RACHEL BLOOMER, "SEEK COMPENSATION FOR PAST INJUSTICES, JONES URGES BLACKS," HALIFAX DAILY NEWS  (AUGUST 9, 2001).

Copyright Halifax Daily News 2001

Governments should be forced to compensate slaves' descendants for the blood, sweat and tears that helped build Canadian institutions, activists told an international anti-racism conference yesterday.

Outspoken lawyer Burnley (Rocky) Jones and a panel of activists argued that today's Canadian blacks are still further behind than they would have been without slavery.

"Slave labour was used to build public institutions. Government had a direct benefit from slavery that still exists," Jones told reporters.

"Over the years, the relative position of the European and the African has not changed. This society got that jump-start because of slavery."

Jones argued black Canadians should sue local and national governments, using the money to improve education and job prospects and put blacks on an equal footing in society.

"Canadians pride themselves on being fair," Jones said. "If the case was presented to them as `your forefathers exploited my forefathers, you derive a certain benefit and I derive a certain loss from it, I think Canadians would say, `No, it's not fair, and we should do something about it."'

It's a tough argument to make, Jones pointed out, because groups like the black Loyalists who settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in 1783 would have different claims than recent immigrants.

He wouldn't put a dollar figure on a possible lawsuit, and said compensation isn't just about cutting a cheque.

"We're just at the beginning stages here. I think what we've got to look at is what kinds of things are possible as redress, what kinds of things we can do to encourage development."

North Preston resident Allister Johnson argued black Loyalists who moved to the province were settled on rocky land that couldn't support a crop, and their children weren't educated the way others were.

Although today's black children have more opportunities, Johnson said, they don't have as many role models in business as they should.

"I don't know a single black person who owns a plane, or runs an airline company, major building, financial institutions," Johnson said.