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Looking back in order to move forward

Over the past 200 years, �鶹��ý has become known around the world for teaching excellence, groundbreaking research, and community engagement. We have forged new frontiers of knowledge and understanding, and through education we have shaped the history of our region and our country for the better. �鶹��ý’s legacy is one that generations of alumni, faculty, staff, and supporters celebrate with pride.

For this proud legacy to enter its third century, we must confront the complicated history of our namesake, George Ramsay, the ninth Earl of �鶹��ý. Lord �鶹��ý established this university in 1818 while serving as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, envisioning a university open to all regardless of class or creed. Yet the historical record shows another side of Ramsay: troubling views on Nova Scotia’s Black settlers and slavery, which stand in stark contrast to his progressive views on education.

Discussions of race and racism can be fraught, and when it comes to past transgressions it can be all too tempting to dismiss them, treating bygones as bygones, history as ancient history. But we cannot extricate the wrongs of the past from the issues of the present, and in 2019 no institution — let alone one of higher learning — can sit in silence or denial when it comes to racism and its continuing legacies in our society.

In the Twi language of Ghana, the word Sankofa is derived from the phrases “to return;” “to go;” and “to fetch, seek and take.” It emphasizes the importance of moving forward while reaching back to learn lessons from the past and to get what has been taken or lost through exclusion, oppression, or neglect. It is our place and responsibility as a university, with all the tools of scholarship and discourse available to us, to have this important conversation about our past and commit to action going forward.

Today, on behalf of �鶹��ý, I apologize to the People of African Descent in our community. We regret the actions and views of George Ramsay, the ninth Earl of �鶹��ý, and the consequences and impact they have had in our collective history as a university, as a province, and as a region. Further, we acknowledge our dual responsibility to address the legacies of anti-Black racism and slavery, while continuing to stand against anti-Black racism today.

The recommendations from the scholarly panel are important and they, along with our upcoming African Nova Scotian strategy, will be critical in informing our path forward. They will be embedded into our forthcoming strategic plan under the leadership and direction of our new vice-provost of equity and inclusion, Dr. Theresa Rajack-Talley. With her extensive scholarly background in Pan-Africanism and studies of racism, she is ideally suited and fully committed to ensuring the scholarly panel’s recommendations inform and shape our efforts moving forward.

The work ahead will take time, as systemic change does not happen overnight. Nor, though, is it work that is just beginning today. It builds on past efforts and actions, informed by response to calls from our community. Our Transition Year Program, the Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative in our law school, the James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, and the Imhotep’s Legacy Academy outreach program are all examples of how individuals and groups within our university have worked to live up to our obligations to our African Nova Scotian communities. Aligned with �鶹��ý having proclaimed the UN International Decade for People of African Descent last year, we are now expanding our academic offerings in Black and African Diaspora Studies, increasing the recruitment and retention of Black faculty and staff, developing new supports for students of African descent – including creating a new Sankofa scholarship for the 2020/2021 academic year in recognition of the panel’s efforts – and working to better celebrate and recognize the many contributions People of African Descent have made to our university and our region.

There are many people and groups across our campuses who have worked tirelessly — and continue to work — to support People of African Descent in our community. These include but are not limited to: the Black Faculty and Staff Caucus; the University Strategic Direction priority 5.2 Steering and Advisory Committees, as well as Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard, who has been an ongoing resource to me, and to past presidents.