The annual Peace Basketball Tournament is back for its sixth year with 20 teams competing on courts across Halifax over Aug. 22-25. The tournament continues the legacy of the former provincial Black Invitational Basketball Tournament, which stopped over a decade ago after running for 40 years—but which was a rallying force in bringing people together across African Nova Scotia to celebrate community ties, work to prevent violence and promote peace through sport.
Peace Tournament co-founder and tournament board committee member—who wishes to remain nameless here because she’s taken a step back this year and wants the tournament, players and partnerships to take the spotlight—says every different African Nova Scotian community had a place to meet when that former tournament was happening. “You would make a friend at this event, and we would play ball against each other, but as soon as that tournament left, the guns started circulating.”
The board member says this is because, without that event, “we were all separate in our separate silos and, as an urban Black community, didn't have that meet-and-greet place that we could come to.” That’s why she helped start the Peace Basketball Tournament in 2017. The tournament’s motto? “No peace, no point.”
Now in its sixth year—after taking a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and returning in 2022—the board member describes the tournament as “a social platform that we built to give our people a place to start coming back together.
“Our five-year-old kids, they'll have something to look forward to when they turn 20, or they'll meet somebody at age 10 to go and play with and to go to school with.” Halifax and Dartmouth kids blend to form teams for the tournament, she says, “which is great—we have kids that are playing on varsity rugby teams together, now, that would have never met without the Peace Tournament and its great turnout.”
The board member says the tournament's early success led to the creation of the student scholarships in year three. “We decided that this is a platform where we can now start recognizing our kids and help build and work on their future.” That began the $1,500 Peace Scholarship Award that continues today.
“One of the major things for us in most communities, but more so in the African Nova Scotia community, is that there's marginalization and where there's not much money, our moms are working every day just to barely pay the rent,” says the board member. “Where are they getting the money to put aside to help send us to further education?”
Through the Peace Tournament’s partnership with the Dartmouth-based organization Prep Academy—which supports African Nova Scotian high school students reaching college and university and succeeding in those programs— they’re helping parents to “boost their kids further in their career and keep pushing them to go farther.”
Four scholarships have been confirmed for this year, and the board member says that “hopefully this year we're going to fundraise enough money so that we can give out six.” A donation box will be at the tournament’s games to collect money for scholarships from the crowd.
For the past four years, the tournament has supported African Nova Scotian students with scholarships to study at colleges and universities—in collaboration with the PREP Academy. At this year’s tournament, at least four African Nova Scotian students will receive $1,500 scholarships to help with the costs of their postsecondary education. If the tournament raises enough money for six, two more surprise recipients will be announced on Sunday afternoon at the awards ceremony.
The annual Peace Scholarship Award is presented to African Nova Scotian students “who are contributing to a peaceful society and are committed to enhancing our communities,” reads the scholarship details, and is open to high school and postsecondary students who are starting or continuing their studies at a recognized college or university this September.
The application for this year's award can be found here, and the deadline for students to apply is Aug. 18 at 11:59 pm. The scholarship is designed to help two African Nova Scotian high school students and two current postsecondary students who have some funding but not enough to pay for tuition, registration fees, books, school supplies, and other costs related to successful studies. Scholarships will be sent directly to the student’s schools.
To be eligible for this scholarship, you must:
- Be either a Grade 12 student entering college or university in September, in any program, field of study or program; or a current college or university student continuing their studies this September, in any program, field of study or program
- Identify as African Nova Scotian and have family ties to historic ANS communities
Students are asked in their applications to describe their commitment and contributions to peaceful societies and communities through writing a short 500-word essay that answers one of the following questions:
- What does peace mean to you?
- What does peace through sport look like?
- What do you do to promote peace?
- In what ways can we impact global peace?
After students complete their award application, they are asked to email their college or university acceptance letter—for Grade 12 students only—and their confirmation of enrollment to [email protected]. The same email is used for any questions or support with applications.
All four of this year’s award winners will be announced in the tournament’s booklet, as they were last year, and each student will be presented with a giant cheque at the championship game, which will be played at 3 pm, Sunday, Aug. 25, at the Saint Mary’s University Homburg Centre.
The board member tells The Coast that they’ve also printed two extra giant cheques in case enough donations are raised at the tournament to fulfill two more student scholarships. “It’s the people, ourselves, putting our kids through school.” Games cost $5 each, and weekend passes go for $25. All proceeds go towards the athletes and students—winning teams each receive $15,000 this year. At the games, there will be donation boxes to support more student scholarships like the two extra that the tournament organizer is ready to offer to runner-ups, if they can.
At this year’s Peace Tournament, there are 10 men’s teams, four women's teams—both ages 19 and up—and six boy’s teams—aged 15 to 18. The organizer who spoke with The Coast says “Unfortunately, we didn't get any girls this year, so I want to shout out to have these young girls come and play.” The men and women’s winning teams receive a $15 cash prize and the boys teams receive trophies.
Games will run across town at gyms in North Preston, Dal’s Sexton and Studley Campuses, the Halifax YMCA, Saint Mary’s University, and Citadel High. On Saturday, the tournament’s main host gyms are Citadel and Sexton gyms, with the final championship games at SMU on Sunday, Aug. 25. The tournament’s schedule will be posted this Friday on the Peace Tournament Instagram page here. There will also be a limited 100-run of tournament T-shirts made by tREv clothing that will be sold with all proceeds benefiting the players and tournament scholarships. This year's design will be released shortly before the tournament begins. This year will involve an as-yet-unannounced collaboration with a big east coast brand.
All are welcome and encouraged to come to the games. “Peace means everybody; it is not Black peace, and we welcome everyone that wants to come,” says the board member. “It's a safe space.”
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