Black AIDS Prevention Agency Reports Growth, Stability and Challenges

By Neil Armstrong

Shannon Ryan, executive director of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention, left, and Andrew B. Campbell, chair of the board of directors at Black CAP's annual general meeting on Sept. 21, 2017.

Despite funding challenges, the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP) has described the past year as one of program growth and stability.

Shannon Ryan, executive director, says like many small AIDS service organizations, Black CAP struggles to keep its doors open.

At its annual general meeting on September 21 in Toronto, Ryan noted that the agency continues to be under-resourced as funding from its core funder, the AIDS Bureau, has not increased since 2011.

“With inflation this essentially means our core funding has been reduced by almost ten percent over this time. As a result, we struggle with issues of cash flow, staff salaries, benefits costs, occupancy costs, and are increasingly relying on community members to help us fill some of the gaps in order for us to continue our work.”

In spite of this, Ryan said the agency made significant gains.

He noted in the 2016/2017 annual report that in the past year, more so than in the last decade, the sector had seen significant advancements in prevention technologies related to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), undetectable viral load, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and issues such as undetectable equals untransmittable (U=U), and criminalization.

“We have worked to keep pace with these changes and have tried to ensure that our clients and community are as informed as possible about these developments.”

Ryan said more than ever Black CAP is required to work in new ways to ensure an alignment with the new provincial HIV/AIDS Strategy to 2026.

“This includes a focus on the HIV treatment cascade to ensure that those living with HIV in our community are diagnosed, engaged in care and attain an undetectable viral load. Our work along the cascade recognizes some of the specific barriers that African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) communities experience as they work to maintain and manage their health,” he said.

Over the past year, Black CAP expanded its work with trans communities through the planning of a pilot intervention for racialized trans women called T-Love.

In March 2017, it received funding from the City of Toronto to launch the fourth iteration of the Toronto For All campaign focused on racialized trans youth issues.

The agency participated in a number of research studies to expand its understanding of the impact of HIV in the community.

This included research to better understand the feasibility of PrEP in ACB communities, research to address HIV risk between positive ACB people and their negative partners, and research to understand HIV risk for ACB people after migrating to Canada.

After two years of research and development, the agency has finalized the “My Black is Healthy” website (myblack.is).

This site was developed for gay, bisexual, and other black men who have sex with men who are looking for accurate health information and/or connections to healthcare services and supports.

Staff also participated in several training opportunities including naloxone, fentanyl, AR/AO, the science of HIV transmission and others.

Over the year, the agency has worked with more than 700 clients who required supports related to their HIV and immigration status. This includes more than 230 individuals living with HIV and 400 affected and at risk.

Working to address anti-black racism in the city, Black CAP hosted a series of community consultations on behalf of the City of Toronto to support the municipal government’s “Toronto Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism.”

Andrew Campbell, board chair, provided an update on the establishment of a steering committee that is exploring the feasibility of merging Black CAP and Africans in Partnership Against AIDS (APAA).

“Several factors contribute to the need for this exploration process. The funding environment has become much more competitive over the past five years and our agencies compete for the same dollars. HIV related funding at the provincial and federal levels has also been frozen for a number of years and these funders are increasingly demanding that agencies such as ours collaborate, align our programming to their strategic objectives and look for service integration opportunities,” notes a printed update presented at the meeting.

Both APAA, established in 1993, and Black CAP, in 1989, have long histories of addressing HIV in Toronto’s diverse African, Caribbean and Black communities.

The merger exploration steering committee is comprised of eight individuals from both boards.

[This story has been published in the North American Weekly Gleaner, Sept. 28-Oct.4, 2017 issue.]

Lisa Tomlinson Lauded at her Book Launch at the University of the West Indies

By Neil Armstrong

Dr. Lisa Tomlinson signing copies of her book at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.

A few hours after flying into Kingston, Jamaica and resting up during the downpour last Thursday (Sept. 14), a childhood friend dropped me off at the Undercroft, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.

My friend, Dr. Lisa Tomlinson, was launching her first book, The African-Jamaican Aesthetic: Cultural Retention and Transformation Across Borders, published by Brill Rodopi.

Lisa is a lecturer at the university in the Institute of Caribbean Studies. I met her at York University many years ago. She insisted that I had to be there-:) My plan was to enjoy the event and make a few notes.

Although I hadn’t seen the UWI campus in many years, it was familiar territory and felt more so when I saw Lisa’s mother, Gwendolyn Tomlinson, and sister, Sherldine Tomlinson, who had flown in from Toronto the day before for the event. Another sister, Karen Tomlinson, was in Toronto but witnessed the event via WhatsApp video.

In her welcome remarks, Dr. Donna Hope, senior lecturer at the Institute of Caribbean Studies, said it was the born day party for the book and congratulated Lisa for the cultural significance and critical value of her work in the life of the academy.

She noted that this was Lisa’s first single-authored work and underscored that it was the end of countless hours of research and writing.

Dr. Donna Hope, senior lecturer, Institute of Caribbean Studies welcoming those in attendance.

Professor Waibinte E. Wariboko, dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, said the author’s work sits firmly into multiple locations. He alluded to a force that is pulling many of us back to Jamaica and that in this case, Lisa had become a pull for her family to fly in for the launch.

Wariboko saluted Lisa for the bold step that she has taken and her multidisciplinary approach where she is able to make significant contributions to many departments at the university.

He highlighted Lisa’s contribution to the growth and development of scholarships in the humanities and education.

Opening remarks by Professor Waibinte E. Wariboko, dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education.

Dr. Sonjah Niahh Stanley, director and senior lecturer, Institute of Caribbean Studies, lauded Lisa for completing the publication of a book, noting how taxing the process can be.

“There’s a certain fire…she’s a go-getter…likkle but tallawah,” she said, noting also that the institute encourages rigour in scholarship and the book was an important milestone in the body of Caribbean scholarship.

“As an academic it’s write or perish,” she said.

Dr. Sonjah Niahh Stanley, director and senior lecturer, Institute of Caribbean Studies makes opening remarks.

Schontal Moore, lecturer, School of Education read excerpts of poems written by Una Marson and Canadian dub poet, Lillian Allen.

Schontal Moore, lecturer, School of Education.

Professor Carolyn Cooper, author and literary scholar, shared her review of the book noting that in the classroom of the former marginalized child becomes the teacher.

“Home is a drifting terrain.”

Professor Carolyn Cooper presents a review of the book.

After Lisa spoke about why she wrote the book (which I wrote about a few weeks ago in an article in the Gleaner), there was a duet by Dr. Novlett Plunkett, senior education officer, Ministry of Education, and Hugh Douse of the UWI.

Dr. Novlett Plunket, senior education officer, Ministry of Education and Hugh Douse of UWI sing Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted and Black."

There was a dance performance by Nastacia McFarlane and presentations of the book to the UWI’s library and the National Library of Jamaica. 

Nastacia McFarlane in dance.

Dr. Lisa Tomlinson talks about her book.

Dr. Tomlinson presents a copy of her book to Monique Forgie-Scott of the National Library of Jamaica.

Dr. Tomlinson presents a copy of her book to Audrey Saddler of the UWI Library.

Left-right: Dr. Sonjah Niahh Stanley, Professor Carolyn Cooper, Dr. Lisa Tomlinson and Dr. Donna Hope.

The author's proud family: mother, Gwendolyn Tomlinson, in middle, sister, Sherldine, right, and a friend.

Left-right: Sherldine Tomlinson, Dr. Andrea Davis and Gwendolyn Tomlinson.

Professor Carolyn Cooper, Lisa Tomlinson and Sherldine Tomlinson.

 Natural Touch Vegan Café of Orchid Village Plaza catered providing lentil balls, sweet and sour tofu, ital stew, june plum juice, banana fritters and plantain.

There were some familiar faces in the audience including Mervyn Morris, poet and professor emeritus at UWI, and Jamaica’s first Poet Laureate since Independence in 1962; Dr. Ajamu Nangwaya, Institute of Caribbean Studies, UWI; Dr. Andrea Davis, Chair of the Department of Humanities, York University; and Nadi Edwards of the Department of Literatures in English, UWI.

Jamaican Choreographer Teaches Dancehall at Canadian University

By Neil Armstrong

Judy Madarasz and Mikhail Morris of Ketch Di Vybz at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Photo contributed

Jamaica-born, Vancouver-based dancer and choreographer, Mikhail Morris, has embarked on a new venture – he’s teaching a new course on Jamaican dancehall at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

The university is hoping that the course will attract members from the black community to its arts programs.

Morris, 28, is teaching “FPA 120: Introduction to Dance Forms: Contemporary and Popular Subject: Dancehall History and Fundamentals” during the fall semester, September -December 2017, at the Vancouver campus.

Raised in Kingston, Morris is a graduate of Edna Manley School of the Visual and Performing Arts and co-director of Ketch Di Vybz, a company he co-founded with Judy Madarasz in 2015.

The course is a combination of theory and dance.  Morris created the curriculum to teach the socio-historical factors that inspired the creation of reggae and dancehall music and culture.

“Through an overview of this history, students attain a better understanding of Jamaican culture and living experiences expressed through the actual music and dance. It is in this way that when the students begin to learn and practice the dancehall dance steps and listen to the music that they can contextualize the lyrics, vybz, and concepts for the steps,” notes the course description.

Morris says this is the first time that a curriculum is created whereby dancehall is the subject taught and graded in a top university in North America.

However, Henry Daniel, professor of dance and performance studies at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, says this is a new development in the university’s program but it is by no means a new thing to schools such as theirs across North America.

“What is new to our program is that we are able to offer in the same semester studio courses in Jamaican Dancehall, Hip Hop, and Bhangra on our three Vancouver/BC Lower Mainland campuses. These three cultural forms reflect the growing interest that our students have in alternate dance techniques...alternate in the sense that they differ from the regular mainstream contemporary/modern dance techniques that are usually offered.”

He said SFU has been teaching Hip Hop and Bhangra for quite a few years and the response has been extremely enthusiastic. 

Henry Daniel, Professor of Dance and Performance Studies at Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts. Photo contributed

Professor Daniel said they asked Morris to teach there “because he has been offering this movement form to dancers in the Vancouver area to great acclaim and I estimate that the same will occur in his classes for the students in our university.”

“Finally, I asked Mikhail to apply to teach this course in our program because I believe we could attract members from the black community to our arts programs, a community that I believe could offer a great deal to the cultural life of Vancouver as a whole,” he said.

Madarasz, a graduate of SFU and co-director of Ketch Di Vybz is the course assistant.

"I'm really proud of him and what this means for dancehall and Jamaica, as well as his career. I am grateful to have witnessed and supported his amazing journey and work ethic.”

She said this is pushing her “knowledge and skills as a dancer and teacher to higher levels."

Using dancehall vocabulary as a foundation, Morris said he grew up around dancehall culture and has seen how people fought to celebrate it.

A dancer for 17 years, Morris said he wants to create opportunities for others to tell their story through their culture, history, technique and style.

He has performed with several Toronto-based dance companies, including Ballet Creole, COBA, KasheDance, Newton Moreas, and Nafro.

Simon Fraser University was established in 1965 and has campuses in British Columbia’s largest municipalities – Surrey, Vancouver and Burnaby.

SFU says it has become Canada’s leading comprehensive university with deep roots in partner communities throughout the province and around the world.

[This story has been published in the NA Weekly Gleaner, Sept. 21-27, 2017 issue.]

Children's Author to Receive Honourable Mention at Awards in Washington, D.C.

By Neil Armstrong

Nadia L. Hohn, author, musician and educator.        Photo contributed

Toronto author, musician and educator, Nadia L. Hohn, is excited that her first picture book, “Malaika’s Costume,” will receive an honourable mention at the 2017 Americas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature organized by the Centre for Latin American Studies.

She will be flying to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. for the ceremony which will be held on Sept. 22, during Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The book, written by Hohn and illustrated by Irene Luxbacher, an artist and author, won the Helen Isobel Sissons Canadian Children’s Story Award in 2016.

“In Nadia Hohn’s touching and timely picture book, we are introduced to Malaika, a young girl living at home with her Grandma in the Caribbean while her mother is working far away in icebox-like Canada to provide a better life for her family. Told in distinctive Caribbean patois, Malaika’s voice genuinely rings out to the reader, as she describes both her excitement about the upcoming Carnival celebrations, and her feelings of sadness and disappointment in missing her mother on this special holiday,” note the organizers.

“Accompanied by colorful collage-style illustrations by Irene Luxbacher that bring Malaika’s island home alive, the reader is introduced to the costumes and characters of Carnival. There are also numerous significant visual details to catch a young reader’s eye, such as drawings presumably from Malaika herself that provide a window into her emotional state throughout the story. Moreover, Luxbacher does a magnificent job of displaying tender emotion in the expressions of Malaika and her Grandma, adding an even deeper richness to the story.”

Heaping praise on the book, they note that: “We watch Malaika, with her Grandma’s support, transform an old dusty costume into a bright and beautiful peacock costume. In the process, we witness her emerge as a “shiny and proud and strong” version of herself in the Carnival parade. Hohn demonstrates a deft, expert touch in handling challenging topics such as family separation and immigration in a way that speaks sincerely to young readers while presenting a tale of vibrant strength, ingenuity and spirit. (Grades K-3).”

Hohn, who was born in Toronto of Jamaican parentage, wrote the book in 2010, and in 2014 was inspired to do a sequel, “Malaika’s Winter Carnival,” when she asked the question: “What if this happened?” 

She thought of placing Malaika in Quebec because she spent time there studying French and working there.

“How do you take this very sunny, warm, girl who loves carnival, island girl, and drop her in the middle of this winter wonderland and how does she fare. That’s basically what happens to a lot of immigrants, especially from the Caribbean.”

She is hoping that young readers will see a child, like themselves, and identify her resilience and resourcefulness in themselves, see the value of family, and that “despite the distances, families can still remain intact and loving.”

“Malaika is a very funny character in the sense that she just calls it as she sees it and she’s feisty. She’s got that little edge to her, but she’s also resourceful, smart and creative.”

Hohn is also the author of “Music” and “Media Studies,” part of the Sankofa series, which won the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Multicultural Non-Fiction. 

She’s working on a biography about Harriet Tubman and trying to adapt the Malaika books to a play, among other things.

“I actually just made a list today because the thing is I always have lots of ideas. I jot down the ideas and it maybe years before I come back to them or I start writing them because I’m doing other things. I’m teaching and what not, I don’t always get to finish them off the bat.”

Hohn is also working on a biography of Louise Bennett Coverley and was hoping to have been in Jamaica during the summer for research.

Her plans changed when her brother died, however, she hopes to go in early 2018.

“I think I’m much closer with the picture book manuscript. I’ve written many, many, versions of it but I feel like it’s heading down the right path. So that’s the first one. As I was doing all my research, I said there’s a second book here so that one will be more of a non-fiction biography. I don't know if it’s going to be a novel, I don’t know what form it will take but it will be for an older audience.” 

Her deadline to have the book out is during 2019 – the 100^th anniversary of Miss Lou’s birthday.
She also has two novels in the works and also plans to do a memoir based on her travels.

Last year, she taught music in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Hohn was to go to Vietnam to teach but reconsidered after reflecting on a number of things that have happened in her life over the last few years. She decided to refocus and to do some personal things here.

Hohn taught French, music and the arts at the Africentric Alternative School but during this school year will be supply teaching and hopes to do schools and libraries visits.

Over the past year, including during layovers, Hohn has travelled to France, Italy, England, Egypt, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Barbados, Trinidad, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

While growing up the only book she recalled seeing where a child looked like her in the contemporary Toronto was “Harriet’s Daughter,” written by Marlene Nourbese Phillip and published in 1988.

 “I started reading probably before I really should have been reading Alice Walker. I was reading Alice Walker in elementary school; in grade 7, those African American writers – Walter Dean Myers, Rosa Guy and Rita Williams-Garcia. I was just so hungry for black stories, African American stories, stories of people who look like me.”

Hohn started making picture books when she was a child, always making characters that look like her.

As she got older she started writing for her school’s newspaper and also kept a journal over those years. 

“It wasn’t until years later, in my 30s, just before the Africentric school opened I had this book idea. Its changed shape so many times but the main character was a black Rastafarian boy and I worked on that story for years. It’s changed so many ways but at the start of a brand new school and wanting to have my classroom reflect my kids -- the students I’d be teaching -- I went on a hunt for black books at A Different Booklist, Knowledge Bookstore, the local bookstores, and then I went to the US and I bought a lot of books there too.”

Hohn said she realized that there weren’t many books that mention Canada. 

“We’re here. I realized I’ve always had this love for black culture and black stories. Even when I was doing “Iced in Black,” this film festival in 2000 to 2003, I realized I just showed films because they were so important to legitimize and to say yes, this is our stuff -- this is us. It’s not American; it’s us. It’s born right here so I realize now I want to be – I am -- one of those pioneers. I want to be present for our kids who need to see authors that look like them. We are not far and removed from their reality,” she said.

[A shorter version of this story has been published in the Weekly Gleaner, Sept. 14-20, 2017 issue.]

CaribbeanTales Film Festival Opens with Documentary about Machel Montano

By Neil Armstrong

Machel Montano at the Canadian premiere of the film, "Machel Montano: Journey of a Soca King," at the Royal Theatre on Sept. 6, 2017.    Photo contributed

The 12th annual CaribbeanTales International Film Festival opened in Toronto with a stellar lineup of special guests, including renowned Trinidadian soca singer, actor, record producer and songwriter, Machel Montano.

He is the subject of the documentary, “Machel Montano: Journey of a Soca King,” directed by Bart Phillips which had its Canadian premiere on Sept. 6 at the Royal Theatre.

Also attending the event were:  Barbadian Alison Hinds dubbed the “Queen of Soca,” Joseph Marcell of St. Lucia and the UK, best known for his role as Geoffrey in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and Trinidadian Nickolai Salcedo – all actors in the short film, “Battledream Chronicle – The Series,” which had its world premiere that night.

“Machel Montano: Journey of Soca King” chronicles the soca artist’s growth from a child star to his reign as the world’s soca monarch, collaborating with Grammy Award-winning songwriters and producers like Angela Hunte and Diplo.

Cherrone Mokund, acting consul general for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in Toronto, presented a plaque to Montano in recognition of his contribution to the culture of his country and the Caribbean.

Montano underscored the significance of Caribbean culture and the importance of “telling our stories.”

“Battledream Chronicles is an animation pilot voiced by Caribbean stars. It tells the story of Syanna, a young slave in a futuristic world where plantations are video games.

She and her team of rebels must hack the system to gain their freedom.

Marcell plays arch-villain Zeus Thunderking, while Jamaica’s “queen of stage and screen,” Leonie Forbes voices Kerberia, the computer generated servant.

Salcedo is the rapacious Torquemada, Hinds plays Leto, Syanna’s mother, and Jamaican Sheldon Shepard is the charismatic teacher.

Talented Guyanese newcomer, Nuriyyih Gerrard plays the central character, Syanna.

“We have a legacy. We’re building something that has sustainability. And when Canada is celebrating 150 years of its story, we in the Caribbean are celebrating hundreds of years of our stories. Like the story of Toussaint Louverture who built an army and took on the trained troops of Napoleon’s army and won and created the first independent black republic in the world – one story,” said Frances-Anne Solomon, CEO of CaribbeanTales International Film Festival.

She also referenced the story of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara who “kicked out the Americans, kicked out the capitalists and created a communist country in America’s armpit that survives till this day – free, independent, healthcare, the best healthcare in the world, great filmmakers – one story.”

Prompted by a member of the audience, Solomon also mentioned Marcus Garvey, a Caribbean man “who created the concept of Pan-Africanism and created the idea that we, as people of African descent would build and be profitable on our own efforts.”

“Those are just the tip of the iceberg of the stories that we have to tell as Caribbean people,” she said.

Solomon said everyone has stories to tell and “this is our time to tell our stories.”

This year’s festival, which closes on Sept. 21, presents 14 feature films and 30 short films from eighteen 18 countries.

On Sept. 14, the feature presentation will be “Pimento and Hot Pepper – The Mento Story,” directed by Rick Elgood, a documentary which explores the origin of the Jamaican music, mento, and where it is today.

Two Jamaican short films, “Shoot the Girl” directed by Natalie Thompson and “A Broken Appointment” by Kaleb DAguilar will also have their Canadian premiere at the festival.

“Shoot the Girl” is about 12-year-old Trench Town tomboy, Likkle, who is schooled in urban survival skills by her father, Sting, and uses them to outwit the area don who kills her father.

Set to the backdrop of “Epilogue,” a poem by Kei Miller, “A Broken Appointment” explores the dynamic of closeting within a young gay relationship, and how “hiding in the dark” may lead to a destructive end.

“However, Miller’s poetry attempts to offer some optimism for the ability of queer Caribbean relationships to rise again after an unfortunate end,” notes the synopsis of the film.

The CaribbeanTales Incubator Program’s 2017 projects include Jamaican productions: “The Agency,” a 13-part comedic drama by Rick Elgood and Paul O. Beale, and “TRANScribe,” a 13-part travel documentary series that visually explores and celebrates Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora writers.

Some Events Happening in September and October 2017 - Greater Toronto Area

CaribbeanTales International Film Festival 2017, Sept. 13-21. Film screenings will be held at the Royal Theatre, 608 College St., Toronto from Sept. 13-20. The Closing & Awards Night will be held on Sept. 21 at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto, 259 Richmond St. West, Toronto. www.caribbeantalesfestival.com

The Gala Opening of the 12th annual CaribbeanTales International Film Festival at the Royal Theare in Toronto on Sept. 6, 2017.

United Achievers’ Club presents its 33^rd annual Scholarship & Recognition Awards on Saturday, Sept. 16, 6pm at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, 90 Biscayne Crescent, Brampton. Keynote speaker: Dr. Everton Gooden, Chief of Staff, North York General Hospital. Call 905-796-1916/905-459-1942

JCA 15^th annual Scholarship Awards will be held on Saturday, Sept. 16, 7pm at the Jamaican Canadian Centre, 995 Arrow Rd., Toronto. Keynote speaker: Dr. Gervan Fearon, president & vice-chancellor, Brock University. Call 416-746-5772

A Different Booklist Cultural Centre launches BIGGER.BETTER.BOLDER fundraising campaign with “Planting the Seeds” a Live Stream-A-Thon on Sunday, September 17, 7:00am-10:00pm, 777-779 Bathurst St., Toronto.

 A Different Booklist Cultural Centre: The People’s Residence will host “Planting the Seeds”, a modern day stream-a-thon campaign to raise funds for the centre’s community and education programs. This event aims to raise $300,000 to support the organization’s mission.

Akoma Learning Centre presents: “Working While Black: Effectively Combatting Anti Black Racism in the Workplace” on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 9:30am-4:30pm at 65 Wellesley St. East, Suite 501 (at Church St.), Toronto. [See attached flyer]

Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention’s annual general meeting will be on Thursday, Sept. 21, 6pm at 20 Victoria St., 4^th Floor, Toronto. Call 416-977-9955/info@black-cap.com

The Word On The Street, Canada’s largest outdoor book and magazine festival, will be held on Sunday, Sept. 24, 11am-6pm at the Harbourfront Centre, Toronto. A free event. B. Denham Jolly will discuss his memoir, “In the Black: My Life,” at 1:30pm and 4pm at the Toronto Book Awards Tent.

Seminars4u in association with Gems House of Jerk presents... Mutabaruka Live in Concert (Toronto) on Sunday, September 24 inside the Jamaican Canadian Association, 995 Arrow Rd., Toronto.

Sistah Claudia - will speak on Mindfulness & Meditation.

Ubuntu Dance and Drumming - will provide the edutainment

Spoken Word poet - Dwayne Morgan, Up From The Roots ( Greetings)

Sistah Thandiwe - All African People's Revolutionary Party (Greetings)

Global Afrikan Communities Network - Welcome and Greetings

SankofaInCipher - Marketing and Promotions

MC:       Delroy G, G 98.7 FM

Music by: DJ Corey & Mutabaruka (After Party)

Vegan and Vegetarian meals provided by: V's Restaurant

Natural Juice provided by: Humble Heights Creations Juice & Tea

For vendors: please contact Brother Sankofa at 647.995.2624/ 647.380.2573.  He has limited early bird tickets for $25 until September 15. [See attached flyer]

A Jamaica 55 panel discussion organized by Professor Carl James, Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora, will be held on Friday, Oct. 6, 5:30-9:00 p.m., at York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto. Panelists: Juliet Holness, MP for St. Andrew East Rural, Jamaica; Avis Glaze, education consultant; and Professor Daniel Coleman, English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University. Moderator: Professor Andrea Davis, Chair of Humanities, York University.

A-Supreme Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides care and support to community seniors, will be hosting “A New Era of Care Grand Gala” on Saturday, October 7, 7-10pm at the International Plaza Hotel in Toronto.

The gala is designed to benefit and further improve the organization’s critical contributions to providing subsidized homecare for seniors in need. The event’s keynote speaker will be Juliet Holness, MP for East Rural St. Andrew, and wife of Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness.

Tickets for the Gala can now be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/a-new-era-of-care-grand-gala-tickets-36552403222.

International Festival of Authors, Oct. 19-29, 2017, Toronto’s Festival of Words & Ideas featuring over 150 authors in 11 days of readings, interviews, panel discussions and book signings. Among the authors featured will be Andre Alexis, Drew Hayden Taylor, Lee Maracle, and others at the Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto. Ifoa.org. 416-973-4000

The Heritage Singers Canada presents “Reflections…A Walk Down Memory Lane” to celebrate its 40^th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2pm and 7:30pm at Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. (Yonge & Sheppard area). Box Office: 416-250-3708. Heritagesingers1977@gmail.com

Operation Black Vote Canada presents GENERATION NEXT Black Youth Political Summit, for youth 16-24 years on Saturday, Oct. 28, 1:00-4:00pm at Toronto City Hall, Community Room 1, 100 Queen St. W., Toronto.

Sponsored by Councillor Michael Thompson, Ward 37

Educator Underscores the Role of Education in Confronting Anti-Black Racism

By Neil Armstrong

Natasha Henry, educator and historian.  Photo contributed

 

Educator and historian, Natasha Henry, says education is a transformative tool that can address anti-black racism.

She says education plays a crucial role in combating the racism faced by African Canadians.

Based on her work as a historian and curriculum consultant, Henry advocates for a history education that mandates the inclusion of the experiences of African Canadians in public schools through the direct inclusion of learning expectations in the Ontario curriculum, including the racial discrimination they faced and a history-based anti-racism teaching approach, supported by required teacher training in anti-racism

Henry was a presenter at the two-day Faculty of Education Summer Institute (FESI) 2017 held at York University on Aug. 23 and 24.

Under the theme, “Relationships to Canada 150: Paradoxes, Contradictions and Questions,” the event brought together educators, teacher candidates, parents and community members to engage in critical discussions about the purpose,
impact and quality of education and social outcomes since the birth of
Canada and what the next 150 years look like in these areas.

Henry’s presentation was entitled “Black Canadian Citizenship in the Time of Canada 150: A Retrospective and a Call to Action.”

Other workshop and keynote presentation topics included: Indigenous perspectives
on violence against Indigenous women and girls; Indigenous experience in
education; Chinese exclusion and Indigenous dispossession; the queer
experience; and challenging Islamophobia, among other things.

Henry said social studies curriculum and instruction generally avoids controversy and complexity while providing one-dimensional renderings of historical people, groups, and events.

“It is important for students to learn, to help develop a critical understanding of Canadian history and to better understanding the legacies of racial discrimination that persist today,” she said.

This correctly locates people of African descent on the Canadian landscape as part of the national narrative and offers an explanation as to why blacks are not represented or seen in some spaces (e.g. cottage country).

It also provides the necessary context to what’s happening today to what people observe but might not be able to name/ articulate, she said.

Henry called for the development of a critical historical consciousness, learning new ways of thinking about the past; linking the past, present and future; and to motivate students to become active in change.

This would educate and increase awareness in learners, and by extension, society and is important for both black and non-black students, said Henry.

“We must deconstruct its colonial, imperial, slave past as part of our efforts to address the human rights injustices that continue to plague African Canadians and agitate their full and equal participation in Canadian society.”

In her presentation, Henry shared a brief history of anti-black racism in Canada in slavery, immigration, civil service, military service, nursing, real estate and housing, surveillance, policing, and black resistance, activism, and organizing in Ontario and Canada.

Turning her attention to education, she noted that African Canadians were denied education when enslaved, excluded from some public schools, and the Separate Schools provision was manipulated to support the practice of segregated schooling.

School taxes were collected from black property-holding residents to help pay for public schools, even though their children could not attend them.

Black students excluded from certain programs and black students were viewed as ‘less than,’ she said.

“In education, how have these traumas and divisions, the beliefs and attitudes that created these historical circumstances been forwarded throughout the years to today?”

Henry emphasized that there were concerns from the first race report for Toronto District School Board in 1979, “Towards Race Equity in Education,” a report by Professor Carl James and others, and what was heard from students and parents.

“What is evident from these few examples is that citizenship did/does not translate into equality. Some voices, in this case Black Canadians, remain systemically silenced and gaping inequalities persist.”

She is calling for the inclusion of black-focused content/ representation in the curriculum and for the removal of systemic barriers, among other things.

“There’s a lot of work to do to create the Canada we want, to ensure that all Black Canadians have full and complete rights and freedoms; we need to follow in the footsteps of black men and women who agitated for justice and equality and continue their work,” she said.

[This story has been published in the NA Weekly Gleaner, Sept. 7-13, 2017.]