When Burris and Louanne Devanney first went to work in Africa in 1965, they were as innocent as they look in this photo. After two tumultuous years in Rhodesia and Nigeria in times of crisis and tragedy, they came home politicized and radical, and perhaps nearly traumatized, but wiser, more pragmatic, and still profoundly drawn to Africa. Read all about this in African Chronicles - a story which, according to one reviewer, chronicles "kindness and cruelty, luck and learning, impertinence and fear, as [the couple] mapped their first steps on a lifetime relationship with Africa."
Burris Devanney enjoyed a full career as a high school teacher and administrator in Halifax, but also found or created opportunities over the past half century to work in seven African countries – Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Uganda. For nearly 20 years, along with his wife Louanne, he managed an NGO (the Nova Scotia - Gambia Association) working in education, health and community development in Gambia. Since retiring from NSGA in 2006 he has worked for a few weeks each year as a resource person with the national teachers' union in Ghana (GNAT) initiating and developing a unique community mobilization program that has now reached 60 villages throughout the country. More recently he has worked with the Uganda teachers' union (UNATU) to introduce the community mobilization program into that country.
Louanne has degrees in Arts and Education from Mount Saint Vincent University, has lived or worked in four African countries, including about two decades in education and project management in Gambia. Burris and Louanne have always called Halifax home. They have two children, Sara and Matthew, and one grandson, Henry Burris Leitch.
Sara and Matthew are teachers married to teachers. Sara teaches adult and immigrant students at the the Nova Scotia Community College and her husband Rory is at Saint Mary's University, where he also serves as a union representative with CUPE. Their son Henry is in the French Immersion Program in Halifax schools. Matthew and his Colombian wife Liliana are in their 5th year on contract with the Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Astana, Kazakhstan, the third in a series of International Baccalaureate schools at which they have worked together, including IB schools in Bogota and Dubai.
(Photo shows Devanney children Sara (14) and Matthew (12) and niece Michelle Webb (10), who accompanied the family on Burris' first posting to Gambia, 1982-84.)
Louanne has degrees in Arts and Education from Mount Saint Vincent University, has lived or worked in four African countries, including about two decades in education and project management in Gambia. Burris and Louanne have always called Halifax home. They have two children, Sara and Matthew, and one grandson, Henry Burris Leitch.
Sara and Matthew are teachers married to teachers. Sara teaches adult and immigrant students at the the Nova Scotia Community College and her husband Rory is at Saint Mary's University, where he also serves as a union representative with CUPE. Their son Henry is in the French Immersion Program in Halifax schools. Matthew and his Colombian wife Liliana are in their 5th year on contract with the Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Astana, Kazakhstan, the third in a series of International Baccalaureate schools at which they have worked together, including IB schools in Bogota and Dubai.
(Photo shows Devanney children Sara (14) and Matthew (12) and niece Michelle Webb (10), who accompanied the family on Burris' first posting to Gambia, 1982-84.)
Career in Education: Canada
- Teacher: St. Patrick's High School, Halifax
- Department Head, Vice Principal, Principal: Halifax West High School
- Principal: J.L. Ilsley High School, Halifax
- Lecturer in International Development: Dalhousie University
- Lecturer in International Development: Seniors' College Association of Nova Scotia (SCANS), Halifax, Truro & Mahone Bay
Above: With 77 former colleagues at gathering of JL Ilsley High School retired teachers in Halifax in December 2016.
Burris (standing, back row, 8th from right) was the first of these Ilsley teachers to retire.
Burris (standing, back row, 8th from right) was the first of these Ilsley teachers to retire.
Education and Development Work in Africa (1965 - Present)
- Canadian External Aid Office: Teacher/Advisor: Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) & Nigeria (1965-67)
- Canadian Teachers' Federation: Teacher Training, Ghana (1981)
- Cape Breton University: Coordinator, Technical Assistance Program, Gambia (1982-84)
- Gambia Technical Training Institute, Kanifing, Gambia: Registrar & Administrative Assistant to GTTI Director (1982-84)
- Nova Scotia - Gambia Association: Founding Executive Director (1986-2006) & Advisor (2013-17)
- Saint Mary's University: Coordinator, University Extension Program, Gambia (1995-2000)
- Nova Scotia - Sierra Leone Programme: Executive Director (2002-06)
- Guidance, Counselling & Youth Development Centre for Africa, Malawi: Consultant (2007-09)
- Canadian Teachers' Federation: Resource / Consultant, Community Mobilization Program, Ghana (2007-2016) & Uganda (2011-17)
Burris introducing UNATU-CTF Community mobilization program in Nakabaale, Uganda, March 2015
Awards & Recognition
- Award of Excellence & Moonsnail Trophy, Atlantic Film Festival, Halifax, 1987
- Named a Paul Harris Fellow by Halifax Northwest Rotary / Rotary International, 1997
- Distinguished Community Service Award, Saint Mary's University, 1999
- Order of the Republic of The Gambia (with Rank of Officer), 2000
- Lewis Perinbaum Award in International Development Work, Canadian Bureau for International Education, 2003
- Bill McWhinney Award for Excellence in International Development (to NSGA), 2004
- Honourary Doctorate in Civil Law (Honoris Causa), Saint Mary's University, 2004
- Health & Well Being Award, Mainland North Volunteer Recognition Committee, 2005
- Special Recognition Award, Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF), 2007
- CTF International Program Volunteer Recognition Award, 2014
- Shirley Case Leadership Award for Global Citizenship, Atlantic Council for International Cooperation (ACIC), 2016
Political Activities in Canada
Since returning from Africa highly politicized in 1967, Burris and Louanne have been active members of the New Democratic Party of Canada. In the 1968 Canadian federal election, Burris was a candidate for the NDP in the federal riding of Halifax-East Hants. He stood for the Nova Scotia NDP in provincial elections in 1970 and '74. He served as provincial party president (1968-70) and on the party's national council (1968-74), and along with Louanne worked in election campaigns throughout the 1970s, '80s and beyond. More recently, Burris was editor and principal writer of Always a Work in Progress: Policies of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (1962-2016), published by the Nova Scotia NDP in 2016.
Since returning from Africa highly politicized in 1967, Burris and Louanne have been active members of the New Democratic Party of Canada. In the 1968 Canadian federal election, Burris was a candidate for the NDP in the federal riding of Halifax-East Hants. He stood for the Nova Scotia NDP in provincial elections in 1970 and '74. He served as provincial party president (1968-70) and on the party's national council (1968-74), and along with Louanne worked in election campaigns throughout the 1970s, '80s and beyond. More recently, Burris was editor and principal writer of Always a Work in Progress: Policies of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (1962-2016), published by the Nova Scotia NDP in 2016.
Major Articles in Books, Journals, Magazines
- "Kenneth Leslie: A Biographical Introduction," Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews. Eds. Michael Gnarowski & D.M.R. Bentley (London, ON, University of Western Ontario, Fall-Winter 1979), pp.83-104. [To read complete article, click on title above.]
- "Kenneth Leslie: God's Red Poet - Nova Scotia's Revolutionary Mystic" [Cover Story], New Maritimes. Eds. Gary Burrill et al (Enfield, NS: June, 1986), pp.4-11.
- "The Nova Scotia - Gambia Association," Windows on the World: University Partnerships, International Cooperation, Sustainable Development. Ed. Ian McAllister (Halifax, NS: Lester Pearson Institute for International Cooperation, Dalhousie University, 1993), pp.213-40.
- "Development, Achievement, Conflict and Resolution: A Brief Critical History of the Saint Mary's University Extension Program in The Gambia," Partners for Progress: A Canada - Africa Venture in University Building. Eds. Michael J. Larsen & James H. Morrison (Halifax, NS: Fernwood Publishing, 2006), pp.41-69