School Officially Renamed Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School

By Neil Armstrong

Photo contributed     Somali-Canadian journalist Hodan Nalayeh in whose honour a school in Vaughan, Ontario was renamed Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School

 

Students at Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School in Thornhill, Ontario, are brimming with ideas about how to celebrate the former Somali-Canadian journalist in whose honour their school was officially renamed on May 19.

 

Some have suggested including daily quotes from her during the school’s morning announcements, at annual assemblies, and on social media. Others believe that she was a model of inspiration, social activism and education and they want her story told at the school so that all students know it. 

 

Nalayeh, who once resided in Vaughan, and her husband, Farid Jama Suleiman, were among 26 people who were killed in an attack on the Asasey hotel in Kismayo, Somalia, on July 12, 2019. 

The renaming ceremony follows a meeting of the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) in early March at which a motion to change the name of Vaughan Secondary School was voted on with 10 of the 12 trustees in favour of it. This change resulted from a major push by the Black community to have it done.

The school’s previous name honoured Benjamin Vaughan, a Jamaica-born British diplomat who stood up in the British Parliament in 1792 and argued that freeing enslaved Africans in Jamaica would bring about the end of civilization. 

Cynthia Cordova, chair of the YRDSB, recognized the many members of “our Black community who brought the issue of the naming of this school and the effect that it has had on our students to the attention of trustees and staff.”

 

“We are grateful for your work to initiate the renaming process and for your advocacy on behalf of the Black students in York Region. It is our hope that the new name will better reflect the identity, the accomplishment, and the aspiration of students at Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School.”

 

Cordova said many students were involved in the renaming process of the school.

 

“We heard from many students through their letters, their emails, their posts on social media and the opinions that were shared during the town hall. We are very proud of the way our students shared their voices and we’d like to thank everyone who participated in this process.”

 

She said all students and staff should feel safe and supported in learning and working environments that are inclusive and identity affirming, and honour and celebrate their identity. 

 

“That is what I think of when I think of Hodan Nalayeh, someone who worked to create safe and identity affirming environments. Hodan was an accomplished young woman, a mother, a resident of Vaughan and she worked to empower and give voice to women, youth and members of the Somali community. It is only fitting then that the first school in York Region District School Board to be named after a Black Muslim woman should be named after Hodan Nalayeh. It is our hopes that when students arrive each day to school and see Hodan’s name that they are reminded of who Hodan was and what she stood for, and they know that they themselves are valued for who they are at Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School.”

 

Born in Las Anod, Somalia, in 1976, Nalayeh, who had four brothers and seven sisters, and her parents, migrated to Canada in 1984, first settling in Edmonton, Alberta before eventually moving to Toronto in 1992. 

She attended West Humber Collegiate Institute and then pursued post-secondary education at the University of Windsor where she received a Bachelor of Arts in communications. Nalayeh also earned a postgraduate certificate in broadcast journalism from Seneca College.

 

Louise Sirisko, director of education, said they heard very clearly that the school needed to be renamed. 

 

“We heard that the previous name caused hurt and harm to students, staff and members of the broader community, especially the Black community. “

 

Sirisko said there were many community members who came forward to tell the board that the name did not make them feel safe, valued and included.

 

In providing a context for the unnaming and renaming of the school, Cecil Roach, coordinating superintendent of Indigenous education and equity, said the

 work to develop the Anti-Black Racism Strategy coincided with the effort to rename Vaughan Secondary School .

 

“Benjamin Vaughan was an owner of enslaved Africans. Not only did he own enslaved Africans, he passionately argued against ending the inhumane system of slavery because according to him it would mean the end of civilization in Jamaica as he knew it. This actually mean that he saw people of African heritage as fundamentally uncivilized and whose very humanity he questioned.”

 

Roach said that the renaming effort was largely championed by York Region’s Black community and its allies and that the campaign was led by the former Vaughan African Canadian Association, now called ANCHOR, and its tireless leader, Shernett Martin. 

 

After discovering that the school was named after a slaveholder, Martin embarked on a campaign to have it addressed.

 

“We owe a debt of gratitude to Shernett and we thank her for her efforts that played such a major role in getting us to where we are today – renaming the school after a Black Muslim Somali woman, a Black Somali woman who represents many of the things that the Dismantling Anti-Black Racism Strategy is hoping to achieve. Hodan was a social activist more than a media personality. She, actually, was the kind of woman who believed in raising the voices of Somali Canadians and changing the narrative, the negative narrative, in many cases of Somalis.

 

Roach said he once heard Nalayeh deliver a keynote speech at an event where women who were survivors of domestic violence were celebrated. Her message was one of telling women to rely on their inner strength and know that the world is at their fingertips, that they can achieve whatever they want to achieve once they work at it.

 

“One of the priorities of the Dismantling Anti-Black Racism Strategy is a commitment to bold leadership and Hodan Nalayeh certainly embodied this notion, he said.

 

Roach said the aim of the Anti-Black Racism Strategy is to ensure that Black students have educational journeys that celebrate and affirm their identity, just like Hodan wanted Canadians, the public and the world to understand that Somali Canadians, Somali people, generally, are people who should be celebrated. 

 

He congratulated the Black community and the school trustees for taking the bold decision to name the school after a Somali Black Muslim woman.

 

Sahra Nalayeh said her sister was someone who loved to have fun, loved music and writing. 

 

“Hodan was a passionate person, she was a person who thought about other people, the experiences they were having, what was happening in their lives, and most of all, how she could support them and tell their story. She loved to tell stories about the human condition. Specifically, when she returned to Canada one of the things she really noticed was there was a lack of stories in the media about the Somali community, the Black community and she wanted to make sure that she had a chance to correct the stories that she was hearing,” Sahra said describing her sister as a humanitarian. She was a mother of two young sons.

 

“As a journalist, she saw a way that she can contribute to the world, to society to make a difference and she followed her passion and that led her to starting her own media company, her own YouTube channel.”

 

Shernett Martin said the renaming is a celebration of what it means when “a couple of people believe in something, fight for somrthing, and collectively lean on each other and lean into each other and believe in what they’re doing and then see the fruits of that labour.”

 

“It was an exercise in fighting for your humanity and your civil rights. It felt like we were in a moment in the past where we were fighting to do something really important.

 

“And so as a Black woman for me to see another Black woman’s name on a school is extremely fulfilling. The fact that that legacy now is on that building and inside that school it means a great deal – I think it’s going to be the first of many. I think for young Black girls and young Black boys to enter that building and for any equity seeking group to know that this just wasn’t something that was easily done, there was a real push from community behind this. I think it empowers young people to say whether its climate change or fighting against issues that they believe in that you can change the system, you can move the needle.”

 

Martin said it gives that feeling that they can do it, “they can come together over an issue and fight until they win because that’s exactly what we did.”

 

Sahra and her father, Ahmed Said, unveiled a portrait of Hodan that will be displayed at the school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Community Urged to Engage ‘Know Your Rights’ Campaign

By Neil Armstrong

Photo contributed             Knia Singh, Co-chair of the Know Your Rights Committee

 

A Toronto lawyer says the Toronto Police Service has reached a point where the most senior officers have acknowledged the existence of racial profiling and systemic racism -- instead of denying them as was prevalent in the past -- and are working with the community.

 

Knia Singh is appealing to those grassroots organizers who have been fighting for generations for reform in policing to take this opportunity to push for change in a very fruitful and methodical way. 

 

“I’m just saying now is the time to seek the change you want because there’s an appetite for change, and positive change.”

 

Singh is the co-chair of the Know Your Rights committee that recently launched a campaign of the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and the Police and Community Engagement Review (PACER) Committee.

 

A video was released on January 29 in the first phase of the Know Your Rights campaign which aims to inform the public about their legal rights and a police officer’s responsibilities during various types of engagements.  

 

As someone who had encounters with the police in the past, Singh says this initiative would have given him the actual knowledge that he needed to ensure that he was safe during those interactions.

 

“Luckily, at a very young age, I paid attention to rights and interactions with police and I always knew that there were limitations on what information could be gathered.”

 

He remembers many times being stopped by the police before carding was forefront in the media and before the regulation when officers would ask him where he was going or coming from. 

 

“I would respond, that’s my private, personal information, I’m not going to disclose that. I knew I could do that. Other people, generally, would think they have to answer every question by an officer and then disclose certain things that may end up getting them in trouble,” says Singh. A few years ago, he filed a freedom of information request for any records police might keep on him and received several pages documenting encounters – none of which was for anything criminal. 

 

Singh, the principal lawyer at Ma’at Legal Services, says if this campaign had been around when he was younger, it would have also given him confidence that the police were aware of what their responsibilities were with the public and that the public would know them.

 

“If the police are going to violate your rights, they rely on your ignorance to violate them. This campaign takes away that ignorance for anyone who takes the time to observe it. It’s a much more powerful, fruitful and fair, equitable interaction when both sides understand what the rules are they’re playing under.”

Due to the disproportionate stops of Black, racialized and Indigenous people in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario the provincial government created Regulation 58/16 – the “street check” regulation. It prohibits the arbitrary collection of identifying information by police, referred to as carding. Arbitrary means based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any legally permissible reason. 

The video shows interim police chief, James Ramer, acknowledging systemic racism and racial profiling, and the early message from the Know Your Rights Committee and PACER is telling viewers positive interactions are possible. 

 

“It’s basically being cordial in your interactions will ensure or at least gets you closer to a positive outcome.

 

Singh notes that carding had always been illegal, but the declaration by the province that it was banned happened in January 2017.

 

Back in 2016, the police and the PACER Committee were in the process of planning the campaign and even had a script ready, however, the release of the final product was delayed.  

 

When Ramer became the interim chief, after the resignation of Chief Mark Saunders, he struck up the PACER 2.0 Committee “to get back on these issues to ensure certain things that were planned before are done now,” says Singh.

 

He says the revival of the campaign is Ramer’s desire to see PACER continue to contribute to police-community relations. 

In 2012, under Chief of Police William (Bill) Blair, the Chief’s Internal Organizational Review examined all aspects of community engagement, leading to the creation of the Police and Community Engagement Review committee. Former deputy chief, Peter Sloly, now the chief of police in Ottawa, was the executive sponsor of PACER.

After internal and external consultations, the PACER committee submitted a report with 31 recommendations intended to address bias-free delivery of policing services. 

One recommendation called for the creation of an advisory committee, comprised equally of TPS members from all areas of the organization and community members and partner agencies invested in improving relations between police and the city’s Black communities. The PACER committee dedicated hours to ensuring the appropriate and thorough implementation of all 31 recommendations and continues to advise the TPS on matters of fair and equitable delivery of policing.

In 2020, the Toronto Police Services Board approved 81 recommendations for police reform in a report entitled “Police Reform in Toronto: Systemic Racism, Alternative Community Safety and Crisis Response Models and Building New Confidence in Public Safety.” 

“These recommendations established a roadmap for comprehensive policing reform in Toronto, and include building new community safety response models, various initiatives to address systemic racism and concrete steps to improve trust with our communities,” notes the TPS website.

As a result of these 81 recommendations, Chief Ramer reconvened the Police and Community Engagement Review (PACER) as PACER 2.0.

One of the recommendations directed the chief of police to develop and execute a multi-faceted "know your rights" campaign and a Know Your Rights sub-committee of PACER 2.0 was created with the mandate to “inform the community what their legal rights are in their interactions with police.”

“Know Your Rights gives communities the tools to demystify dialogue with our police officers, and clarifies the misperceptions that all parties may bring to all types of engagement,” says Ramer. 

He says the TPS is grateful to “our PACER community partners for their guidance in helping us to meet communities where they are, and we look forward to more work together.”  

Meanwhile, Singh says the campaign is trying to reach everybody but the target market, in his opinion, would be young people and police officers.

 

“It seems that a lot of negative interactions or carding or collection of information take place amongst marginalized communities, specifically African descendant and Indigenous communities, and more narrowly younger people.” 

 

He notes that if they were to go with a hierarchy of needs they would want those targeted people affected by the practice the most to be exposed to this and the police because the police are reminded of their responsibilities and obligations through this campaign as well.

 

There will be billboards, online messages, social media messages, public service announcements, radio spots as part of the campaign and they are entering phase three in which they are engaging community groups and young people who were involved in feedback from the first round of surveys.

 

“We are going to be doing another set of videos that speak to different scenarios, not just Regulation 58/16 and carding, but it’s going to be body-worn camera, search of your vehicles and other aspects of everyday life that the public wants clarity on,” says Singh, noting that a lot of outreach is being done. At the end of May, they would have completed phase two and be moving into phase three towards the beginning of June.

 

The lawyer believes that when someone is armed with knowledge there is the ability to have a more fruitful conversation and outcome.

 

He says community members are not exposed to the legal information or rights that they have and even when they exercise those rights there is a high instance of violating those rights. 

 

“We know so many times stories of police abuse on the community so this campaign is going to change that in the sense that the community now has something to point to, as before when they would not be clear.” 

 

Unfortunately, marginalized communities don’t have the financial resources to always retain lawyers who are going to fight cases on their behalf so they’re left with fighting it on their own, which can be intimidating and could have a non-successful outcome, says Singh.

 

He says by virtue of the campaign that part is cut out because at the end of the video it tells people how to make a complaint if they have been violated. They can contact the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, or the Toronto Police Service. 

 

“A lot of the rights contained in the Know Your Rights campaign can avoid a large amount of discrepancies, charges and violations. So we really believe that as a Black community experiencing this for centuries and decades, now there’s finally something to point to that can make someone feel secure.

 

“It’s going to be reliant on understanding your rights, articulating them and then when they’re violated making a complaint, because, unfortunately, violations may and will still happen. That’s just the reality. What’s more important is that those violations be noted, identified and held accountable because if we know that violations are taking place and we don’t complain they will never be remedied, we’re only partially fixing the problem, we’re not fixing it fully.”

 

Singh says once things get to the stage where people are held accountable for violations and there are sufficient sanctions then the Black community and Indigenous community, in particular, will be able to feel more confident in moving forward.

Photo contributed           Yvette Blackburn of the PACER 2.0 and its Know Your Rights sub-committee

 

Acknowledging the problems Black, Indigenous and raciaiized communities have had with policing in Toronto in the past, Singh says, “we should be aware that the Toronto Police has a large and a good section of officers whowant to do right and make things right,” and he thinks, “we have to utilize those positives to hold those officers who do not uphold the law and who violate people accountable.” 

 

Amadou Mukuna, aka Silas, 24, says this is a very important move and he would feel safer because of the knowledge shared in the campaign.

 

“I just feel, like, a lot of times when you’re just around police, you just feel, like, you’re in trouble. And I think just like knowing that you’re allowed to leave or knowing that you’re allowed to ask certain questions, even if they are the bully in the situation, sometimes people not knowing their rights, that hinders them in that situation,” says the owner of a street wear clothing line. 

 

He says knowledge what civilians can ask and do in those interactions with police would prevent people from incriminating themselves. 

 

Yvette Blackburn, Canadian representative of the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council, GJDC, is also a member of the PACER 2.0 Committee, co-chaired by Superintendent Stacy Clarke and Audrey Campbell, a former president of the Jamaican Canadian Association. 

She says citizens need to start holding the police to account and let them have a clear understanding that there are consequences for violating their rights. 

 

Blackburn says the police service “is doing the work and officers have made an about-turn, they’re being held to account, they’re holding each other to account.” 

 

“You see the procedures are changing, you’re seeing the different protocols that are being put in place, you see the accountability that’s been put in by Toronto Police Service, and some of the people that are being put in positions of supervision that are going to hold their own colleagues to account. So, a lot is happening and it’s going to happen and you have really good people – the citizens and the officers that sit on PACER,” she says. 

 

Under the leadership of co-chairs Inspector Kelly Skinner and Singh, the sub-committee of PACER 2.0 responsible to deliver this campaign also includes Jennifer Chambers, executive director of the Empowerment Council, Stephen Linton, Stephen McCammon, legal counsel at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario,and Blackburn.

 

The Know Your Rights campaign video is available on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok.