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