Messages to Ancestors: Following the Notes from Africville to Emancipation to the Door of No Return

On Canadian Thanksgiving in October 2023, I stood on the shores of Gorée Island, next to the Door of No Return, off the west coast of Dakar, Senegal. Facing westward across the Atlantic Ocean and with the help of Fallou Bal, our Senegalese guide, I bent down and set fire to a collection of Messages to Ancestors , handwritten on paper by various Canadians of African Descent from Africville, Nova Scotia, to Emancipation, Ontario, and many others in between. The smoke ascended into the African skies. Entrusted to carry their messages, I fulfilled my role as the messenger and documented the burning. My presence on African soil was the culmination of a decade of relationships that began with the Canadian communities of Africville and Emancipation at the start of my academic journey, which fortuitously also aligned with the Decade for People of African Descent (2015–2024). As such, the opportunity to carry their messages back to Africa was a blessing and an auspicious gift. The paper chronicles this journey following the notes from Africville to Emancipation to the Door of No Return.