotia: A little-known piece of Canadian history
Africville was a small town in Nova Scotia, made up primarily of Black settlers, many of whom were former enslaved people, fleeing the United States for a better life and settling in a community on the south shore of the Bedford Basin, on the outskirts of Halifax. Upon arrival, and after settling down, the residents of Africville began to face many overt signs of racial discrimination including a lack of services which eventually forced the people of the town to relocate. However, long before this forced relocation, Africville’s residents faced significant issues of environmental racism – less overt but equally detrimental.
Located on the outskirts of Halifax, Africville was legally considered to be outside of the city boundaries – and responsibilities. This meant that it did not receive the same municipal services as Halifax – services that included garbage and waste disposal or other clean up. In addition, Africville became the home of numerous environmentally dangerous sites including open dumps, an incinerator, and an infectious disease hospital. Almost immediately after the town was established, railways were built directly through the town and although they did provide transportation and work to residents, they also contributed to reduced property values, accidents, and death.[1]
All the disposal sites set up in Africville were used primarily by White Haligonians (citizens of Halifax), while the waste repercussions were only felt by the Black Nova Scotians living in Africville. One of the reasons why these sites consistently ended up located in Africville was because the people living there lacked social, political, or economic power and were therefore unable to fight the municipality’s decision to place these dangerous sites in their area. This led to poor health conditions for the residents of Africville, further diminishing their social capital.[2]
Unfortunately, despite the legacy of Africville, Black and Indigenous people living in Nova Scotia are still disproportionately affected by dangerous waste sites. In fact, in 2015 and 2016 the ENRICH Project attempted to map toxic facility siting across Nova Scotia, to demonstrate what Black and Indigenous people had been saying for so long – that although environmental racism is hard to see and even harder to pinpoint, there is still a tendency to site these toxic facilities closer to marginalized communities. Check out their map here: ENRICH Project.
In response to these concerns, a private member’s bill known as the Act to Address Environmental Racism was put forward in 2016 with the purpose of convening a panel made up primarily of Black, Indigenous and Acadian people to study and report back on the issue of environmental racism in Nova Scotia. The Bill never made it past first reading. However, whether this Bill ever succeeds in becoming law or not, it does demonstrate that the issue of environmental racism in Nova Scotia is alive and well.
Legislation Watch:
In 2024, the Canadian government passed the National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act. This Act requires the federal Minister of the Environment to develop a “national strategy to promote efforts across Canada to advance environmental justice and to assess, prevent and address environmental racism” within two years. This strategy is scheduled for release in summer of 2026.
[1] Laura Westra & Bill E. Lawson, Faces of Environmental Racism: Confronting Issues of Global Justice, 2nd ed (Toronto: Rowman & Littlefield Press, 2001) at 101.
[2] Kaitlyn Mitchell & Zachary D’Onofrio, “Environmental Injustice and Racism in Canada: The First Step is Admitting We Have a Problem” (2016) 29 J Env L & Prac 305 at 324.