Black Nova Scotians are Black Canadians whose ancestors fled the Colonial United States as slaves or freemen, and later settled in Nova Scotia, Canada during the 18th and early 19th centuries.[5] As of the 2011 Census of Canada, 20,790 black people live in Nova Scotia,[2] most in Halifax, though a large number of Black Nova Scotians have migrated to Toronto, Ontario, since the 1950s.[3] [4] [6] Before the immigration reforms of the 1960s, Black Nova Scotians formed 37% of the total Black Canadian population.[7]

The first black person in Nova Scotia arrived with the founding of Port Royal in 1605. Black people were then brought as slaves to Nova Scotia during the founding of Louisbourg and Halifax. The first major migration of blacks to Nova Scotia happened during the American Revolution, where blacks were fleeing slavery in the United States. At the same time, educational opportunities began to develop with the establishment of Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (Bray Schools) in Nova Scotia.[8] [9] The decline of slavery in Nova Scotia happened in large part by local judicial decisions in keeping with those by the British courts of the late 18th century. The next major migration of blacks happened during the War of 1812, again blacks were escaping slavery in the United States. The opportunities for Black Nova Scotians began to open in the 19th century with the creation of institutions such as the Royal Acadian School and the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church. There were further developments in the 20th century with the establishment of the organizations such as Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, the Black United Front and the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia. In the 21st century, there have been many initiatives in Nova Scotia to address past harms done to Black Nova Scotians such as the Africville Apology, the Viola Desmond Pardon and the restorative justice initiative for the Nova Scotia Home for Colored