An inquiry that looked not for culprits, but for a path

Opened in 1921 in Dartmouth to take in Black children, at a time when other institutions often refused them, the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children was, according to former residents, a place of mistreatment for decades. Their struggle to be heard lasted years.

On October 10, 2014, Premier Stephen McNeil offered them an official apology on behalf of the province. He promised a new kind of public inquiry: a restorative inquiry, designed with former residents and members of the African Nova Scotian community. Rather than looking first for culprits, it brought survivors, public servants and citizens around the same table to understand what happened and what needs to change.

The final report, Journey to Light: A Different Way Forward, published on November 28, 2019, is presented as the first public inquiry in Canada to take a restorative approach. It connects the history of the Home to systemic racism in Nova Scotia and proposes changes in child services, justice and education. Its lesson goes beyond the province: the truth is easier to tell when time has been taken to build trust.