The 1st Annual Peace Basketball Tournament kicked off in Halifax and North Preston on Thursday.
The four-day event is organized by the group North Preston’s Future and is designed to promote peace and unity through the love of basketball.
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“A lot of people wait for something to happen. We’re more so on prevention,” said Miranda Cain, founder and president of North Preston’s Future.
“If we can keep the peace in the beginning, we won’t need to worry about anything after that.”
Cain said the idea for such a tournament was inspired by the Provincial Black Basketball Tournament that first began in the early 1970s.
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“That was one of the main things that kept all of the black communities as a whole, so when that left, that’s when we started to see the separations of communities,” said Cain, adding she hopes this new tournament will act as a catalyst to bring people back together.
Ten teams are registered this year from Halifax, North and East Preston, Toronto and Boston.
Cain said that while they’re starting out small this year, their goal is to bring it back bigger and better year over year.