Uniacke Square

Uniacke Square is a public housing residential area in the north central area of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is flanked in the northeast by Brunswick Street and to the southwest by Gottingen Street.

History
A lane in Uniacke Square sometime between 1966 and 1971.

Uniacke Square was opened on May 7, 1966 as a 250-unit housing project.[1] A library sits to the southeast, on Gottingen St., and a community centre, the George Dixon Centre, to the northwest. It was built to house the displaced population of Africville whose roots go back to refugees of the War of 1812, the Underground Railroad and American Civil War period. Homes in Africville were torn down as part of an urban renewal scheme between 1964 and 1967. Today, though some black residents of Uniacke Square are descendants of Africville, others are transplants from other Black Nova Scotian settlements who moved to the area.[2]

The neighbourhood around the Square is home to a number of front-line service agencies. There were four such agencies in the Gottingen Street area when Uniacke Square opened; today there are 20, including Adsum House for homeless and abused women and their families, Turning Point for homeless men and Hope Cottage, which provides meals to those who need them.

Present day

Today, two-thirds of the residents of the Square are women, and two-thirds are under 25. Less than half of the population are African Canadians; the percent of African Canadians once accounted for the majority of the population.

The areas of Gottingen Street, Creighton Street, and Maynard Street surrounding the Square was traditionally home to a large middle-class African-Canadian population.[3] Many of them were small business owners, or working professionals. However, uncontrolled gentrification of the North End has changed the area's demographics considerably.[4][3][5]

Uniacke Square supports a satellite police station, a parent resource centre, a small church and an office of the Salvation Army. Uniacke Square also has a community centre, The George Dixon Centre, named after the first Canadian boxing champion George Dixon, Centreline Studio a community based recording Studio and also home of the Uniacke Centre for Community Development

The unemployment rate in Uniacke Square is 26.4%.[6]

Demographics
Ethnic group[7] Population 2006 % 2006 Population 2016 % 2016
Black 490 61% 350 44%
White 212 26.5% 327 41%
First Nations 60 7.5% 70 9%
Arab 0 0% 20 3%
Other ethnicity 35 5% 20 3%
Total Population 799 100% 797 100%

As of 2016, 91.5% of the population speak English as their first language, 3% speak Urdu, 1.5% speak Spanish, 1.5% speak Vietnamese and 1.5% speak French.

The unemployment rate in Uniacke Square is 26.4%.[8]

Notable people

References
  1. Kimber, Stephen (1 March 2007). "Inside the square". The Coast. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  2. "What Do You Know About Uniacke Square Posse and Halifax Hip-Hop Circa 1988? - Secret East". Secret East. 7 June 2017.
  3. "Racism and gentrification in Halifax's North End". halifax.mediacoop.ca.
  4. Boon, Jacob. "Halifax's north end to Celebrate Viola". The Coast Halifax.
  5. Mar 12, Adina Bresge · The Canadian Press · Posted; March 12, Adina Bresge · The Canadian Press · Posted. "Viola Desmond banknote shines spotlight on Halifax's historic north end | CBC News". CBC.
  6. "Census Mapper". censusmapper.ca.
  7. Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics (January 2016). "Census Profile, 2016 Census". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  8. "Census Mapper". censusmapper.ca.
  9. Ballers, Canadian (4 April 2015). "2017 Lindell Wigginton Suiting Up With Stackhouse Elite UPLAY". Canadian Ballers.

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