African Nova Scotian communities moving towards land title resolution

兰迪·迪拉德司法长昨日介绍了修正案，澄清澄清法案和人力资源管理机构宪章，将使Nova Scotians在五个主要是黑人社区中获得抵押或销售家园的人。

持续300多年来，许多非洲新星苏格兰人没有明确的土地所有权通过生活在北普雷斯顿，东普雷斯顿和樱桃布鲁克/湖龙的几代家庭，以及林肯维尔和孙堡县的孙子尼维尔。

The issue of unsettled land titles was the subject of the Nova Scotia Community College’s Journalism program’s award-winning project, “untitled:The Legacy of Land in North Preston。” That project brought broader public awareness to the issue, which in turn kickstarted legislative action to resolve it.

目前的立法修正案继续在2017年开始进行的进程，该过程支付了土地调查的成本，并设法明确了200名索赔 - 但仍有600个纠纷突出。

“This is a very big deal which for families has been persisting for centuries,” explained lawyer Lauren Grant, the manager for the government’s Land Titles Initiative.

“Without clear title to the land, you are limited in what you can do. So our families don’t have the ability to mortgage their land, bequeath their land; they don’t have the ability to sell their land,” said Grant. “So that has a great impact on their life. You can’t leverage your land for greater economic prosperity, which further inhibits the growth of our African-Nova Scotian communities.”

It’s not difficult to imagine the disputes among families over who owns what or where boundaries begin or end. A key amendment to the Act is the establishment of a new $3 million fund to provide financial settlements to people (often within the same family) who have competing interests in the same piece of ground. Those who agree to take their claims to arbitration before one of two commissioners who are both retired judges — Corinne Sparks and Valerie Miller — may be entitled to compensation while avoiding the expense of a lengthy court battle.

“在立法中倡导陆运职称，投资更多资源并清除解决索赔的方式，更快地表明我们对解决系统性种族主义并纠正过去的错误的承诺，”德雷斯在介绍该法案时告诉立法机关。

HRM宪章和市政治理法案的修正案还将减少金融和繁文障碍，在普雷斯顿和樱桃布鲁克地区约有40个房产，这些属性将不再需要批准城市来发展细分。他们将被授予法律豁免。

最后但并非最不重要的是,政府正在资助一个圣aff position to expedite the land claims process. It has appointed as executive-director Angela Simmonds, a lawyer and tireless champion for the need to clear up confusion surrounding land titles, to work with residents in the five largest black communities. The program is likely to be expanded to include another eight smaller historic African-Nova Scotian communities.

“这一新的进程我认为将为整个过程带来更多的信心和信任，”非洲诺斯科特人员部长托尼Ince部长说。“事实上，我们赋予过程更多的资金和员工进入这些社区，并与土地所有者谈一谈，我希望，一个步骤，建立信任和信心，我们所说的我们要做的事情，我们要做。“

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