By Neil Armstrong
 |
| Photo credit: Jerimi Jones/Jones & Jones Productions Ltd. Artists Jully Black and Exco Levi at the TD Black History Month Series Launch at the Harboufront Centre |
As Canada celebrates February as Black History Month,
sixteen cities across the country will hold events that are part of the TD Bank
series in recognition of the month.
Naki Osutei, associate vice president, partnerships and
engagement, Global Corporate Citizenship, said the bank has invested more than
$1.5M in 90 programs across the country and supports organizations throughout
the year.
“Our history is in
our bodies, it’s in our faces, it’s in pain, it’s in our success; it’s in our
struggles. It’s in everything that we experience but we understand so little of
it. How can we then understand the world we are living in today, how can we
build the equitable inclusive societies and futures that we say we want to see,”
asked Osutei at the launch of the Black History Month Series held at the
Harbourfront Centre in Toronto.
She said irrespective of the time there has always been a
fight for equity and equality and while much progress has been made there is
still a very long way to go.
Osutei noted that people can look at the stories of Black
Canadian trailblazers, such as William Peyton Hubbard, Viola Desmond, Elijah
McCoy and contemporary figures, to see their own stories.
“Celebrating Black History Month reminds us of our past. It
helps us find a way to understand our present and maybe, just maybe, it will
help us correct our future,” said Osutei, underscoring that this is the reason
the bank has supported Black History Month for more than a decade.
Also highlighted at the event was “Royal,” a short film by
Nathan Burland made possible by The Remix Project which helps youth
who are trying to enter into the creative industries or further their formal
education.
Burland said the community helped him with this project that
celebrates culture.
 |
| Photo credit: Jerimi Jones/Jones & Jones Productions Ltd. Naki Osutei, Associate Vice President, Partnership and Engagement, Corporate Global Citizenship, TD Bank |
Actor Tonya Williams, who is also the founder, executive and
artistic director of the Reelworld Film Festival, said it is important to
recognize the past but also to realize that actions in the present will be the
history of fifty years from now.
Williams said she started the film festival because she was
distressed with what she was seeing in Canada.
The actor, who was born in England and grew up in Jamaica
and Canada, had started her career in Canada in the late 1970s but moved to the
United States – and was there for 20 years -- because there was such little
opportunity here.
She said after finding success in the US she would come back
to Canada and speak at different events and “all the young people I met, not
just Black people but all people of colour, all they ever wanted to talk to me
about was how they could get to the US and that was distressing for me.
“Why did they all have to leave this country – this amazing
country – to go to another country to find the success that they should
rightfully have here and Reelworld was really born out of that anger and
determination that I had for that, that people can leave the country if they
want to but they shouldn’t have to. There should be enough opportunities here.”
 |
| Photo credit: Jerimi Jones/Jones & Jones Productions Ltd. Tonya Williams, Executive and Artistic Director, Reelworld Film Festival |
Also in attendance was the JUNO
Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and actor Jully Black who is making
her musical theatre debut in the lead role as
Caroline at this year’s run of
“Caroline, Or Change.”
She joins internationally renowned
Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman, who plays The Moon, at the Winter
Garden Theatre in Toronto in the production which opened on January 30 and ends
on February 15.
JUNO Award-winning reggae virtuoso
Jamaica-born Exco Levi, who will perform at the fifth annual Tribute to the
Legends of Reggae tour, organized by Jones and Jones Productions for February 8
and 9 in Brampton and Montreal respectively, gave a preview of his performance.
The launch was hosted by Maestro Fresh
Wes who recently became the first rap artist to ever have a song inducted into
the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He encouraged artists at the event to
create history instead of aiming to achieve records.
No comments:
Post a Comment