Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services responds to Open Letter about Carding

Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services responds to Open Letter

By Neil Armstrong

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services says Minister David Orazietti has been clear that the arbitrary collection of identifying information (also known as carding or street checks) by the police is unacceptable.

“ That is why our government is banning arbitrary street checks starting January 1, 2017. All police services across the province must comply with the ban,” says Yanni Dagonas, senior advisor and press secretary to the minister, who was responding to an Open Letter to the City of Toronto and Province of Ontario about carding from over 50 black intellectuals, writers and organizers sent out on November 21.

The letter notes that on November 17, the Toronto Police Services Board voted to continue the practice of carding in a revised form.

“The decision by the TPSB represents a significant impact on the rights of Black, Indigenous, and Brown people, as well as homeless people and other marginalized people in our Toronto community,” the letter said. [See the Open Letter further below.]

Dagonas said the provincial regulation is all about making sure that people's rights are being properly protected, “and that we strengthen the relationship between police officers and the communities they serve - a relationship built on trust and respect.”

“We have also made changes to the Code of Conduct under the Police Services Act to ensure compliance and accountability. Under these changes any violation of the rules on collecting identifying information would be considered misconduct, and an officer engaging in street checks may be subject to disciplinary action. Additionally, the Ontario Police College is working with every police service in the province to ensure officers are properly trained and ready to comply with the regulation when it comes into effect,” Dagonas said.

“To ensure that our rules are having the desired outcome, we will also appoint an Independent Reviewer who will complete a review of the regulation within two years. In addition, the ministry will also launch a multi-year study to ensure that bias is removed from police-public interactions and to understand the impact on community safety from collecting identifying information through police interactions with the public.”

On November 17, the Toronto Police Services Board revised its carding policy that still allows the police to access historical carding data. Many critics and community advocates want the old data to be deleted.

In a statement issued on the same day of the board’s meeting, Mayor John Tory said: “This policy is part of the important work Chief Saunders has been leading to modernize the Toronto Police Service and rebuild trust between our communities and our hardworking police officers. This change includes increased training to address bias, restricted access to and oversight of historical data, and the introduction of a ‘Know your Rights’ public awareness campaign.”

Tory said he advocated for the deletion of the historical data that has been compiled through the process of carding.

“The board, however, received compelling advice related to the legal and practical rationale against deletion, including legislative provisions and the data’s relevance to civil litigations and active Charter challenges. TPS officials also advanced operational considerations. I am satisfied that the resulting policy appropriately restricts access to this data and increases accountability and transparency around its use,” he said.

Councillor Chin Lee, one of two city councilors sitting on the board, was away and so could not respond to the open letter.

There was no response from the other councillor, Shelley Carroll, to the letter.

CARDING

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITY OF TORONTO AND THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO FROM BLACK INTELLECTUALS, WRITERS AND ORGANISERS.

On November 17, 2016 the Toronto Police Services Board voted to continue the practice of Carding in a revised form. The decision by the TPSB represents a significant impact on the rights of Black, Indigenous, and Brown people, as well as homeless people and other marginalized people in our Toronto community.

In “Known to the Police” the Toronto Star’s ground-breaking analysis of street checks data, better known as carding, it was confirmed that the practice of carding in Toronto disproportionally impacts the lives of Black and Brown men in the City of Toronto. The Star’s analysis dramatically confirmed what Black people and Black activists had been maintaining for many years, that Toronto Police disproportionately target Black and Brown young people in their street checks. In these street checks the personal information of these young people is unconstitutionally and illegally gathered and stored in a database for unspecified use in the future.

Many people who have been carded have come forward to explain how the practice of carding robs them not only of their Charter Rights but of their dignity as well. There is growing evidence that the information gathered in the database has been used to deny persons access to resources and jobs for which they would have been otherwise qualified. The corrosive effects of carding, on the lives and rights of Black Canadians in particular, have been a clear signal of their marginalization in the City of Toronto.

The practice of carding is so egregious that the Province of Ontario in a recent set of consultations suggested that it be significantly reformed. We say reform is not enough. Carding not only violates Charter Rights of Black Canadians and others, but carding robs its targets of dignity, bodily integrity, freedom of movement and freedom of assembly, and, makes clear to them that they are not seen as necessary or instrumental parts of the City of Toronto. Carding, as a recent UN Special report confirmed, yet again, after a fact finding visit to a number of cities, has an impact on Black people in Canada that is deeply destructive to their lives.

We the undersigned call on both the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto to immediately abolish carding, destroy all the data that is the fruit of these illegal detentions and issue an immediate directive to police officers that carding cannot be used in the Province nor the City as an “investigative tool”. We further demand that police officers should be clearly held to account for their behaviour when they violate the human rights of Black, Brown and Indigenous people through the surreptitious methods of carding.

We make these demands in light of the fact that the citizenship rights of Black Canadians are being violated and indeed made null and void each time a Black person is carded. The new regulations announced on November 17 on carding suggest that Black young people now and into the future will be targeted as collectively and generally suspect because of the colour of their skin. The new regulations confirm the intention of ongoing, sanctioned intrusion into the lives of Black citizens. If we say that young people are our future, then the clear message that carding and data collection and storage send to young people of African descent is that they have no future in this country. The new regulations signal open season on Black life. This is unacceptable in a multiracial and multicultural society. In fact, carding is an abhorrent practice that mars any claim of a just society in the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto, let alone the country.

Signatories:

Rinaldo Walcott

Dionne Brand

David Chariandy

Olive Senior

Sylvia Hamilton

Pamela Mordecai

Angela Robertson

Carol Allain

Beverly Bain

Debbie Douglas

Richard Fung

Afua Cooper

Katherine McKittrick

Beverley Mullings

Pablo Idahosa

D. Alissa Trotz

Camille Orridge

Dionne Falconer

Andrea Davis

OmiSoore Dryden

Sandy Hudson

Kit Lang

Lali Mohamed

Audrey Dwyer

Christopher Smith

Ellie Ade Kur

Punam Khosla

Ronald Cummings

Ayende Constant

Abdi Osman

Crystal Mark

Rai Reece

Cassandra Lord

Ronald Cummings

Karina Vernon

Kamala Kempadoo

Melanie Newton

Malinda S Smith

Michele Johnson

Grace Adeniyi Ogunyankin

Tamari Kitossa

Camille Turner

Warren Chrichlow

Delores V Mullings

Carl James

Honor Ford Smith

Melanie Knight

Anthony Mohamed

Melanie Newton

Andrea Davis

Pablo Idahosa

Anti-Black Racism Network

Idil Abdillahi

 Marieme Lo

Individuals recognized for their humanitarian work in Haiti

Individuals recognized for their humanitarian work in Haiti
By Neil Armstrong

Six individuals have been presented with awards for their humanitarian work in Haiti. 

The recipients -- Annik Chalifour of Journalist L’Express, Akwatu Khenti of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Maria Masucci and Mohini Basran of Hope For Haiti Initiatives, and Father Michael Corcione and Father Claudio Moser of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church – were honoured at the sixth annual Pierspective Entraide Humanitaire gala held at the Toronto Don Valley Hotel and Suites on November 19.

Khenti, director of transformative global health at CAMH, was the principal investigator for the development of easy-to-follow, culturally adapted cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions for working with individuals of Latin American origin, as well as those of African Caribbean origin (both English and French speaking).

The CBT intervention is now being tested with spiritual leaders in Haiti to see whether it can strengthen the system of informal care.

Chalifour received the award for her work in Haiti and for the many stories that she has published in L’Express newspaper.

Since the 2010 earthquake, she has visited Haiti with a group of Franco-Ontarian teachers and students from York University as part of an international development project.

In 2015, Chalifour, who is also a teacher at Collège Boréal, travelled to Haiti to interview several artists and activists to showcase a different image of the county and its potential.

Masucci, principal of St. Mark School with the Dufferin Peel Catholic School Board, and Basran, a retired teacher with the board, have worked in the bateys of the Dominican Republic and in Haiti for the past fourteen years.

Their work involves providing medical, nutritional and educational support to thousands of children and their families.

Corcione and Moser are involved in a program that started at St. Peter’s parish in Woodbridge over 12 years ago.

“We usually visit three bateys in July every year (las Pajas, La Cachena, Alejandro Bass) but we serve many, many others. We have an education program where students are given scholarships to attend university. We support three full time teachers in Las Pajas who teach children on a daily basis who wouldn’t normally go to school,” notes Father Corcione in the program.

He said their work with Haitians living in the Dominican Republic is ever growing and expanding.

Antoine Derose, president of the organization, said all six received awards for their work, commitment and contribution to the improvement of the condition of Haitians.

“It would be a constant reminder to me that the Haitian community is not alone in its struggle to achieve an improvement in the standard of living, and your presence today means that despite their struggle, Haiti and the Haitian diaspora have many, many, good friends,” he said.

The gala is the primary fundraising event held by Pierspective and all the proceeds go towards completing the St. Paul de Corail Cesselesse school in Corail, Haiti. 

Over 300 boys and girls presently attend the school and completion of the second floor will add another five classrooms which would enable more children to benefit from early childhood education.

Derose reminded the patrons that November 18 marked the anniversary of The Battle of Vertières in 1803, which resulted in the ultimate victory of the former enslaved Africans over the Napoleon Bonaparte-led French army.

Dr. Eric Pierre, immediate past president, said he admired the commitment of the award recipients towards Haiti.

“It’s not a short term commitment from these people who got awards, it is a long term commitment, long term courage because you will have critics, you will have people who question you and you have to be able to look at them in the eyes and say this is the goal of my life and I want to get into it and I want to see results,” he said.

Pierspective Entraide Humanitaire was founded in 2002 with the objective to alleviate the burden of challenges brought to the large majority of Haitians by numerous historical and socio-economic factors, notes Pierre, the founding president, in his message in the program.

The scheduled keynote speaker, Frantz Liautaud, Haitian Ambassador to Canada, could not attend but sent his message, which was read by Derose. 

 The entertainers included musician Dieufaite Charles, popularly known as “Jahfaa,” tenor Jeffrey Smith, accompanied by pianist Maria Markelova and dancers from the Rugcutterz Danz Artz School of Dance.  

Back row: left-right: Antoine Derose, Father Michael Corcione, Akwatu Khenti and Anna Chalifour. Front row: left-right: Mohini Basran, Father Claudio Moser, Maria Masucci, Dr. Eric Pierre and Dr. Joelle Fareau at the sixth annual Pierspective Entraide Humanitaire fundraising gala at Toronto Don Valley Hotel & Suites.

The emcees for the evening were Nikki Clarke (English) and Stephanie Louie (French).

Anti-Black racism campaign touches a nerve in Toronto

Anti-Black racism campaign touches a nerve in Toronto

By Neil Armstrong

Given all the recent incidents and reports of anti-black racism in the Greater Toronto Area, and indeed the province – from those involving school boards, verbal assault onboard public transit to signage promoting white privilege and more -- Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) says they could not have planned the launch of a public education campaign about anti-black racism at a better time.

Launched on November 2, the public education campaign by the City of Toronto and OCASI to raise awareness about the persistence of anti-black racism has touched a nerve in the city.

Douglas says the feedback has been very mixed on social media and on Twitter it has been nasty.

However, she thinks that given the conversation currently around about anti-black racism this is an opportune time.

“Folks have gone as far as to create hashtags saying ‘anti-white racism,’ folks have taken the posters and changed them so that they have Barack Obama and some white police chief, saying ‘hire one.’ Others have accused us of race-baiting and that anti-black racism does not exist.”

Despite this, Douglas says there have been some thoughtful conversations in which people say, “yes, we understand that black people are discriminated against but so are other people of colour.”

“Those folks we engage. It’s like, yes, but this campaign is about anti-black racism and some, I think, legitimate questions – If this is about anti-racism why are you only juxtaposing black people with white people?”

She said they actually also had that conversation as they were creating the campaign and had some images of black and non-black but non-white folks and the message then became too easy to be dismissed by white majority folk, in terms of, oh, that’s just those people of colour beating up on each other.

And so they intentionally use white and black images as a way to starkly talk about anti-black racism.

“Not at all losing the fact that it’s not only white folks who are anti-black, but wanting to pay attention to issues of power and power relations, and white supremacy and those kinds of issues that a poster doesn’t tell you and hence the website, torontoforall.ca,” she says.

The campaign created by the full service marketing communications firm, Public Inc., centres around bus shelter posters with powerful visual images which address anti-black racism in employment and housing situations. 

The posters direct people to the campaign website which provides information and resources to encourage dialogue, and to question and challenge anti-black racism.

This is a continuation of the city's partnership with OCASI. Phase 1 of the Toronto for All campaign ran in the summer of 2016 and focused on anti-Islamophobia. The campaign successfully encouraged dialogue amongst residents and the media in Toronto, nationally and internationally.

“When we had the anti-Islamophobia campaign the pushback was similar but it wasn’t as personal. So for the first time on Twitter I was called the c-word, so it’s that kind of nasty,” said Douglas.

“We kind of talk about this theoretically all the time, that as black women there is a particular race-based sexism that we experience. It’s really interesting to be on the receiving end of this in just a really visceral way from who I can only assume are white men.”

Douglas said there was a pushback from white men to the anti-Islamophobia campaign that somehow they have become this persecuted group, even more so with the anti-black racism campaign.

“I’m receiving comments like ‘I’m tired of this white men bashing,’ ‘I’m tired of having to apologize for being a white man,’ and the one that made me smile is that ‘Black people are a privileged group in Canada.’”

Doulas said the City of Toronto and OCASI thought the moment was correct to do this campaign now.

She said OCASI did not want to lose the momentum that has been built up by the actions of Black Lives Matter and the way that they have put anti-black racism solidly on the public agenda and in the public’s imagination.

“I think for too long the whole narrative is Canada is a saviour of black folk while we continue to erase the experience of Black Canadians out of our national narratives has been telling. I think that for many of us watching the Trudeau government, who we know many of the Black community supported, strike his first Cabinet, talk about it being the most diverse Cabinet in the history and there wasn’t one black person in that Cabinet. And as well, that the fact that Black Lives Matter, here in Toronto especially, had forced a conversation with the Premier of Ontario and with the mayor of the city. 

“And so felt, let’s not lose this momentum, let’s talk about the everyday experiences that black people have. Because I think that even with the work that Black Lives Matter has been doing, folks began to say, yeah, we really should be looking at police practices that the Toronto Star did around carding and racial profiling, yes that happens but people don’t pay attention to the other ways that anti-black racism expresses itself in the daily lives of black folk. It’s our young people being questioned when they enter a store, whether or not it’s the way black women get followed around in high-end clothing stores, whether or not it’s the way our black African immigrants don’t get call back for interviews because of their last name, whether or not that’s folk who just a few months ago during the summer posted a rental sign that said ‘Black guys don’t bother call.’ 

“We tend to forget that it is these every day microaggressions that weigh down on us that we experience as black people and we don’t talk about it, and so unless the police shoots a black person – a black man or a black woman – or unless there’s a big hoopla about a research project that shows over-policing of our community, folks think that black people are doing all very fine and well because, after all, didn’t the United States elect a black president and so we live in this post-racial age. And after all, isn’t this Canada where enslaved Africans escaped to, without any sort of discussion around Canada’s own history of slavery, without any conversation that there has been a black presence in Canada for over three hundred years and we all didn’t arrive in the 1960s.”

Anthony Morgan, a social justice lawyer and advocate, noted that anti-black racism is at the root of the social and systemic disadvantages facing far too many Black Torontonians.

"This much-needed campaign reminds us that there is no progress without precision. It does so by showing us that multiculturalism, inclusion, equity and diversity can never be truly realized without naming and engaging anti-black racism head on.”

Douglas says these are the conversations that the campaign is trying to spark and some of those conversations have been happening, “even with folks who are the trolls and whose minds we will never change.”

“What it is doing, I think that because the campaign is on, because media has been talking about it, because there’s been lot of back and forth in social media, what happened on the St. Clair West streetcar on Monday night emboldened those two white women who stepped up and said to that white guy ‘not here.’ I think our campaign is credit to that, that folks are paying attention.”

This is in reference to a recent racist incident aboard a St. Clair streetcar in which two white women intervened when a white man was berating a person of colour.

"Racism might not show up as overtly as in previous decades, but it's still present and evident," said Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 37 Scarborough Centre) at the launch. 

"Toronto's motto is Diversity Our Strength. The City, as government, has a duty to create a welcoming place for all Torontonians whether they are new or life-long residents, regardless of race, religion or culture, which will allow them to prosper," he said.

Racial profiling persists in many aspects of daily life for Black Torontonians.

Black youth continue to drop out from the educational system at higher rates than their white classmates. 

Black people are over represented among those living in poverty. And, the number of Black youth is alarmingly and disproportionately high in remand, youth detention facilities and jails.

Douglas says the aim of the campaign is not only to have non-black folk pay attention to the black experience but “for us as black people to have a conversation amongst ourselves. What does all this mean? How are we supporting each other and our communities, and the young people who are coming up, in terms of how do we begin to make those kinds of changes?”

“It’s about stopping it when you see it. It’s about speaking out and it’s about naming it, as black people,” she said.

Debbie Douglas, Executive Director, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)

OCASI is the umbrella organization for immigrant and refugee-serving agencies in Ontario.

Black masculinity explored in artistic creations

Black masculinity explored in artistic creations

By Neil Armstrong

A few weeks ago, I sent an email to some friends encouraging them to see the Barry Jenkins’ film, Moonlight, and the plays, “Secrets of a Black Boy” and “Black Boys.”

It seemed to me that over the past few months that has been a lot of focus through the arts on black men in the aforementioned productions and more.

In September, CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, in collaboration with Black Daddies Club and Black in Canada, presented #BlackLoveMatters, an international film contest for short films which address black masculinity and black love.

“Not enough films are created with fully developed, authentic portrayals of the diverse experiences of Black Love,” says the write-up in the festival program.

“This challenge was inspired in collaboration with the Black Daddies Club and was designed to provide a platform for narratives of Black Men, Black Love, and Black Masculinity, in all of their many forms,” it continued.

The theme of this year’s festival was: “Caribbean Love: Our Love. Our Life. Our Festival.”

At about the same time, the Barry Jenkins’ film, Moonlight, had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and the reviews were full of praise. In many ways, the film fulfills what #BlackLoveMatters seeks to do.

Moonlight is the tender, heartbreaking story of a young black man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality. 

Many who have seen it are impressed with the humanity with which Jenkins presents the story of this black man against a backdrop of living in Miami during the drug wars. 

Jenkins’ use of images, silence, the camera’s gentle approach, the multidimensional characters, the cinematography, and the black male as being vulnerable but having the capacity to love (even as a drug dealer who is kind to a little boy and teaches him confidence) are all things worthy of praise.

Moonlight opened in theatres in Toronto on October 28 and will run at the TIFF Bell Lightbox until January 2017.

On November 11 – Remembrance Day – I’m sitting in Theatre Passe Muraille with a couple friends at the opening night of the play, “Secrets of a Black Boy,” written by Darren Anthony and directed by Kimahli Powell. The play runs until November 20.

My two friends had seen the play when it was first staged ten years ago at the Harbourfront Centre and when it was remounted in 2009 at the Danforth Music Hall. I had only seen it ten years ago so I was looking forward to see how much it had changed from what I recalled.

This dramedy gives voice to five young black men from Toronto as they come together for one last domino game at their local community centre before its permanent closure.

The revitalization of their neighbourhood has displaced thousands of people and, in many ways, the camaraderie of these friends helps to buffer them against the turmoil of change and uncertainty in their community.

Through a series of compelling monologues and narratives, mixed with musical interludes, the play critically explores the underlying effects of common stereotypes faced by racialized men.

It delves into several controversial issues including police brutality and injustice, mental health, domestic abuse, infidelity, interracial dating, and sexuality.

The opening scene of Sheldon played by spoken word artist, Al St. Louis, as a regal figure and soon shackled and assaulted by authority figures – signifying the slavemasters’ treatment of their chattel (slaves), the colonizer and the colonized, or the police assault of black men  – seems the precursor of what unfolds thereafter.

All of these men seem confident and are steeped in machismo but through the narratives they tease out monologues giving an insight into each character and their vulnerability.

We meet a young man, Biscuit, played by Samson Brown, who is defined by his sexual prowess – they all are, in fact – a character whose brother dies as a result of gun violence, one with mental health issues, another dealing with parental abuse and becoming an abuser himself to his partner, the choice to date white women while denigrating black women, same-gender love, and the effects of the policing of black male bodies.

Sheldon seems to be the glue that holds this clique together. Indeed, he is the one who seems the be the seasoned voice of reason, one who although he encountered police brutality and injustice in full view of his young son still wants to become a police officer to protect the community.

It is Sheldon who declares that, “we are here,” followed by the others in chorus in answer to a voice, presumably that of a construction worker, asking if anyone was in the soon-to-be demolished community centre.

Biscuit is the young and impressionable man who all the older men take under their guidance, introducing him to soul music, something different from his regular listening pleasure.

Julien Hyacinthe as Sean defends the reason he dates interracially, and doubles as another character who eventually commits suicide as a result of dealing with mental health issues and being raised in a family afraid of the stigma associated with it.

Jerome, played by Mark Sparks, reveals his infidelity in his relationship and also later draws us into the issue of domestic violence, confronting the belief that, “love hurts.”

He had an abusive father, seeks to escape and protect himself and his sister, and later becomes an abusive partner to his girlfriend.

The issue of father love is an issue that bell hooks, African American cultural critic, feminist theorist, scholar and writer, explores in her book, “Salvation: Black People and Love.”

“Loving fathers do not abandon families. Hence if our entire culture taught all men the art of loving, we would not have the problem of absent fathers. Within white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, black males who embrace the values of these ideologies have enormous difficulty with the issue of self-love. Patriarchal thinking certainly does not encourage men to be self-loving. Instead it encourages them to believe that power is more important than love, particularly the power to dominate and control others.”

Though physically present, emotionally Jerome’s father was absent from the lives of his children.

Sheldon’s announcement that, “we are having a baby,” challenges the notion from one of his friends that because his [Sheldon’s] girlfriend had an earlier child for whom he is not the father he should be less caring of the family. This becomes a power counterpoint to the trauma of Jerome’s childhood and its consequence.

Sheldon’s love for his biological family and by extension, his wider family of friends is grounded in love and challenges negative stereotypes, some bought into by his friends.

hooks, in “We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity” notes that: “Negative stereotypes about the nature of black masculinity continue to overdetermine the identities black males are allowed to fashion for themselves.”

She continued that: “More than any other black male who has come to power in our nation, Malcolm X embodied black male refusal to allow his identity to be defined by a system of race, gender, and class domination. His was the example that young black folks in the sixties followed as we struggled to educate ourselves for critical consciousness. We studied Malcolm’s words, accepting that he gave us permission to liberate ourselves, to liberate the black male by any means necessary.”

The theme of love continues in the reason Jakes, played by Troy Crossfield, decides to delay attending his best friend’s wedding as bestman and opts to play dominoes instead.

Jakes’ protracted revelation comes in his declaration that he loves his best friend – an outing of his homosexuality -- which garners the understanding and support of his fellow black male friends.

The inclusion of soundscapes, the stage setting of moving boxes, and the seamless integration of DJ O-nonymous as Dwayne, spinning live music add to the authenticity of the place and the current issues impacting these lives.

In the director’s note, Powell notes in part that, “…Darren’s work is more urgent than ever, particularly in light of the many challenges we continue to experience in our society today. And so, we use the power of the theatre to continue speaking out and taking a stand in the face of injustice, bringing our narratives forward and letting our voices be heard.”

Anthony, in the playwright’s notes, says he wants, “Secrets of a Black Boy to spark uncomfortable, healthy dialogue that can inspire a conscious shift and contribute to making our society a better one for future generations.”

“Secrets is just that – a representation of the many facets of black men that extend beyond the headlines, and I wrote it because we are more than the one-dimensional stereotypes so often presented in the mainstream and pop culture,” he writes.

After each performance, there is a talkback session with the cast, playwright and director hosted by various figures in Toronto’s arts scene.

On November 15, there will be a town hall entitled, “Unpacking The Politics of Gender and Blackness in the Greater Toronto Area,” following the performance.

The play is produced by Playing With Crayons, co-directed by Anthony and Shaka Licorish.

“Secrets of a Black Boy” is definitely worth seeing because it opens a window into the lives of these black men grappling with challenges but at the end of it all allowing themselves to be vulnerable, to cry, and to heal with the support of community.

Visual artist, Oluseye, has an art exhibition and installation that complements “Secrets of a Black Boy” at Dais, 1196 Queen Street West, until November 18.

Informed by Yoruba mythology and geometry, he fuses human, mask, and sculptural elements to imbue his portraits with a physical-spiritual identity.

BLACK BOYS

A day before “Secrets of a Black Boy” closes, another play about black masculinity, “Black Boys,” will open at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre on November 19.

The play, which runs until December 11, is described as “a raw, intimate, and timely exploration of queer male Blackness.”

“Black Boys” is created from the lives of three Black men seeking a deeper understanding of themselves, of each other, and how they encounter the world.

The performers are: Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Tawiah Ben McCarthy and Thomas Olajide.

WHEN BROTHERS SPEAK

Up From The Roots presents the 18^th annual When Brothers Speak Spoken Word Concert, created, curated and hosted by award-winning spoken word artist, Dwayne Morgan, on Saturday, November 26, 8 p.m. at St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front Street East, Toronto.  www.dwaynemorgan.ca

All of these creations about black men and black masculinity had me thinking about organizations in Toronto that are supportive of black men and seek to disrupt the dominance of negative stereotypes.

THE BLACK DADDIES CLUB (theblackdaddiesclub.com)

A support group for black fathers to:

Develop a continuous support system for Black men and fathers to share their challenges and/or experiences.

Work with Black fathers and the community at large to address issues facing Black fathers, children and families.

Work with the media to provide alternate images of Black fathers, and assist in the creation of our own media that depicts Black fathers in a positive light.

MORE THAN A HAIRCUT: THE BARBERSHOP PROJECT (info@macaulaycentre.org)

More Than a Haircut program is a series of regularly facilitated conversations with African-Caribbean fathers, held in neighbourhood barbershops.

This unique outreach and educational program is a partnership between the Macaulay Child Development Centre and leaders in the African-Canadian community.

YOUNG & POTENTIAL FATHERS INITIATIVE (youngpfathers.org)

Addresses the cycles of disengagement, lack of resources and lack of visible role models for young racialized fathers in Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods, with a specific focus on African Canadians.

The initiative will strengthen the capacity of individuals, families and the community at large to provide direct support to young fathers and their children. 

THE LIONS CIRCLE (www.thelionscircle.com)

A brotherhood of men connected through African ancestry; committed to authenticating each other to pursue, discover, and fulfill our greatest potential.

BLACK QUEER YOUTH (BQY) – SUPPORTING OUR YOUTH at Sherbourne Health Centre (soytoronto.org/programs/black-queer-youth)

Black Queer Youth is a weekly drop-in group where we celebrate Black queer and trans spectrum people’s trials and accomplishments.

This is a program for Black, Multicultural, African/Caribbean youth 29 and under who identify across the queer and trans spectrum or who are questioning their gender and/or sexuality.

MANY MEN, MANY VOICES (3MV) – Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (www.black-cap.com)

Black CAP strives to find innovative ways to educate and empower members of the diverse community it serves. Particularly at risk for HIV infection within Toronto’s Black community are young GBT men, many of whom are marginalized by issues such as homophobia, anti-Black racism, immigration, HIV-related stigma and discrimination, and poverty. 3MV was adapted by Black CAP specifically to address this community.

ROM reaches reconciliation with the Coalition for the Truth about Africa

ROM reaches reconciliation with the Coalition for the Truth about Africa

By Neil Armstrong

It took 27 years but finally the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) has officially apologized to the Coalition for the Truth about Africa (CFTA), and its apology has been accepted.

At an event held at the museum in Toronto on November 9, opened by Nunmo Nii Akrong, Chief Priest of Ga Dangme, offering libation, the ROM delivered a statement of reconciliation saying it produced the exhibition, Into the Heart of Africa, which opened there in November 1989.

It said the exhibition was intended to critically examine the colonial relationships and premises through which collections from African societies had entered museums.

“The exhibition displayed images and words that showed the fundamentally racist ideas and attitudes of early collectors and, in doing so, unintentionally reproduced the colonial, racist and Eurocentric premises through which these collections had been acquired. Thus, Into the Heart of Africa perpetuated an atmosphere of racism and the effect of the exhibition itself was racist. The ROM expresses its deep regret for having contributed to anti-African racism. The ROM also officially apologizes for the suffering endured by members of the African-Canadian community as a result of Into the Heart of Africa," said Dr. Mark Engstrom, the museum's Deputy Director, Collections and Research, who read the statement and was the person guiding the reconciliation process for the ROM over the past two years.

The CFTA came into being in the fall of 1989 after a number of individuals had seen the exhibition, Into the Heart of Africa, and concluded that it was racist, deciding to do something about it.

Initially an ad hoc group, it later consolidated as a broad-based coalition consisting of nearly one hundred groups from across Canada.

Many CFTA members had been, and some are still vilified and hurt by this experience.

Josh Basseches, Director and CEO of the ROM, said the reconciliation event marked an extremely important milestone for both the CFTA and the ROM.

He said the ROM had evolved significantly from the museum it was in 1989 and today collaborates and engages with diverse communities on exhibitions, events, and programming.

Martha Durdin, Chair of its Board of trustees, said the board is committed to ensuring that the museum is a welcoming place for all communities.

Rostant Ras Rico John, who accepted the apology on behalf of the CFTA and the African community in Canada, expressed pride in having reached this point of reconciliation after twenty-seven years.

“It took a long time to get to that point but the ROM understood its responsibility and moved forward and invited us in 2014 to get together with them to work out some form of getting together to bring respect and dignity back to the African community in Canada here,” he said.

He said the ROM’s team worked diligently and honestly with CAFTA and though there were “little problems, little bumps’ to overcome, they did so.

“We worked out many very good plans and those plans will benefit the African community here in Canada. When a wrong has been done it has to be righted and the efforts that were put down have made it right,” he said, acknowledging the collective work of his CAFTA colleagues: Yaw Akyeaw, Ajamu Nangwaya, Afua Cooper and Geraldine Moriba.

The ROM’s negotiating team included Basseches, who became CEO in 2015, Dr. Engstrom, Cheryl Blackman and Dr. Silvia Forni.

“We want our community to know that the ROM did not slip or slide, nor hide. They came forward, showed themselves, and they worked with us. We think that we worked very diligently on behalf of our community, the African community in Canada, and we think that where we have reached is where the community would like us to be.”

He said in addition to the apology, which was one of the introductions to the affirmative action that will be taken, the ROM itself initiated some that CFTA did not ask for and also agreed with a lot of those they wanted.

“There will be a lot of good works in the future coming out through the ROM and through the efforts of the CFTA,” said John.

The ROM announced a number of steps it will take in the coming years to continue to strengthen collaboration with African-Canadian communities and help shape the museum of the future.

These include enhanced partnerships with Black educational networks, opportunities for training Black youth interested in museums, and continued support of events and lectures that address the history and cultures of Africa and the Diaspora.

Working with the CFTA and other community partners, the ROM is committed to sustained and meaningful programming, and acknowledges the importance of dialogue and collaboration toward enhancing its collection and public events.

Cooper thanked the ROM for “opening its compassionate heart so we could work together to do this,” and also curators, Julie Crooks and Dominque Fontaine.

She said the present administrative structure of the museum is different from that of 1989 and she feels that it is genuine and sincere.

Cooper thanked Ras Rico for taking the leadership on the matter for the CFTA as well as the African Canadian community.

“When these discussions started in 2014 we said Rico you do this. You have been such a committed speaker throughout in the first dispensation and now in the second dispensation when we had the conference in October 2014 it was such a tremendous effort we wanted you to continue that leadership role,” she said.

Cooper said she felt like she was in a twilight zone because she remembered marching outside the ROM in 1989/1990 and it is now 27 years.

“No one would have thought that we would, tonight, be receiving an apology,” she said, noting that her son, Akil, who was little at the time, used to march with her outside the museum.

“Many of us suffered as a result of our taking the ROM to task during those years. People lost their jobs, people had to flee the city of Toronto, people were harassed by the police, people had difficulty crossing the borders, people were jailed, and even one person, Adisa Oji, was incarcerated in a prison in Windsor, Ontario and was not able to practice his craft as a teacher. And so we remember Oji tonight as we stand here.”

Cooper said through art, through culture “we can claim ourselves, we can claim our spirit, we can envision a life of beauty, a life of passion, a life of compassion” and the museum is a crucial place in society.

She said the museum has a significant role to play in society because the museum can do all these things.

“So the museum, art and culture, can create all of those things for us so why should we not as an African community  participate in these events, in these exhibits. Why should we not bring our children, bring our grandparents, bring our parents, bring ourselves, bring our families, bring our friends to these spaces and engage the art, engage the back and forthing, engage the dialogue that happens when you honour, when you – the body – reflect on a piece of art. That’s what we want for our community in a big way.”

She said Canada is now dealing with the truth and reconciliation tribunal with regard to indigenous people “and today, this evening at the ROM we are engaging in another significant reconciliation, this time in regard to the African community.”

“We’re beginning to flesh our reconciliation. We accept the apology but we also say that an apology cannot be empty. It’s not enough to say we apologize but we go the extra step of reconciling and as we reconcile we flesh out what it means for everybody. The reconciliation cannot really have meat or vegetable, I’m a vegetarian, until we recognize the full humanity of the party that has been wronged.”

She said earlier that evening when one of her colleagues, Wesley Crichlow, came, he saw her and said, “we need our own museum, are you going to talk about that.”

“We need to start the African Canadian museum. We need money to start it and the ROM should help us start it,” she said, noting that it is an idea that has been around for the past twenty-five years.

She said Toronto is the only major North American city that does not have an African museum.

Akyeaw said there was no doubt that Into the Heart of Africa was racist and that the arrests were racist and illegal because it was mainly black protesters who were detained. The white people who were arrested were released that day.

“It was a racist situation but we’re here to heal,” he said.

He said in Ghanaian culture a person apologizes to cool the heart.

“If that’s all the ROM did I would have been disappointed but they took steps, they took action,” he said, noting that the museum made substantial changes on their own to make the African Canadian know that it is important and part of the fabric of Canada.

Dr. Engstrom noted the ROM is organizing a major exhibition curated by Forni in 2018 which addresses the exclusion of blackness from mainstream Canadian historical narrative through the work of seven contemporary Black Canadian artists.

Left-right: Ajamu Nangwaya, Josh Basseches, Rostant Ras Rio John, Dr. Mark Engstrom, Dr. Afua Cooper, Cheryl Blackman, Martha Durdin, Geraldine Moriba, Dr. Silvia Forni and Yaw Akyeaw at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on Nov. 9, 2016.