There is this highly interesting class I have had, in which I encountered many inspiring topics about Canadian identity, multiculturalism and problems in the relations between different groups living here which we usually don’t know of. Four of my topics of discussion and musing are inspired by the subjects spoken about in this course, “Black Literatures and Cultures in Canada.”
The first of the subjects is a movie we watched in class. Remember Africville is a documentary on the discrimination of African Canadians, as it found expression in the destruction of the Africville settlement by the City of Halifax in 1964. Revolving around a meeting of former residents in connection with the relocation’s 25th anniversary, the film traces the history and life of the Africville community and discusses the reasons and processes of its destruction and its impact on the community.
Founded in the 1840s as a segregated Black settlement in Halifax, Africville was a deep-rooted community with its own structures and institutions. Faced with racial discrimination from the start, Africville residents’ living conditions worsened in the decades before relocation. In spite of paying taxes and petitioning against the neglect policy of the City, they never received basic services such as water, sewage, or paved roads. With the city’s growth and industrialization, Africville became encroached by hazardous industries and facilities – a prison, an open dump, polluting industry. Having been considering the relocation of the settlement for a long time for development purposes, the decision was made in 1964. The City Council justified it with the substandard housing conditions and the expectation that residents would benefit from moving into desegregated better quality housing, and promised compensation, help programmes in education and employment, and financial assistance. But reality looked different. The relocatees received low compensation, little assistance, while dubious and rather brutal tactics were applied to those resisting the relocation. Many encountered employment difficulties, financial problems due to the necessity to pay mortgages and rents, and, emotionally, a loss of status due to becoming tenants rather than landowners, and a loss of community ties and roots, regretting the relocation. Africville has become the symbol for structural racism[1] and a warning for other African Canadian communities to organize more actively (Clairmont and Magill[2]).
Remember Africville not only traces the history of the settlement and its destruction. It also uncovers the constant discrimination of the Africville residents before, during, and after the resettlement by the Halifax government. It becomes clear how the City itself caused the increasingly worsening living conditions and the moral resignation of the community by neglect. Considering the Africville residents second-class citizens, the City imposed on them the dump, industry, and pollution other settlements wouldn’t put up with, endangering the lives and health of the residents. The same kind of attitude becomes evident in the way the Mayor calls the Africville residents “these folks” (Remember Africville), othering them and ignoring the century-long historical presence of African Canadians in the Halifax area and the contribution of African Canadians to Canadian history.[3] Moreover, the residents of Africville were disregarded in all of the important decisions concerning their lives, being denied their basic rights as citizens and deemed incapable of knowing what was good for themselves. The hypocrisy of the humanitarian motivation for the relocation comes to light in the way the emotional value of Africville for the residents was ignored, as well as in the actual carrying out of the relocation. It also finds expression in the way universalist standards were applied to people who obviously weren’t considered as being of equal rights.
Remember Africville provides a truly balanced account of the perspectives involved in the relocation of Africville by including the official reasoning, the perception of Africville by others, and, most important, the voices of the people for whom Africville presented the universe and on whom its destruction inflicted pain and anger. The movie is highly critical of the relocation, uncovering the cruelty of the process and the discrimination of the Africville residents and the underlying racism of the officials. But it is also a celebration of the life and spirit of Africville residents in the face of this discrimination, exemplary of the African Canadian experience.
Works Cited
Clairmont, Donald H., and Dennis William Magill. Africville. The Life and Death of a Canadian Black Community. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ P, [1974] 1987. Print.
Henry, Norah F., Joe T. Darden, and John W. Frazier. “Introduction to the African Diaspora in the United States and Canada at the Dawn of the 21st Century.” Ed. Frazier, John W., Joe T. Darden, and Norah F. Henry. The African Diaspora in the U.S. and Canada at the Dawn of the 21st Century. Binghamton: Global Academic P., Binghamton U, 2009. pp. 1-12. Print.
Darden, Joe T., and Carlos Teixeira. “The African Diaspora in Canada.” Ed. Frazier, John W., Joe T. Darden, and Norah F. Henry. The African Diaspora in the U.S. and Canada at the Dawn of the 21st Century. Binghamton: Global Academic P., Binghamton U, 2009. pp. 13-34. Print.
Nelson, Jennifer Jill. The Operation of Whiteness and Forgetting in Africville: A Geography of Racism. Thesis (Ph.D.). U of Toronto, 2001. Print.
Remember Africville. Dir. Shelagh Mackenzie. National Film Board of Canada; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1991. Film.
Walker, James W. St. G. Racial Discrimination in Canada: The Black Experience. Ottawa: The Canadian Historical Association, 1985. Print.
[1] Structural racism is especially visible in the settlement patterns of African Canadians as a result of the historical legacy of slavery and white supremacy still prevalent in the society. Thus, the lack of accumulated wealth, discrimination in employment and education, and prejudices concerning the cultural qualities of African Canadians enforce the settlement in low quality neighbourhoods. Another important point consists in the fact that the institutions that regulate city development and other crucial policy areas are dominated by white people who reinforce discrimination, segregation, and other inequalities that have persevered over centuries (Henry/Darden/Frazier, 1-4). Racism as the fundamental reason for the dislocation of Africville people from their community is pointed out by Jennifer Jill Nelson in her book The Operation of Whiteness and Forgetting in Africville: A Geography of Racism (18).
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