As of Feb. 14, interested groups can apply for the Community Network Grant, an initiative started by Nova Scotia Justice’s Office of Equity and Anti-Racism (OEA). Grant money will go towards developing organization projects specific to addressing racism, hate and inequity.
To be eligible, applicants must have a “primary mandate and objectives related to equity and anti-racism,” including goals to reduce barriers in the justice and education systems, healthcare, public services and employment.
A spokesperson for Nova Scotia Justice clarified that “barriers” refers to “anything that prevents underrepresented or underserved groups from fair and just social and economic participation.”
Underrepresented and underserved groups, they said, include Black Nova Scotians, Indigenous groups, faith-based communities, people with disabilities, newcomers and those identifying as 2SLGBTQIA+.
Among other things, applicants must also promote public awareness on the “importance of fairness and justice,” states a news release. They must also support “cultural and intercultural community building and economic development for underrepresented and underserved groups.”
Grants will be up to $25,000 for each project. Total program funding is $250,000 for 2023-24, according to the release.
The deadline to apply is March 8.
“Everyone needs to work together to address and eliminate hate, inequity and racism — from the provincial government creating policies and laws, to organizations on the ground in our communities,” said Justice Minister Brad Johns in a statement. “Through these grants, we are promoting equity and anti-racism work at the local level by funding organizations that support underrepresented and underserved communities.”
In July 2023, Nova Scotia released its Equity and Anti-Racism Strategy — the “first of its kind in Canada.” It’s goal, to “ensure a whole-of-government approach in identifying and addressing systemic hate, inequity and racism” in the province.
While racism and discrimination are felt by a number of different minority groups, African Nova Scotians hold a unique spot when it comes to the province’s history of racism and inequality.
This is reflected in a number of recent initiatives aimed at acknowledging and ending anti-Black racism.
In 2022, Dalhousie University’s law school established a mandatory course on anti-Black racism — an intensive, five-day course for first year law students. The goal: to produce graduates who understand the role the law has played in creating and perpetuating inequality.
In 2020, Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court corrected a historical wrong from the 1700s that denied African Nova Scotians any kind of land ownership.
That same year, the province’s Court of Appeal stressed the need for sentencing judges to consider the history of poverty, discrimination and violence faced by Black offenders.
According to Statistics Canada 2021 census information, Black Nova Scotians make up about 3 per cent of the province’s population.
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