Joel Zemel examines the personal life and career of F. Evan Wyatt before and after the disaster and the criminal litigation that resulted in his being the only person to stand trial on criminal charges related to the Halifax Explosion. Before the Halifax Explosion, F. Evan Wyatt was a recently-married officer with a promising career in the Royal Canadian Navy. He also enjoyed popularity among those in the city's elite society. But little else is known about the only man indicted for allegedly causing the disaster. The French munitions ship, SS Mont-Blanc, and the Norwegian freighter, SS Imo, collided in Halifax Harbour on the morning of 6 December 1917. The resultant explosion killed nearly 2,000 people, caused nine thousand injuries and left many more homeless and without shelter. Property losses were in the millions of dollars. In the aftermath of the blast, an inquiry was set up to determine the cause of the collision between the two ships in the harbour. However, the proceedings quickly devolved into a search for scapegoats on whom to lay blame for the explosion. The captain and pilot of the French vessel were arrested along with the Royal Canadian Navy's chief examination officer (CXO), Commander F. Evan Wyatt (ret. R.N.R). Each man faced a charge of manslaughter. Charges of criminal negligence were added at a subsequent preliminary hearing. The captain and pilot were soon released on a writ of habeas corpus, but Commander Wyatt was indicted by a grand jury and put on trial. Although duly acquitted, his personal reputation and professional career in Canada were ruined. Betrayal of Trust delves into the life and times of F. Evan Wyatt, the circumstances leading up to his being scapegoated, and the failure of the Department of the Naval Service of Canada to protect one of its own. Joel Zemel is a professional jazz musician and documentary filmmaker turned author/historian. Joel is also the author of Scapegoat: the extraordinary legal proceedings following the 1917 Halifax Explosion. He resides and works in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Edited by Francis Mitchell ; proofed by Virginia Houston. Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-172) and index.

Mitchell, Francis, 1942-
Houston, Virginia, 1945-

Wyatt, F. Evan (Frederick Evan), 1877-1967
Wyatt, F. Evan (Frederick Evan), 1877-1967 — Trials, litigation, etc.
Canada. Royal Canadian Navy — Officers — Biography
Halifax Explosion, Halifax, N.S., 1917
Explosions — Nova Scotia — Halifax — History — 20th century
Disasters — Nova Scotia — Halifax
Halifax (N.S.) — Biography

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A century ago, governments buoyed by Progressive Era-beliefs began to assume greater responsibility for protecting and rescuing citizens. Yet the aftermath of two disasters in the United States-Canada borderlands--the Salem Fire of 1914 and the Halifax Explosion of 1917--saw working class survivors instead turn to friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members for succor and aid. Both official and unofficial responses, meanwhile, showed how the United States and Canada were linked by experts, workers, and money. In Disaster Citizenship, Jacob A.C. Remes draws on histories of the Salem and Halifax events to explore the institutions--both formal and informal--that ordinary people relied upon in times of crisis. He explores patterns and traditions of self-help, informal order, and solidarity and details how people adapted these traditions when necessary. Yet, as he shows, these methods--though often quick and effective--remained illegible to reformers. Indeed, soldiers, social workers, and reformers wielding extraordinary emergency powers challenged these grassroots practices to impose progressive 'solutions' on what they wrongly imagined to be a fractured social landscape. Innovative and engaging, Disaster Citizenship excavates the forgotten networks of solidarity and obligation in an earlier time while simultaneously suggesting new frameworks in the emerging field of critical disaster studies. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Disaster relief — Social aspects — United States — History — 20th century
Disaster relief — Social aspects — Canada — History — 20th century
Fires — Massachusetts — Salem — History — 20th century
Halifax Explosion, Halifax, N.S., 1917
Working class — Massachusetts — Salem — History — 20th century
Working class — Nova Scotia — Halifax — History — 20th century
Solidarity — Social aspects — History — 20th century
Power (Social sciences) — History — 20th century
Salem (Mass.) — Social conditions — 20th century
Halifax (N.S.) — Social conditions — 20th century

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Brief biographies of WWII soldiers from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Details including marital status, military status, and family lineages mostly from the Halifax Herald Limited. Second Volume.

World War, 1939-1945—Nova Scotia
World War, 1939-1945—Participation, Canadian
Halifax (N.S.)—Soldiers—Biography
Halifax (N.S.)—History, Military—20th century

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The community of Africville began in the early 1800s with the settlement of former American slaves and other black people on the Beford Basin, just north of Halifax. Over time the community grew to include a church, a school, and small businesses. At its peak, about 400 people lived in the tight-knit community of Africville. But the neighbourhood was not without its problems. Racist attitudes prevented people from getting well-paying jobs outside the community and the City of Halifax denied the residents of Africville basic services such as running water, sewage disposal, and garbage collection. Despite being labeled a "slum," the community was lively and vibrant, with a strong sense of culture and tradition. In the 1960s, in the name of urban renewal, the City of Halifax decided to demolish the community, relocate its residents and use the land for industrial development. Residents of Africville strongly opposed this move, but their homes were bulldozed and they were forced into public housing projects in other parts of the city, and promised, but did not receive social assistance to help them resettle. After years of pressure from former members of the community and their descendants, the City of Halifax finally apologized for the destruction of Africville and offered to pay compensation. Through historical photographs, documents, and first-person narratives from former Africville residents, this book offers an account of the racism behind the injustices suffered by the community. It documents how the City destroyed Africville and finally apologized for it. Part of the "Righting Canada's Wrongs" Series.

Africville (Halifax, N.S.) — History — 20th century
Africville (Halifax, N.S.) — Social conditions — 20th century
Black Canadians — Nova Scotia — Halifax — Social conditions — 20th century
Relocation (Housing) — Nova Scotia — Halifax — History — 20th century
Race discrimination — Nova Scotia — Halifax — History — 20th century
Halifax (N.S.) — Ethnic relations — History — 20th century
Halifax (N.S.) — History — 20th century

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Introduction and annotations by David A. Sutherland. This volume features key documents from the Papers of the Halifax Relief Commission (HRC), which was established in the wake of the 1917 Halifax Explosion. The HRC was a quasi-governmental authority endowed with sweeping authority to implement a long-term program of reconstruction and rehabilitation to improve the qualify of life for the people of Halifax and neighbouring Dartmouth.

Halifax Relief Commission
Halifax Explosion, Halifax, N.S., 1917
Disaster victims—Rehabilitation—Nova Scotia—Halifax—History—20th century
Halifax (N.S.)—History—20th century

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Focusing on the days and months following the Halifax explosion of 1917, this study takes a look at the role of social workers in the wake of the disaster, as well as the class relations of the time. Exhaustively researched, this history clearly identifies the direct correlation between many of today's inherited social-work practices and attitudes with the social climate of that early relief effort. Marking the transition from charity work--where traditionally well-off volunteers passed judgment on their poorer neighbors — to professional social care, this analysis reflects on the lessons learned when newly arrived workers had to navigate the prevailing class structures while attempting to rebuild the lives of the Haligonians. Includes bibliographical references pages 125-130 and index.

Social service — Nova Scotia — Halifax — History — 20th century
Social workers — Nova Scotia — Halifax — History — 20th century
Halifax Explosion, Halifax, N.S., 1917
Social classes — Nova Scotia — Halifax — History — 20th century
Halifax (N.S.) — Social conditions — 20th century

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