Governor General and Prime Minister Commend Veteran Photojournalist

 

By Neil Armstrong

Photo contributed       Photojournalist Eddie Grant

 

Egerton “Eddie” Grant is beaming with excitement when he calls to tell me that he was pleasantly surprised to receive birthday greetings from Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

 

The veteran photojournalist celebrated his 90^th birthday on Friday, May 5, 2023 — the actual day of his birth was a Friday in 1933 — and was feted over two days. On May 4, the Consulate General of Jamaica, where Grant is the resident photographer for passport photos, and the Jamaica Tourist Board held a surprise birthday celebration for the nonagenarian at their Eglinton Avenue East offices. The next day, some friends of the amiable community pillar held another birthday event at Xaymaca, a Jamaican restaurant in Brampton, Ontario.

 

There were many birthday wishes, some expressions of surprise at his age (they thought he was younger), suggestions that an exhibition of his trove of photographs be mounted, and all around a great feeling that he deserved all the warm sentiments coming his way.

 

Grant fell ill the day after his birthday and was hospitalized for more than a week so he did not see the birthday greetings from the governor general and prime minister until he was at home recuperating and eventually stopped by the consulate. He is already feeling much better and is back at work.

 

Simon congratulated Grant on his 90th birthday and noted that during his lifetime, “the country has undergone some amazing shifts: a transition from one century to the next, evolution of technology, society, community. Times of great challenges and of great joy. No matter what role you played in the last ninety years, you have been an essential part of our country and we are grateful for all your contributions.”

 

The governor general also said Grant’s experience was valuable and respected, “and we can all learn from the wisdom you have to share. In the language of Inuktitut from the South Qikiqtaaluk, nalliuniqsiutsiarit! In English, happy birthday!

 

“It is a great pleasure to send you best wishes and warmest congratulations on the occasion of your ninetieth birthday,” says Trudeau on a certificate bearing his signature and the seal of his office.

 

When Grant was discharged from the hospital, he wrote a thank you message to everyone who celebrated his milestone and posted it to his Facebook page.

 

“I have always felt that members of my community love me and appreciate the selfless support I have given to many individuals for more than three decades. However, the recent birthday celebrations demonstrated that truth — all of that love came gushing down like the rushing water of Niagara Falls or Dunn’s River Falls. For that and more, thank you.

 

“I meant to write this several days ago, but as most of you already know I was hospitalized for almost two weeks. I was admitted to the Etobicoke General Hospital on May 6, two days after an illustrious surprise birthday celebration hosted by Lincoln Downer, Jamaica’s Consul General at Toronto, and his staff, in collaboration with Angella Bennett, Regional Director Canada, and staff of the Jamaica Tourist Board. I entered the hospital one day after my actual birthday (Friday, May 5) after another birthday celebration that was held in Brampton and hosted by freelance writer and editor Neil Armstrong and attended by some of my dear longtime friends.”

 

Grant said he appreciated that some of his friends and well-wishers travelled from as far as the Niagara Region, City of Hamilton, Flamborough, Oakville, Toronto, Mississauga, and from their homes in Brampton to attend. 

 

“While I was in the hospital, I received more than 100 telephone calls from friends and relatives across North America. Unfortunately, I was unable to reply to them but I can do so now that I am at home recuperating. A thousand thank yous for all your fervent prayers, God’s richest blessings, and your good wishes while I am on the road to recovery,” wrote Grant during the Victoria Day long weekend.

Photo contributed    Eddie Grant's siblings from left to right: Hyacinth, Joyce, Edith, Noel, Joseph and Winston

Photo contributed    Eddie Grant's sister, Gloria, and brother, Joseph

Grant was born in St. Thomas, Jamaica, and was the second of eight children: Gloria (now deceased), Hyacinth, Joyce, Edith, Noel (now deceased), Joseph and Winston. He migrated to Canada in 1977 after living in England for twenty years. It was in London that he first studied photography at Clapham and Balham Institute and he subsequently pursued journalism studies at Seneca College in Toronto.

 

The veteran photojournalist has chronicled the lives of Caribbean people, particularly Jamaicans, in Canada. The reach of his work goes beyond Canada as Grant was the correspondent for the domestic and overseas editions of The Gleaner before the paper set up an office in Toronto. For many years, he was a freelance writer and journalist with the newspaper, which he served for almost fifty years until 2018.

 

Grant has also contributed to publications in the United States and the Caribbean as the Caribbean correspondent for Caribbean Lifestyle and Reggae Roots International based in Miami, Florida. 

 

His photographs and stories have appeared in publications such as the Islander, Contrast, Dawn (all now defunct) and Share. To mark Jamaica’s 2st anniversary of independence in 1983, Grant single-handedly put together a souvenir magazine called Jamaica 21. 

 

For many years, he operated a thriving photography business which included his still shots of events such as weddings, fashion shows and entertainers, home portraits and public relations assignments for a long list of clients, including the Jamaican government, the Jamaica Tourist Board, Air Jamaica, and Sandals Resorts Caribbean 5-Star All-inclusive hotels which saw him travelling to the various locations to do his photography.

 

Over the years, Grant has received many awards for his work; in 1983, the Jamaican Canadian Association honoured him for his “dedication and outstanding service.” Two years later, he received a Canadian Reggae Music Award for his coverage of the entertainment industry, and the following year he was awarded by the Bob Marley Celebration Committee for his work in the community.

 

In 1992, the photojournalist was presented with a plaque for his 25 years of “dedicated service” to the Gleaner Company. The Pearl of St. Jago Lodge No. 12 presented him an award for his display of excellent qualities within the community. In 1995, he was presented with a plaque at a dinner hosted in his honour at a local club, which was organized by Merritone DJ Winston Blake, now deceased, and a Toronto committee.

 

Some of Grant’s photographs were included in a groundbreaking photography exhibition in 2020 featuring 41 important works by renowned Black Canadian photojournalists. “Ears, Eyes, Voice: Black Canadian Photojournalists 1970s-1990s” was presented by TO Live and Black Artists’ Network in Dialogue (BAND) at Meridian Arts Centre in Toronto. The exhibition was presented three years earlier at BAND’s Art Gallery.

 

Grant published a second book of his photographs featuring scenes from Jamaica in the 2000s. 

 

The unassuming and beloved photographer was one of 250 Jamaicans “who have made extraordinary contributions to this, their adopted land” featured in the coffee table book, Jamaicans in Canada: When Ackee Meets Codfish” published in 2012 to celebrate Jamaica’s 50^th anniversary of independence. 

 

Grant’s daughter, Katrina Grant, who is a nurse, lives in South Florida, with his two grandsons Solomon and Thaddeus.

Sharing some photos from Eddie Grant's 90th birthday celebration at Xaymaca Restaurant in Brampton, Ontario on May 5, 2023.

 

 

Organizers of 2023 Toronto Caribbean Carnival Promise the Best

 By Neil Armstrong

Playing was at the media launch of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival at the Ontario Science Centre on May 31, 2023

 

The producers of the upcoming annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival are promising the best Caribbean carnival in the world under the theme “diversity and culture live here.”

 

Jennifer Hirlehey, chair of the Festival Management Committee, said that is their strategic direction this year at the media launch of the carnival held at the Ontario Science Centre. 

 

The official launch of the festival will take place on July 11 at Nathan Phillips Square and the grand parade will be on August 5 along Lakeshore Boulevar West and Exhibition Place following the King and Queen Showcase on August 3 at Lamport Stadium and Pan Alive Panorama at the same venue on August 4.

 

“To do this, we celebrate the fact that diversity and culture live here. Our job at the Toronto Caribbean Carnival is to spread joy, to promote diversity, and to highlight our community’s talents. We must lift ourselves up beyond the mas, we must uplift our community in business, education, and opportunity.”

 

Hirlehey said the first major step they took this year was to invite all stakeholder organizations—the Toronto Mas Bands Association, the Ontario Steelpan Association, and the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes—to be on the board of the FMC, something she described as a no-brainer.

 

Their second major objective this year was to develop their Building Black Entrepreneurs education program that helps entrepreneurs to build and grow their businesses. The FMC has also started an education program focused on developing Caribbean culture in schools in the city so that students can be proud of their heritage.

 

Jennifer Hirlehey, Chair, Festival Management Committee, producer of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival

“The Toronto Caribbean Carnival sees ourselves as the preeminent vehicle to promote and foster diversity not only in schools but in our businesses. We created a corporate employee engagement program and that program helps employers with their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives so that way their employees feel empowered, the employees feel welcomed as a part of the community and part of the corporate community.”

 

Hirlehey said it is very expensive to produce the carnival and to have the kinds of initiatives that make the difference. 

 

“The cost of the carnival this year has gone up significantly. We, the management team, we have the responsibility of being fiscally responsible when producing the Toronto Caribbean Carnival,” she said, nothing that even while doing so they need funding from the different levels of government. 

 

“While we appreciate the level of funding we currently have it is not sufficient to put on this carnival in the way that it deserves to be put on.”

 

The FMC’s chair said the carnival contributes approximately half a billion dollars to Ontario’s economy yet year-over-year funding through grants has decreased. Last year, the carnival accounted for $180 million in federal, provincial and municipal tax revenues yet funding for the carnival does not reflect the significant economic impact it has on the Canadian economy. 

 

She also noted that businesses benefit substantially from the carnival, hotel rooms are fully booked, major restaurants are busy, yet the level of corporate sponsorship to the Toronto Caribbean Carnival does not reflect the economic impact it has on those businesses. 

 

The FMC has reenergized its sponsorship program and has developed relationships with forward thinking companies who appreciate and welcome their diversity, she said. These include companies such as Metrolinx, Grace Foods, Bell Media and new sponsors such as Porter Airlines and the Toronto Football Club. 

 

Mischka Crichton, CEO, Festival Management Committee

 

Mischka Crichton, chief executive officer of the FMC, said in 2022 there were 3, 341 direct jobs created because of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival.

 

“I’m just so thrilled to be able to represent this carnival that raised me. My parents didn’t have to get on a plane to teach me about my culture and about my heritage. When other families went on family vacations, my family did the carnival during the summer so it’s so special and dear to me. I owe this carnival so much,” said Crichton who first played mas when she was four years old. Her mother made a kid’s version of her own costume to take Mischka on University Avenue where the parade lasted for two hours.

 

Crichton said the Toronto carnival is not only for Caribbean people but it is for all people and has been ranked the most diverse festival in the world.

 

She said the theme for this year recognizes FMC and the Toronto Caribbean Carnival as an unparalleled community-led cultural asset bringing together intergenerational leadership, communities, and stakeholders from all backgrounds and represent a long-lasting legacy. 

 

The CEO said there are benefits and challenges to intergenerational leadership but the most important thing is having a team and she likes having the best thinking around the table for decision-making. She said with a festival like the carnival that has been around for 56 years they cannot forget about their past and where they started. Crichton said she respects everyone who came before her and she wants to know what their dreams were for the carnival in the future—of which she is now a part.

 

Also speaking at the event was Toronto councillor Michael Thompson who said the reason corporate sponsors were not running to the Festival Management Committee was because “we have been a fractured community for quite some time as an organization.” He said the new leadership of the FMC is transforming that situation. In keeping with that theme, calypsonian Henry “King Cosmos” Gomez performed the song “Let’s Pull Together” at the media launch.

Calypsonian Henry "King Cosmos" Gomez performing "Let's Pull Together" a the media launch of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival

Dr. Rita Cox and Henry "King Cosmos" Gomez at the media launch at the Ontario Science Centre

 

Joe Sellors, acting director of arts and culture services at the City of Toronto, said his department works on grants to festival organizers and the FMC is a recipient. He said the carnival brings 1.65 million people to the event and he considers it one of the largest festivals that the City of Toronto produces. Sellors noted that 45 per cent of attendees come from outside Toronto which means people are staying in hotels, eating at local restaurants and spending their hard-earned dollars on Toronto’s economy. 

 

The event featured a steelpan band and the costumes of some of the mas bands that will be chipping along Lakeshore Boulevard. The Junior King and Queen Showcase will be held at the Scarborough Town Centre on July 16 and the Junior Carnival Parade will be at Malvern Community Centre and Neilson Park on July 22. The official launch on July 11 will take place in two sessions: a mid-morning event to capture the media cycle of news at noon, and a later event between 4:00-8:00 p.m. with deejays for the after-work crowd. Both are free events.

 

Ronald Taylor Dance Celebrates 30th anniversary with ‘Psychosis’

 By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: Michael Mortley of M.M. Adjust Your Focus       Artistic director and choreographer Ronald A. Taylor

Artistic director and choreographer Ronald A. Taylor has turned his lived experience and investigation of mental health illness of Caribbean people living in Canada into a production, “Psychosis,” that will be showcased at the 30^th anniversary celebration of his company, Ronald Taylor Dance, later this month.

The deeply personal work, which is of an interdisciplinary nature, was workshopped in 2019 as the first and only dance entrant in the history of the Rendezvous with Madness Festival presented by Workman Arts and considered the first and largest arts and mental health festival in the world. 

“I experienced my psychosis which totally sort of eradicated my family life. Even though we’re close, I’m not with my family at anymore,” says Taylor, noting that this happened when he turned 48 years old. “It just turned my life upside down but I have to say within the journey of it that I had angels—case workers, psychiatrists, and what not in my aid to my recovery.”

In the throes of his psychosis, Taylor says he remembers being in a halfway house in Newmarket, Ontario, and “the sun coming over the roof of the house and I was standing on a bank, and that was my aha moment that I said to myself, Ronald Taylor, you’re not well.”  He didn’t know where to turn but felt that he was on his way to recovery and ended up at Mount Sinai Hospital where he was diagnosed as having psychosis by two health practitioners.  

Taylor said Dr. Adrian John Grek was the head psychiatrist at the hospital and took him on as a patient allowing him to express himself and examine his life through a series of questions. This gave the artistic director a holistic view of himself. “I was able to answer questions and sort of put my life into somewhat as close a semblance as when I was a sane person.”

The dancer also decided to look at the people from his childhood who society deemed as mad and “sort of pushed them in a corner” not understanding the mechanisms of psychosis, schizophrenia, and other issues related to mental health.

“The production is stories within a bigger story and it ends in a celebration because I believe life is a celebration. So the vignettes that you will get or the stories that you will get are of individuals who I observed as a child and even into my adult life who have gone through psychosis.”

Taylor notes that the Caribbean community does not deal with these types of matters in a favourable manner. 

“In the production, is me also holding up a mirror to our community to say, hey, you know, we all have a degree of psychosis or mental illness but some of us manifest it and some of us don’t.  Some of us get help before it happens and some of us don’t,” says Taylor, noting that he tries to encompass everything under one umbrella by highlighting the various headlines within psychosis.  

Describing it as a very complex work, Taylor says there are many things happening on stage “that will draw your attention and pull your attention” to show how complicated life is “but at the end how joyous life can be.”

Taylor, who was born in Trinidad and trained at The Juilliard School in New York, a conservatory that is a world leader in performing arts education, says dance has always played an important part in his life.

As the eldest of three adopted children growing up with his godmother, he remembers the Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy Competition created by the country’s first prime minister Dr. Eric Williams who decided to counter the predominance of European culture by instituting the competition which brought folk culture, life, and the history of the twin-island republic to the fore.  

Taylor says his family was very talented but being the second to last child he had to find his own pathway to the performing arts. He attended classes and went to the neraby community centre where his friends encouraged him to come and dance.  

From the age of 17 to 48, he danced on many stages around the world—a fulfillment of his godmother’s advice to always make something of himself. “She didn’t say what but I chose dance as my way of making a contribution to humanity, of my way of moving forward, of my way of being a good citizen.”

Taylor doesn’t dance anymore but he is still at the helm of the company presenting work in which Caribbean people can see themselves and even question themselves about their lives and hope to become better citizens of the world.

He has put together a dynamic and experienced cast of eight performers, including dancers, musicians, and actors, to present this very important work in Toronto at the Native Earth’s Aki Studio, located at Daniel Spectrum on Friday May 26, and Saturday May 27, 2023, at 8pm. 

As founder and artistic director, Taylor is no newcomer to the dance scene. Since its inception in 1993, Ronald Taylor Dance (formerly known as Canboulay Dance Theatre) has created over 20 works, including a full-length ballet, and has played to sold-out audiences across Ontario. Fresh from the 2022 virtual production “And Still we Risz,” a unique dance event featuring four duets, this recent production garnered rave online reviews both for the artistry and unique costume designs. 

Taylor has a Master of Arts degree from York University and as a dance educator, he taught at the university’s Faculty of Fine Arts and at designated school arts programs across Ontario, Western Canada, Belize, USA and parts of the Caribbean. He was also selected to be part of The Djerassi Resident Artists Program in California, a program internationally recognized as one of the eminent artist residency programs for artists of superior talent, and who are chosen from a diverse range of backgrounds and geographical locations.

 

Since 2014, Taylor has served as rehearsal director for two of the leading dance companies in the diaspora. He is a valued member of the artistic team for Ballet Creole and KasheDance and in this capacity assumes a dual role of mentor, dramaturge and rehearsal director.

 

The dynamic creative continues to make his mark with his brand of contemporary Caribbean dance and critics have called his work “evocative’” placing its audience in another ‘”realm.” He is aptly able to blend various non-western disciplines with the formal training he received. In Taylor’s case, it was Caribbean folk, modern, and ballet that at the same time he skillfully aligns with artists who have acquired certain aspects of this training, during their personal artistic careers. 

“Psychosis” is set to original live music which includes the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, the steel pan, and the skills of a master drummer. Taylor is well known for his unique collaboration with pannists at several of his earlier dance productions. The “Psychosis” creative team, with concept and choreography by Taylor, has set the stage for yet another exciting and spirited dance production, this time at the Aki Studio in Toronto. 

 

 

Remembering a Significant Milestone in Challenging Canada’s Immigration Policies

 By Neil Armstrong

Donald Moore is featured in the book Welcome to Black: An Iconic Toronto Neighbourhood published by A Different Publisher in 2022

 

Sixty-nine years ago today, a delegation of 35 Black activists from the Negro Citizenship Association (NCA)—led by Barbados-born Donald Willard Moore, also known as Don Moore or “Uncle Don,” and Canada-born Stanley Grizzle—met in Ottawa with federal Cabinet members to challenge Canada’s anti-Black immigration policies.

 

On April 27, 1954, the delegation presented a brief to Walter E. Harris, minister of immigration and member of parliament for High Park. In the book, Towards Freedom: The African-Canadian Experience, Ken Alexander and Avis Glaze write: “The group’s presentation, thoroughly researched, articulate, and defiant, changed the course of Canadian history. Many of the delegates had been active for years. By helping thousands of blacks settle, find jobs, unionize workers, meet contacts, and avoid deportation, people like Moore, Grizzle, Harry Gairey, Lenore Richardson, and many others, were building the community from the ground up.”

 

In the memoir, A Black Man’s Toronto, 1914-1980: The Reminiscences of Harry Gairey, edited and with an introduction by Donna Hill—mother of author Lawrence Hill and singer-songwriter Dan Hill—Gairey recollects that the NCA was founded in February 1951 in Moore’s house on Dundas Street in Toronto with the chief aim to “try and break up this immigration problem, because I knew that it was discriminatory.” As a sleeping car porter working around Union Station, Gairey said he saw all of the immigrants coming in, “but no Blacks, not a trickle. I saw a number of immigrants from the countries that we’d been fighting, Italy, Germany, all over, the Europeans were coming in, no Black.

 

“The climax came when I went down to Jamaica after the war. I saw codfish from Newfoundland, from Halifax, canned goods like sardines and salmon from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia. The people in the West Indies had to buy all these Canadian goods. And still, they were not allowed to come into the country, to get some of that money so they could turn it back to their people.”

 

Gairey said he was responsible for getting a sleeping car for the 35 members of the delegation. Regarding the meeting with Minister Harris, he recollects that: “It was a small office, so he started apologizing you know, because there were so many of us. I said, “I wouldn’t worry about that because we just want to present this brief to you, and the injustices, and introduce the president.” Donna Hill wrote that brief to the Minister of Immigration and Norman Grizzle read the brief.”

 

Alexander and Glaze note that Stanley Grizzle summarized Canada’s immigration policy vis-à-vis blacks as a “Jim Crow Iron Curtain.” Quoting Moore from Donald Moore: An Autobiography, 1985, the authors wrote that he stated at the Ottawa meeting: “You kept them out because they are black. If I were a Communist, there is opportunity for me to change and become a decent, respectable Canadian citizen. But I am born black; God has made me that way. You are asking me to undo what God has done.”

 

Bromley: Tireless Champion for Just Causes. Memoirs of Bromley L. Armstrong written with Sheldon Taylor notes that the 35-member NCA delegation included various Black community organizations, labour, and mainstream religious denominations who were involved in further deliberations and strategy sessions while travelling by train to Ottawa. 

 

“Reading from the final draft of the NCA’s brief Moore requested that the St. Laurent government amend its understanding of “British subject” to include all British subjects and citizens of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth,” writes Armstrong.

 

It would take meetings with government officials from Barbados and Jamaica, and more than a year of lobbying before any opening up of Canada’s immigration occurred. A memo from Laval Fortier to the director of immigration, dated June 10, 1955, noted that the Cabinet had decided “to admit a certain number of domestics from the British West Indies on an experimental basis. 75 of these domestics to be to be selected from Jamaica and 25 from Barbados.” The memo also noted that, “these domestics are to be admitted as immigrants upon arrival.”

 

Armstrong noted that: “As members of the NCA we did not get all that we had wished for. Yet with the West Indian Domestic Scheme, a formalized arrangement between Ottawa and certain Caribbean nations, the doors were being inched open. In the process, Ottawa politicians and bureaucrats were sensitized in some small measure about the dangers of their racist immigration policies. The many tens of thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean now living in Canada are a testament to our efforts.”

 

Describing the delegation to Ottawa as “the first time in history that African Canadians had undertaken such a mission—to challenge the policies of the federal government,” Stanley Grizzle in his memoir, My Name’s Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada, written with John Cooper, noted that he told Minister Harris that they were prepared to continue fighting “unremittingly for the right of all people of this planet to enter Canada and become its citizens without penalty or reward because of their race, colour, religion, national origin or ancestry.” Grizzle said NCA assured the minister that they had taken that stance based on the findings that Canada’s immigration laws against blacks were premeditated and discriminatory. “I presented statistics showing that immigration from “white” countries such as England far outstripped immigration from the West Indies, Japan and China. I pointed out that between 1871 and 1951 there was a constant increase in the population of the white European group and a decrease in the population of non-whites in Canada, a situation deemed “dangerous, strange and unfortunate”.”

 

In a speech titled “Reimagining Generational Wealth Beyond Biological Imperatives,” at an event organized by Kean Real Estate Group in Brampton, Ontario, in February this year, Dr. Karen Flynn, associate professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, Center for African Studies, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who was the keynote speaker referenced the work of Moore, the community icon and trailblazer.

 

She said historically and in this contemporary moment, Black people have harnessed their social and cultural capital to ensure their survival. Social capital is defined as internal connections between people within the same group. Cultural capital refers to the symbols, ideas, tastes, and preferences that can be strategically used as resources to advance social action. Social and cultural capital is visible in the organizations Black Canadians and Caribbean people established to fill in the gap, noted Dr. Flynn. She cited the Coloured Women Club of Montreal (CWCM) and the Negro Citizenship Association as examples of such capital.

 

The CWCM was founded in 1902 to assist with the 1918 flu epidemic, kept a bed at Grace Dart Hospital, and cared for the homes and children of hospitalized parents. The club members volunteered as visiting nurses and nurses’ aides. Dr. Flynn, who is the author of the book Moving Beyond Borders: A History of Black Canadian and Caribbean Women in the Diaspora, noted that the CWCM also maintained a plot of land at the Mount Royal Cemetery for the interment of community members for those unable to afford the cost of burials.

 

She said the Negro Citizenship Association that Moore established in 1951 was a social and humanitarian organization. “The NCA fought relentlessly to challenge Canada’s racist immigration policies which the organization pointed out denied equal immigration status to non-white British subjects. Moore and the NCA along with delegates went to Ottawa to present a brief. To be clear, Moore was also advocating for citizens from India and Pakistan.”

 

Dr. Flynn said as a result of Moore and the NCA, Canada began to relax its immigration policies, which led to the West Indian Domestic scheme—an agreement between the government of Canada and various Caribbean islands. “These 100 domestic workers who came to Canada beginning in1955 from Barbados and Jamaica made it possible for our parents to be here. If you are interested in learning more about the West Indian Domestic scheme, check out the podcast, “Strong and Free,” or just do a search for Karen Flynn and Garvia Bailey.” 

Dr. Karen Flynn, associate professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, Center for African Studies, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, was the keynote speaker at an event organized by Mean Real Estate Group in Brampton, Ontario

 

In 1956, Moore and two other members of the Negro Citizenship Association purchased a 12-room house on Cecil Street in Toronto and converted it into a recreation centre for the West Indian community called Donavalon Centre.

 

Dr. Flynn pointed out that this was her first example of reimagining generational wealth beyond biological family members. “What if instead of a plaque, the Caribbean community still owned that center some 67 years later? We can imagine the possibilities.”

 

According to Armstrong, even in his sixties Moore professed a commitment to the radical politics of Marcus Garvey and the UNIA. In fact, the Toronto branch of that organization was founded in 1919 in Moore’s tailor shop when it was located on Spadina Avenue, he said.

 

In the book Welcome to Blackhurst: An Iconic Toronto Neighbourhood, there is a poem “Tell me more…” written by Itah Sadu about Moore in which she describes him as a community leader, a gentle giant, a man who after leaving Barbados lived in New York and then Montreal before moving to Toronto, his community advocacy and activism, and “a man who lived to the age of 102 with incredible vision and elevation for all Canadians….”

Study About Prostate Cancer Among Caribbean and West African Immigrants Helps Men’s Group

 By Neil Armstrong

Photo contributed      Dr. Aisha K. Lofters, Chair in Implementation Science at the Peter Gilgan Centre for Women's Cancers, Women's College Hospital

 

A new study about the high incidence of prostate cancer among immigrants from Caribbean and West African countries in Ontario is helping a Black men’s health advocacy group to raise awareness about the cancer.

 

The population-based research led by Jamaican Dr. Aisha K Lofters, Dr. Jacqueline L. Bender and a team, including Anthony Henry, vice president, and Kenneth Noel, president of The Walnut Foundation, found that in Ontario the age-standardized incidence rate of prostate cancer from 2008 to 2016 was consistently and significantly higher among immigrants from those countries than among other immigrants and long-term residents of the province. 

 

“This data tells us what’s happening but it can’t tell us what the cause is; there have been several theories that people have put forth. One is that it’s something genetic. Ultimately, many men who come from the Caribbean — their ancestors came from West Africa — the same other region that we found, so is there something genetic that has to do with men who are West African that gives them a higher likelihood of developing prostate cancer?”

 

Dr. Lofters says people have theorised that it could be diet-related so caused by elements of the Caribbean and West African diet, or it could be environmental exposures. But she said the latter would be harder to explain when there are men living here who are coming from two very different parts of the world.

 

“Although we don’t know the reason I would suspect that there is some genetic or biological component that’s explaining it for men from these two particular areas. 

 

The physician, scientist, and associate professor at the University of Toronto says there are researchers who are trying to figure out if there are specific genes that can be targeted to help them identify this, but more work is needed to be able to hone in and determine who is at higher risk when talking about men coming from these regions. 

 

She also noted that family history is a risk factor for prostate cancer so it is very important for men to know their family history. 

 

Dr. Lofters, who is the Chair in Implementation Science at the Peter Gilgan Centre for Women's Cancers, Women's College Hospital, says when men are having symptoms such as a change in their stream, blood in their urine or unexplained weight loss they should not ignore these as they could be a red flag. She recommends going to see a doctor where blood tests or a rectal exam can be done to determine if something is happening with the prostate. 

 

The study has been published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, presented at conferences and covered by the media to help raise awareness among men in the community, and for family doctors and primary care nurses to have their antennae raised when dealing with men from the Caribbean and West African countries with such symptoms to recognize that they might be a higher risk of prostate cancer.

 

The World Health Organization statistics of global prostate cancer mortality in 2020 indicate that Zimbabwe had the highest rate of prostate cancer mortality, followed by Barbados, and other Caribbean and African countries. Jamaica is ranked fifth on the list.

 

“What we find here in Ontario aligns with what the global statistics tell us about prostate cancer,” says Lofters, who alongside Dr. Bender, is working with The Walnut Foundation to understand the experiences of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the healthcare system.

 

The organization, a men’s health interest and prostate support group, works with the Black community in identifying the needs of Black men in health and related issues. 

 

“We have heard stories of men being dismissed or not being provided the highest standards of care when it comes to prostate cancer so we really want to understand, are there systemic barriers in Canada’s healthcare system that could be improved upon for these men as they journey through the prostate cancer system? That’s one body of research that’s actively happening.”

 

The researchers also want to examine the Ontario data to see if there are differences in terms of stage of diagnosis.

 

While the study examined the incidence of men just developing prostate cancer, the researchers also want to know if there were particular men who were diagnosed later than others because early diagnosis is better. They also want to understand other differences, in terms of survival. This is upcoming research that they are working jointly on with The Walnut Foundation. 

Photo contributed     Anthony Henry, Vice President, The Walnut Foundation

 

Henry says the study helps to inform the Foundation, which is dealing with Black men who are impacted, and he underscored the importance of men doing their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests and digital exams earlier — at age 40, instead of 50.

 

“My father died from this thing at 68 so my brother and I started monitoring at 40. Luckily for us, we had medical practitioners who understood the issue and were in agreement to say, hey, you guys should start testing from then,” says Henry whose cancer was caught at age 54 and his brother’s at 57, just from monitoring.

 

 

He says if men are monitored early enough and prostate cancer is detected, they have a fighting chance. However, if they pretend that there is no issue or wait around until 50, they might be in for a rude awakening.

 

The membership of the Foundation is predominantly Caribbean so it will outreach to men from West African countries and also native-born Black men. 

 

The vice president says this study is only the first step and the Foundation can now approach policymakers and the medical establishment to act on its findings.  It is also an opportunity to start dialogues with community health centres that are dealing with Black patients. 

 

Henry expressed concern that the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) does not cover the PSA test, which means most men will have to pay $40 for it. Some doctors may check off a box to indicate that a man has to get the PSA done and that it is covered because they are from a high-risk group. 

 

The Princess Margaret Hospital and The Walnut Foundation are collaborating on a genetics study, in partnership with some community health centres, that will examine samples from Black men who died to ascertain where there is any gene commonality. 

 

TAIBU Community Health Centre and the Foundation are also collaborating on a video project to educate the community. 

 

On June 3, the Foundation will have its ninth annual walkathon led by honorary Chair, Ivan Dawns, political director of the International Union of Painters, to tap into the Union Movement to spread awareness. A couple events will take place in March in partnership with the Jamaican Canadian Association to educate the community. 

 

Henry says Black men have asked the Foundation if there were any urologists from the Black community to whom they could be referred, but he could only think of one in the Greater Toronto Area — Dr. Emmanuel Abara who is based in Richmond Hill, Ontario. 

 

To address this, the organization has set aside $26,000 from last year’s walkathon to set up an endowment for medical students at the University of Toronto with the hope that some will choose urology and improve health outcomes for the Black community. 

 

“We need this type of research, I think, that does not look at the entire population as being homogenous but recognizes that there might be different ethnic and racial groups that are at higher or lower risk of particular conditions,” says Dr. Lofters, a scientist at Women’s College Research Institute.

 

She says that will allow them to provide personalized medicine and the highest quality of care.