A new move by the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service is receiving high praise.
Angela Johnson has been appointed the director of equity and strategic relations for the Public Prosecution Service.
Johnson’s role was one of the recommendations that came out of the 2022 review of the Public Prosecution Service, following concerns over the institution’s hiring and advancement practices.
Johnson says her role will work to create a diverse workplace within the PPS.
“The role specifically is designed to provide a lens around E-D-I and A, so equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility for any programs and policies that the PPS rolls out,” Johnson says.
Johnson was employed by the Public Service Commission for the last five years in a variety of departments.
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She says she is confident that through this new role with the PPS, significant change will be made.
“It’s not going to be overnight,” Johnson says. “It’s going to take time, but there’s some really concrete pieces, tangible pieces that we can do now and that we’ve started to do, that will make some real change.”
“The fact that this is an executive position at the executive table signifies to me and should signify to others that this is important work for the PPS and its important work for the government of Nova Scotia.”
African Nova Scotian Justice Institute applauds appointment
The move to bring in Johnson was applauded by the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute (ANSJI), which sent an open letter to the PPS back in June, outlining its concerns about systemic racism within the institution.
The executive director of ANSJI, Robert Wright, met with Johnson personally and says her appointment was a bold step in the right direction.
“Appointing a person, an African-Nova Scotian who is familiar with the issues in the communities … who has deep relationships and connections within the public civil service, … I think that’s significant,” Wright says.
He says that there is significance in all leadership roles at the Public Prosecution Service, and that this move promotes progressive change in the journey to making the overall institution better.
“It’s not about finding the right equity director,” Wright says.
“It’s about transforming the very nature of the Public Prosecution Service, so that racialized, Indigenous and other marginalized Nova Scotians, and all Nova Scotians, frankly, can have greater confidence that the Public Prosecution Service is going to be an agency pursuing justice.”
He says the Justice Institute will be monitoring the progress of the PPS, to see how they approach other concerns exposed from that 2022 review.
“We’ll be looking to see if the people who are informed and critically aware of these issues are advancing, or whether the people who are dinosaurs avoiding the crunch … are being advanced.”