Councillor disappointed in representation
Councillor calls out tourism association for lack of Black representation
SYDNEY — A Cape Breton councillor is “disappointed” a local tourism group’s strategy to salvage the upcoming tourism season failed to list any events involving the island’s Black community.
Lorne Green, who represents District 12 on the Cape Breton Regional Municipality council, spotted the omission during an online special council meeting last Wednesday, just after Destination Cape Breton chief executive officer Terry Smith unveiled its overview of how the 2021 tourist season might look amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Often when I hear about tourism and Destination Cape Breton, you always reflect on Acadian culture, the Scottish, (the Indigenous), but never do I hear anything about the Black community mentioned,” Green told council. “There is a Black community within the CBRM … that’s very influential in the business world that’s moving and shaping the economy.
“So the literature from Destination Cape Breton needs to be updated to reflect that. It’s not meant harshly; it’s meant to bring an awareness to it, (otherwise) people of colour who may want to visit Cape Breton may not think that we even exist.”
Green, the first African Nova Scotian elected to CBRM council for one term in 1997, said he aimed to stand up for people of colour in Cape Breton once he was elected again in 2020.
“For me, being from the African Nova Scotia community, it’s disappointing when you don’t see us represented,” Green told the Cape Breton Post. “It’s difficult to feel like you’re part of things.
“What I said wasn’t specifically aimed at Terry. I just wanted to make sure that, going forward, Destination Cape Breton needs to consider the Black population here.”
MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE
Smith acknowledged that more needs to be done to ensure that Cape Breton can be a destination catering to diversity.
“I reached out to Coun. Green and we’re planning to get together and bring together some stakeholders in the African Nova Scotia community to discuss the issue and get their input,” Smith said.
“One of the things we found is that there haven’t been a lot of offerings to us that celebrate African Nova Scotia culture here. But there are some events for which we’ve been providing funding.
“That said, Coun. Green raised a good point. And it’s something we need to do better at noticing.”
What prompted to Green to spot the omission, he said, was the recent death of Clotilda Douglas-Yakimchuk, the Whitney Pier born-andraised nurse and community activist who broke colour barriers as the first Black graduate of the Nova Scotia Hospital School of Nursing in 1954 and as the first Black president of what’s now the Nova Scotia College of Nurses.
“She was such an important role model for the Black community here,” Green said. “That spoke very loudly and clearly to me we’re not well represented to anything like that in the CBRM.”
Green also pointed out that Whitney Pier’s annual Caribbean Festival, which, until the pandemic arrived last year, had attracted a large following — including the Black community.
“It all happens in one day and it’s amazing how many people came for that," said Green.
The Cape Breton Post reached out to Caribbean Festival organizers for comment but received no response by press time.