New African Nova Scotian Affairs office in North Preston hailed as hub for community

It was all smiles and laughter on Saturday as the community of North Prestongathered to inaugurate a new regional office for African Nova Scotian Affairs.

The province launched an office in Digby and New Glasgow in the last two weeks. It already had offices in Yarmouth, Truro and Sydney with the main one in Halifax.

The offices were announced a year ago so African Nova Scotian communities would beable to have greater access to support and services throughout the province.

Rose Fraser, a lifelong resident of North Preston, said the opening of the new office in theNorth Preston Community Centreis emotional for the community and long overdue.

"I think that will help our community as a whole Cherry Brook, Lake Loon, East Prestonand North Preston be able to express their concerns that they have with anything that's going on in Nova Scotia that is not representative of our community," she said.

"Our communities need to have their voices heardand this is our opportunity to have our voices heard."

She said there have been great disparities in the province and this is a chance to make things right.

African Nova Scotian Affairs Minister Pat Dunnsaid the officeaddresses the unique needs of the communities bylistening to their concerns directly.

He said there are 50 African Nova Scotian communities in the province and, with the addition of the new office, the province will be served from one end to the other.

Dunn said each of the three new offices has two full-time employees that will work in the office. They will also have program officers that will go out to community hallsand churches and inform people about new programs.

"These offices are going to be like a hub," said Dunn. "They're going to be out into the communities that they're serving. So, it'll be a combination."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of.You can read more stories here.