Black Nova Scotian conceptions of safety


Jessica Bundy, University of Toronto

Nova Scotia is home to Canadas oldest and largest multigenerational Black community, with roots tracing back to the late 17th century. African Nova Scotian communities have been perpetually impacted by acts of state violence, silence, and oversight. This impact is apparent in the historical and current social, political, and economic standing of African Nova Scotians, and the continued discriminatory treatment of African Nova Scotians by police and criminal justice system. This paper examines this historic Black Canadian community’s perceptions using interviews, while acknowledging the significance of engaging with an intergenerational Black community in the Canadian context. Focusing on creating a community narrative through centering Black voices in the lens of Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist Thought, the realities of navigating everyday racism and disproportionate police discrimination and violence are examined, and concepts of safety and protection. Further, how this Black Canadian community conceives and sustains safety in the presence and extensive history of discrimination. The pervasive nature of such anti-Black racism in such a historical Black community stresses the importance of additional exploration, understanding, and centering the experiences of Black people in Canada.

This paper will be presented at the following session: