Raymond Sheppard: “We should recognize and credit those African Nova Scotians who have made a difference in the past and continue to make a difference today. Dr. Lynn Jones is such a person. She helps wherever and whenever she is able to.”

Dr. Lynn Jones was questioned by Truro police when she stopped to watch deer, right in the historic African Nova Scotian Truro neighborhood where her family has lived for many generations. “Please add me to the list of African Nova Scotians who are constantly being racially profiled in this province for no valid reason and while you’re at it, give your constituents in Truro and your Town police a lesson in white privilege , anti Black racism and the history of the founding people of our province and Truro,” she writes in an open letter to Truro’s mayor.

I had a great time at SMU last week, digging through box after box of newspaper clippings, minutes posters, and brochures related to well over forty years of civil rights, labour and social justice struggles here in Nova Scotia and beyond. Lynn Jones has scissors, and she isn’t afraid to use them. Eighteen boxes of documentation have found a home at the St Mary’s archives.