SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 276

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 6, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 276 - Feb/6/24
Ms. Arielle Kayabaga (London West, Lib.)
  • Feb/6/24 2:09:47 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, happy Black History Month. Storytelling is one of the tools used by Black communities to pass down our ancestors' experiences, struggles and successes, and the values that are important and worth keeping. Allow me, then, to share the story of 800 Black families who lived in Strathcona, B.C., in the 1900s, the centre of Black families that was later displaced by the City of Vancouver through patterns of segregation. Today, they have secured a land trust agreement that allows them to rebuild on what was lost. There is also Africville, Nova Scotia, where members of the Black community were displaced in the same manner. The last home was destroyed in 1970, but today this story is shared in the Africville Museum, so visitors from around the world can learn about Black history in Nova Scotia. Africville and the Black community in Strathcona are some of the examples of the long history of racism and discrimination in Canada, so, when we celebrate the strides of Black Canadians, it is important to remember why. We should take pride in celebrating the barriers that we are breaking as a government. Martin Luther King said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Black history is Canadian history.
214 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border