A white woman hired to run the Africville Heritage Trust has been let go, just one day after members of the black community in Halifax expressed their outrage over her hiring at a community meeting.

Rev. Carole Nixon, an Anglican priest from Ontario, was hired to be the new executive director for the Trust back in June. She started working for the Trust in July, but outrage over her appointment only recently began surfacing among some members of the black community in Halifax.

Dozens expressed their anger at a public meeting last night.

"She does not share our cultural experience; consequently she cannot interpret our cultural experience," said lawyer and activist Burnley "Rocky" Jones.

Nixon has insisted she is surprised by the backlash because 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 early Wednesday.

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."

However, Nixon told CTV News Wednesday afternoon that she had no idea she had been dismissed that morning.

Nixon said she had been asked to resign and she was told that, if she didn't, she would be terminated without cause. However, she said the Trust told her she would have until the end of the month to make her decision and she was asked to keep it confidential.

She only found out about the Trust's statement after receiving a call from CTV News late Wednesday afternoon.

Nixon told CTV News she is in a state of shock over learning of the decision and she wants to speak to a lawyer before commenting further on the situation.

She had earlier said she would consider filing a human rights complaint if she lost her job.

A spokesman for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission said employers can't discriminate on things such as age, sex or race.

But he also said there can be exceptions to that rule if there is a good reason, including if an employer is hiring for an exclusively ethnic or religious not-for-profit organization that aims to foster the welfare of an ethnic group.

The Africville Heritage Trust did not give a reason as to why Nixon was let go, but the statement did say it is committed to hiring people based on merit.

"The Trust is committed to the principle of merit based hiring, because our mandate requires a unique and extensive skill set," said Lewis in the statement. "However, we are conscious that our hiring decisions reflect the project, and that the future is determined by the steps we take today."

Lewis told CTV News that the matter is a personnel issue, is therefore confidential, and the Trust wouldn't be offering a reason for Nixon's dismissal at this time.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster