is the lead counsel for the former residents who successfully made a case against the orphanage. In 2014, the Premier of Nova Scotia Stephen McNeil wrote a letter of apology and about 300 claimants are to receive monetary compensation for their damages. Immigration Since the immigration reforms of the 1970s, a growing number of people of African descent have moved to Nova Scotia. Members of these groups are not considered a part of the distinct Black Nova Scotian community, although they are Black Canadian. The last group to be accepted as members of the Black Nova Scotian ethnic group are Bajans who came to Cape Breton in the early 1900s, referred to as the "later arrivals". Top 5 immigrant ethnic origins for people of African descent in Nova Scotia: Settlements Black Nova Scotians were initially established in rural settings, which usually functioned independently until the 1960s. Black Nova Scotians in urban areas today still trace their roots to these rural settlements. Some of the settlements include: Gibson Woods, Greenville, Weymouth Falls, Birchtown, East Preston, Cherry Brook, Lincolnville, Upper Big Tracadie, Five Mile Plains, North Preston, Tracadie, Shelburne, Lucasville, Beechville, and Hammonds Plains among others. Some have roots in other Black settlements located in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island including Elm Hill, New Brunswick, Willow Grove (Saint John, NB) and The Bog (Charlottetown, PEI). Prominent Black neighbourhoods exist in most towns and cities in Nova Scotia including Halifax, Truro, New Glasgow, Sydney, Digby, Shelburne and Yarmouth. Black neighbourhoods in Halifax include Uniacke Square and Mulgrave Park. The ethnically diverse Whitney Pier neighborhood of Sydney has a significant Black population, first drawn there by the opening of the Dominion Iron and Steel Company steel mill in the early 20th century. List of areas with Black populations higher than provincial average Notable Black Nova Scotians See also Indigenous Black Canadians Black Canadians in New Brunswick Thomas Peters, Black Loyalist who settled Nova Scotia The Book of Negroes (2007), novel based on the historic document of the same name Poor Boy's Game Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia Black Cop Sources External links Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management – African Nova Scotians Further reading History of the Maroons. 1803 William Renwick Riddell. Slavery in the Maritime Provinces. The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 5, No. 3 (July 1920), pp. 359–375 Catherine Cottreau-Robins, "Timothy Ruggles – A Loyalist Plantation in