The African Nova Scotian Justice Institute says they have serious concerns about systemic racism within Nova Scotia’s criminal justice system.
More specifically, they allege the practices, policies and objectives of the province’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has upheld anti-Black racism since its inception.
“The structure is systemically racist and the ability to reflect on and embrace that reality so that the system becomes a champion of addressing the systemic racism … we’re not there yet,” says Robert Wright, the institute’s executive director.
The African Nova Scotian Justice Institute, an organization comprised of Black lawyers and legal experts, says their objective is to support policy development and law reform that increases the representation of African Nova Scotians across all boards.
But Wright says for decades, many criminal justice systems have acted in resistance to advancing emancipatory efforts for Black and Indigenous peoples in Nova Scotia.
“After more than 400 years of presence here in Nova Scotia, Black people have always been agitating for and asserting their rights as citizens,” says Wright.
“We have seen how they have been treated unjustly in land distribution, in settlement, in the criminal justice system, in economics, in education, and all of that.”
Institute pens open letter
In July, the institute penned an open letter to the Public Prosecution Service.
The letter detailed the institute’s concerns about the structure of the prosecution service, including its hiring practices. They point out the lack of Black and Indigenous senior roles within the justice system.
“There has never been a senior crown who is Black or Indigenous, never been a managing crown who is Black or Indigenous,” says Wright.
The institute says the prosecution service has not made it their priority to hire African Nova Scotians in these positions, something they say is paramount to the success of the community.
“That means judges, court workers, court clerks, sheriffs, police. Because as we know, representation matters,” says Charys Payne, a senior justice strategist with the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute.
“What we constantly feel is an erasure of our identity by not recognizing our historical distinctiveness in this community, and not fully bringing meaning to the fact that we are one of the founding people of this province.”
One of the major concerns outlined in the open letter speaks to the prosecution service’s Fair Treatment of African Nova Scotians Policy. The prosecution service rolled out the new policy in May, hoping to address previous concerns made by the institute.
The policy was introduced at a training conference by the PPS, but in the letter, Wright says the conference was “a complete disaster.”
Though Wright did not attend the conference, he says disparaging comments about the policy and local Black activists were made at the event.
The letter also outlined the denial of a freedom of information access request the institute sent, to a report of an independent review of human resources practices within the PPS.
Wright says the goal of the letter was to publicize their concerns.
“The letter was to say, ‘We still have these issues, and you haven’t done anything with it, and now we’re going to have to find our own mechanisms to highlight to the public the fact that these sorts of things are continuing to occur in these sorts of service,'” says Wright.
The Public Prosecution Service responds
The Public Prosecution Service declined an interview with Global News but confirms they have made contact with the institute to set up a meeting and work through the issues.
Human rights activist Raymond Sheppard says he believes the prosecution service’s words are hollow, but that he hopes for a positive outcome.
” (I) hope they do the right thing, because it is the right thing…to give access, to give representation,” says Sheppard, “so that African Nova Scotians can receive justice in an unjustified system.”
The justice institute plans to hold a public symposium on racism in the criminal justice system in the coming months, with hopes these discussions will be spoken about more transparently.
When asked if Wright believes the institute will achieve that, he says, “We won’t stop until we do.”
Comments