This series chronicles the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children—an orphanage in Westphal opened in 1921 for black children, and its sad legacy of alleged abuse.
From OpenFile news curator Bethany Horne's CBC documentary, "The Colored Home:"
"All these allegations, very strong and very powerful allegations of systemic sexual abuse of the most horrific variety is well documented in the court record and no police department, no police agency, no government agency, nobody in the Department of Community Services, no welfare protection people—did anything, or are doing anything to investigate the case. And you have to ask yourself, 'why?'"
A lawyer's freedom of information search unearthed 700 pages of new information on the NSHCC, but as OpenFile reporter Jacob Boon writes in this five-part series, for almost a century, nothing has been done to reveal the mysteries that surround The Colored Home.
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Bethany Horne's Unfinished Stories: The Colored Home, Part 1, written around her CBC documentary, starts off our series. |
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Neglected and forgotten history: The Colored Home, part 2, looks at early problems with the NSHCC. This and the rest of the stories in the series are written by OpenFile's Jacob Boon. |
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"Paying for a stick to beat ourselves:" The Colored Home, Part 3 describes a foiled attempt to have an evaluation done, in the midst of the worst abuses of the 1970s. |
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No Justice: The Colored Home, part 4 examines frustrations victims felt trying to get government and police to acknowledge the alleged abuses. |
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And finally, Moving forward: The Colored Home, part 5, explains next steps and possibilities for the victims and families, and the government's responses. |
Timeline of Colored Home events
