A Tradition of Environmental Racism: A Case Analysis of Lincolnville, Nova Scotia

A Tradition of Environmental Racism: A Case Analysis of Lincolnville in Relation to White Supremacy, Racial Capitalism, and Settler Colonialism

Zoom Meeting Details

Please feel free to join me for a chat:

Meeting ID: 761 9535 8077

Passcode: e5Negr

Abstract

African and Indigenous communities throughout Canada, in particular within Nova Scotia, have experienced the environmental, social, political, and economic implications of environmental racism. The large focus in academic research and media outlets have been primarily on environmental racism in the United States, which has allowed the Canadian federal and provincial governments to remain silent on this issue. The rural African Nova Scotian community of Lincolnville in Guysborough County have experienced a tradition of environmental racism. This tradition has carried on from the settlement of their community in 1784 to the placement of a first-generation landfill in 1974 and the placement of a second-generation landfill in 2006. Residents of Lincolnville share health, social, economic, and political implications from this environmental racism that is rooted in settler colonialism and perpetuated by ideals of racial capitalism and settler colonialism. The community suffers from high levels of cancer and other diseases, experiences psychological implications, and have suffered economic setbacks due to the history of environmental racism. Community activists have been fighting for the health of their community for decades without substantial action from municipal or provincial authorities to address their concerns. Their place-based approach must be scaled-up to a provincial and national level in order to achieve geographical, procedural, and social equity justice for the community of Lincolnville and other racialized communities alike.