The province is investing $1.8 million to help African Nova Scotian communities adapt to climate change.
The funding for The Enrich Project was announced in East Preston by provincial Environment and Climate Change Minister Tim Halman on Tuesday.
The organization examines the social, environmental, political, and health effects of environmental racism in marginalized communities across Canada. The program will result in climate resilience plans being developed for 25 African Nova Scotian communities.
“I think African Nova Scotians are forgotten on many fronts,” said Ingrid Waldron, the founder of The Enrich Project.
Through her work on environmental racism, Waldron says she discovered many Black communities have been missing from the conversation around climate change.
“They may not have involved themselves as it didn’t seem relevant, and others don’t engage them,” she said. “That came up loud and clear in the workshops. ‘Nobody comes here,’ they said. ‘Nobody engages us’.”
Waldron says marginalized communities need to be supported.
“Historical injustices have created low-income, poverty, public infrastructure weaknesses and other social determinants of health in those communities,” said Waldron. “When climate change hits, it worsens many of those issues.”
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African Nova Scotian Affairs Minister Twila Grosse agrees community members have been disproportionately impacted by climate change because of systemic inequities.
“This funding not only aims to mitigate the impacts of climate change but also to address the long-standing injustices that have led to our current situation,” said Grosse.
Halman says the new program will encourage community-led action in the fight against climate change.
“At the end of the day it’s going to ensure, I believe, African Nova Scotian communities throughout the province have greater access to food security, greater access to secure housing in the context of climate change,” said Tim Halman.
The money will be used to create a new African Nova Scotian Climate Justice Ambassador Program to raise awareness and build skills to address climate change impacts.
A series of workshops and activities will be held to help communities become more resilient.
“I wanted this to be about making people care. Making this relevant, so that we can be engaged in the conversation so that we have a place in it,” said Waldron.