N.S. legislature increases Black and female presence

• The representation of Black and female members has risen notably in Nova Scotia’s legislature following Tuesday’s provincial election, but no one who identifies as Indigenous was elected in the vote — or at any point in the province’s history.

Four Black people won ridings this week, which is a historic change; before Tuesday, a total of five African Nova Scotians had won seats since the province’s first election in 1758. Suzy Hansen, a newly elected NDP member of the legislature, referred to the change in Black and female representation as “wonderful, compared to what we had before.”

The day after she won her riding of Halifax Needham, the 42-year-old politician stood at the police barricades of a chaotic demonstration against the city’s decision to tear down shelters for the homeless. She said her presence as a Black woman was a visible reminder of her community’s experience.

“We know what it’s like to be pushed out of our homes, when you recall what happened in Africville,” she said, referring to a Black community in Halifax where residents were evicted from 1964 to 1970 in the name of urban renewal. Ali Duale, the new Liberal member for Halifax Armdale, said he felt inspired to run by party leader Iain Rankin during their encounter at a vigil in June after a Muslim family was struck down and killed by a vehicle in London, Ont.

“(Rankin) said ‘If you want to see change, the best way is to put your name on the ballot,’ and that touched my heart,” said Duale, who fled Somalia in the 1990s.

Twenty women were elected in Tuesday’s vote, representing 36 per cent of the 55 members.