Viola Desmond

By Samuel Getachew

Black History and International Women’s Day were both recognized and celebrated at Ryerson University by the 3rd Annual Viola Desmond Day ceremony earlier this month.

The day is named for the late Viola Desmond, who was a black  businesswoman from Nova Scotia who refused to sit in the balcony designated exclusively for blacks. Often called Canada’s Rosa Parks, she was forcefully removed from the cinema and charged with tax evasion for not paying a one – cent difference in pricing between the two levels of seats.  She was put in jail, tried without council and convicted. She paid the fine of $26 and appealed to higher levels of the court system to no avail. Frustrated with the results, she closed down her business and moved to Montreal and then to New York where she died at the age of 51.

Before moving to Montreal, she set up a fund in support of the activities of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. Since then, the Nova Scotian government has apologized and granted her a posthumous pardon, the first such pardon to be granted in Canada. Four women with connection to Ryerson University were honoured with an award that proudly celebrates and reflects on the journey of Viola Desmond.

The Black History Awareness Committee of Ryerson University, the force behind this effort, hopes these individuals will follow and be inspired by the courageous efforts of Ms Desmond in the pursuit of excellence. Among the four honourees is Shauna Bookal, Promotions & Athletics Events Coordinator with Athletics and Recreation at Ryerson University. She was honoured with the Ms Marie Marguerite Rose Award, another leading figure in Canada’s Black History.

Shauna Bookal

Congratulations, Shauna, on receiving the Ms. Marie Marguerite Rose Award. Tell us about Ms Marguerite and why this award is named after her?
Ms. Marie Marguerite Rose was a native of Guinea in Africa. Rose was a slave belonging to Louisburg officer Jean Chrysostome Loppinot. Purchased in 1736 , she worked in the Loppinot household for 19 years, helping to prepare meals and to raise 12 children, as well as her own son. After being freed in 1755, only two years before her death, she married Jean-Baptiste Laurent, a Mi’kmaq, and together they opened a tavern.

Although a slave for most of her life, Rose had acquired considerable business skills. As well as managing a tavern, she was a cook and seamstress, she could knit, dye, and iron clothes, and she made her own soap and preserves. An inventory of her possessions at her death is unique in Canada, since it tells the story of a recently freed slave woman. As a gardener, Rose, had vegetables worth 40 livres, the most valuable item in her estate.

Every year the names of the awards change to help educate people on strong Black Canadian Women whose life and work aided in moving forward the cause for Black women in Canada. This year, the Staff Award was named after Ms. Marie Marguerite Rose.

It must be an honour to be nominated for this prestigious award let alone win it. What does it mean for you and what responsibility would you want to carry forward?
To me, this award is an honour to have because I am seen as a leader among Black Canadian Women. It is very rare that Black Women get recognized; the fact that I have only been at Ryerson for less than a year and I won a prestigious award speaks volume to me.

The responsibility that I would want to carry forward is to educate young minority women that nothing is given to you in life; you have to work and fight for everything that you want. First, I would also educate them not to give up with times get tough (as they will get sometimes) and at the end of the day, all the sacrifices and everything will payoff! Second, I would like to open doors for young minorities in the sporting world the way they were opened for me.

How important is it to honour such a person in our Canadian history and when did you first discover the great story of Ms Marguerite?
It is extremely important to honour people in our Canadian history because it shows us why we have the freedom we have today. Sad to say, I did not know who Ms. Marguerite was until I received this award named after her. Everyday is a new day to learn something; the day I was told I received the Ms. Marguerite I learned of three (3) amazing strong Black Women (Ms. Marguerite, Ms. Kay Livingstone and Ms. Martha Jane *Mattie* Hayes).

As a young person, what message do you want to bestow to the young people who may want to follow in your footsteps?

As a young female working in the sporting world, I want to tell all the young women out there that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. Do not let someone tell you cannot do something because of your gender or because of the colour of your skin. It is okay to cry or get frustrated, but it is not okay to give up or quit. If you have a career in mind, go after it and do not stop until you reach it. Take it from me, it is rewarding once you get there and you are living your dreams.

Any parting words?
Everything I have accomplished in my life, I could not have done without my family. To my two grandmothers, Elaine Campbell and Ruby Dixon, who are looking down on our family; thank you for sacrificing everything when you immigrated from Jamaica to Canada. To my parents Yvonne Campbell and Sydney Bookal, thank you for helping me pursue my dreams and goals. I am very honoured and blessed to have you in my corner for life.

Deputy Police Chief Peter Sloly

By Samuel Getachew

At 43, Peter Sloly made history when in 2010 he was named one of four deputy chiefs of the Toronto Police Service. Only 21 years on the force, he is the fastest ever to reach this rank and the second person of colour in Toronto to achieve such a milestone. According to police board chair Alok Mukherjee, “The promotion is consistent with an ongoing shift within the force, where talented young officers are moving quickly up the ladder.”

To his critics, who say he may be too young and inexperienced to be deputy chief, Sloly once told the Toronto Star, “Well, for one, I think I’m only a couple of years younger than the most powerful man in the free world,” referring to U.S. President Barack Obama. “If you’re required to be in a place for a certain amount of time, I guess I don’t hit that benchmark,” Sloly continues. ”If it’s about experiences, and adding value to help build the police service into the best it can be, then I think I have hit that benchmark.”

Hassan Ghedi Santur

By Adebe DeRango-Adem

When did you first discover the power of words? Did you write as a child?

Unlike a lot of writers, I didn’t write little short stories or imitations of famous fables as a child. In fact, I didn’t write anything until I was a high school freshman and my ESL teacher asked us to write about our journey to Canada. I remember writing, in my broken English, a dramatic, but completely fictional account of my family’s trip. In a way, this was my first introduction to the power of words, albeit untrue words, because I ended up getting an A on the assignment.

What initially prompted you to write Something Remains?

I had no intension of writing a novel at first. Although I loved novels and dreamt of writing one someday, I was far too intimidated by the form. I had this false notion that people like Henry James and Edith Wharton wrote novels. A young man from Somalia who learned English at 14 had no business writing novels, I thought. I was working on a book of short stories and I started deleting stories that weren’t central to the major characters. And without even being fully conscious of it, I ended up with four stories that were so connected they started to read like a novel. So I went for it. I am glad I did because I was able to overcome that intimidation. (Read a review of Something Remains)

How has the experience of moving from Somalia to Canada factored into your work?

To learn English, I pretty much devoured any book I could get my hands on, which eventually inspired me to write. So had I not moved from Somalia to Canada, I would never have become a voracious reader. All the major decisions of my life seem to have an origin in my leaving my home country and settling in a foreign nation whose culture I tried to make sense of through the act of reading and writing.                                                  

From the book, there is a sense that we are all haunted by the past, that the past is always on the cusp of coming into view. Is there anything productive about being haunted by the past?

One of the saddest truths about the human condition is our inability to not let the past sully our present. No matter how hard we try, our past has a way of seeping into our present and more often than not sabotaging whatever joy and happiness we might experience in the present. On good days, when I feel fortified by hope for the future, I say, yes, go ahead, use the past to inform and even inspire your work.  But on bad days, I feel the past is this giant storm whose sole purpose is to rain on my parade.

You are a freelance producer at CBC. How do you see the role of broadcast journalism within the larger project of recognizing, preserving and promoting the contributions of people of African ancestry and their collective histories?

CBC has over the years made a concerted effort to celebrate Black History Month with special programs that showcase the stories of African Canadians as well as events. Having said that, there is always room for improvement not only in the quantity and quality of African Canadian stories in mainstream broadcast journalism, but also in the creation of shows and other platforms in which Canadians of African ancestry can celebrate their heritage and tell their stories not just one month of the year. My dream is that someday in the near future we won’t have just one month in the year to remind ourselves of the value and contributions of African Canadians to our country.

What books are on your quintessential Black History Month reading list, for readers seeking to widen their understanding of the Black literary tradition?  What are some memorable books by Black authors that hold a special place on your shelves? 

I think any reader interested in the African experience would find these books hugely informative not to mention a great read. Beloved by Toni Morrison is one of the best novels I have read about the African American experience. It’s an intimate exploration of the emotional and psychological scars of slavery. It’s also just about one of the most beautifully written books in the African American literary canon.

Another is Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. This is one of my favourite novels of all time . I particularly love it for its focus on the interior lives of African American people, especially Black women without any overt reference to or reliance on white oppression to tell their dramatic story. In fact, white characters are incidental, almost irrelevant. These characters (especially Janie and Tea Cake) are full, complex characters onto themselves. They don’t need white society or the struggle against racism to define the value of their lives or validate their existence.    

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin and The Classic Slave Narratives, edited by the great academic Henry Louis Gates Jr. , are also great works. Although completely different, they nonetheless offer great insight into the souls of African Americans and their struggle for self-actualization in two very different time periods in American history.

Often known as the Blood in the Sun trilogy, the novels Maps, Gifts, and Secrets, written by award-winning Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah, are three books that I think are a great introduction to contemporary African literature. Farah has cemented his reputation as one of Africa’s most respected writers and is often championed for a Nobel Prize for Literature. Farah has given himself a literary mission: “To keep my country alive by writing about it.” His novels examine the pain of cultural uncertainty in postcolonial Somalia as well as what has been lost as a result of a brutal 20-year civil war. These three novels show a writer at his best. His rich, fantastical and often wild prose, his commitment to writing about the formidable women of Somalia and his keen eye for the politics of post-colonial Africa make Farah a must read for anyone interested in contemporary African Literature.

What advice would you have to writers who are just starting out?  

Write everyday or at least try. Writing is like a muscle, it atrophies without consistent use. Also, try different forms. If short stories feel too restrictive, try a novel. If a novel feels too loosy-goosy, try plays, which provide a great sense of structure that most young writers find helpful. I have tried screenplays, plays, novels and short stories and all of them have taught me a great deal. I have even tried poetry to disastrous results. But that’s part of the fun, figuring out what works for you and what suits your sensibilities. Also, join a writing group. Mine was hugely rewarding. The Toronto Public Library has a great Writer-In-Residence program, so submit your manuscripts and get valuable feedback from published authors. But most importantly, just keep at it.

What are you reading right now, or planning to read in the near future?

For the past several months I have been reading a lot of books about Islam for work, books such as Reza Aslan’s wonderful No God but God and How to Win a Cosmic War. But on the fiction front, I recently finished reading James Baldwin’s novel Another Country, which has whetted my appetite not only to reread Go Tell on the Mountain and Giovanni’s Room, but also make a dent in his mammoth collection of essays.

Are you currently at work on any new projects? Where can we go to hear or find your work?

I am currently working on a book of short stories titled Home/Stories. It’s a collection of seven linked stories about Somali Canadian men who live in Toronto who are in search of that elusive sense of home. People can find my novel at all major bookstores across the city and my radio work can be found on the websites of CBC shows such as IDEAS and TAPESTRY.

Hassan Ghedi Santur is a Somalian-born Canadian author and graduate of the B.A in English Literature and M.F.A in screenwriting programs at York University. He lives in Toronto where he works as a freelance radio producer for CBC. To read more about Something Remains, visit the Dundurn Press website. Or go to Knowledge Bookstore in Brampton to pick up a copy.

The Tower of Freedom monument in Windsor (only partially shown) depicts formerly enslaved African Americans rejoicing and celebrating their new found freedom in Canada.

By Takara Small

Today is the last day of February also known as Black History Month. For the last 27 days radio stations, TV programs and newspapers have bombarded us with information about the great things African-Canadians have contributed to our country for centuries.

You’ve heard about Harry Jerome, Elijah McCoy and Portia White — or at least you should have — for days on end, but what does Black History Month really mean? Should the month be judged simply by the number of black history references found in popular media or is it bigger than that?

The City of Windsor and the local tourism office want to help a lucky few find out by offering a tour of the very same streets Black Canadians once walked decades ago.

As one of the southernmost areas in Canada, Windsor was a well used entry point for Black refugees escaping oppression in the United States and, the memories and hardships seeped in every piece of stone, wooden house and monument you come across.

The opportunities afforded today’s African-Canadians can at times cloud over past hardships. The 48-hour adventure tour, by a select group of 20 to 30 Torontonians, inspired and reawakened the passion and respect for those who had come before them.

The lives of early Black residents is an important fact that Rosemary Sadlier finds hard to forget. As the president of the Ontario Black History Society, she is well acquainted with Black history and sees tours like this as important for all Canadians not just Black citizens. “This goes beyond race,” she says. “This is our history.”

When asked whether or not Black History Month, and to some extent tours like this, is still necessary, she sighs and settles deeper into her seat. “I’ve been asked this a fair bit,” she says, “especially a few years back. I think we’re not quite there yet; we still have places left to go so this is still very important.”

The group, which I am lucky to be a part of, ventured out to Windsor to learn more about Canadian Black history and along the way learned more about our country’s complicated past than we had ever hoped for.

Instead of the standard walk around with local guides, visitors were treated to an extensive tour that zigged and zagged across the city. There was no awkward silence; just the sound of our tour guides’ voices, the occasional song and the ever-present sound of camera’s clicking away.

Retracing the steps of slaves and seeing for ourselves what they endured at sites such as the Underground Railroad Museum was inspiring. Gwyneth Chapman, a host for Inspiring Youth Television, felt the same way and called the tour “a great opportunity for all Canadians.” Says Chapman: “After going [on the tour], I’m ready to explode in a positive way. It would be great even if you’re not African-Canadian.”

Although the tour itself went by quickly, it provided the group with an insight into Canada’s rich cultural past, identifying the pivotal role Canadians played in abolishing slavery here and in the U.S. One month isn’t enough to define black Black Canadian history, but it is enough to get people thinking about our diverse history, even if it’s only a few at a time.

For more information about the Underground Railroad Tour visit the Windsor Essex website.

Myth or Reality?

While on the train, passengers were treated to a little quiz to test their knowledge of Black history. Take the test and find out how much you know!

1. Africville was a town established by Black refugees in British Columbia.

2. John Newton, the author of the hymm Amazing Grace was a slave trader.

3. Abolitionists were people who believed in the institution of slavery.

4. Viola Desmond was a black anti-racism activist who resided in Nova Scotia.

Answers

1. b) NO: Black Refugees of the War of 1812 in Nova Scotia established Africville. These veterans had accepted an offer of freedom issued by Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane for their support of British interests during this conflict.

2. b) YES: John Newtown was an English ex-slave trader who in later years became a supporter of abolishing slavery and a clergyman. He wrote popular hymns such as “Amazing Grace” and “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.”

3.  NO: Abolitionists wanted to end slavery and were a part of the movement to end Black slavery. Some famous Black abolitionists include Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass and David Walker.

4 b) YES: The NSAACP supported Viola Desmond, a Black woman from Halifax, in her case against a New Glasgow theatre where she was arrested for sitting in the “White-only” section, even though she was willing to buy the more expensive ticket.

Jean Emile Jean-Gilles is the first Canadian to be honoured with the Henry Ford Technology Award

By Elesia Stewart

“With an education you can become somebody great.  Always do your best and if your best is not good enough then we’ll discuss it.”

The words of his late mother echoed in Jean Emile Jean-Gilles’ ears as he and five of his associates from south of the border were handed  a 2010 Henry Ford Technology Award (HFTA) for the design, development and implementation of the programmable side door hinge fixture.

When Jean-Gilles was hand-picked to be a part of the product development team three years ago, he never thought his team would be nominated for their product innovation.  It never crossed his mind that if he won he would make history as the first Canadian recipient of the automotive company’s highest technical commendation since the inception of the HFTA in 1981.

Jean-Gilles never dreamed that his decision to leave his homeland of Haiti in his teens would culminate with such an achievement. The youngest in a family of five, Jean-Gilles came to Montreal in the mid ’70s to live with his sister after his mom passed away. He came to the French-speaking city already licensed as an electrician and engineer.  Nevertheless, knowing the importance of a good education, he continued his quest for knowledge attending the Université de Montréal, then went to Brock, Laurier and Michigan Universities throughout the ’80s, studying computer science, electro-mechanics and business management.

Shadowing his father at a young age, he learned technical skills in auto mechanics.  At the age of 10 he built his first radio and was nearly arrested when he was caught listening to stations broadcast from Cuba, prohibited under the Duvalier regime.

Jean’s mother was also influential in his life, instilling confidence and the belief that, “if your mind can conceive it, you can achieve it.” Empowered by the lessons he learned, Jean-Gilles never let the racist actions of others hinder him.  Armed with integrity and a black belt in judo, he saved the life of a student who was being beaten in the streets of Montreal; the same student who, not long before, refused to work with him on a class project because he was Black.

Jean-Gilles’ academic and professional accomplishments show how vital a good education, support, hard work and a positive attitude are to success.  Today, just as his father and mother mentored him, he mentors high school girls in his hometown of Oakville, ON, teaching them that they too can make history.

"Finally, Kenya is calling me. My crystal ball tells me the time is right. My son did not die for me not to try to change Kenya one more time!" -- Flora Terah

By Flora Terah

I was born on the slopes of Mount Kenya in the East Province of Kenya right after our independence from colonial rule. I am the seventh of nine children from a very conservative middle class family. Throughout my life, I have been witness to so much gender disparity, from my own family and from the educational institutions that I attended.

Now in my adopted country of Canada, as I learn about the great history of our past, especially of The Famous Five and their historic struggle in 1929 trying to find the definition of the word “persons” (in section 24 of the British North America Act of 1867), I look with amazement as Kenyans are still asking that very same question.

Asking that question, once asked by these heroes, cost me the life of my beloved son.

My journey of activism began after giving birth to my son at a local hospital where up to four women shared a single bed in the maternity ward. Women who arrived at the hospital without their own supply of anaesthesia were stitched up without any medication. Hundreds of new mothers unable to pay fees were detained in health care facilities. I was among those women. From then on I swore to address women’s oppression.

I witnessed politicians pilfering money earmarked for hospitals, and unpaid staffers extorting patients and stealing supplies for use at private health facilities. By the time President Kibaki was elected in 2002, on a platform of reform, most public hospitals were little more than shells sheltering demoralized and bitter employees.

Soon after a progressive woman politician, Charity Ngilu, was appointed as the minister for health, the first order of business was to push a bill through to waive maternity fees for women unable to pay. Yet more than 20 million Kenyan women share a total of two mammograms and most deliver their babies on the floor.

The country’s health facilities are in shambles and political will to reform the health sector is faltering. Many backward policies that target women are still the norm in many parts of the country. For example, until a referendum changed the laws last year, female genital mutilation, polygamy, child marriage, wife sharing, widow cleansing and women forbidden from inheriting and/or owning land was legal.

The new charter at least got women out of hell and heading to Canaan. We have to continue to break the walls of discrimination and penetrate all spheres of leadership if we are to see continued change. With our sheer numbers alone, no mountain is too high to climb if we join hands.

In spite of living through these horrible conditions, I managed to emerge as a spokesperson and community worker, educating on HIV/AIDS, talking to both men and women about sex and sexuality and the use of condoms. But it wasn’t until I got into active political participation that I truly knew that I had to speak out on laws that governed my country.

In 2005, I became an emerging voice on gender and governance issues when I was recruited to train for a United Nations funded program for women. The government that had been elected on a platform of reforms and zero tolerance of corruption had disappointed many Kenyans. And as women, my friends and I felt like we needed to take matters into our own hands.

As women, we had strength in numbers. But we needed to be strategic if we were to win elections both at local and national levels. After a year, I was asked to run in the 2007 election against a powerful incumbent who got caught up in a corruption scandal and was forced to step down. The whistleblower fled for his life. That year, 200 women ran for office and I became a leading candidate for a seat in Parliament in a constituency that had never had a woman as a representative. A feeling of excitement and change was everywhere. As polls about our growing power started to emerge, I was abducted and tortured, my hair ripped from my head and mixed with human waste before it was forced down my throat; my leg was broken, my neck dislodged; I was left for dead. In the hospital for weeks, I was no longer able to campaign. I lost the race.

Six months later, my only child was murdered. And justice seemed far away. To recover, I took comfort in words and wrote a book They Never Killed My Spirit But They Murdered My Only Child was written at a time when the world had shut its doors to happiness, love, peace, joy and laughter. I was going through the most difficult moment ever in life.

After I left Kenya, new elections gave way to more women parliamentarians. A new constitution now includes for all gender representation in the socio-economic and political arena; women are finally on a more level playing field. Just a few months ago parliament vetted eight incredible, intelligent and non- corrupt young Kenyans to head the judicial commission under a new constitution. Soon Kenya will have a new chief justice and a new attorney general and all judges will be vetted for competence and probity.

For the first time, before my eyes, even from afar, from the comfort of my Toronto apartment, the role of women is beginning to be recognized and the rule of progressive law respected. That is why in a few months, I will pack my suitcases and go back to Kenya. As a candidate, I was beaten; as a citizen, my son was killed. What they have not taken is my willingness to see what I have learned, observed and loved while in Canada, now reflected in a new Kenya that I want to be a part of.

Finally, Kenya is calling me. I have to go and serve my people. My crystal ball tells me the time is right for me. My son did not die for me not to try to change Kenya one more time!

Black Law Students Association of Canada president Keri Wallace

By Samuel Getachew

A year after The National Black Engineers Conference held the biggest black students convention in Toronto for the very first time, the Black Law Students Association of Canada (BLSAC) convention will also mark its 20th year as well as host their convention here in Toronto.

According to their manifesto, BLSAC “recognizes the essential role that we will play as lawyers in furthering the aspirations of our community and Canadian society as a whole. We are committed to supporting and enhancing the academic, professional and networking opportunities for black law students in both official languages. We also recognize the need to pay it forward and have a very active mentoring program for high school and university students interested in a legal career.”

With inspiration from the American National Black Law Students’ Association, the Canadian association received support from the Attorney General of Ontario, Toronto Race Relations and the Law Society of Upper Canada came in the form of funding and mentorship. Through it all, the association was able to produce well researched and well read documents on subjects such as on the Canadian Law School admission policies and access to the justice system.
High profile guests such as The Honourable Justice Romain Pitt of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, Rosemary Sadlier of the Ontario Black Historical Society and Ontario Minister of Health Promotion and Sport Margarett Best are some of the scheduled speakers. With topics such as racial discrimination and the effectiveness of the judicial system and human rights, equity and accessibility, the sold-out event is expected to be a memorable one. It is also hoped that is would be a mixture of networking and the building of a long lasting relationship between the future nation builders of Canada.

Keri Wallace is a third year law student at the University of Western Ontario as well as the current President of the Canadian Black Law Students. Sway caught up with her to discuss the importance of this association and the effects that two decades has had on society.

Why is BLSAC still important to black students and former students after all these years?
There are still systemic barriers to access to both a legal education and career. Our goal is to help and support current and prospective Black law students. This need is confirmed by the lack of representation of Black law students across Canadian universities. BLSAC events create a welcoming atmosphere where students feel comfortable to be themselves and speak with professionals about their experiences. Many leave the conference with life long friends. It means a lot to be in an environment with so many talented Black professionals who truly care about supporting the community. There’s a sense of empowerment at every BLSAC event and that is probably why our members develop such an attachment to the association.

Late last year, the Faculty of Law of the University of Quebec in Montreal became the first francophone chapter of the BLSAC. How important was that?
BLSAC is a national organization, so it is very important that we have an active francophone community. The French community experiences the same barriers and it is important that they are provided with the same support. We’re very excited about the current growth of BLSAC and hope to see more Quebec chapters joining.

Tell us about the mentorship program at the BLSAC
The mentorship program is one of the most important aspects of BLSAC. This year, our mentorship representative, University of Windsor law student Te-Anna Bailey, did an outstanding job mentoring students and matching undergraduate and high school students with mentors who are currently in law school. We hope that these relationships continue beyond the application process. Mentorship is an important start for law students. Mentors advise students on the rigors of law school, the expectation of the admission committees, and how a student can become a better candidate. Since there are few black students, black undergraduates and high school students may not know anyone in law school. Where other students have the advantage of having a family member or a friend who many have been through the process, not many blacks have this connection available to them. This is where BLSAC steps in, to provide those students with the advantage other applicants have. We hope that this leads to better candidates, which will increase the black student population at Canadian law schools.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff

Samuel Getachew talks with Michael Ignatieff about Black History Month

What is the significance of Black History Month to you?

Black History Month is not just a chance to recognize some of the Canadians who serve as an inspiration to all of us – great figures in our history like Judge George Carter, the Hon. Lincoln Alexander and Ferguson Jenkins – it is also an opportunity to celebrate and encourage the contributions of young black Canadians who are going to play a leading role in defining the Canada of tomorrow. These are the kids that I’ve met in school gymnasiums, in community town halls and in open mike events across this country. To honour their hopes and aspirations is what the Liberal vision for this country is all about.

Name one African Canadian you admire.

Jean Augustine, as a Liberal MP back in 1995, introduced the first motion, passed unanimously in the House of Commons, to recognize Black History Month across Canada. In her time as an MP she also served the constituents of Etobicoke-Lakeshore so admirably that she has always been my example to follow as a parliamentarian.

Henry Walton Bibb

By Erica Phillips

Henry Walton Bibb was a community leader, newspaper publisher and activist in the Windsor, Ont. area. He published Canada’s first black newspaper, The Voice of the Fugitive from 1851 to 1853, which published among other things, stories of escaped slaves. The bi-weekly newspaper helped to promote abolition, temperance, education and agriculture, plus information for the Underground Railroad.

Bibb lived the horrors of slavery in Kentucky; he was sold six times, treated inhumanely and saw his mother and siblings sold. It’s reported that his father was state senator James Bibb.

Henry initially fled to Cincinnati, but was recaptured in 1837 when he returned for his wife. In 1840 he fled for Detroit, then Windsor in 1850. Eventually some of his siblings and his mother joined him in Canada.

Henry taught himself to read and write and worked with Frederick Douglass when he joined an anti-slavery society. Henry and his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Miles, and Josiah Henson helped found the Refugee Home Society in 1851 near Windsor, purchasing 2,000 acres of land. The society was controversial. Henry chaired the North American Convention of Colored People, founded a church and a school and delivered many anti-slavery lectures.

The Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, his autobiography was published in 1849.

The Green party leader Elizabeth May

Samuel Getachew speaks with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May about the Black person she admires most.

Hmm, this is a very difficult, impossible, question.  Only one person?  When the influences in my life have included so many?

I was a girl when Martin Luther King organized to end segregation in the US.  I grew up in Connecticut, in a home where working for civil rights was a daily event.  Dr. King’s words shaped my life.  The closest I ever got to hearing him in person was on a peace march in New York City that I attended with my parents. He was a speaker at the rally, but the streets were so clogged with fellow marchers that we could not get close enough to see him.  We had a transistor radio and everyone around us had one so we could hear him  – loud and clear – from a spot four blocks away.

Hearing his words and knowing I was present with him in solidarity was hugely important. His assassination, when I was 13, was one of the most painful and traumatic incidents of my youth.

And then there is my friend, Clotilda Yakimchuk, the Nova Scotia trailblazer whom I love like a sister.  Clotilda was the daughter of immigrants from the Caribbean who were drawn to Cape Breton to work in the steel mill.  She faced racism and barriers, yet she was the first black graduate of the N.S. School of Nursing in 1954.  Clotilda was also the first, and only to date, black president of the N.S. Nurses Association.

Clotilda Yakimchuck was the first, and only to date, black president of the N.S. Nurses Association.

After graduation, as a young wife, she moved to Grenada with her first husband where she ran the mental health hospital.  Years later, she returned to Cape Breton as a single mom. With kids in tow, she found it hard to rent an apartment, except in the black neighbourhood of Whitney Pier, far from her nursing job at the hospital.  Toxic pollution from the mill and coking ovens were worse in Whitney Pier than anywhere else in industrial Cape Breton, but it was the only place where, as a black woman, she could find an apartment.  It is shocking that racism was endemic in the early 1970s!

Her work in black community development led to a wonderful enduring relationship with her current husband, retired steel worker, and then City councillor, Dan Yakimchuk.