Ontario Education Minister calls for the resignation of York school board trustee

Ontario Education Minister calls for the resignation  of  York school board trustee

  Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter warns that York Region District school board cannot move forward until trustee Nancy Elgie resigns. Angry York residents  had demanded  Elgie’s resignation for calling a black parent a nigger. The parent, Jamaica-born Charline Grant  said that during a public meeting last November, Elgie  used the racial slur which was […]

TAIBU provides culturally-based healthcare programs

TAIBU provides culturally-based healthcare programs

Black  people in Canada are at greater risk than others of developing chronic medical conditions that can be traced to lifestyles, lack of proper nutrition, employment and physical activities. So says Liben Gebremikael, the Ethiopia-born Executive Director of TAIBU Community Health Centre in the Malvern neighbourhood in Toronto. (TAIBU is a greeting in Swahili which […]

“We understand multiculturalism’ says Black MP

“We understand multiculturalism’ says Black MP

Greg Fergus, the Liberal MP for Hull-Aylmer, Quebec, tells a story of what it was like as a black person growing up in white Montreal. Speaking at the Malvern Presbyterian church in Toronto on Saturday at a celebration to mark Black History Month and the 150th anniversary of Confederation, he recalled an incident when he […]

Task Force report on policing in Toronto raises concerns

Task Force report on policing in Toronto raises concerns

The final report of  the Transformational Task Force  on policing in Toronto, released on January 25 last,  has drawn widespread comments in  Toronto’s Caribbean community. While many in the community welcome the idea of a  “neighbourhood-centric” approach to policing and a change in police culture recommended in the “Action Plan: The Way Forward,” as the […]

Awards for Excellence to be presented to more than a dozen African Canadians in Toronto

Awards for Excellence to be presented to more than a dozen African Canadians in Toronto

A Toronto-based folk and spiritual choir will join more than a dozen persons, many of them professional and business leaders, who will receive “awards for excellence” at the 32nd annual gala of the African Canadian Achievement Awards (ACAA) organization. The gala will be held at the Jane Mallett Theatre (inside the St.Lawrence Centre for the […]

Education minister orders review of school board following allegations of racism

Education minister orders review of school board following allegations of racism

Ontario’s education minister  Mitzie Hunter has ordered an “urgent review” of the York Region District School Board which she said  failed to adequately address governance and equity issues. In a statement issued last Thursday, the minister said she has  appointed two people to conduct the review: Patrick Case, a law professor and former trustee with […]

Rise up and ensure injustice never wins, OBHS gathering told

Rise up and ensure injustice never wins, OBHS gathering told

Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, called on a gathering at the annual Ontario Black History Society (OBHS) brunch on Sunday to rise up and fight injustice and create “a future that has humanity, compassion and peace.” “Rise up, lock arms with our brothers and sisters and ensure that injustice never […]

Celebration of the life of Calypsonian Dick ‘De Juiceman’ Lochan

Celebration of the life of Calypsonian Dick  ‘De Juiceman’  Lochan

Kaiso aficionados, community leaders, representatives of cultural organizations and friends of the late Dick Lochan packed the hall of the Chinese  Cultural Centre in  Scarborough on Sunday to bid farewell to the man popularly known in calypso circles  as ” De Juiceman.” Lochan who often presided at calypso shows as MC, would himself  have been […]