WEDNESDAY MORNING: STUDENTS READY FOR THE ROAD IN 2022

Ready for the Road 2022

9th Annual Walk With Excellence Celebration 

By Stephen Weir

2019  walk photograph by weir

For all the Grade 12 students in the Jane Finch corridor’s four High Schools who have successfully completed their final year it is almost, and we stress the word almost, all over. The last “No more pencils, no more books no more teachers’ dirty looks” have been sung, it is now time for 500 teenagers to end their high school days by dancing in the street.

 

Get on your walking shoes kids, a 9-year tradition is about to start a new.  Postponed for two June years in a row because of the Covid shutdown, the Walk With Excellence Celebration will once again hit Sentinel Rd the morning June 8^th to introduce the new grads to nearby York University and their next level of higher education.

 

All are welcomed to celebrate this year’s graduates from the four high schools: CW Jeffreys, Westview, Emery and Downsview High. All four institutions are within walking distance of York University (north of Finch Avenue and Sentinel Rd.),

 

“The event begins at 10 AM inside CW Jeffreys with a kick-off of student presentations on school auditorium,” organizer Itah Sadu explained to the Caribbean Camera.” Following this is the 5km graduating parade of approximately 500 students to York University where a celebratory lunch and student awards will be shared.” 

 

The Celebration March begins at 11am. The teenagers will carry school banners and signs will head up the street to York.  Making sure the graduating students arrive safely CUPE 4400 union members and volunteers from the Toronto Caribbean Carnival will act as parade marshals along Sentinel Road.

 

Once at York the students will gather in a courtyard and listen to live music and listen to brief speeches from organizer Itah Sadu and senior officials of the university.

After all the formal speeches have been given and  student friendly meals are served there will be Caribbean music in the air. “We are also pleased to welcome Pannist Earl La Pierre Jr with his vivacious musical energy to the celebrations,” said Itah Sadu.

The point of the annual parade is to mark the graduation of the students and to encourage them not to end their studies after Grade 12.  Many of the students have probably never toured York – this event will give them that opportunity.

The Walk With Excellence was started by Itah Sadu and the  Blackhurst Cultural Centre (Formerly A Different Booklist Cultural Centre). 

Press Release for Immediate Release

 Toronto’s A Different Booklist Cultural Centre is on the Move

Itah Sadu in the ADBCC 

Toronto Friday April 8th., 11.30 am - 12.30 pm, at 777 Bathurst Street. A Different Booklist Cultural Centre (ADBCC) will be holding a press conference to announce its progress to date in the development of a permanent home for the Cultural Centre in the new Mirvish development. 

Exciting highlights will include the announcement of the partnership and long-term lease between the ADBCC and the City of Toronto, and the release of the new name for the Centre.

Joining the event will be Councillor Mike Layton (Ward 11), community members, and Board members of the ADBCC.

A Different Booklist Cultural Centre (ADBCC) has been developing and celebrating Black literature, arts, and culture in Toronto since 2015 and is rooted in the 25-year history of A Different Booklist, an independent bookstore, and has since become a meeting place, and a space of ideas and Black artistic expression. It is unique in that it exists to capture, protect, share and celebrate the literature, art and culture of all the African and Caribbean Canadian communities.
The mission and vision of the ADBCC – The People’s Residence is to create a world-class model for preserving and building on the historic cultural identity of evolving neighbourhoods and to provide opportunities for Canadians and visitors to Canada to celebrate and engage in the rich cultural legacy and history of Canadians of African and Caribbean ancestry.
Drawing from the mission and vision, ADBCC - The People’s Residence aspires to:
o Engage in activities and initiate programs which support the intellectual, cultural, social, educational, and economic well-being of African and Caribbean Canadian communities.
o Engage in partnerships and collaborations with individuals and organizations that help to enrich the literary, cultural, intellectual, and educational fabric of Canadian society.

For More information Contact STEPHEN WEIR 416-801-3101

Not Just Another Brick In The Wall

ADBCC The People’s Residence Launches the Champions Challenge Competition to raise funds for their new home in Mirvish Village opening Fall 2022

Toronto, ON - Friday, November 8, 2021

From now until the end of December champions from all walks of life will be tapping into their competitive spirit in the Champions Challenge to show their support for A Different Booklist Cultural Centre (ADBCC) - The People’s Residence. The challenge consists of 3 rounds. In each round, 4 supporters of ADBCC will challenge their network to support them and buy a brick for the new People’s Residence. The champion who raises the most funds within the 14 days will be crowned as the winner of that Champions Challenge. The first challenge is focused on the Entertainment industry and features 4 trailblazers in the industry: Eddie Bullen, Jamar McNeil, Molly Johnson, and DJ Power.

“I can’t think of Bathurst and Bloor without thinking of A different Booklist Cultural Centre. They run many important and informative programs and events. I believe in the new People's Residence.” Says Eddie Bullen.

The Champions Challenge is part of the Buy-a-Brick campaign that invites everyone to purchase a digital brick in support of ADBCC’s new home at 756 Bathurst Street. Each person who purchases a brick will have their name permanently engraved on the digital brick wall of ADBCC. Every $100 brick purchased directly supports the building and operations of the ADBCC - People's Residence.

Buy-A-Brick Capital Campaign

Between now and the end of the year, ADBCC-The People’s Residence remains open. The organization has been actively transitioning their program online, while fundraising to meet their infrastructure goals. Their Buy-A-Brick capital campaign is a community driven fundraising initiative with a target to sell 5000 bricks and raise $500k. This campaign gives everyone a chance to cement their legacy and own a digital brick with their name permanently housed in the new space. To support this campaign, visit http://www.wearetpr.com.

Upcoming Events

Beyond the Buy-A-Brick campaign, there are many ways to support the centre and its important work in the community:

1. follow ADBCC-The People’s Residence on Instagram and Facebook to show your support and stay in the know,

2. attend upcoming events like Welcome to Blackhurst, Literary Salons, or the Schulich Program.

3. help build awareness and share their story with your family, friends and colleagues.

To donate and support this important cause:

http://www.wearetpr.com

Follow ADBCC on social media:

Instagram - @adifferentbooklistcc

Facebook - @adifferentbooklistcc

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR842a4FWoVUsIivZEi3HiQ

About The People’s Residence:

The People’s Residence (ADBCC) is a hub and a destination that uses arts and culture to teach, educate, develop skills, connect and celebrate our rich heritage while building economic power within the African and Caribbean Canadian communities. We are for the people, by the people. We are continually evolving.

Media Enquiries Contact:

Abena Perryman

Andrew Perry Marketing

P: (416) 951-5359

E: abenap@andrewperry,com 

Celebrating Freedom on Toronto's Bloor Street one street corner at a time

 EMANCIPATION ON BLOOR STREET - AUGUST !st

Sunday on Bloor St - Sign Says It All - sweirsweir

Emancipation on Bloor

August 1st  1-3 pm

 

WHAT : Emancipation on Bloor is an animation of the Bloor Street Cultural Corridor from Yonge and Bloor to Christie and Bloor adding to the August 1st Emancipation Day activities. The animation takes place at key intersections on Bloor at Yonge, Bay, Avenue Rd, St. George, Spadina, Brunswick, Bathurst, Palmerston, and Christie Pits with a number of artistic expressions.

 

Emancipation on Bloor takes passersby through a series of “statements” through artistic expression including the liberation from chains, masquerade, spectrums of beauty, stereotypes, something of textiles, respect, resistance, and resilience.

 

WHERE:  Pannists will be stationed at the intersections mentioned above as an anchor for the “statements”. The “stage” for performers is located on the sidewalks along Bloor from Yonge to Christie in areas are that spacious to ensure passersby and artists can adequately socially distance.

 

We are asking the Bloor Street Corridor Collaborators to make their own “Statement of Emancipation” on the pavement at their respective intersections which will weave the artistic expressions down the road.

 

WHEN : Emancipation on Bloor will take place on Sunday August 1st, 1pm to 3pm. This initiative is led by A Different Booklist Cultural Centre in collaboration with the Festival Management Committee (FMC), and the Carnival Arts Community.

 

Why? Emancipation on Bloor commemorates an important milestone for descendants of Enslaved Africans marking the abolition of slavery and honours the many contributions and resilience of African peoples throughout the Diaspora. With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent declaration that August 1st will be recognized as Emancipation Day in Canada, it is important to mark this year’s Emancipation with a visual expression and statement.

 

WHO:  ADBCC - THE PEOPLE’S RESIDENCE - CONTACT SHANNON ASHMAN - 647 880 3072

 

How: Through a heritage instrument, statements on the sidewalk and portraits of Canadians.

 

Pannists stationed at intersections

 

1. Yonge & BLOOR -

2. BAY & BLOOR

3. AVENUE ROAD

4. ST. GEORGE 

5. SPADINA

6. BATHURST

 

7. Christie - Drums 

 

THE STORY - Through groups and animation

 

They Came BEFORE COLUMBUS - THE SCHOLARS  - Nigel Barriffe - Educators

Africa - Timbuktu is the seat of Knowledge - T-Shirts.

 

THE BEAUTY OF BLACKNESS - Nasa - 647 207 7395

 

THE ENSLAVEMENT PERIOD - Family - Yes - Nicole Osbourne - taking off chains at Christie Pits  

 

THE RAPE OF AFRICA  - Gold and Uranium - Akua 3-5

 

THE RESISTANCE  - SPIRITUALITY - Martin

 

THE RESILIENCE  - Carnival Masqueraders - Carnival public expression of emancipation

 

THE LIBERATION MOVEMENTS  - GROUPING

 

Rebellions - shirt short / hoe

Garvey movement - General

Pan-Africanist movement

Independence movement

Harlem Renaissance

Civil Rights movement

Rastafari movement

Black Lives Matter

 

Contact : Shannon at shannonashman@gmail.com

Or

Wendy@casper.wj56@gmail.com

Dr. Lynn Jones, an African Nova Scotia leader will blow the whistle

Annual Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride (Virtual) July 31st., 10.45 PM

 

Dr. Lynne Jones

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  National Emancipation Day is coming as Dr. Lynn Jones, an African Nova Scotia leader, educator, community activist and trade unionist, blows the whistle to start the 2021 virtual Toronto Underground Freedom Train ride at 10:54 PM on July 31^st.

 

Each and everyone is welcome to join us on our annual Toronto Freedom Train ride as we recognize the challenges and opportunities provided by Canada’s proclaimed Emancipation Day. The ride will be an incredible journey and experience about the Underground Railroad, the route enslaved Africans used to escape American slave plantations, seeking freedom in Canada and ultimately Emancipation Day on August 1^st.

 

The theme of this year’s Freedom Train ride is ‘The Fire Within’ as we focus on the element of fire and its power to re-kindle, transform and inspire. The train ride will feature a national declaration of Emancipation Day by Senator Wanda Bernard one of the Train Ride’s previous “Conductors” and an advocate for Canada’s national recognition of Emancipation Day. 

 

Also featured this year will be performances by Randell  Adjei, the first Poet Laureate of Ontario, award-winning composer  Andrew Craig,  musicians Eddie Martinez, Amani Woods, Phoenix, the Freedom Train Ride Choir, and various pulsating voices from around the country and across the seas. 

 

Notables confirmed  to participate during the Freedom Train Ride include:

1) Mayor John Tory

2) Chief Diversity and Culture  Officer TTC - Keisha Campbell

Everyone is welcome to join us on the virtual Underground Freedom Train Ride to celebrate National Emancipation Day by tuning in to YouTube channel ADBCC - The People’s Residence - 10.45 PM

 

Please contact Louis March at 416 577 3908, kingtut@sympatico.ca  for further information. Information is also available on social media, twitter, Eventbrite, and instagram platforms under FreedomTrainTor.

Miss Dolly, David Rudder and Macomere Fifi Are All On Board for the Friday July 31^st Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride Live and Online

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 30, 2020 ... This year’s 15^th annual Freedom Train Ride is going live and virtual! Get on board live on A Different Booklist Cultural Centre’s YouTube page beginning at 10:45 PM on the eve of Emancipation day, Friday July 31st, 202.0

The Emancipation Day “Underground Freedom Train” Ride is symbolic of the role of the Underground Railroad within Canada’s history. This train ride is recognition of the historic date of Emancipation Day on August 1^st when slavery was abolished in the British Empire. It is also a celebration of the power and potential of the peoples of African descent.

A Different Booklist Cultural Centre (ADBCC) and the 2020 Freedom Train Ride Committee are pleased to announce this year's Conductor, Ms. Dorothy Sharp. Dorothy Sharp is a pillar in the Ontario Black Community. Affectionately known as "Ms. Dolly", she is over ninety years strong and is the matriarch of a family that has made significant contributions in Canada.  

David Rudder

Joining Ms. Dolly online are two well known Soca and Calypso performers – David Rudder and former Calypso Monarch winner Macomere Fifi (Eulith Tara Woods).  Both Mr. Rudder and Ms. Woods will be singing live during the event broadcast.

"We are excited about bringing the train ride to a virtual platform and the world's stage," said Itah Sadu, Founder and Chair of the Freedom Train Ride Committee. "This year we are connecting with people nationally and internationally with the theme of diasporic crossings and relationships, and furthering the conversations on reparations for people of African descent.  We have traveled by foot, by bus, by train and by water, and now we are traveling virtually."

The train ride will be held online and live on A Different Booklist Cultural Centre's YouTube page from July 31st, 2020 at 10:30 PM to August 1st, 2020 at 12:15 AM. 

Fifi crowned Monarch

Everyone is welcome on this Underground Freedom Train Ride to celebrate Emancipation Day.  Sponsors of this year’s digital ride include the African Canadian Heritage Association, The Coalition of Black Trade Unionist, the TTC, A Different Booklist Cultural Centre and the Zero Gun Violence Movement.

For Further Information Contact:

Itah Sadu

A Different Booklist

416-538-0889

Twitter @FreedomTrainTOR

Emancipation Day Proclaimation Demanded by Freedom Train Conductor

Look Down The Track Senators – Wanda’s Emancipation Train Is Heading For Ottawa.

By Stephen Weir

Wanda Thomas Bernard at the mike Union Station

Stand back  honourable members of the Senate. The Emancipation Train is heading to Ottawa and Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard is going to blow her conductor’s whistle until Canada’s Upper House listens to the voices of the Caribbean and African American communities.

Dr. Bernard championed a bill proclaiming August 1^st Emancipation Day in Canada. Even though the legislation was passed by the Liberal Government and made it through two readings in the Senate, it failed to come up for the final vote before the Senate recessed.  The bill will not be brought back for a third and final reading.

At last Wednesday’s Freedom Train Ride in Toronto, the Nova Scotia senator said she is not going to give up.  Speaking to a crowd of close to 1,000 people inside TTC ‘s Union Station she told them  “I am 66 years old and I don’t have to retire (from the Senate) until I am 75. We will not give up anytime soon!”

 At Right: Libations - Aina-Nia Ayo'dele

For the seventh year in a row there was a special midnight subway train that took hundreds of people from Union Station to the Sheppard West Station. The symbolic special train left the station on July 31st and arrived at Sheppard just after midnight to celebrate the August 1^st Emancipation Day.

“This year was our seventh annual Freedom Train ride,” said organizer Itah Sadu.  “ It was an incredible journey and experience! This was second year that the Honourable Wanda Thomas Bernard, has joined us, but this was her first time as our honourary conductor. She had the whistle and gave the call to board the train.”

Train Arrives at Sheppard

Also taking part in the Freedom Train ceremonies  were poet George Elliott Clarke, City Councillor Michael Thompson and community organizer Adisa S. Oji. Councillor Thompson brought greetings and a plaque on behalf of the city and Mr. Oji was presented with the Community Resilience Award. 

Last week’s train ride marked two important things.  The Underground Railroad which brought former slaves to Canada in the 19^th century and the 185th anniversary of Emancipation Day on August 1, when the British Empire abolished slavery in 1834.  

The Senator hopes that she will be back next August 1^st with an official Federal Government signed Emancipation Day proclamation!

Freedom Train Fires Up Senator to Push For A National Emancipation Day

Last Night’s Freedom Train Fires Up Senator to Push The Feds For A National August 1^st Emancipation Day.

By Stephen Weir

It all happened underground late Tuesday night while most of Toronto slept. Looking out over a sea of Caribbean Canadian faces at the start of the Freedom Ride; Senator Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard said “You should see the beautiful view from here!”

The Halifax senator, one of only a few Afro-Canadians currently sitting in the Upper Chamber, was a keynote speaker at last night’s 6th annual Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train ride. She told the audience of over a 1,000 that when she gets back to Ottawa she is going to continue the work that was started by Toronto Historian Rosemary Sadlier, to make August 1^st, Emancipation Day, a federally proclaimed national day. 

senator bernard

Senator Bernard shared the microphone with the Toronto Caribbean Carnival's Rita Cox, the honourary conductor of the 2018 Freedom Train. They stood on the steps of the Rotunda inside the TTC Union Station. The pair were surrounded by people wanting to join them on a special subway train ride to mark the August 1,1834 proclamation abolishing slavery in the British Empire and to honour the people who escaped to Canada on the Underground Railroad.

“We will begin boarding the Underground Freedom Train (a private TTC subway train) at 11:30pm and we will travel nonstop to the Sheppard West Station. I ask all of you to stay silent until we pass the St. George station, in honour of those who came before us,” organizer Itah Sadu told the crowd. “ We should arrive just after midnight August 1^st and together we will mark this glorious date -- Emancipation Day.” 

Organized and looked after by supportive TTC volunteers (check out the volunteer driver welcoming people on board the Freedom Train), the journey was a mixture of quiet reflection followed by a sing-along of Bob Marley tunes and spiritual songs.  Arriving at the large two-story Sheppard Station, the disembarking passengers were greeted by the sounds of event drummers Muhtadi Thomas and Quammie Williams along with pannists from the Pan Fantasy orchestra.

In the audience were a number of community activists including Dr. Rosemary Sadlier, the former president of the Ontario Black History Society. Last year she reached out to Canadians to sign a petition to the Federal Government to declare August 1st as Emancipation Day across the Dominion. 

“We did present the petition to the Feds, and while nothing has happened in the House, a lot things are going on behind the scenes”, Dr. Sadlier told me at the crowded subway station.  “What Senator Bernard said tonight makes a big difference, and I think this (Emancipation Day) will move forward.”

This morning a tired by ecstatic Itah Sadu talked to me about the Train Ride.  “I stayed until the last person had left the station. It was the best Freedom Train ever. No incidents. It was all love.  Looking forward to 2019, but, I am wondering what it would be like to watch from the comfort of sidelines next year!”

Poet at Union Station