Africville

Community Engagement
The municipality, in partnership with Ignite Consulting, has launched Phase 1 and is inviting residents to attend in-person public open houses to help establish a long-term vision for Africville.

Public open house #1:
May 25, 2024 | 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Africville Museum, 5795 Africville Road

Public open house #2:
May 27, 2024 | 6 to 8 p.m.
Halifax North Memorial Public Library, Terry Symonds Auditorium, 2285 Gottingen Street

The presentation and discussion will focus on topics such as active transportation, land use and possibilities for the area in the future. The same information will be available at both spring sessions and registration is not required. All community members are encouraged to attend and light refreshments will be available.

Africville Visioning Project
Following the completion of Phase 1 engagement, a What We Heard report will be created to inform a report to Regional Council ahead of the next phases of this project. 

This is phase one of a multi-year three phase plan.  

Phase 2 will entail developing an action plan to support the visioning, based on what has been learned through the engagement process. 

Phase 3 will be an analysis and review of the process and the identification of any further actions that may need to be taken by all those engaged in the overall visioning exercise. This may include re-engagement with Phase 1 public participants.

Recognizing the past, present, and future

Located on the southern shore of the Bedford Basin, Africville was officially settled in the 1840s when William Brown and William Arnold originally purchased land, although oral history suggests some families can trace their connection to the land going back to the 1700s. Africville was home to a predominantly African Nova Scotian community for more than 150 years before the City of Halifax razed and relocated the community between 1964 to 1970.

In the years before the relocation, Africville was a “thriving, close-knit community” with community-owned stores, a community school, a post office, and the Seaview United Baptist Church, the spiritual and social focal point of Africville.

Despite it being a thriving community, the city failed to provide many amenities to Africville that other Haligonians enjoyed. These included sewage systems, access to clean water, and proper garbage disposal, among others. The situation was further compounded when Africville was designated as industrial land in 1947, and the development of an infectious disease hospital, a prison, and the relocation of the city dump near Africville in 1955.

Walking Africville: Historic Audio Walking Tour
Click here to take the tour

Walking Africville is a historic audio walking tour of 1950s-60s Africville, narrated by former residents and created in partnership with the Africville Heritage Trust, Danielle Mahon and the Halifax Regional Municipality.

How to use this tour: For information on each location, click on a numbered point on the map and select the play button to listen to the audio. 

The Relocation

As the popular concept of “urban renewal” took hold, the municipality began considering the Africville lands for industrial development. In 1962, Regional Council adopted a recommendation to remove the “blighted housing and dilapidated structures in the Africville area.”

The city appointed a social worker to negotiate settlement prices and assist Africville residents. In July 1964, the city purchased the first of the Africville properties. The razing of the community and the movement of residents to various locations throughout the city began.

The relocation program was largely completed by the close of 1967. The last Africville resident - Aaron “Pa” Carvery – left “his home” on January 2, 1970. By that time, approximately 400 people from 80 families had been relocated.

In addition to the loss of their homes, the people of Africville lost the Seaview United Baptist Church, the spiritual heart of their community. Feelings of loss and strong community ties to Africville continue on, as an annual gathering of former residents and descendants of Africville is held at the former grounds of Africville to this day.

The Quest for Compensation

For many years former residents and their descendants have advocated for compensation for the demolition of their community and a memorial to Africville. Created in 1983 to remember the community, the Africville Genealogy Society became the body that would take up the cause in earnest with the Government of Canada, the Province of Nova Scotia, and the City of Halifax (later the Halifax Regional Municipality).

In 1996, Africville was designated a National Historic Landmark, yet the issue of compensation and recognition remained outstanding.

The Africville Genealogy Society, former residents, and their descendants filed suit against the City of Halifax in March of 1996 in search of compensation. With the municipal amalgamation later that year, the Halifax Regional Municipality assumed responsibility for the former city’s liabilities.

Discussions between representatives of the Africville Genealogy Society and the Halifax Regional Municipality reopened in 2001 to find a respectful resolution outside the court system.

While the municipality introduced a framework to act as the basis for establishing a fitting memorial for Africville and settled the litigation, the project would need the participation of all three levels of government and the community to succeed. In June 2005, a committee was established with tripartite representation from the government and the Africville Genealogy Society with the purpose of moving forward in the interests of the community.

The Genealogy Society, with support from the three levels of government, engaged consultants to prepare a feasibility study and business plan for the reconstruction of the Seaview United Baptist Church and the creation of an Interpretive Centre that would tell the Africville story. The consultants met with former Africville residents, their descendants, and other key stakeholders before presenting their findings to the Genealogy Society and its steering committee partners in December 2006.

The Feasibility Study / Business Plan (2006) recommended the concept of reconstructing the Seaview United Baptist Church replica on the site where it once stood, along with an adjacent Interpretative Centre.

In the fall of 2009, the Africville Genealogy Society adjusted the scope of their project to include two phases. The first phase focused on the reconstruction of the Seaview United Baptist Church replica and the second phase would undertake the building of the Africville Interpretative Centre. The Black Business Initiative (BBI) was brought on to help see the project through.

Settlement & Apology

In February 2010, the AGS and the municipality reached an agreement to settle the litigation and move forward with the construction of the church and additional provisions to compensate for the loss of the community and the implications for future generations.

The negotiated settlement includes the transfer of land to allow for the construction of a replica of the community church; allocation of $3 million in financial support for capital construction and endowment; renaming of Seaview Park to Africville; development of an employment contract for maintenance of the park; establishment of an African Nova Scotian Affairs Office within the municipal government; and a formal acknowledgment by the municipality of loss.

On February 24, 2010, former Mayor Peter Kelly apologized to former Africville residents and their families on behalf of Halifax Regional Municipality.

(Sources: City of Halifax and Halifax Regional Municipality records, Africville Genealogy Society website, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, Africville Museum, Canadian Museum For Human Rights).