Join us on Sundays in February to share in this celebration!
Celebrating Black History Month at St. James Cathedral!
The theme for this year is “Black Excellence: A Heritage to Celebrate, a Future to Build”.
Join us on Sundays in February to share in this celebration!
It has been said that Black people have been given the shortest month of the year to celebrate their heritage and history. Perhaps we should celebrate a “Season of Freedom”, beginning with Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday (January 15) and ending with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21).
Between these bookends we celebrate the birthday of Lincoln Alexander, on January 21st (the first Black Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons, and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario), Black History Month, also known as Afrikan Heritage Month, also known as Afrikan Liberation Month, and Freedom Sunday, the 4th Sunday in February) – an opportunity for the church to deepen its understanding of God’s heart for justice, discover, and fight to end the realities of modern slavery.
This year’s theme is “Black Excellence: A Heritage to Celebrate, a Future to Build”. Black excellence is more than the extraordinary success of Black persons in their chosen fields. It also has to do with the amazing capacity of every Black Canadian to thrive and succeed, starting with Mathieu Da Costa, the Black African who served as an interpreter for French and Dutch traders and explorers in the early 17th century, through Michaëlle Jean, who served as the 27th Governor-general of Canada, since Canadian Confederation, to Matthew Waterman, our postulant.
Our Music Director has chosen choral and congregational music to support our observance of the month. Canon Anthony Jemmott (Feb. 18) and I (Feb. 11) will reflect on the theme during our homilies. Mark your calendar for a special Coffee Hour on February 25 after the 11:00am service. In addition to a musical presentation, there will be a display of “Black Excellence” and samples of African and Caribbean finger foods.
The Reverend Canon Dr. Stephen Fields (Sub-Dean & Vicar)
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To celebrate Black History Month, a group of volunteers have chosen a few individuals who have made valuable contributions to the Canadian landscape.
Dr. Juliet Daniel:
Dr. Juliet Daniel is a Professor, Associate Dean, Research and International Relations professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and a cancer researcher. Her research seeks to explain racial disparities in cancer outcomes. She co-founded the Canadian Black Scientists Network. Dr. Daniel has received several awards, including a Black Excellence in STEM & Medicine (BE-STEMM) Mentorship Award (2022).
Dr. Brainerd Blyden-Taylor:
Brainerd Blyden-Taylor is the Founder, Artistic Director, and conductor of The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Canada’s first professional chamber choir dedicated to the creation and performance of Afrocentric music of all styles. Born in Trinidad & Tobago, Mr. Blyden-Taylor immigrated to Canada in 1973. He founded The Chorale in 1998, in response to a musical void in Canada; there had never before been a professional ensemble dedicated to the dissemination of Afrocentric choral music. The response that The Chorale has received in Canada and the United States since its inception has certainly given credence to Mr. Blyden-Taylor’s vision.
Patricia Bebia Mawa:
Patricia Bebia Mawa is the President of Planet Africa Group and is best known as the Host and Producer of the Planet Africa Television show. She is also the Editorial Director of Planet Africa Magazine. She serves as Producer of Arise on Vision TV. Patricia is the Associate Publisher for Diversity magazine, as well as Destiny magazine, a Christian lifestyle magazine. She is the producer of the biography series; ‘Luminaries” and “Visionaries”. She is also the head of operations for the Planet Africa Awards program, the Leadership and Development Summit and Executive Producer of “Harambee: Pulling Together”, a documentary film on how the African Canadian community in Ottawa created positive change as a result of the Kasonde Tragedy.
Dwayne Morgan:
Dwayne Morgan is a motivational speaker and spoken word artist. Among his many achievements are his inclusion in the Shifter Magazine list of outstanding Black men in Canada in 2022. He also won the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Celebration of Cultural Life award, and the 2018 the Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for Career Achievement in the Spoken Word. Dwayne has performed for the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, the former Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean. He has published fourteen collections, including two children’s books, and an inspirational memoir.
Ginella Massa:
Ginella Massa is a Canadian television journalist. An Afro-Latina Muslim reporter and anchor, she became Canada’s first hijab-wearing television reporter in 2015, and the first news anchor in hijab when she anchored the 11 p.m. newscast for CityNews on CITY-DT in Toronto, Ontario on November 17, 2016.
Robert Small:
Robert Small is a Canadian artist. He was born in Toronto. He is best known for his Legacy Collexion poster series. Each of the posters in Small’s LEGACY series features five or six well-known Black figures. His art focuses on learning about Black Canadians that are changemakers and fighters. Though the posters focus primarily on people of African descent who live in Canada, they also incorporate different aspects of African culture.
Karen Burke:
Karen Burke is a composer, music director, and singer. She holds a Master of Education Degree from York University, an Honours Bachelor of Music Degree from McMaster University, and an A.R.C.T. Diploma in Piano Teaching from the Royal Conservatory of Music. She is a professor of music at York University and founded the Juno Award-winning Toronto Mass Choir. She specializes in African-American and Gospel music.
Syrus Marcus Ware:
Syrus Marcus Ware is a Black, transgender, disabled artist, activist and scholar. He lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of the Arts at McMaster University. He has worked since 2014 as faculty and as a designer for The Banff Centre.
Dr. Kevin Hewitt:
Dr. Hewitt is a professor of physics and atmospheric science at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, a cancer researcher and an engineer of medical devices. He is the co-founder of the Imhotep Legacy Academy, which promotes STEM education for Black Nova Scotians.
Sarah Jama:
Sarah Jama is the lead organizer at Disability Justice Network of Ontario. She is a community organizer from Hamilton, ON. She is co-founder of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario and holds a Social Sciences degree from McMaster University. Her lived experiences with cerebral palsy have fostered interests and a passion for community engagement, disability justice, and activism. Sarah currently works at the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion as a Program Coordinator.
Harold Brathwaite:
Harold Brathwaite has been widely recognized for his accomplishments in Education. In 1994, he was appointed a Director of Education of the Peel District School Board – the first black person to hold this position in Canada. In 2006, Brathwaite was awarded the Order of Ontario “for his contributions to racial harmony and education” in Ontario, and in particular for “developing and guiding initiatives to assist at risk youth in the black community”.
Marieme Lo:
Marieme Lo is a Senegalese former basketball player who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics. She was born in Dakar. Her work has since expanded to academic pursuits, and she went on to create the School of Cities at the University of Toronto, where she is the Associate Professor and Director of African studies. These inquiries are located in critical, feminist, epistemic, and discursive frameworks and debates, the quest for alternative epistemologies and paradigms, and the commitment to social change and social justice.
Alan Emtage:
Alan Emtage was a systems administrator at McGill University. In 1989 he “conceived of and implemented Archie, the world’s first Internet search engine.” Many people refer to Archie as the Great Great Grandfather of Google. Emtage’s work with search engines and the internet, paved the way for many of the systems and processes we use when searching the internet today.
Lyda Newman:
Lyda Newman was an inventor who patented a new type of hairbrush that was specifically for black hair. It has synthetic bristles instead of the typical animal hair. Her invention made it cheaper and quicker to manufacture hair brushes. She was only the third Black woman to ever receive a patent. She also was a significant women’s rights activist.
Canon Dr. Stephen Fields:
Canon Stephen has dedicated 42 years of ministry in the Anglican Church with a strong focus on Youth, Inclusion and Social Justice. He is the recipient of several awards and featured in “Who’s Who in Black Canada” at the beginning of this millenium. He was the Founding President of The Downsview Youth Covenant, an outreach program to youth in the Jane-Finch-Wilson community in Toronto. In 2021, he was appointed as Sub Dean of the Diocese of Toronto and Vicar of St. James Cathedral making him the first black person to hold these positions.
