The lawyer looking into Carole Nixon's dismissal from the Africville Heritage Trust says he plans to ask for a private meeting between Nixon and the board.

Jason Gavras says he is looking into Nixon's sudden departure from the organization and he believes she deserves to know why she has been let go.

He also says he wants to hear the trust's reason for her dismissal, before he decides what to do next.

"It's looking rather undignified, and frankly, to be rather unfair to Miss Nixon," says Gavras.

Nixon, a white Anglican priest from Ontario, was hired as the new executive director of the Africville Heritage trust in June and she began her position in July.

A large part of her job was to help raise $11 million to fund the construction of an interpretive centre that is to be built by the new Africville church, which was revealed yesterday.

But members of the black community in Halifax expressed their outrage over her hire at a public meeting last Tuesday night. They voted unanimously that Nixon should no longer hold her position at the trust.

Concerns about Nixon's employment history also popped up last week, as allegations of mismanagement and misuse of funds fueled the controversy surrounding her position. Nixon has denied these claims, and expressed her surprise over people's reactions because she says she was told her race wouldn't be an issue when she was hired.

"They assured me, and I believed that the board meant that, that they were adamant that they were going to hire the best person for the job," she told CTV News last Wednesday morning.

But the trust released this statement late Wednesday afternoon.

"While in June 2011 the Trust felt that Carole Nixon would be the best person to fulfill the role as Executive Director of the Trust, that is no longer the case," said Daurene Lewis, chair of the Africville Heritage Trust Society.

"As of this morning, Ms. Nixon is no longer an employee of the Africville Heritage Trust. We will be initiating a search for a new Executive Director as soon as possible, and will be arranging for an interim manager until that search is complete."

Nixon said last week that she may file a human rights complaint.

According to the Human Rights Act employers cannot discriminate based on race, but it also states there can be exceptions to that rule.

"The Human Rights Act…realizes that there are times, for instance, when there's an ethnic organization and it wants to hire someone from within that community, the Human Rights Act actually acknowledges that sometimes that's necessary and that's the best for that organization," said Gerald Hashey of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.

But the manager of investigation and compliance said last week the exception should apply to hiring practices, and should not be grounds for dismissal of someone that has already been hired by an organization.

Nixon says she still hasn't been given a reason as to why she was let go from the trust.

"I really think the first step should be…incumbent on the board to offer to meet with Miss Nixon to provide her with an explanation as to precisely why she was terminated," says Gavras.

But Lewis disagrees.

"I don't know…why he would think this is the logical next step," says Lewis.

She wouldn't comment on the dismissal, only stating it's a personnel issue, is therefore confidential and she won't discuss the matter at this point.

"I would love to be able to respond in detail but that's not appropriate as an employer to discuss any of those confidential matters," Lewis told CTV News.

The trust is holding a board meeting tonight in Halifax. It had been scheduled before Nixon's dismissal, but the job vacancy will be on the agenda and members will discuss how they should proceed in filling the position.

Lewis says she doesn't anticipate a lot of changes to the job posting, or to the hiring process, although it will depend on the direction given from the board.

In the meantime, Gavras says he wants an explanation before he decides whether to file a wrongful dismissal case.

"If the explanation is not satisfactory to Miss Nixon, and if it's not satisfactory to me once we've had an opportunity to consider it, then legal action's always available," says Gavras.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster