Mayor delivers apology, compensation for Africville
Posted Feb 25, 2010 05:45:06 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It took some 45 years to arrive, but former residents of Africville and their descendants got the apology they’ve been long been waiting for from the city.
At a ceremony Wednesday, HRM Mayor Peter Kelly formally apologized for the dismantling of the black community in the mid-1960’s.
The city and the province also offered a compensation package.
Reverend Rhonda Britten of the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church led off the ceremony with words that brought the audience to its feet.
“We as a community today can shout victory, hallelujah!” she said as the crowd cheered. “It’s been a long, hard battle.”
A hush fell as Mayor Peter Kelly offered the city’s apology.
“You need to have someone from government stand before you, look you in the eye, and say from the bottom of our hearts we are sorry,” said Kelly.
Mayor Kelly later said it wasn’t hard to apologize.
“Seeing what they had to endure was a clear indication it had to be said,” he said. “I had no hesitation with bringing forth the apology.”
The mayor also announced $3 million toward the cost of a church on the site of the former community, 2.5 acres of land, and renaming Seaview Park in honour of Africville.
The province also announced $1.5 million toward an interpretive centre at the site.
Not everyone was pleased with the apology and compensation package.
A small group of people heckled the speakers this morning and booed Irvine Carvery, the head of the Africville Genealogy Society.
The critics claim the package isn’t enough and was rushed through without a lot of time for study and debate.
Carvery acknowledges there’s some dissention, but he thinks they’ll eventually come around.
“It’s my honest belief that when the project begins to take shape in Africville that people will come around and see the true value of this project,” said Carvery. “That it is a project for the future.”
The opponents say their fight for more isn’t over yet.
