City to repaint Halifax, Dartmouth Black Lives Matter murals

This week, the Halifax Regional Municipality will be repainting the Black Lives Matter murals in Halifax and Dartmouth.

The city will hire contractors to repaint the yellow lettering on two streets to refresh the street art installations that were created last September.

Traffic will be affected at the following areas this week between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.:

• Alderney Drive, Dartmouth, between Ochterloney and Queen streets from July 20 to 21 (or July 22 to 23 if it rains)
• Brunswick Street, Halifax, between Carmichael and Prince streets from July 21 to 22 (or July 22 to 23 if it rains)

While the work is being completed, traffic personnel will be onsite and a marked detour will be used; motorists should expect delays and are asked to use alternate routes.

Brunswick Street's bicycle lane will be closed during the work.

“The art installation is the municipality’s way of supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and will be painted by contractors hired by the municipality,” an HRM news release says.

Last year, the municipality planned to start adopting “internal and externally-focused anti-Black racism strategies and actions,” according to its website.

It also planned to incorporate key priorities in the Diversity & Inclusion Framework.

But at the time, Aaliyah Paris — a queer Afro-Nova Scotian woman — had said Halifax Mayor Mike Savage was “spitting” in her face after the municipality started work on the project.

That was because she had spent months working on project, claimed to have contacted the mayor and the municipality's councillors but wasn't offered an opportunity for input.

Murals that read “Black Lives Matter” were also painted in other North American cities last year, including Montreal, Toronto and Washington, D.C.