Province House ( gd, Taigh na Roinne) in Halifax is where the

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

legislative assembly, known officially as the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

, has met every year since 1819, making it the longest serving legislative building in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The building is

's oldest house of government. Standing three storeys tall, the structure is considered one of the finest examples of

Palladian architecture Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

History

Governor's House, Halifax, Nova Scotia (inset) by Dominic Serres, c

Province House was built on the same location as the previous Governor's House, erected by

Edward Cornwallis Edward Cornwallis ( – 14 January 1776) was a British career military officer and was a member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacob ...

in 1749. (Cornwallis' table remains in the bedroom of Province House.) Province House was opened for the first time on February 11, 1819. One of the smallest functioning legislatures in North America, Province House originally housed the executive, legislative and judicial functions of the colony, all in one building.Nova Scotia House of Assembly, "Province House". Nova Scotia House of Assembly, 1997. The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia held its sessions in Province House (in what is today the legislative library). Most notably,

Joseph Howe Joseph Howe (December 13, 1804 – June 1, 1873) was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, public servant, and poet. Howe is often ranked as one of Nova Scotia's most admired politicians and his considerable skills as a journalist and writer ha ...

, a journalist and later

Premier of Nova Scotia The premier of Nova Scotia is the first minister to the lieutenant governor of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and presides over the Executive Council of Nova Scotia. Following the Westminster system, the premier is normally the leader of t ...

, was put on trial on a charge of criminal libel on March 2, 1835, at Province House. Howe had published an anonymous letter accusing Halifax politicians and police of pocketing £30,000 over a thirty-year period, and outraged civic politicians had subsequently seen to it that Howe was charged with seditious libel. The presiding judge called for Howe's conviction, but Howe's passionate speech in his own defence swayed the jury and the jurors acquitted him in what is considered a landmark case in the struggle for a free press in Canada. On January 20, 1842, English author

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

attended the opening of the Nova Scotia Legislature. He said that it was like looking at Westminster through the wrong end of a telescope. During 1848, Province House was the site for the first form of

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...

in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

outside the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. The building is located in

downtown Halifax Downtown Halifax is the primary central business district of the Municipality of Halifax. Located on the central-eastern portion of the Halifax Peninsula, on Halifax Harbour. Along with Downtown Dartmouth, and other de facto central business d ...

on a block bordered by Hollis, Granville, George and Prince streets. Led by the efforts of Joseph Howe, the Anti-Confederation Party won a resounding majority in the first election held after Nova Scotia joined the Confederation of Canada on July 1, 1867. Province House was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

in 1996, in recognition of its status as the longest serving legislative building in Canada, and the role it played in the development of responsible government and freedom of the press in the country. It is also a Provincially Registered Property under provincial heritage legislation.

Legislative Assembly

Province House is the home of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony adm ...

, Nova Scotia's elected legislative assembly. In 1908 and 2008, there were significant official celebrations in Nova Scotia and Canada to mark the 150th and 250th anniversary of the birth of

parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of t ...

(i.e., representative government) in Canada, which started in Nova Scotia. The first event was marked by the creation of the Dingle Tower and the second by a year-long celebration the birth of

in Canada. The celebration was entitled Democracy 250. On October 2, 1758, the

met for the first time in a modest wooden building at the corner of Argyle and Buckingham streets in Halifax. It was an assembly of twenty-two men, who came together to deliberate as a parliament on questions affecting the colony. With voting limited to

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, free-land holding males, it was a modest beginning, and their influence with the British-appointed Governor was questionable. It was the first elected assembly of its kind in what eventually became Canada. On January 31, 1837, Simon d'Entremont and Frederick A. Robicheau became the first

Acadians The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...

elected to the House of Assembly ( Joseph Winniett, whose mother was Acadian, was elected to the Assembly in 1761). (Two months later, on March 24, 1837, black men in Canada were given the right to vote.) in 1893, Edith Archibald and others made the first official attempt to have a suffrage bill for women property holders passed in Nova Scotia, which was passed by the legislature but quashed by Attorney General James Wilberforce Longley (who opposed unions and female emancipation for the twenty years he was in office). On April 26, 1918, as a result of the Local Council of Women of Halifax (LCWH), the House of Assembly passed ''The Nova Scotia Franchise Act'', which gave women the right to vote in Nova Scotia's provincial elections, the first province to do so in Atlantic Canada. (A month later Nova Scotian and

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as su ...

Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I. Borde ...

– whose wife Laura Bond was former president of the LCWH – used his majority to pass women's suffrage for the whole country.) Almost forty-three years later, on February 1, 1961, Gladys Porter was the first woman elected to the Assembly. In 1993,

Wayne Adams Wayne Adams, CM ONS (born 1943) is a Canadian former provincial politician who was the first Black Canadian member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and cabinet minister. Early life Adams was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1943. Politica ...

is elected the first Black member of the Assembly. The Nova Scotia legislature was the third in Canada to pass

human rights legislation Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

(1963). File:Nova Scotia House of Assembly Chamber.jpg, House of Assembly,

(left) and James William Johnston (right), both paintings by

Henry Sandham Henry "Hy" Sandham (24 May 1842 – 21 June 1910) was a Canadian painter and illustrator. He was the brother of author and numismatist Alfred Sandham. Biography Born in Montreal, Sandham decided at an early age to pursue an artistic career, ...

File:JosephHoweByHenrySandham.png,

File:JohnHoultonMarshall.jpg, Commander

John Houlton Marshall John Houlton Marshall (9 October 1768 in Halifax, Nova Scotia – 2 May 1837 in Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury Square, Middlesex) was a Nova Scotian who was a naval officer at the Battle of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic Wars. Career Joh ...

by unknown artist

The Library (former Supreme Court)

The Legislative Library, located on the second floor between the Red Chamber and Legislative Assembly, was originally the home of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, until the court outgrew the space. The first important trial in the court was against

Richard John Uniacke Jr. Richard John Uniacke (June 6, 1789 – February 21, 1834) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Cape Breton County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1820 to 1830. He was born in Halifax, Nova Sco ...

for killing William Bowie in the last lethal duel in Nova Scotia (1819). The Supreme Court chamber was the site of Joseph Howe's 1835 trial for seditious libel. On March 2, 1835, newspaper editor

defended himself at trial in the present-day library for

seditious libel Sedition and seditious libel were criminal offences under English common law, and are still criminal offences in Canada. Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection ...

by civic politicians in Nova Scotia. Many scholars consider Howe's success in this case a landmark event in the evolution of press freedom in Canada.

The Red Chamber

The Red Chamber was formerly the meeting place of the

Nova Scotia Council Formally known as "His Majesty's Council of Nova Scotia", the Nova Scotia Council (1720–1838) was the original British administrative, legislative and judicial body in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Council was also known as the Annapolis Counci ...

and later the Legislative Council, the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

of Nova Scotia's legislature. The Legislative Council was appointed by the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and was abolished in 1928. Now the room is used for receptions and other meetings. File:NS Legislature Red Room.JPG, Table used by

on the ship Beaufort to hold his first

meeting, The Red Chamber (1749) File:WilliamFenswickWilliamsNSHouseOfAssembleyByWilliam Gush.jpg, Nova Scotian Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Kars with sword from

William Gush William Gush (23 April 1813 – 28 February 1888) was an English portrait painter born near London.Christopher Wood. ''Dictionary of Victorian Painters'', Antique Collectors' Club, 1971, p. ??? Gallery File:John Curwen by William Gush.jpg, ...

(sword is displayed at University of King's College Library, Halifax) File:JohnInglisByWilliamGushNSProvinceHouse.JPG, Nova Scotian Sir

John Eardley Inglis Major General Sir John Eardley Wilmot Inglis (15 November 1814 – 27 September 1862) was a British Army officer, best known for his role in protecting the British compound for 87 days in the siege of Lucknow. Military career In 1833 he joined t ...

with sword from

(sword is displayed at University of King's College Library, Halifax) File:Mik'maq at Province House, Halifax,NS 1879.png, Grand Chief Jacques-Pierre Peminuit Paul (3rd from left with beard) meets Governor General of Canada,

Marquess of Lorne A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman ...

, Red Chamber, 1879

Court Yard

Province House is flanked with two prominent statues. To the north of Province House is the South African War Memorial by

Hamilton MacCarthy Hamilton Thomas Carlton Plantagenet MacCarthy (28 July 1846 – 24 October 1939) was one of the earliest masters of monumental bronze sculpture in Canada. He is known for his historical sculptures, in particular his Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mon ...

to the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

. (MacCarthy also made the South African War Monument in the

Halifax Public Gardens The Halifax Public Gardens are Victorian-era public gardens formally established in 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation. The gardens are located in the Halifax, Nova Scotia on the Halifax Peninsula near the popular shopping district of Spri ...

and the statue to

Harold Lothrop Borden Lieutenant Harold Lothrop Borden (23 May 1876 – 16 July 1900) was from Canning, Nova Scotia and the only son of Canada's Minister of Defence and Militia, Frederick William Borden and related to future Prime Minister Robert Laird Borden. Ser ...

.) On one of the panels is a sculpture of the Battle of Witpoort, made famous by the death of Nova Scotian Harold Lothrop Borden. To the south of Province House is a statue to the Honourable

, created by famed

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

sculptor

Louis-Philippe Hébert Louis-Philippe Hébert (1850–1917) was a Canadian sculptor. He is considered one of the best sculptors of his generation. Career Hébert was the son of Théophile Hébert, a farmer, and Julie Bourgeois of Ste-Sophie de Mégantic, Quebec. At ag ...

. On the north side of Province House is a cannon from , and on the south side is a cannon of which was captured in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

, . File:JoasephHoweStatue.jpg,

File:Province House War Memorial.JPG, South African War Memorial by

File:ChesapeakeCanonProvinceHouseNovaScotia.JPG, Cannon from File:HMSShannonCanonProvinceHouseNovaScotia.JPG, Cannon from

Other art work

File:John Merrick by Robert Field.png, John Merrick by Robert Field File:Charles Hastings Doyle Province House Nova Scotia Canada.jpg, Lt Gov of Nova Scotia Charles Hastings Doyle by Adolphus Robert Venables (Rooert) File:Malachy Salter.jpg,

Malachy Salter Malachy Salter (February 28, 1715 – January 13, 1781), a Nova Scotian merchant and office-holder, who was convicted of sedition for betraying the Loyalists during the American Revolution. Business career He operated a successful Boston d ...

by John Smybert File:MatthiasHoffmanByJohnHoppner.png, Dr. Matthias Hoffman by John Hoppner File:Prince Edward By William J Weaver.png,

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, (Edward Augustus; 2 November 1767 – 23 January 1820) was the fourth son and fifth child of King George III. His only legitimate child became Queen Victoria. Prince Edward was created Duke of Kent a ...

, by William J. Weaver. The Prince is wearing the star voted to him by the Nova Scotia Assembly in 1798. File:GHMurrayByEdmund Wyly Grier.png, Longest serving premier George Henry Murray by

Edmund Wyly Grier Sir Edmund Wyly Grier DCL (also known as E. Wyly Grier) (November 26, 1862 – December 7, 1957) was an Australian born Canadian portrait painter. Career Grier first came to Canada with his parents in 1876 and attended Upper Canada College but ...

File:Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange, Nova Scotia Law Court, Room -5, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.jpg,

Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange Sir Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange (30 November 1756 – 16 July 1841) was a chief justice in Nova Scotia, known for waging "judicial war" to free Black Nova Scotian slaves from their owners. From 1789 to 1797, he was the sixth Chief Justice ...

by Benjamin WestAccording to Thomas Akins, this portrait hung in the legislature in 1847 (See History of Halifax, p. 189). It now hangs in the Nova Scotia Law Courts. There is another portrait of Strange by Benjamin West that is in the National Gallery of Scotland. File:Plan of the river of Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia, Library of Congress, c.1757.jpg, The letter "C" at the top right marks the location of Battle of Bloody Creek, Annapolis River map c. 1759.

Canadian Prime Ministers from Nova Scotia

File:Charles Tupper By John Gardiner.png,

Charles Tupper Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet, (July 2, 1821 – October 30, 1915) was a Canadian Father of Confederation who served as the sixth prime minister of Canada from May 1 to July 8, 1896. As the premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led ...

by John H. Gardiner There are also portraits of former prime ministers John Sparrow David Thompson by Thomas Forrestall and Sir

by Walter H. Cox.

Notes

External links

*
Adams Archibald. The Province Building. Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society
{{coord, 44.64791, -63.573396, region:CA_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Halifax, Nova Scotia Legislative buildings in Canada General Assembly of Nova Scotia Palladian Revival architecture in Canada National Historic Sites in Nova Scotia Tourist attractions in Halifax County, Nova Scotia 1819 establishments in Nova Scotia Monuments and memorials in Nova Scotia