Artists Participated in Swearing-in Ceremony of New Mayor of Toronto

 By Neil Armstrong

Photo contributed    Toronto Poet Laureate Lillian Allen

When Olivia Chow was sworn in as the new mayor of Toronto in July, the lilt of Jamaican English could be heard from the lectern of Toronto City Council Chamber where two well-known Jamaican Canadian artists participated in the Declaration of Office ceremony.  

 

Chow, 66, who was born in Hong Kong and was a former member of parliament in Toronto, and a former city councillor, is the 66^th mayor of Toronto and the first racialized person to lead Canada most populous city.

 

Sandra Whiting, a speaker, storyteller and event host, presented the African Ancestral Acknowledgement and Lillian Allen, a poet, writer, arts activist and professor who was appointed as Toronto’s seventh Poet Laureate in April read a poem.

 

“We have a saying from my country of Jamaica, and as a Canadian of Jamaican heritage I want to share it with you. The saying says, ‘she likkle but she tallawah,’ and that means she strong, she is mighty, she will be powerful,” said Whiting who is a Jamaican Patois/Creole court interpreter.  At the end of her presentation, she looked at Chow and with her right hand aloft declared, “Olivia, tallawah woman,” before leaving the lectern.

 

Since 2020, Whiting has been teaching and facilitating online learning through the Institute for Change Leaders, an organization founded by Chow in 2016 that has trained more than ten thousand people.

 

Whiting has worked as a TV host, storyteller, newspaper columnist, cultural programmer, animator, event planner and entrepreneur. She was also the managing editor of Excellence Magazine for Women.

 

The former PACE Canada president conceived the Jamaica fiftieth anniversary of Independence celebrations in Canada and got the Jamaican Consulate, distinguished individuals, and many volunteers to work on the project that took two years of planning and execution.

 

Whiting has been involved in the management of many culturally diverse community programs such as Carnivallisima, Luminateau and Kuumba, an annual Black History Month programme at the Harbourfront Centre where she was the cultural arts programmer. 

Photo contributed    Storyteller Sandra Whiting

 

In April, City of Toronto staff recommended Allen to become Toronto’s seventh Poet Laureate and City Council approved the appointment at its May meeting. A selection committee in consultation with the literary community nominated her.

 

Allen — who is a leader in dub poetry, a politically charged, reggae-infused poetry of resistance and visionary futures — was named a foremother of Canadian poetry by the League of Canadian Poets. 

 

The two-time JUNO Award winner and trailblazer in spoken word and dub poetry artistically explores the aesthetics of old and new sounds with her influential reggae dub poetry and spoken word recordings. 

 

Performing her poem, “My Toronto Poetic Justice,” Allen painted an aural image of the city including artists, protests against injustice in different places and events such as International Women’s Day Parade, Caribana, Salsa on St. Clair, Scarborough Fest — “you have made our city strong, a republic of possibilities, a home to belong.”

 

The professor of creative writing at Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU) has been a successful cultural strategist, helping transform Toronto and Canadian cultural landscapes. 

 

“It is such an honour and a singular joy to keep bringing poetry to the people in this three-million-sided heart of a city we so love, Tkaronto, Toronto,” said Allen.

 

Toronto’s first Poet Laureate was named in 2001. An advocate for poetry, language and the arts, the position honours a Toronto poet whose work displays excellence and has written on themes relevant to Torontonians. The Laureate is an ambassador for poetry and the arts and infuses poetry into a range of official and informal city activities to attract people to the literary world. The Poet Laureate’s mandate also includes creating a legacy project that will be unique to the individual. Allen’s legacy project will be announced at a later date.

 

Allen will hold the position for three years and receive an annual honorarium of $10,000 for serving as Toronto’s literary ambassador championing local literary arts and wordsmiths.

 

Toronto’s distinguished list of Poets Laureates since 2001 includes Dennis Lee, Pier Giorgio di Cicco, Dionne Brand, George Elliott Clarke, Anne Michaels and Al Moritz (A.F. Moritz).