Events

Date: Friday, December 6, 2024
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
A recording of this session is posted below.

Join panelists Sunday Miller, Curtis Whiley, Larissa Lee, and Holly Adams to learn how African Nova Scotians are claiming ownership of their lands, turning past traumas into new opportunities, and uniting to ensure future generations can thrive in historic communities.

For more than 400 years, many African Nova Scotians have been living on land passed down by their ancestors without clear land title, without which they can’t get a mortgage, bequeath or sell their land, or access housing grants.

Clarifying land title can be an expensive legal process. Under the Province of Nova Scotia’s Land Titles Initiative (LTI), all fees associated with gaining clear land title are covered. In 2018, the LTI was created to address the historical wrong whereby African Nova Scotian settlers were not granted clear legal documentation of land ownership, resulting in economic disadvantages for the African Nova Scotians who descended from those settlers. Since the LTI’s inception in 2016, 410 parcels of land belonging to African Nova Scotians have been clarified.

In 2014, Akoma Holdings Incorporated acquired the assets from the former Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children which includes 320 acres of property on which there were two child caring residential facilities. Akoma set out to develop this historic property into a place where future generations would be able to come to acknowledge their past and build a bright future for themselves and their children. The Old Home, which was the original orphanage, was renovated and turned into a business hub. The one house school room has become a meeting place for the community.  The acquired Watershed Association Development Enterprises (WADE) building is being used as another office space for Akoma Holdings and the community. 

In October 2023, Akoma opened four duplexes on these lands (“The Fairfax Homes”) reserved for Black families. A committee, composed of shelter workers, identified potential tenants based on established criteria and priority was given to families with children.

The Upper Hammonds Plains Community Land Trust (UHPCLT) was established in 2022 to address growing concerns about the future of the historic African Nova Scotian community. Committed to protecting, preserving, and strengthening Upper Hammonds Plains' historical and sacred lands, UHPCLT has mobilized to deliver transformative projects that highlight the power of Community Land Trusts (CLTs) in creating tangible solutions through collective action.

Following years of unified community effort, UHPCLT is proud to present transformational projects currently underway, demonstrating how CLTs effectively address critical needs like affordable housing and renewable energy through community-led development.

UHPCLT envisions Upper Hammonds Plains as a thriving, culturally rich community that stewards land for the benefit of its people, grounded in traditions and social equity. Dedicated to preserving African Nova Scotian heritage, UHPCLT aims to lead the advancement of CLTs in Black communities across Nova Scotia and beyond. By fostering intergenerational wealth, economic opportunities, and affordable housing, UHPCLT is paving the way for a sustainable and prosperous future for Black families and individuals.

Resources

• Land Titles Initiative
• Upper Hammonds Plains Community Land Trust
• Akoma Holdings

Related

• 'It's profound': Housing strategy for African Nova Scotian families nearing completion
• Affordable homes built on site of former Home for Colored Children

Recording