Tribute to a Trailblazer

On December 6, 1917, two ships collided in the Halifax harbour, resulting in what is now known as the Halifax explosion. Ligoure’s fifteen-bed hospital was overwhelmed by victims of the tragedy. He worked tirelessly for weeks, treating up to one hundred survivors per day, free of charge.

In January 2023, Halifax Regional Council voted unanimously to add Ligoure’s former home to the city’s registry of heritage properties.

This was particularly exciting news for students in Natasha Camacho’s grade one class at École St. Catherine’s Elementary School in Halifax. Last year, after learning about Ligoure’s important work following the Halifax explosion, Camacho’s students wrote a letter to the city council asking for a plaque to be installed outside the doctor’s former home.

 “The children are extremely proud that they played a small role in creating a positive change in our community,” said Camacho. For guiding her students in their work, Camacho received a Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Teaching last fall from Governor General Mary Simon.

In addition to his selfless acts after the Halifax explosion, Ligoure was one of the publishers and editors of the Atlantic Advocate — Nova Scotia’s first African-Canadian newsmagazine. He was also instrumental in fundraising and recruiting for the No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canada’s first military unit made up primarily of Black personnel. Ligoure died in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in 1922.

Camacho said her students will continue to explore and to celebrate Ligoure’s legacy. “We will be writing to the city council to thank them for preserving the house, and to ask for it to be turned into a museum,” Camacho said.