A profile of community leader Wangari Muriuki
Wangari Muriuki
By Samuel Getachew
Broadway musical Fela had its grand debut at the posh and historic Canon Theatre in downtown Toronto.
In a room full of the most accomplished personas, including former Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, CBC’s The National anchor Kim Brunhuber, and an array Bay Street lawyers, is Wangari Muriuki, an ambitious and accomplished activist in her own right from Toronto.
As she takes her seat, passing by beautiful ladies with their expensive fur coats and hand bags and men with their Holt Renfrew-type suits, it is very hard not to notice the person behind the beautiful African dress, reminding one of her long Kenyan journey to where she is today – on the verge of being a candidate for office in the upcoming municipal election that is essentially three years in the making.
What makes this Kenyan Canadian notable? It might be the rich vocabulary she eloquently uses, the courteous interaction she has with all kinds of people or the persistence of pure hard work she demonstrates where ever she goes. For example, after getting to know Muriuki through a local health board, Toronto City Council’s leading leftist Gord Perks convinced her to work for him in his office in 2008.
When the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care appointed her as a member of a transitional council of the College of Homeopaths, it listed her many accomplishments: two decades of experience in health and human resources, manager of mental health and identification programs at Street Health Community Nursing Foundation, former board member of the Toronto Board of Health, the Health Equity Council, St. Michael’s Hospital – Mental Health Community Advisory Panel, and is currently President of the Board of the African Canadian Social Development Council and Chair of the Board of the African Resource Centre.
A Toronto resident of 20 years, she helped found the Africans in Partnership against HIV / AIDS Agency one year after moving to the city. The organization to date has served thousands of vulnerable African Canadians and advocated the important issues of HIV/AIDS. As tribute to the great leadership she has shown over the years, she was chosen as keynote speaker for the group’s recent fundraiser.
These days she is the event coordinator for the 5th Annual Toronto District School Board Parent Conference that takes place on November 12th at Earl Haig Secondary School. She is also in collaborations to establish a Black Health Network in the Province of Ontario to advocate for Health issues that are specific to the community – diabetes, high blood pressure and autism.
As she ponders a run for elected office, she once told Maytree Foundation, “Community engagement is crucial for all of us. Our mental, physical and environmental health all depends on our community engagement. Our children’s future depends on our engagement in our communities.”
If we are not involved and engaged, decisions about us are made by others without our input,” she explains.
In a city whose motto is “Our Diversity is Our Strength”, yet either goes a century to celebrate black electoral success or looks to the current lone black city councillor Michael Thompson for inspiration, the story and success of Wangari Muriuki is paramount
As she eloquently explains in words and deeds, it’s not just her future, but the “future of our children” that is at stake.
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