A reckoning on systemic racism
Culture of silence and shame allowed abuse of orphans to persist for decades
HALIFAX - A culture of silence and shame allowed the abuse of orphans to persist for decades at the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, according to a new report that calls for a province-wide reckoning with the historic legacy of systemic racism.
The second report by the public inquiry into abuses at the Halifax-area orphanage said racism in Nova Scotia continues to breed mistrust and sometimes even fear of public agencies.
Former residents of the home told the inquiry they felt abandoned by the systems designed to protect them, allowing the abuse to go unchecked and unreported for so long. Former residents described the trauma of entering care, with police and social workers
telling them they were “just going for a drive” or “going to the store” before dropping them off without explanation at the orphanage, the report said.
They also said they felt a sense of helplessness at the orphanage, which opened in 1921. Some staff members pitted residents against each other
and forced children to fight their friends, damaging any bonds they had and increasing their feelings of isolation, the report said.
“Many residents felt the stigma of being `Home children’ followed them at school and in the broader community,” the 17-page report released Friday said. “They believe that teachers and educators who noticed their health or behaviour issues, and police who regularly returned runaways to the Home, also knew to some degree that things were not right at the Home.” Check-ins from social workers were rare, and almost never conducted without the presence of an orphanage worker, the report said.
“Residents felt they had no safe outlet to tell anyone what they were experiencing without fear of further harm,” the report said. They felt like the adults in their lives “turned a blind eye toward their suffering.”
The report by the restorative inquiry, made up of former residents, members of the African Nova Scotian community and the government, was released by inquiry co-chairpersons Tony Smith, and Pamela Williams, chief judge of the provincial and family courts.