The No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), was raised in Nova Scotia and was one of two predominantly Black battalions in Canadian military history and the only Canadian battalion composed of Black soldiers to serve in World War I. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hugh Sutherland, formerly of the 193rd Battalion, CEF, all but one of the unit's 19 officers were white, the exception being Captain William A. White, the unit's chaplain.
William Andrew White II was a Canadian chaplain and military officer from Nova Scotia who was commissioned as the first black officer in the Canadian Army. He served in World War I as a military chaplain, the only black officer in the Canadian military during the war.
Calvin Woodrow Ruck was a human rights activist and a member of the Senate of Canada. He was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia; his parents were immigrants to Canada from Barbados.
The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was the expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division. The division subsequently fought at Ypres on the Western Front, with a newly raised second division reinforcing the committed units to form the Canadian Corps. The CEF and corps was eventually expanded to four infantry divisions, which were all committed to the fighting in France and Belgium along the Western Front. A fifth division was partially raised in 1917, but was broken up in 1918 and used as reinforcements following heavy casualties.
The Nova Scotia Highlanders is an infantry regiment in the primary reserve of the Canadian Army. It is part of 36 Canadian Brigade Group, 5th Canadian Division.
The Black Watch of Canada is a reserve infantry regiment in 34 Canadian Brigade Group, 2nd Canadian Division, of the Canadian Army. The regiment is located at 2067, rue Bleury in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is currently commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel R.M. Unger, MMM,CD. The regiment's armoury was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2008. They are the senior Canadian-Scottish Regiment.
The West Nova Scotia Regiment is a line infantry regiment of the Canadian Army, part of the Primary Reserve, and is part of the 5th Canadian Division's 36 Canadian Brigade Group. The regiment recruits volunteers from the South-Western part of the province of Nova Scotia and has its headquarters at LFAATC Aldershot, near the community of Aldershot, Nova Scotia.
The North Nova Scotia Highlanders was an infantry regiment of the Canadian Army founded in 1936. In 1954, it was amalgamated with The Pictou Highlanders and 189 LAA RCA Battery to form 1st Battalion, The Nova Scotia Highlanders (North).
The military history of African Americans spans from the arrival of the first enslaved Africans during the colonial history of the United States to the present day. African Americans have participated in every war fought by or within the United States.
The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutionaries. The 84th Regiment was also involved in offensive action in the Thirteen Colonies; including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and what is now Maine, as well as raids upon Lake Champlain and the Mohawk Valley. The regiment consisted of 2,000 men in twenty companies. The 84th Regiment was raised from Scottish soldiers who had served in the Seven Years' War and stayed in North America. As a result, the 84th Regiment had one of the oldest and most experienced officer corps of any regiment in North America. The Scottish Highland regiments were a key element of the British Army in the American Revolution. The 84th Regiment was clothed, armed and accoutred the same as the Black Watch, with Lieutenant Colonel Allan Maclean commanding the first battalion and Major General John Small of Strathardle commanding the second. The two Battalions operated independently of each other and saw little action together.
The 106th Battalion, CEF was a unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. Based in Truro, Nova Scotia, with two additional companies in Pictou and Springhill, the unit began recruiting on 18 November 1915. The battalion was the first rifle regiment in Maritime Canada. The battalion sailed to England on 16 July 1916 and trained at Lower Dibgate, Shorncliffe. It was later broken up and most members were absorbed into the 40th Battalion, CEF.
HMHS Llandovery Castle, built in 1914 in Glasgow as RMS Llandovery Castle for the Union-Castle Line, was one of five Canadian hospital ships that served in the First World War. On a voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool, England, the ship was torpedoed off southern Ireland on 27 June 1918. The sinking was the deadliest Canadian naval disaster of the war. 234 doctors, nurses, members of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, soldiers and seamen died in the sinking and subsequent machine-gunning of lifeboats. Twenty five people are known to have survived. 24 were the occupants on a single life-raft. The incident became infamous internationally and was considered, after the Armenian genocide, as one of the war's worst atrocities. After the war, the case of Llandovery Castle was one of six alleged German war crimes prosecuted at the Leipzig trials.
Black Nova Scotians are Black Canadians whose ancestors primarily date back to the Colonial United States as slaves or freemen, later arriving in Nova Scotia, Canada, during the 18th and early 19th centuries. As of the 2021 Census of Canada, 28,220 Black people live in Nova Scotia, most in Halifax. Since the 1950s, numerous Black Nova Scotians have migrated to Toronto for its larger range of opportunities. Before the immigration reforms of 1967, Black Nova Scotians formed 37% of the total Black Canadian population.
The 85th Battalion, CEF, was an infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. The 85th Battalion was authorized on 14 September 1915 and embarked for Great Britain on 12 October 1916. Disembarking in France in February 1917, it fought as part of the 12th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war. The battalion is most famous for capturing Hill 145 in their first battle. Today, the Vimy Memorial stands on Hill 145.
Jeremiah Alvin Jones was a Black Canadian soldier who served in World War I. He was recommended for a Distinguished Conduct Medal but there is no record of him having received it. His treatment has been seen as an example of the lack of recognition accorded to Black Canadian soldiers. Campaigns to have him receive the medal posthumously eventually resulted in his being awarded the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service on February 22, 2010.
The Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia is located in Cherry Brook, Nova Scotia, in the Halifax Regional Municipality. The centre is a museum and a library resource centre that focuses on the history and culture of African Nova Scotians. The organization of the Black Cultural Society was incorporated as a charitable organization in 1977 and the centre opened its doors in 1983, with a goal to educate and inspire and to protect, preserve and promote Black culture in Nova Scotia. The centre is located on Trunk 7 at 1149 Main Street.
Nova Scotia is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. The colonial history of Nova Scotia includes the present-day Maritime Provinces and the northern part of Maine, all of which were at one time part of Nova Scotia. In 1763, Cape Breton Island and St. John's Island became part of Nova Scotia. In 1769, St. John's Island became a separate colony. Nova Scotia included present-day New Brunswick until that province was established in 1784. During the first 150 years of European settlement, the colony was primarily made up of Catholic Acadians, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq. During the last 75 years of this time period, there were six colonial wars that took place in Nova Scotia. After agreeing to several peace treaties, the long period of warfare ended with the Halifax Treaties (1761) and two years later, when the British defeated the French in North America (1763). During those wars, the Acadians, Mi'kmaq and Maliseet from the region fought to protect the border of Acadia from New England. They fought the war on two fronts: the southern border of Acadia, which New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine, and in Nova Scotia, which involved preventing New Englanders from taking the capital of Acadia, Port Royal and establishing themselves at Canso.
The 25th Battalion, CEF was a unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. It was the second infantry battalion of ten to be raised in Nova Scotia during the war. The 25th served in Belgium and France as part of the 5th Canadian Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division from 16 September 1915 until the end of the war. Regimental headquarters were established at the Halifax Armouries, with recruitment offices in Sydney, Amherst, New Glasgow, Truro and Yarmouth. Of the 1000 Nova Scotians that started with the battalion, after the first year of fighting, 100 were left in the battalion, while 900 men were killed, taken prisoner, missing or injured.
Isaac C. Phills, was a Canadian steel worker, the first Black man to receive the Order of Canada.
