Working While Black, along with other concerned members of the community, is spearheading a campaign to stop street checks in Nova Scotia.

At the centre of the campaign is a petition you can download here.

The petition reads:

We, the people of Nova Scotia, hereby demand the Government of Nova Scotia receive our request.

WHEREAS Black African descendant people are unfairly targeted by racist police checks. 



WHEREAS the discriminatory use of street checks against Black people causes psychological trauma, perpetuates negative correlations between criminality and race, decreases trust in the judicial system, and disempowers Black communities to live safely and free of racism. 



Therefore, we the undersigned citizens of Nova Scotia call on the Nova Scotia Government to ban street checks in the province. 

Our goal is to have at least 1000 signatures on this petition before it is presented in the legislature as part of our campaign to stop street checks.

Please download the petition and collect as many signatures as you can.   Return the petitions to the below address by April 18, 2018.

Working While Black

21 Moira Street

Dartmouth, NS B3A 3K8

In addition, we have developed Know Your Rights materials to distribute across the province. You can download the Know Your Rights Bookmark and the Know Your Rights Card.  We are also happy to mail copies to you if you email a request at stopstreetchecksns@gmail.com.

Do you have questions about this campaign? Would you like to be more involved? Would you like us to mail you hard copies of our petition and resources? Please feel free to contact stopstreetchecksns@gmail.com

Two notes on the wording of the petition:

1. The police are not legally allowed to racially profile. However, there is evidence that racial profiling may manifest itself in the form of street checks, which is why we are petitioning to have the practice stopped.

2. Even though the data collected by the CBC was for the HRM, there are many black communities that exist in cities outside of Halifax. This is why we want the practice stopped across the province, not just in Halifax.

For more information on the impacts of police checks in Nova Scotia, check out Prominent African-Nova Scotians question the legality of street checks and The Intentional Ignorance of Halifax Police Checks.

An article on our campaign can be found here.