Halifax Confronts Race

Amid simmering social unrest in the late 1960s, Halifax invited twelve outside urban planning experts and community activists to take part in a remarkable social experiment: a week of events examining and critiquing the city's management, decisions, policies, and personnel. Each day was spent in secret meeting with local and provincial civil servants. But every evening was spent hearing from community members about how Halifax was being run by those in power, in sessions broadcast live on local CBC television.

The process brought to light the realities and conflicts of city life: poverty, unemployment, bad housing, homelessness. But above all was the issue of race — and the often undisguised racism of the majority towards the city's Afro-Canadian population. Emerging from the story is a host of fascinating characters ranging from the charismatic black leader Rocky Jones to the unabashed racists then in positions of power in the police, city government, and local business.

With racism an ongoing challenge for Nova Scotia, this account of a recent and mostly-forgotten episode in Halifax history has immediate relevance for a city wrestling with issues of equality, diversity, and inclusiveness.