Luminaries in Toronto’s Caribbean Community Receive Honorary Degrees

By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: York University      Gregory Sorbara, Chancellor of York University; Olive Senior, writer and public intellectual; and Lisa Philipps, Provost and Vice President Academic

Three of Canada’s leading universities have conferred honorary degrees on six well-known Caribbean Canadians — Jamaica’s poet laureate Olive Senior by York University, entrepreneur and philanthropist B. Denham Jolly; health-care leader Camille Orridge, and community advocate Winston LaRose by the University of Toronto; and entrepreneur and business leader Wayne Purboo and former Canadian citizenship court judge Pamela Appelt by McMaster University.

 

Senior was among 12 individuals recognized for their outstanding contributions to community building, social justice, mental health advocacy and Indigenous rights at today’s spring convocation.

“The individuals we are celebrating with honorary degrees represent the best of what York University stands for – our commitment to enhancing the well-being of the communities we serve – toward reconciliation, human rights, social justice, and more,” said Rhonda Lenton, president and vice-chancellor of York University.

 Lenton. “Their remarkable accomplishments serve as inspiration for York’s newest graduates and for all of us.”

“Senior is an award-winning Canadian writer and public intellectual of Jamaican heritage. Her work has been translated into multiple languages, and her Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage is a widely read and cited reference text,” notes the university.

In her commencement address, Senior told the graduates that she grew up in a mountain village in Jamaica. “I didn’t get many presents. But I had one gift — the gift that all children are born with  — but which many unfortunately, lose along the way. That is, the gift of curiosity.”

 

She said curiosity sometimes has a negative connotation but she was talking about curiosity of the positive and constructive kind — an attribute that is innate. 

 

“I feel fortunate now to have retained that sense of wonder that has kept me continuously asking questions and seeking answers. I can say, unequivocally, that curiosity is the engine that has driven my life and the work for which I am being honoured today.”

 

Senior’s many awards include Canada’s Writers Trust Matt Cohen Award for Lifetime Achievement, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies and the Gold Medal of the Institute of Jamaica. 

Jolly, a radio pioneer and champion of social justice, was awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from the University of Toronto for his leadership in promoting equity, social justice and opportunity in Toronto. 

Photo credit: Lisa Sakulensky    Denham Jolly, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, addressing the graduands at the University of Toronto's spring convocation    

 

In his address, Jolly, who moved to Canada in 1955 to pursue a science degree at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, said he left Jamaica at the age of 20 for study at the university and graduated in 1960.

 

“As an entrepreneur, I have done well financially starting from humble beginnings. When I look back, it seems that I did well by trying to do good,” said the co-founder of Flow 93.5FM, Canada’s first Black owned and operated radio station, and a former owner and publisher of Contrast, the groundbreaking Black community newspaper in Toronto which was founded in the late 1960s. 

 

Charting his history in Canada, Jolly said his first job was as a teacher in Sault Ste. Marie and later in Toronto. He bought a rooming house near the University of Toronto and subsequently left teaching to go into the nursing home and small hotel business. These were all acquired while following his father’s advice: “Don’t work for anyone but yourself and always work to own property.”

 

In 2021, he was appointed a member of the Order of Canada.

Photo credit: Lisa Sakulensky      Camille Orridge, a pioneering health-care leader and an alumna of the University of Toronto

 

A University of Toronto alumna, Orridge was recognized for being a pioneering health-care leader and for her promotion of a more equitable and just health system, especially for marginalized, racialized and Indigenous communities. 

 

In a call to action, she urged the graduates to make a personal commitment to inclusive spaces by keeping the air around them free of discrimination.

 

“On a personal level, this means you will not accept things such as homophobia, sexism, ageism, ableism, and all the other –isms in your presence or your earshot. This may sound easy. However, these types of personal commitments are often more challenging to uphold. A personal commitment means you will not let things fly under the radar, but will be open to having difficult conversations with family, friends, colleagues to uphold inclusion for all.” 

 

She served as CEO of several prominent local health organizations and co-founded the Canadian Home Care Association and Pathways to Education, a nationwide stay-in-school program for disadvantaged high school students. Orridge is also one of the founders of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP), Canada's largest Black-specific AIDS service organization. She is a Senior Fellow at the Wellesley Institute.

Photo credit: Lisa Sakulensky   Left to right: Dr. Kofi Hope, Chancellor Rose Patten and President Meric Gertler

 

LaRose was recognized for being a leader, advocate and dedicated supporter of the Black community in the GTA and beyond. He is the executive director of the Jane-Finch Concerned Citizens Organization, earning the title "Mr. Jane and Finch" after dedicating most of his life to the neighbourhood and its residents. He has also been an avid recorder of lived Black experience around the world.

 

“The people of Jane-Finch to whom I am dedicating the receipt of this magnificent honour; the people of Jane-Finch are my family. And it is only because of them that I have been able to get to this particular podium and so when I get my post-secondary students who come over to the Yorkgate Mall to do their placements with me, and if they’re not from that community and particularly if they’re white, they’d say is it safe to come here. I’d say, well I’m here and I’m still alive. Why should you have fear? And I’ve been able to travel around that community for the almost 30 years that I spent there giving my service for free. And I’ve not been paid a nickel in all the years and I have not missed a day except when I am out of the country.”

 

He advised the graduates that no matter how difficult their journey there is some kind of success awaiting them once they are able to recognize it once it appears. 

 

“Never be deterred by the fact of the adversities that might seem very daunting. They are meant to lift the level of your performance and to give value to the achievement the more difficult those challenges are,” said LaRose.

 

Photo credit: McMaster University    Entrepreneur and business leader Wayne Purboo

 

Purboo, a McMaster graduate, has over 25 years of experience in the media and telecommunications industries. He was the co-founder and CEO of QuickPlay Media – a company providing mobile media services to premium video service providers – is now vice-president of Amazon Advertising. 

 

He has volunteered with many organizations including Virgin Unite, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and SickKids. Purboo has also shared his entrepreneurial skills and experience with McMaster students at The Forge, McMaster’s start-up accelerator. In 2006, he was named one of “Canada’s Top 40 Under 40” by the Caldwell Partners and is a recipient of the University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor’s Award.

Photo credit: McMaster University Retired Canadian Citizenship Court judge Pamela Appelt and Chancellor Santee Smith

 

Appelt is a retired Canadian Citizenship Court judge — the first female Afro-Canadian to serve in that position — and community volunteer who has spent her life working to improve the lives of children and families. She immigrated to Canada in 1966 and worked as a researcher in medical biochemistry at McGill University for several years. 

 

Appelt holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and has spent her life working with numerous community and national organizations, including helping found the Black-Jewish dialogue of B’Nai Brith Canada. She played an instrumental role in bringing the archives of iconic Jamaican-Canadian poet Louise Bennett-Coverley to the McMaster University Library.