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“You cannot paint white on white, black on black.  

Each needs the other to be. “

African proverb

In February 2020, as every year, Radio-Canada marks Black History Month with a varied program on all platforms.
This site includes exclusive content and recent archives on the realities facing our black fellow citizens. Learn more

Portraits of Black Canadians

Find out more about black Canadians who contributed to the building of Canada and who are making their mark every day. From our archives Danger, hardship, heroism and tragedy. All are features of black immigration to Canada in the nineteenth century. The story of black immigration to Canada began 400 years ago with the arrival of the French at Port Royal. John Graves Simcoe, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, signed

About Black History Month

The first Black person in Canada, Mathieu Da Costa, arrived on the country’s East Coast in 1605. He’d sailed with Samuel de Champlain, hired as a valued interpreter. But for the many Blacks who arrived after him, the experience was very different. Black history in North America, unlike “White” history, must take into account the hundreds of thousands of Africans who were brought to this continent against their will. The

ViewPoint | Why it’s time for Black History month to go

OPINION: Writer Bee Quammie delves into Black History Month in Canada

New Canadian postage stamp for Black History Month 2017

The annual month long celebration and highlighting of Black History and accomplishments in Canada begins tomorrow for the month of February. This year Canada Post has issued a stamp to commemorate the arrival of Mathieu da Costa, the first black man to set foot in what became Canada. Sometimes going by the name d’Acosta, he was an African from the Benin Empire of West Africa hired as a translator for

Black Girls Magazine now available

‘Black Girls Magazine‘ was the brainchild of Annette Bazira-Okafor, the mother of two daughters, who realized they were living in a vacuum in Toronto. The epiphany came during Bazira-Okafor’s PhD research at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). “So you kind of have, as a black mother, to sort of get out of your way and make an extra effort to find something out there that represents who

Ferry named after civil rights hero

Viola Desmond’s name graces the bow of a new ferry serving eastern Canada in honour of her fight against racism and segregation, reports CBC. In 1946, Desmond went to a movie theatre in New Glasgow, in the eastern province of Nova Scotia, and refused to leave the section reserved for whites. She was dragged away by police and thrown in jail for the night.

Black lives mattering in Canada: history and reality

Black Lives Matter, the Toronto chapter, began the week defending their actions at Toronto’s high profile Pride Parade. They held a sit-in during the process, to highlight their demands. After 20 minutes the parade resumed, one in which the Prime Minister marched for the first time. By week’s end, however, the reality of Black people’s lives in North America is perhaps being viewed through a different lense.

Black history in limbo at several Quebec sites

Black History Month is coming to an end but the quest to make black history visible in several locations in the province of Quebec is suspended for the moment.

Toronto students learn about the NHL’s black players through new film

Students plan to write letters to have Willie O’Ree and Herb Carnegie inducted in Hockey Hall of Fame CBC News Students at Nelson Mandela Park Public School were treated to a film screening on Monday of Soul on Ice: Past, Present and Future, a documentary that highlights the accomplishments of black hockey players, in honour of Black History Month. Yassir Ahmed is a Grade 8 student who likes to play hockey. He says

Re-imagining black history on stage with ‘Venus’ Daughter’

Meghan Swaby’s new play runs at Toronto’s Obsidian Theatre Company until February 28 Stephanie Matteis · CBC Arts Meghan Swaby’s new play Venus’ Daughter is about a modern-day woman who is guided by the spirit of Sara Baartman — a Khoisan woman from 19th century South Africa who was sold to a human zoo in Paris. Her remains were kept on display in a museum until repatriated to South Africa in 2002. In this clip from Exhibitionists, host Amanda Parris visited Obsidian Theatre Company — where the play is

Jully Black marks Black History Month with free Calgary concert

‘Whatever you’re doing in life, it’s those who stick to it and actually persevere that make it to that dream’ By The Homestretch, CBC News Dubbed “Canada’s Queen of R&B Soul” by her fans, Jully Black is bringing a free concert to Calgary in celebration of Black History Month. The family-friendly event, called “Break Through the Glass Ceiling,” is a combination of live performance, storytelling and reflection on what it means to persevere. “Those

So let’s talk Black History

Radio Noon’s Shawn Apel welcomes Dr. Dorothy WIlliams, Linton Garner, and Webster to talk about the black contribution to the history of Quebec and Canada

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Luc Simard – Director of Diversity and Relations. Radio-Canada

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Your opinion on Black History Month

Black History Month is only celebrated in North America and in the UK. Do you think it should be celebrated all over the world?

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