The Pursuit of Social Justice by the Care-leavers from the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children and the Production of Knowledge Darlene Lawrence Mount Saint Vincent University A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education Copyright Darlene Lawrence August 2019 In Memory of My Ancestors To my West African Ancestors, your struggles were unimaginable. You were ripped from your homes, and forced into slavery. Your biology and biography were transformed and forever altered. I stand humbled in your presence, as one of your descendants. I write my thesis in memory of you. A memory which speaks to your unwavering determination to be free, your perseverance of surviving a slave society. The power of faith which you instilled into your future generations allowed your descendants to achieve unprecedented accomplishments. Your sacrifices are unmatched. The atrocities committed against you were crimes against humanity. And your hope became the pedagogy of hope: as an existential existence that has been imbedded into your descendants. I say to you my ancestors, that your pain, your sufferings and your tribulations have not gone unrecognized. All was not in vain. Black Nova Scotians evolved into a distinct cultural group. We know that our strength lies within you. To my First Nation Ancestors, so many of you were slaughtered. Your kindness for helping the newcomers known as Europeans to your home, was an authentic act of humanity. The Europeans returned your kindness with acts of annihilation. Millions were massacred. You underwent both genocide and later cultural genocide. But yet you survive to reclaim your heritage, your culture and to reconfigure postcolonial relationships. In your memory, I write my thesis knowing the meaning of the spirit. As one of your descendants, I understand spirituality and the meaning of humanity which, is connected to the spiritual world and the living world. Because of you, I understand the Creator, knowing that all people are spiritually connected, and humanity is connected to the cosmos, to the universe and to all of creation. In all due respect, I acknowledge that Nova Scotia resides on unceded territory of the Abegweirt Mi’kmaq First Nation. The history of the Mi’kmaq people goes back 13 thousand years to the end of the Ice Age. For thousands of years, the Mi’kmaq territory included what is known as the Atlantic Provinces—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland—as well as portions of the Gaspé Peninsula. We must always remember that the land we call home, is the territory of the Abegweirt Mi’kmaq First Nation. i In Honour of My Mother Grace May (Francis) Lawrence So much of what you instilled into me, years later I understood to be true. Your knowledge and wisdom were beyond any understandings that historians could write. For these scholars lack the contextual understandings which you shared with me. Your insight into the pedagogy of the oppressed would impress Freire. Your understanding of how women were positioned in society, outshines the feminist’s movement, and the many feminist theories that have emerged over the generations. I shall always remember your words. We were descendants of the African Slaves and First Nations peoples. We were Black Nova Scotians. We come from the strongest of the strong. The weak ones, perished on the slave ships, others died on the plantations, and more died trying to make Nova Scotia their home. Your words were so poetic and your knowledge constructs, I still find astonishing. I am so proud that the Creator chose you to be my mother. ii Acknowledgements To the Care-leavers of the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children, your unwavering determination seeking recognition and demanding an inquiry is unmatched. You stood your ground in the face of resistance from within the Black community. The Black community try to silence you throughout your social justice journey. The Government of Nova Scotia dismissed your outcries for an inquiry. Your perseverance was to take you on a 15-year journey seeking social justice. This journey became a social justice movement. Because of your dedication to social justice, the Government of Nova Scotia acceded to your demands for an inquiry. You exceeded all expectations, in so doing, you have created history. It is your extraordinary dedication which will be remembered. And because of you, the NSHCC’s legacy will be the Restorative Inquiry. Imagine, the NSHCC is now situated on the global landscape with truth commissions and transnational justice—creating new knowledge constructs! Our ancestors must be proud of your accomplishments. To my supervisor, Dr. Susan Brigham, you demanded nothing less than excellence. This made me work more diligently, striving to meet your standards. It was a difficult process for me, because I wanted to ensure that, I conveyed the distinct culture of the Black Nova Scotian Community. I wanted the reader to understand how the Black Nova Scotian community evolved. I thank you for your patience. The suggestions you made, although difficult at times, I learn to appreciate. This appreciation expanded my learning, and new ways of understanding research. Indeed, this is the purpose of education, to challenge oneself through critical reflection and to interrogate one’s epistemology. To embrace new learning is a process. From you, I understand that lifelong learning is always conflated with the filtered lens we bring into the learning environment. And understanding our filters is in fact, how we can reconfigure our worldviews. A worldview that is inclusive of all peoples. lifestyles and cultures. Lifelong learning is truly a campaign of advancing humanity. Thank you for your role in my learning journey. iii Abstract My study is essentially about the marginalization of the Black Nova Scotian community by the Province of Nova Scotia. The impact of marginalization has made lifelong learning strategies more difficult for Black Nova Scotian learners. This study focuses on people who, as youth, lived at the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children. These people will be referred to as “Care-leavers”, which is a term to describe former residents residing in congregate care facilities and out-of-home care settings (Daly, 2014; Skold, 2016; Wright, 2017). I assert that the experiences of the care-leavers from the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children exemplify anti-Black sentiments and institutional and systemic racism committed against the Black Nova Scotian community by the Province of Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children was a forced segregated orphanage for orphaned and neglected Black children operated by the provincial government. This segregation was in keeping with the belief that Black people were innately inferior and the White population was at risk of contamination, if Blacks and Whites mingled. My study investigates the 15-year struggle that care-leavers undertook to seek social justice for their treatment at the Home. In 2014, under the leadership of Premier McNeil, the liberal government settled with the care-leavers of the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children. In 2015, Premier McNeil announced the Restorative Inquiry. The Restorative Inquiry has the power of a royal commission, which is empowered to subpoena witnesses, to compel the production of documents, and enact legislation. All indications are that the Restorative Inquiry as one of its remits, is to address racism in Nova Scotia. The Restorative Inquiry which is ongoing is examining racism as it pertains to education. iv Abbreviations ADR: Alternative Dispute Resolution AUBA: African United Baptist Association CDA: Critical Discourse Analysis CHA: Critical Historical Analysis CRT: Critical Race Theory DCS: Department of Community Services IIU: Internal Investigative Unit NSHCC: Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children RCMP: Royal Canadian Mounted Police SYC: Shelburne Youth Centre v Table of Contents In Memory of My Ancestors i In Honour of My Mother ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Abbreviations v Table of Contents vi Chapter 1—Purpose of Study 1 Thesis Statement 14 Contribution of Study 15 Overview of Study 16 Chapter 2— The Indigenous Research Paradigm 18 Positionality of the Researcher 25 Summary 26 Chapter 3— Theoretical Frameworks 28 The Process of Decolonization 29 Critical Race Theory 32 The Definition of Learning: What Is It? 35 Learning Theorists: Illeris (2014) and Jarvis (2014) 42 Diagram 1 47 An Analysis of the Learning Scholars 53 vi Summary 54 Chapter 4—Methodologies 56 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) 56 Critical Historical Analysis (CHA) 63 Time Travel 66 Summary 87 Chapter 5—The Century of the Child 89 Summary 96 Chapter 6—The Establishment of Orphanages in Nova Scotia 98 The Industrial School for Coloured Children (ISCC) 100 The Halifax Relief Commission (HRC): The Reproduction and Expansion 105 of the Social Order The Establishment of the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children (NSHCC): 110 Separate or Nothing! Congregate Care Facilities: No longer in the Best Interest of the Child 117 Summary 122 Chapter 7—The Discovery of Institutional Child Abuse 125 The Establishment of Inquiries 128 Nova Scotia’s Institutional Child Abuse Stories 130 The Government of Nova Scotia’s Three-Pronged Approach to Institutional 132 Child Abuse Alternative Dispute Resolution Process (ADR) 134 vii The Investigation by the Honourable Chief Justice Kaufman 136 Nova Scotia’s Response to the Care-leavers of the NSHCC: Silence… 138 Summary 141 Chapter 8—The NSHCC Restorative Inquiry (RI) 144 Summary 148 Chapter 9—Concluding Remarks: Moving Forward 149 References 162 Appendix A: A Sample of Countries Responses to Institutional Child Abuse 180 Table 1 181 Appendix B: Canada’s Institutional Child Abuse Stories 183 Table 2 185 Appendix C: Nova Scotia’s Response into Institutional Child Abuse 192 Table 3 193 viii Chapter 1 – Purpose of Thesis The Study My study is essentially about the marginalization of the Black Nova Scotian community by the Province of Nova Scotia.