in marginalized communities across Canada. The program will result in climate resilience plans being developed for 25 African Nova Scotian communities.
“I think African Nova Scotians are forgotten on many fronts,” said Ingrid Waldron, the founder of The Enrich Project. Through her work on environmental racism, Waldron says she discovered many Black communities have been missing from the conversation around climate change. “They may not have involved themselves as it didn’t seem relevant, and others don’t engage them,” she said. “That came up loud and clear in the workshops. ‘Nobody comes here,’ they said. ‘Nobody engages us’.”“Historical injustices have created low-income, poverty, public infrastructure weaknesses and other social determinants of health in those communities,” said Waldron. “When climate change hits, it worsens many of those issues.
“This funding not only aims to mitigate the impacts of climate change but also to address the long-standing injustices that have led to our current situation,” said Grosse.“At the end of the day it’s going to ensure, I believe, African Nova Scotian communities throughout the province have greater access to food security, greater access to secure housing in the context of climate change,” said Tim Halman.