The importance of remembering Africville

April 19, 2010

The importance of remembering Africville

Africville was a small, African-Canadian community in Halifax, razed in the 1960s in order to make way for new development. While it's been several decades, the pain of the action taken without any consultation with area's residents - they were moved without choice - remains today. The issue was back in the news recently, since the provincial government made an apology and offered reparations for the act. The offer has been met with scepticism and mixed feelings though, as Dalal Razzaq has reported for the Halifax Media Co-op.

It's fitting then that the second film we're featuring in our partnership with Work For All is Remember Africville, a short NFB documentary shot in the 1980s and examining the fall-out and the continuing search for answers around this East Coast tragedy. You can watch it above, and for more information check out the Work For All blog.

Work For All is an anti-racism initiative undertaken by the National Film Board and Human Resources and Development Services Canada. Over 10 weeks they are posting 5 new and 5 classic NFB short documentaries about issues around race and racism in the workplace. We're happy to be partnering with them on this initiative, and will be featuring a new W4A documentary here every Sunday for the rest of the campaign.