'Radical Overtones' Involved in Violent Incident at School
By Gloria Kelly
Wednesday, January 11th, 1989
The Halifax Chronicle-Herold

• the fight at Cole Hurbour High resulted in 2 students being sent to hospital on January 10th, 1989
• it all started on the Monday January 9th, 1989, when a student threw a snowball at another student
• the next day there were talks about a fight so the police were called in to the school early inthe morning. By noon there were still no signs that anything was going to happen so they left.  About an hour after they left, 1:00pm, the fight broke out in the halls of the school. The police were called in again.
• students that were from other schools were there and charges were being layed it had been years since the last out brake of racial fights, there were hopes that it was gone and now there are hopes that it's over now
• the RCMP officer states that everything was blown way out of per portion and that is why it all started, he classified it as a riot
• a parent said that she hopes it is all over now, that she is worried about sending her child to school and shouldn't have to feel this way
• most of the students involved were in grade 10

Classes Cancelled amid student tensions
By Morris Green and Dave Sullivan
Thursday January 12th,1989
Halifax Chronicle-Herold
Front Page

• Cole Harbour High School was closed because of the tension that the students showed between the black students and the white students
• Lloyd Gillis, Bedford District School Board and Ron Giffin, Minister of education decided on the evening of Jan.11th that the School was going to be closed
• There was a public meeting being held that evening at 7:30pm to discuses what is going on
• The meeting is to hear the parents concerns about what is going on with their children and at the school
• Mr. Giffin said that the meeting was to discuses his policies in the light of the student tension
• This is all caused because of the wide socio-economic gap between the black students and the white students and where they live in the community
• "have to be dealt with at the community level. The lines of communication … between the two communities have to be opened up."
• There was no classes for the students but the teachers were meeting all day long to try to find a way to lower the tension in the school
• There will be classes on Friday morning with a special assembly "to sensitize student towards more tolerant behavior and to make sure they don't stereotype the actions of some." Says the principle Augus MacNeil
• There will be no classes following the morning assembly
• A Black history was given to the students the previous year to stop tension like this in the schools
• "When you have (incidents) like this you know there's still a long way to go."
• The fight that broke out the day before was in the student parking lot, with a primarily white crowed standing around to watch
• Monday a snowball was thrown
• Tuesday a brawl broke out and sent two students to the hospital
• Wednesday 35% of the school stayed home to avoid anything further that was to happen
• The teachers, principle and vice-principles were trying to stop anything further from happening by asking what they could do, they asked students, and parents
• the principle says that there have been incidents in the past but blames a few individuals for the recent events
• RCMP was not called during the brawl on Wednesday
• King Simmonds, a concerned parent went to the school during the lunch hour and said that there was a lot of friction between students . "Something has got to be done about this. This is a disgrace. I never had a problem like this… I don't know what the problem is but I hope to God it will be solved."

• 1,500 parents went to the meeting the night before to try to stop the racial tension that has been going on between the students at Cole Harbour High
• RCMP Staff Sergeant Herry Wheaton, Health Minister and MLA David Nantes, Chief executive of the school board Lloyd Gillis, all led the discussion
• 4 people were charged after Monday's incident and 10 people were charged after Tuesday's
• The 10 people from Tuesday's fight are facing charges of causing a disturbance, unlawful assembly, and possession of weapons
• RCMP were at the school regulating the actions of the students in the yard
• The meeting went on for three hours and discussed how the community has to help if they want anything to be done about the racial tension at the school
• They incouraged the parents to incourage their children to go to school to the assembly this morning and to incourage their children to not be racist
• The school is going to try to make parents more aware of the situations that are going on in the school
• At the meeting parents spoke their vies aloud showing how they felt about the school and how they are handling things
• The school board is looking at ways they can make the school system more racially friendly to try to stop or lessen the tension between the student
• One of the problems in all this tension might be the over crowing of the school, Cole Harbour high is one of the largest schools in Nova Scotia with an enrolement of 1,700 students attending two seporate buildings.
• A smaller school enviroment would make it easier for students and teachers to stop the tension before it starts
• Mr. Nantes feels that there is racial tension but that it is not the sole factor
• They are working on getting another high school built to stop the over crewing going on at Cole Harbour

School's Priority to Return to Normal
By Morris Green
Saturday January 14th, 1989
Halifax Chronicle-Herold
Front Page

• The students return to classes on Monday after all the racial tension
• On the morning of Friday the students went to school and talked to the teachers about what was going on in the school and how they felt about it and what they could do about it
• Teachers took the students concerns to the school board that afternoon
• The atmosphere in the school Friday was very calm
• The students are bussed to the school from all parts of the city
• There were a total of 22 charges laid that week, not all the charges went to students from Cole Harbour High
• The brawl on Tuesday in the parking lot involved between 50 and 60 students/people
• More charges will be laid because of Wednesday's brawl
• RCMP were at the school on Friday to make sure that nothing happened
• Only 66% of the students attended the school Friday for the assembly
• The principle was very disappointed that the RCMP had to get involved in what was going on a the school, he says that the problem has not been solved but long term strategies have been planed
• "Yes it's a failure… but perhaps we will come out of this stronger."
• After the assembly the teachers got together to talk about way to stop the racial tension and they said that things are looking better then they were but there is still a long way to go

July 24th 1990
Nova Scotians have a hunger strike protesting racism. It was a group of whites and blacks who lead the protest in front of City
Hall. Black activist Evangeline Cain say's "we feel the plight of black people needs attention". They want the Nova Scotian
education system to enquire about racism. After the Cole Harbor incident two black men were arrested and convicted. Ten
blacks and eight whites were charged following the fight in January but all the charges against whites were dropped.

Black Heritage and the Unity Debate: Is Anyone Listening?
By Sharon Clyke Oliver
Saturday, March 1st, 1997
the Halifax Cronicle-Herold
Opinion Section

• February is black heritage month
• the article states how Nova Scotia wouldn't be the same if there was no equallity bill allowing the blacks to be equal and  no longer slaves
• it talks about black heritage month
• how the blacks need to provide a better history of their heritage for the younger generation to here and pass on to their childern
• How they feel left out how they feel that things are still not equally distributed, things like power. They feel that things are still not equally distributed between the four backgrounds (Anglophones, franqueaphones, African-Americans and the First Nation People)