By Neil Armstrong
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| Photo contributed Gareth Henry, new Executive Director of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP) |
The new executive director of the Black
Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP) is Jamaican-Canadian Gareth Henry who
assumed his new position on June 24.
In making the announcement of the appointment
on June 14, Andrew Campbell, Board Chair, said Henry brings a wealth of
community and senior leadership experience to the team.
Henry has played leadership roles in
the non-profit and HIV sectors for almost twenty years.
He has worked at Jamaica Forum for
Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), The 519 Church Street Community Centre
and, most recently, the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation (PWA). Henry has
also served as Board Chair at Africans in Partnership Against AIDS (APAA) for
more than six years.
Henry says he is honoured to have been
chosen as the new executive director of Black CAP.
“For three decades, this organization
has stood tirelessly at the forefront of initiatives and services to prevent
the spread of HIV/AIDS in Toronto’s African, Caribbean and Black community,
while providing compassionate and comprehensive support to those courageously
living with HIV/AIDS. Black CAP as an organization has remained resolute and
unwaveringly committed to this mission, even when this work has been
challenging and at times daunting,” says Henry who has worked at PWA for seven
years as a manager and recently as the director of programs and services
position.
Born in St. Mary, Jamaica, Henry
attended Titchfield High School in Portland and Excelsior Community College in
Kingston before pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies at the University
of the West Indies, Mona campus. He holds a Master of Arts (MA), Communication
for Social and Behaviour Change and a Bachelor's degree in Social Work.
With all that has been happening in the
HIV community around stigma and the absence of faces, in terms of leadership
and who are out about their status and have a presence in community, he felt it
important to be aligned with an African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) organization
as an out positive gay man from the Caribbean.
Henry identifies with all of those
intersectionalities and wants to use it as a platform that creates a visibility
for others to know that they do not have to reside in silence but to see that
they are not alone.
He will use his presence “to challenge
that stigma that is so ingrained in our Black community around HIV, around
sexual orientation and identities and to try to break that kind of cycle and
create opportunities for others to see that they have a voice and can advocate
on their own behalf.”
In 1997, he began volunteering for
Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL), the oldest and largest AIDS-focused,
human rights, non-governmental organization in Jamaica. The following year he
began volunteering at J-FLAG and eventually became its lead advocate and new
director after the organization’s co-founder and spokesperson, Brian Williamson,
was murdered on June 9, 2004.
As a gay man whose life was being
threatened because of his sexual orientation, Henry fled Jamaica and sought
refugee protection in Canada in January 2008, which he was granted in June of
that year.
Henry also volunteers with Rainbow
Railroad, a Canadian nonprofit that helps relocate LGBTQ people who face danger
and oppression around the world.
Since its founding in 2006, Rainbow
Railroad has helped more than 500 individuals find a path to safety to start a
new life free from persecution.
Campbell says one of the new executive
director’s first roles will be to lead the implementation of Black CAP’s new
2019-2024 strategic plan and “build on our strong ties to the community,
excellent programs, ensure our sustainability and lead us into new areas of
work. We are excited to pass the baton to Gareth and support him in this role.”
Henry says as executive director it is
his goal and ambition to continue to move this work forward, “leading the bold
action, strategic partnerships, and authentic community engagement that have
been the backbone and hallmark of Black CAP’s impact in Toronto’s Black
community.”
“I am pleased to bring more than 17
years of experience working with the Black and LGBTQ communities in both Canada
and my homeland of Jamaica into this role.”
Over the past several months, a
recruitment committee of the Black CAP Board of Directors conducted an
extensive recruitment and interview process, interviewing several highly
qualified candidates.
“As the Chair of the Black CAP Board, leading
a transparent and inclusive recruitment process has been one of the most
important leadership roles for our Board. This was not an easy task for the
recruitment committee as we wanted to ensure that we found someone strong
enough to lead this organization, creative enough to lead change and sensitive
enough to engage our community. Our Board is both unified and confident in our
choice,” says Campbell.
The Board also thanked Beth Jordan of
Adobe Consulting Services for her support throughout the recruitment
process.
It extended its appreciation to
outgoing executive director, Shannon Ryan, for his leadership over the past
thirteen years.
Ryan has served in that position since
July 2006 and he has played an important role in building Black CAP into a
leading organization in Ontario’s HIV and health sectors.
Ryan will continue to play a leadership
role in Ontario’s HIV sector as he has accepted the executive director role at
the Ontario AIDS Network (OAN).
“We wish him luck as he takes the next
steps in his career,” says the Black CAP Board.
The Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention is the largest
service provider of its kind in Canada consisting of a community of outreach
experts, support specialists and activists dedicated to improving health
outcomes for African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) people who are living with, and
affected by, HIV.
Its mission is to reduce the spread of HIV infection within
Toronto’s ACB communities and enhance the quality of life of people living
with, or affected by, HIV or AIDS.
In 2018, Henry was featured in the
Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in 2014 in
the Canadian Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba as a human rights defender.
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