James Baldwin’s ‘The Amen Corner’ on stage at the Shaw Festival

 

By Neil Armstrong 

Photo credit: David Cooper            Kimberley Rampersad, director of James Baldwin's play, The Amen Corner, at the Shaw Festival

One year after writing his semi-autobiographical novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin wrote his first play, The Amen Corner, in 1954.

 

The play, a searing drama of love and hate that plays out in an evangelical church in Harlem, is being directed by Kimberley Rampersad, who is also the associate artistic director of the Shaw Festival, and is part of the programming this season. 

 

David, a teenage musical prodigy has to choose between his mother, the pastor and choir leader of the church, Margaret Alexander, and his washed-up father, Luke, with whom he shares a passion for jazz. Meanwhile his mother is finding that a community dedicated to Christian love and support is capable of terrible bitterness and cruelty. This special production features rousing songs performed by a gospel choir.

 

Rampersad says the Shaw Festival was always interested in having great representation of a cross section of brilliant writers and playwrights — and Baldwin, the celebrated gay African-American novelist, essayist and playwright — was excellent and like the festival’s namesake Bernard Shaw a provocateur, an orator, activist and polymath who was brilliant at many things.

 

“They have some very important things in common along with their excellence, their advocacy for their communities, the way they are able to speak with fire and with clarity, and the way that they led movements. So those things coupled with a play that is rarely programmed make it a unique experience for not only the festival, but especially for audiences to see something that they might not find many other places,” she says, noting these as the reason she and artistic director Tim Carroll programmed The Amen Corner.

 

Rampersad says her mother is a Christian and she grew up in the church so she was able to pull on her own experience and see some parallels and some divergences with the play.

 

When Baldwin was 14 years old, he followed in the path of his Baptist preacher stepfather and became a revivalist minister for the small Fireside Pentecostal Assembly in Harlem. Go Tell It on the Mountain is inspired by his experiences there. First performed on a professional stage in 1965, and first published in 1968, The Amen Corner addresses themes of the role of the church in the African-American family, the complex relationship between religion and earthly love, and the effect of a poverty born of racial prejudice on the African-American community.

 

“The play to me feels incredibly personal that I’m able to draw on my life in the church with my family and see Baldwin’s journey with his family, especially in this play because it’s semi-autobiographical. And the challenges that we find as we are critical with our faith, and especially as young people as we grow up and there is a natural sort of emancipation and what happens when our faith might be a part of that breakaway to come back together.”

 

Those were exciting things for the production team comprising set designer Anahita Dehbonehie, costumes designer A.W. Nadine Grant, lighting designer Mikael Kangas, gospel choir music director Jeremiah Sparks, and music supervisior Paul Sportelli. It was also significant to them that they were working with an all-Black cast. Sparks, a pastor from Cherrybrook, Preston, Nova Scotia, grew up in the church where he served as the organist at sixteen and was a choir director for over thirty years. The cast includes Janelle Cooper as Margaret Alexander, Andrew Broderick as David, and Allan Louis as Luke.

 

“For him to be able to bring all of that natural and authentic love for God and the music into our production is remarkable,” says Rampersad. They did a lot of research and have a dramaturge on their production team who was able to help them to be authentic.

 

“It’s nice that we are all Black in our company but being Black is not enough in terms of being authentic to the Black American experience. So that was really important for us to be able to do research, and for us to have a proper voice and dialect, coach Ausar Stewart, to make sure that we’re being authentic and that we’re not being approximate.”

 

Rampersad says it was important to understand the variations of the hymns that Sparks selected to ensure that they were doing something similar to what they were doing in Harlem in the Pentecostal church of the 1950s, and really lifting the story.

Design by Key Gordon Communications      The Amen Corner

What they all found is that: “The Black Church is more than a church in the community. It is a community space, it is a gathering space, it’s a space where we can show up even more as ourselves without the gaze of what society would like to put on us, where it would like to relegate us that we are able to show up for one another and for ourselves, and to be able to speak about that freedom that we felt within the church, especially in this community because this is a poor community that Baldwin is talking about and is in the midst of, and so what is it to be able to throw off those positions of servitude or lower positions that we might find ourselves in working in society and to show up as the creature that God has created us to be, so those were really important things that we were able to talk about in the play.”

 

Ninety-nine years after his birth (he was born on August 2, 1924) and almost 36 years after his death (November 30, 1987), Baldwin remains an important literary voice whose novel, If Beale Street Could Talk, inspired a film by Barry Jenkins in 2018, and his unfinished manuscript, Remember this House, resulted in Raoul Peck’s 2016 documentary film, I Am Not Your Negro. “In the early 1940s, he transferred his faith from religion to literature. Critics, however, note the impassioned cadences of Black churches are still evident in his writing,” notes a profile of Baldwin on the New York-based Concord Theatricals website.

 

Rampersad says The Amen Corner is important to the present time because the crux of Baldwin’s message, God is love, is so needed in everything.

 

“We talk about that in our play and our tragic hero at the end, Margaret, she comes to it at the very end in her final soliloquy where she is able to say that the true way to God is to love everyone all the time with your whole heart in the highs and the lows and that’s what it means to be a true Christian and to love God. And I think that that is just important, we couldn’t speak it enough.”

 

Rampersad says she thinks their responsibility as the artists who are creating the play is to make an excellent piece of theatre that will connect the art to the audience.

 

“If they haven’t experienced what the love in the Black community is for one another, I would love them to experience that. If they are Black, I would love for them to feel that they are well represented in this play, and that this play is more than sometimes what we might see, like Black trauma on stage, that it is something as simple as it’s family, and it’s community. And it’s how we grow up, how we take care of one another, how we just exist in the world going to our job and making lunches, that we have all of these stories too.

 

“And that if people think that a Black story isn’t for them, the story and the feelings are universal so it might be a window into a community that they may not be a part of or close to but now they are invited in and can see how alike we are.”

 

Rampersad and the creative team appreciate the feedback from the audience they received at a preview of the play.

 

“There are people that like to talk back us, in a very good way, like you hear the ‘Mm-hmm,’ ‘Oh boy,’ and you hear all of those things in the audience; that’s fantastic for us because it means that our play is landing and it’s a conversation, and so it feels a lot like church in that sense. People might have exclamations of ‘Hallelujah,’ ‘Preach,’ and ‘Amen.’ It feels like that in the audience and it’s really affirming so it was a fantastic first audience.”

 

She says the Shaw Festival now has a history of making sure that they are doing more plays by Black playwrights and that started with the previous artistic director Jackie Maxwell and continues with Carroll, and Philip Akin has directed many of those plays “and they have now a good tradition, something that’s entrenched so it’s nice to see it make its way to the main stage.”

 

Rampersad sits on the committee of the Black Shoulders Award, created by Akin when he retired from Obsidian Theatre Company, to present $5,000 to five theatre artists every year so that they can pursue some sort of growth or development in their craft.

 

“Philip has been instrumental here at the Shaw in creating excellent Black theatre,” says Rampersad.

 

She underscored that The Amen Corner is life affirming and beautiful so everyone should come out to see it.

Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride Celebrates Milestone

 By Neil Armstrong

The 10th anniversary of the Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride started at Union Station and ended at Downsview Park Station

Anticipation was high at the 10th anniversary of the Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride as many gathered at Union Station, Canada’s busiest transportation hub and a national historic site, on the eve of August 1 — Emancipation Day — to commemorate the momentous event that took place on August 1, 1834 when the Slavery Abolition Act was enacted. Monday night’s journey ended at Downsview Park where everyone disembarked and continued the celebration — a night of music and legacy — outside the station.

 

Standing on the steps of the Brookfield Place entrance to Union, the Verity Community Choir kicked off the night themed “Planting Seeds Beyond Emancipation” with rousing gospel songs that were followed by a brass band of three musicians, the symbolic sharing of packets of seeds by Indigenous elder Catherine Tammaro and Anan Xola Lololi, co-founder of the Afri-Can FoodBasket (AFB), and a welcome message from Itah Sadu, managing director of Blackhurst Cultural Centre, Mayor Olivia Chow, TTC CEO Rick Leary, and Barbara Thomas, this year’s symbolic conductor of the Underground Freedom Train Ride. 

 

The mayor said freedom is incomplete in Canada and there are still people, including Black, who are not free from poverty, hunger and racism. “But with the spirit of community, strength, love, and hope we can conquer anything.”

 

Thomas was a nursing administration coordinator at the Toronto Western Hospital for 55 years, a former board director of the Jamaican Canadian Association, and her record of volunteerism spans over 50 years. She implored everyone to care for each other including the African refugee claimants that were living outside 129 Peter Street in Toronto. Thomas ended her speech with the words Marcus Garvey delivered in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in 1937 and that were made popular by Roberta Nesta Marley, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.”

Barbara Thomas, right, conductor of the Underground Freedom Train Ride, and friend Hyacinth Wilson, both longtime members of the Jamaican Canadian Association

 

“The Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride is symbolic of the role of the Underground Railroad within Canada’s history. This train ride is a recognition of the historic date of Emancipation Day on August 1st when slavery was abolished in the British Empire. It is also a celebration of the power and potential of the peoples of African descent,” said Itah Sadu.

 

The Toronto Freedom Train 2023 Community Resilience Award was presented to Kathy Grant for her work persevering, documenting, and curating local Black history. She is the founder of   Legacy Voices, an organization dedicated to the histories of Black Canadian war veterans. 

 

“During this 2023 season of Emancipation, it is important to give thanks to Mother Earth for nurturing us, to thank the ancestors who came before and prepared fertile ground,” said Itah Sadu about the theme of the night. “Finally, to ask the question, what seeds will Canadians plant going forward, and how soon can they break soil and cultivate?”

 

 

As the night progressed, everyone was advised to follow the instructions of observing a quiet moment of reflection as they entered the subway train on the lower level in remembrance of their forebears.

 

Aboard the train there were more performances and speeches: Randell Adjei, Poet Laureate of Ontario, read a poem, the Freedom Singers sang, Itah Sadu welcomed everyone and as the clock struck midnight, Emancipation Day was declared. There was a voice that came over the intercom system that many thought was a recorded message, however it was live. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was there in person and after sharing his message regarding the significance of the event and Emancipation Day, he walked through the train and was greeted by many who took selfies with their phones. 

 

The songs included: “This Little Light of Mine,” “Rivers of Babylon,” Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” “Redemption Song,” “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” “The Gospel Train A’Coming,” “Give Me Oil in My Lamp,” and “There is a Meeting Here Tonight.” The Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was sung at the gathering at Downsview Park station and there were more speeches, performances and singing.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the 10th anniversary of the Underground Freedom Train Ride

 

A day later, on August 1, the prime minister issued this message about Emancipation Day:

 

“Today, on Emancipation Day, we come together to acknowledge the painful history of slavery in Canada and other parts of the world, and to recommit ourselves to building a more just, inclusive, and equal society for all.

 

“On August 1, 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act took effect and laid a pathway to the liberation of over 800,000 enslaved Africans in Canada, the Caribbean, South America, and South Africa. Since then, people around the world have gathered on Emancipation Day to recognize the incredible courage, determination, and resilience of Black communities who fought for their freedom and for justice.

 

“The legacy of slavery still endures today in the form of intergenerational trauma and anti-Black racism and hate. To address lasting inequalities and build a better Canada for future generations, the federal government is working to renew Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and create the first-ever National Action Plan on Combatting Hate. These build on concrete actions that are already making a real difference, like the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative, which helps build capacity for Black-led organizations. And through the themes highlighted in the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent, which Canada recognized in 2018, we will keep building a country where everyone – no matter their race, religion, or ethnicity – can thrive.

 

“On Emancipation Day, we recognize and celebrate the remarkable contributions that people of African descent, and all those who were subjected to slavery or suffered from its enduring impacts, have made to Canada. From science, business and law, to sport, art and entertainment, Black communities have and continue to make significant contributions to the fabric of our country. I encourage everyone to reflect on the history of slavery and anti-Black racism in Canada and its intergenerational impacts on people of African descent. Together, we can – and we will – build a better future for all.”

Mayor Olivia Chow speaking at Union Station at the start of Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride

Kathy Grant, founder of Legacy Voices, who was the recipient of the Toronto Freedom Train 2023 Community Resilience Award

Amber and Jean Augustine aboard the train

The brass band performing at Union Station

 

Over its 10-year history, the Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride had the following conductors: Emily Wickham, Amy Nelson, Beverley Salmon, Jean Augustine, Rita Cox, Tiki Mercury, honorary conductor Senator Wanda Bernard,

Zanana Akande, Aunt Dolly, and Lynn jones.

 

The annual event is presented by Blackhurst Cultural Centre (BCC), in partnership with the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), Government of Canada, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), African Canadian Heritage Association (ACHA), Zero Gun Violence Movement, the baro dununba drumming group, and the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Photo credit: Stephen Weir    From left Michael Lashley, Itah Sadu, BMO Stanley Julien also Board member BCC and Renee Lantaigne BMO

Blackhurst Cultural Centre held an Emancipation Walk along Bloor Street West on August 1 and hosted at event at which BMO announced a $750,000 donation to the Centre. As the lead partner of Blackhurst’s capital campaign, the donation will support construction of a new Cultural Centre celebrating and preserving Black history in Toronto’s Mirvish Village.

 

The donation also supports an operating and endowment fund to help the Centre deliver outreach programs such as youth arts programs and a business e-course in partnership with the Schulich School of Business.

 

“This new Centre will help support financial progress, racial equity, and inclusion for Black customers, colleagues, and the community,” said Stanley Julien, head of Special Accounts Management Unit, BMO. “Our purpose, to boldly grow the good in business and life, inspires our Zero Barriers to Inclusion strategy that’s breaking down systemic barriers and enabling access to opportunities for all. We are excited for the benefits this Centre, and its programs, will bring for our community.”

 

Itah Sadu, the managing director of Blackhurst Cultural Centre, said the Centre was proud to have BMO as a partner in this new anthropological model of development. “Blackhurst welcomes the community, government, and the corporate sector to lay a foundation for a permanent and sustainable cultural infrastructure in the historic Bloor and Bathurst neighbourhood. The ancestors who came through the Underground Railroad and settled in this neighbourhood must be cheering this new Canadian chapter.”

 

For over 25 years, Blackhurst has operated as a Black-owned bookstore, A Different Booklist. In 2025, the Centre will move into one of the 24 conserved heritage buildings in the revitalized Mirvish Village, expanding to four floors to house the bookstore, Cultural Centre programming, and a drumming studio. Blackhurst has dedicated space to showcase revolving community-based vendors, artisans, and leading voices, all curated to engage with the community for learning, sharing, and celebrating the proud stories of African and Caribbean Canadians, notes a media release from BMO. 

 

 

Black Community Housing Advisory Table Ensures that African Refugee Claimants are Supported

 By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: Rwandan Canadian Healing Centre     Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), speaks at press conference outside 129 Peter St., Toronto

 

Now that many of the African refugee claimants that were living on the sidewalk outside 129 Peter Street — location of the City of Toronto Referral and Assessment Centre — have been temporarily housed in churches and hotels, a critical next step is to file their claim for refugee status.

 

Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), says it is important that each person filing a claim do it with the assistance of people who know what is required. 

 

“One mistake on a person’s claim could become a life or death issue. You really need not only to tell your story but know how to tell the story because you eventually end up before a judge to determine whether or not you will be granted refugee status.” 

 

A successful claim results in an individual being able to apply for a work permit, for Ontario Works as income support until such time as they find a job, and they are able to access services paid for by the province and the city, says Douglas who sits on the Black Community Housing Advisory Table (BCHAT) ensuring that the African refugee claimants are supported.

 

BCHAT, which is a table, not an organization, has taken the leadership on this issue. Also sitting at the table are OCASI, Black Opportunity Fund, and some other individuals and organizations.

 

On July 14, African groups, groups working with refugees, people experiencing homelessness, and other civil society groups gathered outside 129 Peter Street to call on all levels of government to urgently provide emergency housing and support, in order to address the current shelter system crisis that is impacting unhoused refugee claimants and migrants in Toronto. Among them was Pastor Eddie Jjumba of Dominion Church International Toronto whose church is now providing temporary shelter to many.

 

Douglas said almost two months ago it was the Ethiopian community that flagged the situation with African refugee claimants. 

 

The Ethiopian Association had put it out on the African Solidarity Network — a network of Black African leaders for which OCASI is the secretariat — that they needed help.  

 

“They basically said help, all of our people are sleeping outside 129 Peter. I think what they did was they went ahead and found private homes and some of the Ethiopian churches took in people.”

 

However, the Ethiopian Association very quickly became overwhelmed with donations of clothes because they had been defunded by the federal government about 12 years ago and did not have the capacity to continue to manage.

 

“So they have been completely erased from the story when in fact it was their alert that made many people, like OCASI, begin to pay attention to what was happening,” said Douglas.

 

Kizito Musabimana, founder and executive director of the Rwandan Canadian Healing Centre, and Diane Walter, executive director of Margaret’s Housing and Community Support Services, have been taking the lead in service coordination and also spoke at the press conference.

Photo credit: Rwandan Canadian Healing Centre    Kizito Musabimana, founder and executive director of the Rwandan Canadian Healing Centre, speaks at the press conference outside Peter St., Toronto, on July 14, 2023

Douglas is pleased that several organizations and churches have stepped up, especially Revivaltime Tabernacle and Dominion Church International Toronto. Last week, Pastor Judith James of Revivaltime issued a call for volunteers to help sort the donations that were coming from Ontarians to the church for the asylum seekers.  

 

OCASI’s role is to talk to the politicians who sit at various tables and make sure that things are happening to keep the matter in the media but also to talk about the larger issues.

 

Douglas said the crisis outside 129 Peter Street is being dealt with, and they expect other people to continue to show up because there is a lot of homelessness in the African community and others, but specifically among the African refugee claimant population. 

 

As people heard about the church offering housing many showed up and at one point the numbers swelled to 350-400 people between the two churches. 

 

“The federal government finally came up with some money, so did the province and the city but what we are pushing the mayor about is that we don’t care where you get the money from, you need to open shelters and the existing shelters have no space,” said Douglas who is calling for the expansion of hotel rooms.  Since Thursday many of these refugee claimants have been moved to hotels.

 

“Right now it’s about service coordination, who’s going, who’s doing what, our community health centres (CHCs) — Parkdale Queen West and Black Creek, Angela [Robertson] and Cheryl [Prescod], — really have shown up and are working to pull other CHCs, other health resources together. Organizations like the FCJ Refugee Centre are going in to help out with, as well as the Black Lawyers Association, are going in to help refugees specifically with claim forms to file for refugee status.” 

 

 

The city does not fund immigrant services directly but funds many community organizations that provide services to immigrants. The province provides services to new arrivals such as refugee claimants, migrant workers, international students, citizens and immigrants as well. 

 

However, the federal government is the largest funder. While the province spends about $125 million a year, including Adult ESL and other services as well such as immigrant employment and others, the federal government this year is spending over $500 million in Ontario’s region, notes Douglas explaining the difference in scope. 

 

Douglas said even before this crisis, OCASI has been pushing the province to increase its funding. 

 

“We have an increasing population of refugee claimants for whatever reason. They are increasing across the world; it makes sense we’re seeing it here in Canada and so the funding needs to be increased.” They have also been fighting with the federal government for years to lift the eligibility criteria. “They need to expand it to include refugee claimants, temporary workers and international students.”

 

Douglas said Mayor Olivia Chow has been stepping up. She said a vast majority are newly arrived refugee claimants.  When people come through the Toronto Pearson International Airport — which most people do — those who want to make a refugee claim will have their ID checked and if authorities think they are not a flight risk and their ID checks out, they are given the address for 129 Peter Street central housing because people come in and they have nowhere to go.

 

These refugee claimants were arriving at Peter Street only to be told there is no housing anywhere. 

 

At the beginning of June, deputy mayor Jennifer McKelvie announced that the City of Toronto had no other choice but to refer refugees and asylum seekers to federal Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) programs for support if the City’s refugee centres were full.

 

“The problem is there is no government program, housing program, the only hotel the federal government has in Toronto is for a two-week stay close to the airport for Ukrainians. But the city itself had opened a hotel for Ukrainians about a year ago and the federal government had not stepped up to pay for it. The city has been paying for it and people have been in there for a long time so that puts pressure on city’s budget,” said Douglas.

 

She outlined that there was the unexpected influx of Ukrainians, the Afghans were coming in, and many refugee claimants came through before the federal government shut the unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road down. 

 

A vast majority had been moved to Ontario after Quebec said it could not absorb any more. They intentionally stayed away from Toronto and went to Niagara, Cornwall and then later when Niagara started making noise to places like Kitchener-Waterloo, some out of province but people migrate to Toronto — the most multicultural, multiracial place. “Toronto is where people find their cultural community, where they hear their language, where they get their food, where they find queer community because many of the folks are queer. Many are queer and from west and east Africa — many from Uganda tend to be queer, gay, lesbian and trans.” After being assured by the two churches that they would be welcomed and treated with respect and dignity, BCHAT gave the okay for the claimants to be moved there. They also spoke about women and women safety. 

Photo credit: Rwandan Canadian Healing Centre    Some of the placards at the press conference held outside 129 Peter St. in Toronto on July 14, 2023

 

Douglas is hoping that now that people are moving into hotels it will give them a bit of stability for at least a few weeks so they can sort their issues — what they need in terms of healthcare, and if they are queer, finding queer community.

 

Douglas said the community has really rallied to support these refugee claimants and while many brought hygiene products, what was really needed was cooked food because these are churches. “People wanted to drop off clothes, no, this is a temporary situation: there is no place, they don’t need clothes.” 

 

Douglas does not know much about the fundraising efforts but said there is an attempt to centralize the messaging, and there has to be a public accounting for any funds raised.

 

Last week, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced the federal government would allocate $212 million for the Interim Housing Assistance Program, which provides funding on a cost-sharing basis to provinces and municipalities to cover the costs of interim housing for asylum claimants. Fraser said $97 million would be earmarked for Toronto. 

BCHAT says it is crucial to clarify the allocation of funds specifically for African refugee claimants and asylum seekers.

Toronto city councillors also unanimously passed a motion to expand funding and resources to help house asylum seekers in the city.

In a joint statement last week, Mayor Olivia Chow and Premier Doug Ford said that Ontario and Toronto would each provide $6.67 million as a one-time funding top up to the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit to get more people into permanent housing and quickly free up spaces in the shelter system.

They noted that historically, the federal government contributes two-thirds of the cost of the housing benefit program, and to help more people move into permanent housing, they are urging the federal government to provide $26.7 million in funding. That number would be in addition to the $97 million the federal government committed to help the city house an influx of newcomers last week.

Last week, Black community leaders Jean Augustine and Zanana Akande expressed how troubled they were by the scene outside 129 Peter Street. 

 

“This is not the Canada that we are building, this is not the Canada that speaks about diversity; this is not the Canada that speaks about respect for each other. This is not the Canada that gets around tables to talk about the situation of refugees, the situation of people around the world who need Canadian help, Canadian assistance and that we have a country where everyone is welcome, and everyone is given an opportunity to prosper, reach their full potential, to be and to have life a bit better than what they leaving behind. I think it’s important for us not to sit back, it’s important for us not to allow this to happen,” said Augustine.

 

Akande said she was shocked when she saw the makeshift dwelling on the sidewalk. 

 

“We have been listening for months about fires, about storms, from every part of Canada and beyond and immediately those people are taken into municipal buildings or into schools or into centres somewhere. And we have been hearing about refugees who have been coming to Canada and I know from the friends that I’ve made that some of our Ukrainians who have been here have been taken into centres, and our people are on the street. 

 

“I’m not an immigrant, I was born in this country, in this city of immigrant parents and we have always supported each other in being fair and expecting for each other what we have for ourselves, and extending our gifts so that others could profit from them, and yet we have Black people — let me be clear, Black people sleeping on the street, women trying to cover themselves adequately while they sleep — and I must tell you I am offended. This is not the Canada that I went to school and learned with, this is not the Canada that I taught hundreds and hundreds of children to be able to contribute to, this is not the Canada that I went to the University of Toronto and taught teachers how to teach so that they could make them welcome. 

 

“This is not that Canada and I want, no, no, no, I insist that my tax dollars be spent to give equal service to my people. And once again I have to talk about my people in a country where I’ve been raised, in a city where I’ve been raised living with Italians, Jews, and Ukrainians and white people, and Black people, and people from all parts of this world. You have, we have allowed my people to be so disrespected. I will not stop talking about this, I will not rest until they get equity.”

 

Meanwhile, Revivaltime Tabernacle has posted on its website the donations needed as of July 22, 2023. They include items categorized under the following headings: clothing, toiletries, cleaning and kitchen. Cash donations can also be made; the full list can be viewed at revivaltimetabernacle.org.

On July 20, the Toronto Dancehall Community in partnership with the Jamaican Canadian Association held a fundraiser titled “Refugee Crisis in Toronto” at the Jamaican Canadian Centre.

 

 

 

Emancipation Day ‘Underground Freedom Train’ Ride’s Conductor is Enthusiastic

By Neil Armstrong

Photo contributed        Barbara Thomas will be the conductor of the 2023 Emancipation Day 'Underground Freedom Train' Ride in Toronto on July 31

Barbara Thomas, a retired nursing administration coordinator at the Toronto Western Hospital for 55 years, is the conductor of the Emancipation Day ‘Underground Freedom Train’ Ride, marking its tenth anniversary on July 31 under the theme “Planting Seeds Beyond Emancipation.”

She is a former board director of the Jamaican Canadian Association and her record of volunteerism spans over 50 years.

“It’s a great honour to have been selected as the conductor. It’s a very meaningful and powerful representation of not only the Black community but also the Indigenous community and all who were impacted by slavery.”

Thomas, who is from Bullocks, Clarendon, pursued post-secondary studies at Kingston Public Hospital School of Nursing (General Nursing) and Victoria Jubilee Hospital (Obstetrics Nursing) before immigrating to Canada in 1968. While living in Jamaica, she worked as a registered nurse at the Kingston Public Hospital and as an acting head nurse in the Paediatric Emergency Department at Spanish Town Hospital. She also worked at the Exchange Visitor Program and was an acting head nurse, Labour and Delivery, at Cook County School of Nursing in Chicago.

One week after arriving in Toronto in May 1968, Thomas landed a job as a registered nurse at Toronto Western Hospital where she was also held the position of assistant head nurse and eventually worked as a casual employee.

The former vice-president and chair of the fundraising and membership committees of the Jamaican Canadian Association is the recipient of certificates and awards from the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Culture for her many years of community service.

Since 2013, the annual train ride celebration and milestone has evoked the deep history and triumph of the human spirit. The Emancipation Day ‘Underground Freedom Train’ Ride begins on July 31 and ends early on August 1 with over 1,000 people on board.

Since the inception of the event, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has partnered with the Blackhurst Cultural Centre (formerly A Different Booklist Cultural Centre) to provide an actual underground experience via its subway system. This is a very emotional song-filled train ride and is open to all Canadians for the price of a token. 

"The Emancipation Day 'Underground Freedom Train' Ride is symbolic of the role of the Underground Railroad within Canada's history," says Itah Sadu, one of the founders of the event. "This train ride is a recognition of the historic date of Emancipation Day on August 1st when slavery was abolished in the British Empire. It is also a celebration of the power and potential of the peoples of African descent."

Formerly enslaved people in the United States undertook an incredible and dangerous journey in their migration to Canada, and this symbolic train ride helps keep history alive by connecting the past to the present and ultimately linking to the future.

The journey begins at Union Station in downtown Toronto. It all starts at 10: 30 p.m. inside Union Station with choirs, drumming, brass music, and greetings from the TTC and City officials.  The train will be boarded at 11:40 p.m. and travels along the TTC subway line to Downsview Park Station, where there will be music, readings, and special guests just outside of the station. 

Also attending will be Kathy Grant, the recipient of the 2023 Emancipation Award for preserving, documenting, and curating local Black history in the city. She is also

the recipient of the 2023 Mary Matilda Winslow Award for advocacy in public education presented by the Ontario Black History Society earlier this year. Grant is the founder of Legacy Voices, an organization dedicated to the histories of Black Canadian war veterans.

Over the past years, the Emancipation Ride has planted seeds of hope and inspiration through its symbolism. This is evidenced in the attendance of all Canadians to the ride, its innovation, and the positive relationship shared with the TTC and community organizations as event collaborators.

"During this 2023 season of Emancipation," says Sadu, "it is important to give thanks to Mother Earth for nurturing us, to thank the ancestors who came before and prepared fertile ground. Finally, to ask the question, what new seeds will Canadians plant going forward, and how soon can they break soil and cultivate?” Passengers will be given a package of organic corn seeds during the event to take home. 

Some photographs from the 2019 Underground Freedom Train Ride

 Celebration of Emancipation Continues on August 1 along Bloor Street 

Blackhurst Cultural Centre continues the commemoration of Emancipation Day on August 1 along Bloor Street from Bathurst to Christie Pits Park, from 12.30 p.m. - 2.30 p.m.  The public is invited to join this Emancipation walk in recognition of the National Emancipation Day. Participants will gather outside the Randolph Theatre, located at 736 Bathurst Street, and are asked to wear white and come with wrapped heads.

Joining this year’s Emancipation on Bloor is BMO, to celebrate Emancipation and make a joint-announcement with the Blackhurst Cultural Centre. The announcement will take place at Blackhurst Cultural Centre, 777 Bathurst Street, at 12.00 p.m., followed by the Emancipation Walk at 12.30 p.m. 

Emancipation on Bloor is an animation of Bloor Street. The animation takes place at key intersections on Bloor from Avenue Rd. to Christie Pits Park with a number of artistic expressions and music.  Emancipation on Bloor commemorates an important milestone for descendants of enslaved Africans marking the abolition of slavery and honours the many contributions and resilience of African peoples throughout the diaspora.