NOVA SCARCITY

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Nova Scarcity was what some  disillusioned American Loyalists,  both white and black, who arrived in Nova Scotia in the late 18th century following the American Revolution, called it. 


Some of the conditions that led to the name being used are described in Neil MacKinnon's book This Unfriendly Soil - The Loyalist Experience in Nova Scotia  1783 - 1791. 

It came about due to the harsh realities the refugees faced upon arrival.  In 1783, roughly 30,000 Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia which tripled the population and overwhelmed the provinces meager resources. 

After, in 1782,  Sir Guy Carleton received the appointment in New York with responsibility for evacuation of Loyalists he wrote to Governor John Parr of Nova Scotia asking if he might be able to grant lands and supplies to some of them.  Parr sought to be of assistance, however, responded that there was at present a housing crisis even in Halifax and some of the soldiers garrisoned there were forced to live in huts they made themselves in the woods. 

When, in the Fall of 1782, about 500 Loyalists arrived in Annapolis Royal, the Reverend Jacob Bailey described overcrowding, with each house being occupied by several families and many unable to procure lodging at all. There was a shortage of necesssities and the refugees faced destitution. 

Upon the Loyalists evacuation from New York for places like Digby and Shelburne they had been promised provisions for a year only to find that difficulties arose in gathering them,  By September 1783 they were petitioning for more. There was little in Nova Scotia to give them. It was noted that with communities exceedingly crowded, the winter harsh and the land rough, most Loyalists would be in the deepest distress.  Advertisements were placed in the provincial Gazette for supplies to be sent to the settlements.  Governor Parr agreed to admit small craft from the United States with provisions. 

Governor Parr noted that the Loyalists nicknamed the province Nova Scarcity and an account in one letter by a Loyalist stated:

All our golden promises have vanished. We were taught to believe this place was not barren and foggy, as had been represented, but we find it ten times worse. We have nothing but His Majesty's rotten pork and unbaked flour to subsist on. It is the most inhospitable climate that ever mortal set foot on. The winter is of insupportable length and coldness, only a few spots fit to cultivate, and the land is covered with a cold spongy moss, instead of grass, and the entire country is wrapt in the gloom of perpetual fog. 

Within a year close to 2,000 left Nova Scotia.  Almost half of that loss came from the Shelburne area. Other areas of loss were Chedabucto and Digby. 

In many cases the settlers also faced delayed land grants.  The grant for Digby was made on February 20, 1784, for 300 heads of families, however, more than one third did not occupy their lands.   It was found in many places to be infertile and they departed the area, moving to other parts of the Maritimes,  to England, and some returning to the United States. 

The approximately 3,500 Black Loyalists faced severe systemic discrimination as well.  Nearly 1,200 of them chose to leave in 1782 for Sierra Leone. 


Further Reference:

This Unfriendly Soil  The Loyalist Experience in Nova Scotia 1783 - 1791, by Neil MacKinnon, published 1988

Loyalists and Layabouts,  the Rapid Rise and Faster Fall of Shelburne, Nova Scotia 1783 - 1792,  by Stephen Kimber, published 2008

The Loyalists of Digby by Brian McConnell, U.E., published 2021

Memoir of John Parr by James S. MacDonald, accessed October 15, 2026

Nova Scarcity accessed October 15, 2026

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