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What's ironic is that many of the Black people in the Maritimes have some families that are traced back to South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Maryland. Also, I've heard that Preston outside of Halifax is similar to many towns that one would see in the American South. It is the community with the highest Black percentage in Canada at about 70%.
Here's some cool stories that touch on some of this and on other communities as well:
http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/toutvoir_vis.php?mediaid=666131&mc=9&full (broken link)
NFB - Across Cultures (http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/toutvoir_vis.php?mediaid=666156&full - broken link)
NFB - Across Cultures (http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/theme_vis.php?id=&mediaid=662430&full - broken link)
NFB - Across Cultures (http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/theme_vis.php?id=&mediaid=662453&full - broken link)
Here's some cool stories that touch on some of this and on other communities as well:
NFB - Across Cultures (http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/toutvoir_vis.php?mediaid=666131&mc=9&full - broken link)
NFB - Across Cultures (http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/toutvoir_vis.php?mediaid=666156&full - broken link)
NFB - Across Cultures (http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/theme_vis.php?id=&mediaid=662430&full - broken link)
NFB - Across Cultures (http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/theme_vis.php?id=&mediaid=662453&full - broken link)
Nova Scotia has been called the Mississippi of Canada - the Old Soul - and being from there, it's quite evident sometimes. People aren't as socially conservative in NS, though, more Libertarian than anything. The founding cultures of NS - Black, Scottish, Irish, English, German, Mi'qmaq and French, are probably the most diverse in the country.
There is a rural section of Nova Scotia, where blacks have lived quietly for generations.. I think their ancestors might have been runaway slaves, but don't take my word for that. Mostlly living around Bridgewater and in the interior, up towards Digby. The interior of NS is very thinly populated with very few road even crossing the province. As I recall from living in the Maritimes in the 60's, no Canadian ever called them the N-word, and they were respected in Nova Scotia culture according to their achievements. Their backgrouind was people who lived off the land (agriculture and forestry), as opposed top the sea, which in its own way made them "different". Culturally, the "African-Nova Scotians" could not in any way whatsoever be likened with any newly emerged black community in any Canadian city. They have long since forgotten any motives they might have had for settling there, and are simply Canadians.
There are at least three black Canadians who have made an internationally recognized mark: Ferguson Jenkins (Hall of Fame baseball pitcher pitcher), Willie O'Ree (first black player in National Hockey League), and Oscar Peterson (jazz musician from the 50s). All three came from families that had been in Canada for generations.
There is a rural section of Nova Scotia, where blacks have lived quietly for generations.. I think their ancestors might have been runaway slaves, but don't take my word for that. Mostlly living around Bridgewater and in the interior, up towards Digby. The interior of NS is very thinly populated with very few road even crossing the province. As I recall from living in the Maritimes in the 60's, no Canadian ever called them the N-word, and they were respected in Nova Scotia culture according to their achievements. Their backgrouind was people who lived off the land (agriculture and forestry), as opposed top the sea, which in its own way made them "different". Culturally, the "African-Nova Scotians" could not in any way whatsoever be likened with any newly emerged black community in any Canadian city. They have long since forgotten any motives they might have had for settling there, and are simply Canadians.
There are at least three black Canadians who have made an internationally recognized mark: Ferguson Jenkins (Hall of Fame baseball pitcher pitcher), Willie O'Ree (first black player in National Hockey League), and Oscar Peterson (jazz musician from the 50s). All three came from families that had been in Canada for generations.
I have major problems with this comment's downplaying of the serious racism faced by Nova Scotia blacks - especially in light of the Africville incident - and also the downplaying of their identity as people of African descent ("simply Canadians").
I hope people will look at the NFB links posted above, as there are videos there that will correct this misunderstanding.
Let me also correct the erroneous description of Oscar Peterson's background: his family had not been in Canada for generations. He was the child of West Indian immigrants (his father from the British Virgin Islands, his mother from St. Kitts).
Black Nova Scotians are, for the most part, descendents of British Empire Loyalists who moved here from the United States, and their history certainly shares much more with Blacks in the United States than with Black communities elsewhere in Canada - where these are largely immigrant communities. I was frankly shocked by the segregated communities when I first moved to Halifax from Toronto. Read up on Africville, indeed. You don't have to look far to see how this quite recent history still affects race relations in NS.
I wouldn't call Nova Scotia racist, but there are a lot of people with their heads in the sand. I live in Halifax, which is pretty liberal-minded, and I think the urban/rural outlooks are pretty comporable to my knowledge of outlooks in Ontario. The backwater hillbilly comments in this thread are kind of far-fetched. I know lots of lovely people from Cape Breton and I dig the accent!
The native population of Newfoundland was entirely wiped out, so that province can for sure claim the cruelest-to-non-white-population prize, but from all recent accounts, St. John's (I've never been) sounds like one of the most laid-back, interesting, and fun cities in the country.
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Re:Nova Scotia, Africville
