To what extent is the history of Africville, Nova Scotia an example of environmental racism?

Abstract

Environmental racism and its effects have serious impacts on minority communities, and it is no stranger to Canada. Indigenous, Black, and other minority communities have all been affected by environmental racism throughout Canada’s history. One local example of this is the case of Africville: a majority Black community once located just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia along the north-eastern corner of the Halifax peninsula, overlooking Bedford Basin. After enduring over a century’s worth of multiple hazardous land uses, Africville was declared a “slum” by the municipality and destroyed by the city of Halifax, displacing its residents, and wiping clean its historic landownership. This thesis argues that the history of Africville is a textbook case of environmental racism.