The Halifax Regional Municipality has committed to creating two street art installations with the words “Black Lives Matter” in downtown Halifax and Dartmouth.
The first installation on Alderny Drive, between Ochterloney and Queen streets in Dartmouth will begin at 7 p.m. on Sept. 26.
Halifax’s installation will be on Brunswick Street, between Carmichael and Prince streets, beginning Sept. 27, at 7 p.m.
“This art installation is the municipality’s way of supporting the Black Lives Matter movement,” said an HRM news release.
It says public solidarity shows the city’s efforts to “help address anti-Black racism and continue to build a better relationship with the municipality’s communities of African descent.”
The municipality’s website says it is working to adopt “internal and externally-focused anti-Black racism strategies and action,” after Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard presented to council on anti-Black racism in Halifax, in July 2020.
Earlier this week, regional council adopted the African Nova Scotian Road to Economic Prosperity Action Plan — a blueprint for socio-economic development with and for Black Nova Scotians.
The plan includes building unity and capacity among ANS communities, establishing land ownership and addressing environmental racism in the region, investing in development of ANS communities and increasing entrepreneurship opportunities within ANS communities.
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“Being an ally means taking stock, and taking action, and maybe taking a gamble. Being an ally means taking the lead from community and working with community… and amplifying voices from the communities,” Thomas Bernard said to council in July.
The city said in a release on Friday “it’s clear there is much work to be done.”