page_title: Black Nova Scotians
section_title: Immigration
hierarchical_section_title: Black Nova Scotians / History / 21st century / Immigration
caption_attribution_description: English: Census tracts in Halifax by&#160;% of people who identify as Black Canadian.
context_page_description: Black Nova Scotians or African Nova Scotians are Black Canadians whose ancestors primarily date back to the Colonial United States as slaves or freemen, and later arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada during the 18th and early 19th centuries. As of the 2016 Census of Canada, 21,915 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 the 1960s, Black Nova Scotians formed 37% of the total Black Canadian population.
  The first black person in Nova Scotia was recorded among the founders of Port Royal in 1604. West Africans were brought as slaves both in early British and French Colonies in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Many came as slaves, primarily from the French West Indies to Nova Scotia during the founding of Louisbourg. The second major migration of blacks to Nova Scotia happened following the American Revolution, when the British evacuated thousands of slaves who had fled to their lines during the war.
context_section_description: Since the immigration reforms of the 1970s, a growing number of people of African descent have moved to Nova Scotia. Members of these groups are often not considered a part of the distinct Black Nova Scotian community, although they may be perceived as such by wider society.
  Top 5 immigrant ethnic origins for people of African descent in Nova Scotia:
caption: Map of Halifax Census Tracts by percent of population who identify as Black in 2016.
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