It’s just over a week since the third annual Community Land Trust Summit: Gaining Ground.

This year, members and allies of the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts gathered in Mi’kma’ki for four incredible days: two in downtown Halifax and two visiting African Nova Scotia and Mi’kmaq sites of resilience.

Joy was at the forefront of the gathering, with moments that will be remembered for years:

  • Kicking things off under dozens of disco balls at our opening party, held in an old bank turned dance club
  • An incredible cookout where members of Upper Hammonds Plains CLT broke out into a spontaneous choreographed dance
  • Glamour shots and power poses at our pop-up portrait studio
  • Laughter and community at the Black Power Hour (hosted by Tribe)
  • A first-time Queer Happy Hour (co-hosted by Crows’ Commons) where yours truly delivered a surprise stand-up set of extremely niche CLT material
  • Jumping into the friendly waters of the French River during our tour of the Tatamagouche Centre, led by Women of First Light

And where there was the ease of laughter, there was the difficulty of truth-telling:

  • The truth that a national “housing crisis” was only recognized once it impacted the white middle-class; that Indigenous, Black, racialized, and working class people have always been in a housing crisis, as keynote Dr. Lynn Jones, of DowntheMarsh CLT reminded us.
  • The truth that many affordable housing projects neither serve nor are led by the equity-deserving groups that need them most, as Bernadette Hamilton-Reid of ANSDPAD noted.
  • The truth that Black and Indigenous stories have long been erased or selectively forgotten, and that these communities are now leading the charge in daylighting their histories, seen clearly in the work of Weymouth Falls CLT.
  • The truth that centuries of government neglect and under-investment in African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq communities have created a massive housing and infrastructure deficit, as noted by Sunday Miller of Akoma.
  • The truth that treaties are being broken. One speaker, Cheryl Maloney, could not attend her session “Standing Up for Indigenous Sovereignty” because she was doing exactly that—asserting Mi’kmaq sovereignty over Hunters Mountain. Instead, she sent us all a video from a Women’s Medicine Camp on the site: “The women are taking back to the land. They’re sharing medicines and songs. We’re not a blockade, we’re not protestors, we’re not illegal… This is a reconnection of the Mi’kmaq people to our lands. “

This was much more than a conference about affordable housing, it was about land justice, community resilience, joy, and truth.

We are a diverse coalition committed to the permanent stewardship of land by and for the people it sustains. Together, we resist displacement of people, gentrification of communities, and commodification of land. Our work spans homes, cultural revitalization, community economic development, natural resources, food growing, and so much more. Our focuses are diverse, but together we are stronger.

Next year, the fourth annual Community Land Trust Summit will be in Ottawa, where we plan to arrive united, energized, and strong in our asks to government. As we finalize the dates, you can keep updated through our newsletter and social media.

If you believe in our work and want to support it, please consider becoming a member.


Thank you,

Nat Pace

Network Director

Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts