‘Black Battalion’ honoured for African Heritage Month

They fought to fight — that’s how Russell Grosse wants everyone to remember the No. 2 Construction Battalion.

The executive director of the Black Cultural Centre says many African Nova Scotians wanted to serve in the First World War but were refused because of racial barriers.

Prime Minister Borden agreed they should have the option to serve, so he formed the No. 2 Construction Battalion — also known as the Black Battalion. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the predominantly black regiment’s deployment.

“These men wanted to serve their country but they were told they couldn’t. They could have just turned away, but they didn’t,” says Grosse. “They had a desire to serve and a desire to belong, and that’s what we want to display.”

The No. 2 Construction Battalion is this year’s theme for African Heritage Month, which kicked off on Feb. 1. It was described by Sydney-born senator and author Calvin Ruck as “Canada’s best kept military secret,” and Grosse says many Nova Scotians have never heard of the brave troop.

In today’s terms, Grosse says the No. 2 Construction Battalion would have been considered an engineering division — working in the forests, digging trenches, and building roads and railway tracks to support the war effort.

“There was an issue with people feeling uncomfortable having someone of a different race bearing arms alongside them, so it was an entirely segregated unit — the camps, the living quarters, even where they were detained,” says Grosse.

The No. 2 Construction Battalion had around 600 members, and more than 300 of them were from Nova Scotia.

“When you look at the migration of Blacks into Canada, Nova Scotia is really the birthplace of Black culture in Canada,” says Grosse. “Our community goes back many years to the Black Loyalists and Black refugees, so when you look at the sheer population of Black people in Nova Scotia, that’s where those high numbers come from.”

Grosse says the war effort certainly wasn’t lost on the African Nova Scotian community and they showed incredible commitment. He says while people tend to look at things in insolation based on race and culture, “at the end of the day, we’re all Canadians.”

“The men of the No. 2 Construction Battalion were visionaries,” says Grosse. “They said ‘Regardless of our colour, we want to represent our country,’ and they did.”

The Battalion was recognized as having historical significance in the early ’80s and they recognized the Pictou waterfront — where the Battalion went out to sea — as a national historic site. The Black Cultural Centre and the Black Cultural Society hold an annual memorial service every July near the date the Battalion would have set sail, and Grosse says this summer’s ceremony — set for July 9 — will be the biggest yet.

The No. 2 Construction Battalion will also be honoured at an anniversary ceremony at the Halifax Citadel Army Museum on July 5.