An independent, adversarial news site in Halifax, NS

June 23, 2022 By Zane Woodford Leave a Comment

The Home for Colored Children, in 1921. Photo: NS Archives

A committee of council is recommending heritage registration for the former Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children.

At a virtual meeting on Wednesday, the Heritage Advisory Committee considered the application from Akoma Holdings for the former home at 18 Wilfred Jackson Way in Westphal.

The proposed heritage registration is part of Akoma’s redevelopment plan for the land surrounding the former home, for which Halifax regional council approved bylaw amendments last May. Akoma also received $2.7 million in federal funding through the Rapid Housing Initiative for eight affordable modular housing units.

The old home opened in 1921 to house and school Black children who weren’t welcome in white orphanages. In the 1990s, former residents launched a lawsuit over decades of physical, mental, and sexual abuse at the old home. The lawsuit was settled, and in 2014, then Premier Stephen McNeil apologized to former residents of the home and later launched a public inquiry, with the final report tabled in 2019.

Devon Parris, African Nova Scotia Cultural Heritage intern with HRM, acknowledged the “complicated” history of the building in his report and presentation to the committee on Wednesday.

“Though it has challenging history, the former Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children’s positive and negative chapters are intimately related to the African Nova Scotian experience in the 20th century,” Parris said.

It wasn’t the first time it came to the heritage committee. In 1998, the former director of the home applied for heritage registration. The committee voted in favour, but council declined to schedule a heritage hearing, citing the building deteriorating condition.

It’s since been renovated, and the municipality used different criteria to consider the application this time, as a heritage site, not a heritage property.

Scoring the property 64 points out of a possible 70, the committee recommended Halifax regional council schedule a heritage hearing and include the property in the municipal registry.

The committee also voted during Wednesday’s meeting to recommend council designate two other properties:

At its next meeting, in July, the committee will consider a heritage application for a Dalhousie University-owned home on Edward Street. Residents in the area protested Dal’s planned demolition of that building last month. During Wednesday’s meeting, the committee received a petition with more than 5,000 signatures asking it to protect the building.

We have many other subscription options available, or drop us a donation. Thanks!

Filed Under: Black Nova Scotia, City Hall, Featured, News Tagged With: Adam Barrett, African Nova Scotia Cultural Heritage, Akoma Holdings, Anchor Group Limited, Black Nova Scotians, Brunswick Street Developments Inc., Dalhousie University, Danny Chedrawe, Devon Parris, Edward Street, Halifax Regional Council, Halifax Regional Municipality, Heritage Advisory Committee, Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, Racism, Stephen McNeil, Zane Woodford

Zane Woodford covers municipal politics for the Halifax Examiner. Email: [email protected] ; Twitter

You must be logged in to post a comment.

PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

Juanita Peters is a former broadcast journalist and current icon who writes, acts, and directs, including her debut feature 8:37 Rebirth. A tough, dark drama about restorative justice and the grey of life, the film is up for four Screen Nova Scotia Awards on Saturday. She stops by to chat about the film’s COVID shoot, her time as a reporter, what’s in the works—plays! docs!—directing Diggstown, and being named ACTRA’s Woman of The Year. Plus, a new song from Corvette Sunset.

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

Sign up to receive email notification when we publish new Morning Files and Weekend Files. Note: signing up for this email is NOT the same as subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. To subscribe, click here.