Halifax's Emancipation Day ceremony pays tribute to Jamaican Maroons

The official designation of Emancipation Day three years ago has led to a "groundswell of awareness" about the reality of slavery in Canada, says the executive director of the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia.

Russell Grosse told CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia that while it's important to celebrate how people of African descent overcame suffering and adversity to build strong communities, it is also a good time to consider the lasting harm slavery caused.

"It's a time of sober reflection on the ills of slavery and what that's done to a people," Grosse said. "And the fact that some of that trauma that was created through the business of … slavery still exists in our communities today."

Emancipation Day and the legacy of the Jamaican Maroons in Nova Scotia were commemorated during a ceremony at Citadel Hill in Halifax on Thursday.

Aug. 1 was designated Emancipation Day by the House of Commons and the provincial legislature in 2021, marking the day the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 went into effect in 1834.

Speaking at Thursday's ceremony, Lt.-Gov. Arthur LeBlanc said the legacy and trauma of enslavement is still felt by African Nova Scotians through systemic inequalities, racial discrimination and marginalization.

"It is the collective responsibility of all Nova Scotians, both present and future, to acknowledge these inequities and contribute to communities structured on equality, access and opportunities for all residents," he said.

The contributions of Jamaican Maroons to the province were marked with the unveiling of a plaque outlining their national historic significance.

The Jamaican Maroons were formerly enslaved Africans who escaped and formed communities defying the British colonial authorities in Jamaica.

In 1795, the Trelawny Town Maroons started an uprising referred to by the British at the time as the Second Maroon War. After they signed a truce in 1796, authorities in Jamaica opted to deport them to Nova Scotia.

The province was, at the time, facing a shortage of labour caused when a large number of Black Loyalists left for Africa a few years earlier.

Speaking at the unveiling Thursday, Marsha Coore Lobban, the Jamaican high commissioner to Canada, said the Maroons left a remarkable cultural and built legacy during their short time in Nova Scotia.

She noted they helped in the reconstruction of the Citadel Hill fortification as well as other significant government buildings.

Most of the Maroons left in 1800 for Sierra Leone in western Africa.

"Though the experience of the Maroon settlement in Nova Scotia was brief and lasted only four years … their legacy remains one of a proud, defiant and resilient group," she said.

"By acknowledging the contributions of our ancestors, including the Jamaican Maroons and other groups … we not only honour their memory, but we are also educating and building awareness among current and future generations about the importance of diversity, resilience, community and the wider process of nation building."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

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