Events

On this page, you will find upcoming and past Commision and community events. We encourage all Nova Scotians to participate and celebrate our diverse communities. If you have an event we should include here please contact us.

Upcoming Events

Past Events

October 3rd, 2018 - October 3rd, 2018 - There's Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities, Book Launch

From Africville to Alton Gas: A Pop-Up Book Launch for

There's Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities

 

Please join Ingrid Waldron for her Halifax book launch From Africville to Alton Gas: A Pop-Up Book Launch for There's Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities. Ingrid will be joined by friends and colleagues who will read passages from the book and contribute their own experiences and perspectives on the issues and stories documented in the book. The following speakers will be joining Ingrid to deliver talks:

 

Geri Musqua-LeBlanc, Elder, Dalhousie University Elders in Residence Program

Lenore Zann, Nova Scotia NDP Party

Ellen Sweeny, Atlantic PATH

Mikiko Terashima, School of Planning, Dalhousie University

Irvine Carvery, Africville Genealogy Society

Michelle Paul, Environmental Activist

Louise Delisle, South End Environmental Injustice Society

Dorene Bernard, Grassroots Grandmothers Circle

Wednesday, October 3

6 pm -9 pm

Paul O’Regan Hall

Halifax Central Library

5440 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS B3J 1E9

 

Cost: Free

Free refreshments

Ingrid will be signing copies of her book, which will be available for purchase.

 

Organized by Fernwood Publishing and the ENRICH Project

 

 

September 19th, 2018 - September 20th, 2018 - Commission Meeting, Digby

Nova Scotia Human Rights Commissioners willmeet in Digby September 19th and 20th.

September 13th, 2018 - September 13th, 2018 - Africville Book Launch

You are invited to the forthcoming book launch for “Africville,” a story by Shauntay

Grant illustrated by Eva Campbell. The launch is taking place during the Prismatic Arts Festival on

Thursday September 13th 2018 at 11am at the Africville Museum.

This event is FREE and open to the public.


Africville Book Synopsis

When a young girl visits the site of Africville, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the stories she’s heard from her family come to mind. She imagines what the community was once like —the brightly painted houses nestled into the hillside, the field where boys played football, the pond where all the kids went rafting, the bountiful fishing, the huge bonfires. Coming out of her reverie, she visits the present-day park and the sundial where her great- grandmother’s name is carved in stone, and celebrates a summer day at the annual Africville Reunion/Festival. Africville was a vibrant Black community for more than 150 years. But even though its residents paid municipal taxes, they lived without running water, sewers, paved roads and police, fire-truck and ambulance services. Over time, the city located a slaughterhouse, a hospital for infectious disease, and even the city garbage dump nearby. In the 1960s, city officials decided to demolish the community, moving people out in city dump trucks and relocating them in public housing. Today, Africville has been replaced by a park, where former residents and their families gather each summer to

remember their community.

Prismatic is delighted to host this event. Prismatic showcases and celebrates the work of leading Aboriginal and culturally diverse artists from across Canada and beyond our borders. Since 2008, the Prismatic Arts Festival has featured the work of over 700 artists and arts professionals in over 250 performances and reached over 30,000 diverse and engaged audience members.

Please RSVP to raeesa@prismaticfestival.com or call 902-425-6812.

September 6th, 2018 - September 6th, 2018 - Anti-black Racism, “Afro-phobia” and Blood: Theorizing Black Health Studies in Canada

Dr. OmiSoore Dryden – Candidate Presentation

11:00 – 12:00 Thursday September 6, 2018 Room 2L7 – Tupper Link

James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies

How do cultural and historical notions about medicine and racial bias in the health and medical system shape the health prospects of Black people and the society as a whole? Public health discourse have, at times, framed the body as dangerous, with some bodies presumed to be more prone to risk and vulnerability to disease; and thus pose a greater danger to the rest of society. Dr. Dryden’s research seeks to understand how the interlocking systems of oppression (through racism, gender, and sexuality) influence the health experiences of Black people in Canada.

Her analysis extends the theorization of the body to the materiality of blood, while offering insights into Black peoples’ experiences with medical science and popular perceptions of health, disease, and illness.

Dr. OmiSoore Dryden is an interdisciplinary scholar working at the intersections of health science, social science and humanities. Her current research studies the symbolics of blood and the “social life” of blood donation. In her research on Black life, health, illness, and belonging, Her research examines the systems of blood donation, including screening questionnaires. She is the Principal Investigator of a two-year research project that aims to identify the barriers African/Black gay, bisexual, and trans men experience with donating blood in Canada. Dr. Dryden is an Assistant Professor and Chair, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Thorneloe University (Sudbury Ontario) and a Researcher-In-Residence, Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN).