Image Source: Emancipation Day — August 1 – Canada.ca
Aug. 1 is officially Emancipation Day. Members of Parliament voted unanimously, on March 24th 2021, to legislate the acknowledgement of the day across Canada. It recognizes of the history and impacts of slavery in Canada.
The date is particularly important because on August 1, 1834, the British Parliament abolished slavery which freed about 800,000 enslaved people of African descent, throughout the British colonies, including Upper and Lower Canada.
In the 1600s, French and English settlers owned slaves. In the Halifax area, there were approximately 400 enslaved Black people in 1750, which accounted for 13% of Halifax’s overall population.
As an Africentric non-profit organization, the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute (DBDLI) has had – and continues to have – close ties with African Nova Scotian communities since its inception in 2012. Its board members and staff work vigorously to create educational change, as well as ensuring Africentricity is considered in policy making and strategic planning.
In order to support African Nova Scotian communities leading up to Emancipation Day, and to help educate Nova Scotians as a whole, the Institute has held various initiatives including a virtual Africentric Conference, Nova Scotia History Challenges for students, a financial literacy workshop, various youth conferences, a Power of Voices Speaking initiative and plenty more.
DBDLI enthusiastically welcomes the official recognition of Emancipation Day and the largest initiative comes in the form of a countdown to Emancipation Day. For 30 days, via social media, DBDLI has been sharing videos featuring interesting stories, facts, and information about Emancipation Day, Black history, and some amazing individuals who paved the way. The short videos feature artists, entrepreneurs, journalists, politicians, community changemakers, local kids from the community, etc.
Nova Scotians are encouraged to check out our social media channels to view the videos and to also keep an eye on our channels as the Institute hosts a virtual Emancipation Day Reflection featuring a special appearance from Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard. The event will premiere on July 30th at 4 pm via YouTube.
On August 1st, DBDLI strongly encourages all Canadians to take the time to pause, reflect and to learn more about the history of African Nova Scotian communities and its people. We need to learn from our painful past and continue to fight against systemic Anti-Black racism to ensure that it becomes fully obsolete.