If you or your family were promised better housing when Africville was demolished, we see you.

If you were displaced from Cogswell and told development would benefit the community, we remember.

In the 1960s, the City of Halifax promised Africville residents that relocation would create "new and better opportunities" through education and training programs (Nova Scotia Archives, 2008). Instead, between 1964 and 1967, approximately 400 people from over 80 families were forcibly relocated (City of Halifax, 2024). Residents and their belongings were moved by Halifax garbage trucks, an image that symbolized the degrading treatment they endured (City of Halifax, 2024). Those without clear legal title to their land received as little as $500 and promises of furniture allowances and social assistance. "Virtually none of these programs ever happened" (Nova Scotia Archives, 2008).

Decades later, the pattern repeated at Cogswell. African Nova Scotian families were uprooted and moved to Mulgrave Park and Uniacke Square. As community members recalled, the relocation was "sold to us as transition housing with educational and job opportunities. But those never materialized" (Bousquet, 2024). Without property ownership, paths to economic advancement were cut off, and displacement made getting ahead even harder (Bousquet, 2024).

The promises were broken. Twice.

The North End Halifax “New Roots” Community Land Trust exists to ensure it doesn't happen again. We're securing land and creating permanently affordable housing in the North End because you've heard enough promises. This time, we're ensuring they're kept. This time, you and your families will have the security, stability, and belonging you were promised generations ago.