Yesterday was a historic moment for Halifax – the city officially apologized for the destruction of the Africville community in the 1960′s and announced a $3 million reconcilliation package.
Africville’s history traces back to after the war of 1812 when descendants of American slaves settled on the northern edge of Halifax. The community was eventually amalgamated with the Municipality of Halifax, but it was denied proper roads, health services, water, streetlamps or electricity. Africville became the site for undesirable industries and facilities from the expanding City of Halifax including a prison, a slaughterhouse, a depository for fecal waste, a garbage dump, and an infectious disease hospital.
Halifax city planners considered it “urban renewal” when dump trucks moved the residents of Africville out of their homes and into housing developments. The community was destroyed and elderly residents felt they were being cheated out of their homes. Promises to create employment and education programs were broken. And residents of the new public housing projects felt no sense of ownership or pride.
Photo from The Coast's coverage of the Apology
Mayor Peter Kelly’s apology was a long time coming. Included in the apology is the promise to reconstruct the Seaview United Baptist Church – a community hub of Africville that was torn down by the city in the 60′s. A similar promise to rebuild the church was made in 1991. After the church is rebuilt, phase 2 of the plan is to create an interpretive centre for exhibits and educational activities.
It looks like there will be no individual compensation in the deal that was struck with the Africville Geneaology Society and that has caused some criticism in the community.
After spending a year working on Redress Remix – a documentary about the federal government’s apology to the Chinese Canadian community for the Head Tax and Exclusion Act – a lot of the issues surrounding the Africville apology resonate with me. I’ve met people who don’t think an apology is good enough unless it includes compensation for direct descendants, people who are happy to have the government officially acknowledge their concerns, and people who find the past too painful and would prefer to forget.
The sadness of what happened to the Africville community and how Halifax’s apology may or may not affect the community is something that is difficult to comprehend so soon after the apology happens. I think the most important thing I learned from the Chinese Canadian redress movement is that the apology is only the beginning for healing a past wrong.
I think when a government apologizes, it acknowledges a history it has previously denied. So now that Halifax has admitted its mistakes, its time to ask the government how it will ensure something like this never happens again. As we reflect on the damage that “urban renewal” had on Africville in the 1960′s, let’s keep that in mind when planning Halifax’s future.
