Halifax must protect historic clinic of first Black physician in N.S., group says - Action News
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Nova Scotia

Halifax must protect historic clinic of first Black physician in N.S., group says

A community group in Halifax is concerned about the fate of the former clinic of Dr. Clement Ligoure, Nova Scotia's first Black physician. They say the building is important to Halifax's social and architectural history.

Dr. Clement Ligoure treated Halifax Explosion victims at North Street building

A row of homes on a street corner
The former site of Dr. Clement Ligoure's Amanda Private Hospital, 5812 North Street, Halifax, photographed in 2017. In the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, Ligoure's hospital became one of the dressing stations for people that required medical care for non-life-threatening injuries. (Steve Lawrence/CBC)

An unassuming building on North Street has a history that community advocates say is worth protecting:it once housed the clinic of Halifax's first Black physician, Dr. Clement Ligoure, who treated hundreds of patients in the wake of the Halifax Explosion in 1917.

Though the privately-owned building is not slated for demolition, some community members are concerned the historic house will be levelled in favour of multi-storey apartment buildings.

Friends of the Halifax Common say the building is important to Halifax's social and architectural history, and it should be protected before it's too late.

They put forward a heritage registrationapplication to the Halifax Regional Municipality in May 2022 to protect the North Street building.

The group's co-founder, Peggy Cameron, spoke to Portia Clark, host of CBC's Information Morning Halifax, Thursday.

"Unfortunately, many buildings in Halifax are going to be lost as an outcome of the approval of the Centre Plan that up-zoned or increased the height in many areas, especially the peninsula," Cameron said. "That really incentivizes developers to demolish existing buildings to build taller buildings."

The Halifax Regional Municipality's Centre Planhas been in effect since November 2021. It ushered in zoning changes, including how tall buildings are allowed to be in certain areas of the centre region.

Long history

Constructed in a Queen Anne Revival style typical of that era, the house features upper and lower floor bay windows, and turrets with ornamental features above the front doors.

An old photo of a row of homes
An archival photo shows 5812 North Street circa 1900, then known as 164-168 North Street. (Submitted by Friends of the Halifax Common)

Apart from the structure and features of the building, Cameron saidthe story behind it is worth heritage designation due to the prominence of Ligoure.

"He's significant in more than one way," she said.

A old photo of a Black man in a suit and bowtie and a moustache
Dr. Clement Ligoure treated hundreds of patients after the Halifax Explosion devastated parts of the city in December 1917. (Queens University Archives, V28-P-301. C. C. Ligoure)

Ligoure came to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago via New York and studied at Queen's University's medical school in Ontario. He graduated in1916,just two years before the school bannedBlack students.

He then moved to Halifax in hopes of joining the war effort, but was refused entry to the armed forces.

The Halifax Explosion happened one year after Ligoure arrived in the city. In its wake, he treated hundreds of patients for free inhis private clinic on North Street, which he namedthe Amanda Hospital afterhis mother.

He worked around the clockas injured patients filled the rooms. In the three weeks following the explosion, his team treated nearly 200 people each day.

Ligourealso recruited members for Nova Scotia's No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canada's only all-Black battalion, and was a publisher of Nova Scotia's first Black newspaper, the Atlantic Advocate, which was incorporated on June 8, 1916.

Community support needed

Cameron said her group has reached out to a number of community members to get them on board. She said others have written letters outlining the need for the building to be preserved or saved.

Cameron said the building ought to be protected in its entirety. "Not just a plaque or not just a facade," she said.

"I would say it's a dicey situation because developers in the city are able to get a demolition permit at any time," she said. "As long as they can get rid of their tenants, then they can do whatever they want as far as demolishing the building."

Cameron and others areaskingpeople to sign a petitionto stop demolitionsuntil the provincial government creates regulations to address their concerns.

"This is a very critical matter and we're really sleepwalking through a period of amnesia," she said. "We'll look around in ten years and say, what happened to our city? For the ones who are able to still live there."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

A banner of upturned fists, with the words 'Being Black in Canada'.
(CBC)

With files from Information Morning Halifax