Black History Month keynote: Black Legacies in Canada and the Academy

Transcript

Well, welcome everybody. Hello. My name is Philip Steinamp. I'm the president of Rural Roads University and I'm going to be your host today. So nice to have folks joining us from different places.

It's uh my great pleasure to introduce Dr. Obam Gilpin Jackson, today's Black History Month keynote speaker, and I will be introducing her more fully in a moment. Um, I'd also like to welcome and share my thanks to Head of Human Rights and Accessibility, Alejandro Compass Garcia, who organized today's event, which I know many of you have been looking forward to, as have I. And I just again want to extend a big warm welcome uh to everybody who's joining us in this virtual room today. Before we get started, of course, we'd like to start all of our meetings and engagements in a good way here at Royal Roads University.

And I'd like to begin by acknowledging that our Langford and Cowwood campuses are located on the traditional lands of the Lquangan speaking peoples, the Songhes and Isquimalt uh nations. And it is indeed with great gratitude that we live, work and learn here where the past, the present, and the future of indigenous and non-indigenous students, faculty, and staff uh come together. And it is indeed a a beautiful sunny day here uh in in Victoria. Um just a little chilly but some hints of of spring uh out here as well. Before we get into today's program though, just a few housekeeping items for those of you online.

Your microphones have been muted, so feel free to ask questions using the chat. Alejandra will read them out during the Q&A portion of the program. And of course feel welcome to leave your cameras on or off although it's always nice to see uh some faces particularly when you are making a presentation. So Black History Month is a very special time at Royal Roads University as we join people across Canada in recognizing and celebrating the contributions of black communities including here at Royal Roads. And this year we invited black students at Railroads to share their reflections on what it means to be black in Canada.

And they speak on themes of identity, inclusion, belonging, and much more. And you'll find the link to that video on our Black History Month web page, which as well is posted in the chat. So I really encourage you to have a look at that if you haven't had a chance yet. It's a very very inspiring video. Uh there you'll also find the Royal Rose University Libraries digital display which showcases works by black creators covering black Canadian history, contemporary experiences, culture, post-secondary life, women in leadership, film and fiction and much more.

Now today's event which has been recorded will also be available there in the days ahead. So look out for that. And if you have colleagues that were not able to join us today, uh please let them know that the recording uh is available too. So it's now my great pleasure to introduce Dr. Yabalam Gilpin Jackson.

She's a multi-awwardwinning scholar practitioner in human and organization development. This work, she says, is concerned with how humans organize themselves to achieve positive experiences and outcomes. Dr. Gilpin Jackson has held executive leadership roles within the British Columbia public sector, including with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Fraser Health, and Vancouver Coastal Health. Uh she is currently Simon Fraser University's first vice president, people equity, and inclusion.

Uh in addition, she is a writer and a storyteller committed to imagining and leading the futures we want. In 2021, she was runner up woman of the year, equity and inclusion champion by BC Business magazine and in the 2022 top 100 black women to watch. Uh Dr. Gilpin Jackson is an African Canadian who was born in Germany, grew up in Siri Leon, and completed her studies in Canada and the US. And she says her upbringing and lived experience has shaped her global African identity.

Um she has too many degrees to mention here but I would like to mention one academic credential in particular and that is she is a Royal Roads University alum. She has a a grad certificate I believe in executive coaching and I know uh Dr. Gilpin Jackson that um you have uh for a long time been being been friends with uh um with Dr. to Zoe Mloud who is our dean here of um of partnerships and and professional learning. So with that um I just like to extend a huge warm rail roads welcome to you Dr.

Gilpin Jackson. It's a great pleasure to have you here with us today and happy Black History Month. And I'll turn it over to you now. Thank you. >> Thank you.

Thank you so much uh for that warm introduction and um and indeed for noting that I am a Royal Roads alum and you did get it right. Um I am a an alum of the executive certificate um the the executive certificate in coaching executive coaching certificate. So um thank you thank you so much for that. Uh it's a pleasure to be here. It's always a pleasure to uh sit in in circle uh telling stories and uh talking about um my life, our lives and um thinking about how we be human together.

And really uh in in this circle um there's 52 of us here. Uh that is certainly what I'm hoping to do today. So please um hear the the stories and um concepts and ideas and um issues that I share from that perspective of just being together and and learning together. Uh I'm thinking of this conversation as one about black legacies in Canada. Um and in the economy in the academy, not the economy, the academy.

the economy is a question for another day. And um and to do that, my hope today is to take a look at the past. Uh take a look at where we are today and um gaze together into the future. And of course, we can only do that in snapshots. Uh we are there's a long story line uh past, present, and uh the future that we are a part of.

So I offer some ways to to start that uh inquiry that provocation for us here today. I too would like to acknowledge uh that I am joining you today from the traditional ancestral and unseeded territories. Uh specifically uh today I'm located on the territories of the Quantland and the Kit peoples. And because we're gathered virtually, I do want to acknowledge that we are gathered here virtually in British Columbia that is home to over 200 First Nations and indigenous peoples um including our Inuit and Matei communities. And I also particularly want to highlight, given this is a Black History Month conversation, uh the tremendous Afroindigenous communities that are often unagnowledged and um experiencing an additional particular form of of feeling erased and being erased in our Canadian societies.

I am grateful for the work of uh Dr. Wilson and others at Wilfred Laurier University that are currently documenting Afroindigenous communities and the long history that indigenous peoples in Canada have with um African Canadians that goes as far back as uh 400 years from from the origins of pe Africans being brought to Canada. um through uh forced um passageways and uh enslavement and subsequently through the continued displacement of African and black communities uh in the diaspora. There continues to be a long history of collaboration and um an integration of African and indigenous communities and for that I'm very grateful. Um we see that even today in British Columbia in the the joint work that is happening between indigenous communities and the um African Canadian, black Canadian communities that are working on Hogan's Angry here in in BC.

So it's important for me to note that I'll skip that slide. You already know who I am and you can see me on the screen and we'll go right into then the remarks I wanted to make. um starting with with going uh uh back to the future and and seeing how we came to be where we are today. Just a a comment I wanted to make though about this moment, this moment that we find ourselves in and and how I am stepping into this conversation. And for me uh this is a moment where I'm bringing my lens uh on on human development.

I'm bringing my lens um as uh as has been mentioned um as a global African. But for me also noticing as as we all no doubt are that we are in a moment of of great polarization and politicization of of identities and very much so black identities. And for me this has been a moment of individual and collective reflection. But it's also been a moment of a lot of clarity in what I call this time of interregnum, this gray zone change where one system as we know it is ending or has ended and we're in this messy middle as we collectively as a human community try to make sense of where we're going. For me, this moment has been incredibly clarifying um because it has reinforced uh all things that I love and the background that I bring in human development and the fact that for me we must engage each others as equal as equal humans with unconditional positive regard.

And when we don't, we end up with the social pathologies that we're dealing with today. So for me when I speak I speak from a place of framing issues of identity and belonging certainly for black Canadians and and peoples of African descent but for all people from a place of dignity and human rights and from a place that I hold that human uh rights for all people are nonnegotiable and certainly for black Canadians and peoples of African descent. Um, I enter this conversation knowing that the rights and dignity of the communities that I represent um are are non-negotiable and um and however that is landing today in society, however that is politicized, etc., so be it. Um but at the same time uh this is this is a time for me to uh be and to speak and exist without apology and to remind all of us that all of us must equally do so. So with that said, stepping back for a moment, this is also a moment where we're recognizing in Canada 30 years uh of the recognition of Black History Month.

Of course, um 400 plus years of community uh here in Canada, but 30 years in which we've been recognizing Black History Month. And our theme this year is honoring black brilliance across generations which is partly the inspiration for me um in terms of looking at the storyline that we're sitting in now. So it's been 30 years for me the question is now what? And to answer now what um I evoke what the honorable uh Maurice Sinclair uh who became an ancestor last year but left us with an incredible legacy um thinking about truth and reconciliation in Canada um and our indigenous communities. But also um in in the book that um Maurice Sinclair wrote just before um his passing, he talked about four questions from the indigenous tradition um that matter uh for for life and for um all Canadians to be thinking about which is which are the questions where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? And who am I? What I loved about those questions and while why they deeply resonated with me is also because in my scholarship I have written about three questions that I believe um black communities in particular need to navigate in order to um in order to be on their own transformation journey and developmental journey in the context of the kinds of historical barriers that black Canadians face. And those three questions were who am I? where do I belong and what is my call? So a significant overlap in terms of thinking about um developmental trajec trajectories and what what matters in terms of thinking about selfidentity and self-lo especially in societies where it feels like those identities are um are negated and are marginalized um in society.

So with that context and holding those questions and thinking thinking about that um let's step into a little bit into the past to understand how we we get to a place um where it's important that the selfidentity of black Canadians must be reinforced and must be celebrated. And of course, I cannot step into any any question about the past as we honor also uh 30 years of Black History Month without Gene Augustine's words. Gene Austinine, of course, um is is who made it possible with um her motion to celebrate Black History Month in Canada um to Parliament. Uh is is who made it possible for us to be framing these conversations today in this way. Gene Austinine often says, and I've heard her say this, I've heard her speak multiple times.

I've been in conversation with her, and she will often reinforce, black history is Canadian history. So, for everything that you're about to hear, remember that this is our collective history. This is not just the history of black Canadians. And so, to do this, I thought I would put in front of you a bit of a storyline. It is only a snapshot.

And of course I have filtered it through particular um pieces that I wanted to highlight. And so um we have a timeline here that starts in the 1600s starting 16008 and brings us to today and looking into the future. And as you look at this storyline I'm not going to read all of it but I'm going to highlight some things for you. The first thing I want to point out is that the first recorded black person in Canada was a free man, was a a free person, meaning not enslaved. Um, and long predating Canadian um Confederacy, uh, which of course was in 1867.

The first recorded black person in Canada was um uh Matthew de Costa who was um recorded as being here in6008. That is over 250 years before Canadian Confederacy. And so I point this out to dispel the myth of um black Canadians and people of African descent being new to Canada. Of course, we are newcomers and um I'm conscious of having this conversation in the context of um the the uh colonization and um ongoing impacts uh to indigenous Canadians who are the First Nations and rights holders um here in in today's in what we call today Canada. And uh to note that the the conversation of of of black Canadians where black Canadians locate in in the history line of newcomers is is often um mischaracterized.

Uh black Canadians have been here for a very very long time. The second thing I want to um note is that the first uh enslaved uh black Canadian recorded is Olivia Dejun who was recorded in 1629. And I point this out also to dispel the myth uh that is often out there that enslavement wasn't um an issue in in Canada uh and that we should be looking elsewhere for the impact of of that particular issue. You can see that the first recorded uh enslaved person in Canada was only six years old. the uh some other highlights I would like to to point out as we look at the story line here in the 1700s.

Lots of important facts uh for that can be looked at later on by by all of you in the audience. One fact I want to point out is that the first recorded race riots in what is today's North America in Turtle Island was actually recorded in Canada in Nova Scotia um in Shelburn and Birchtown. Um and and this was in the context of um now having a society where you you were beginning to have an inter uh mingling of previously enslaved um uh black people that had found um freedom and uh emancipation mixing with ex uh uh continually enslaved people within those communities. You had the black loyalists who had um fought in exchange for freedom in the um American war for independence and then came over to what was still British North America when when Britain lost that war. But you also had um white loyalists coming up and bringing uh their um uh their slaves with them.

And so you had this mix happening. you started to have racial tensions and those first race riots in North America were recorded here in Canada as a result. And so in the 1800s you had continual um abolition activity. What I want to point out here is that we started to see um accomplished black leaders leading conversations about abolition, about emancipation. And um these leaders also making significant impacts to Canadian society.

You started to see uh leaders I I will name some of these later so I won't name them now. Um but but leaders that were starting to make significant contributions alongside pushing for emancipation. Um, so much so that um, here in British Columbia, for example, we had the the black pioneers starting to come up from California. Um, you had the group that um, started to come to Alberta, from Oklahoma. You had, of course, out east, those that were coming um, and finding freedom via the uh, underground railway.

um and those folks were were settling in in Ontario and Nova Scotia. So you had this growing black community happening and and also people starting to flourish and um so much so that there started to be the push push back at the same time and this anti what what was called an anti-black campaign and I I'll say more uh about that momentarily but that brought us to about the the 1900s uh that anti-black campaign happened um a lot of push back uh that resulted ultimately in um rules and and laws that limited black migration to Canada, explicit anti-black uh immigration policies that started to limit um the the growing and the growth of of black Canadian community. And and that's really important because you when that happened around uh 196 um well as early as the uh 1911 all the way to 1967 those laws started to be removed in 1967 but what we simultaneously saw was the beginning of the destruction of uh black communities. So, Hogan's Alley here in BC, Africville, those communities all started getting destroyed at the time that immigration laws uh that were um systemically uh oppressive and limiting black migration were overturned. So, one thing changed and another one simultaneously limiting and discouraging black community um from building and flourishing as as we had been doing here in Canada at that time.

Of course, at the end of the 1990s, um we see then this sort of resurgence in recognition, um push back for um uh uh for recognition of of where there had been systemic uh discrimination, conversations about reparations, recognition of Black History Month, um which brought us into the 2000s. Um we saw our first black governor general in Canada. And um we have all now been living in the the the moments um of the of the 2010s and 2020s that have had everything from the Black Lives Matter movement and um of course the the uh killing of George Floyd which le George George Floyd which led to global um movements for um acknowledging and working against anti-black racism And now we're sitting in this moment with the anti-EDI DEI black backlash which also includes a lot of anti-black racism that is resurging as well. So in that storyline of note, I've I've noted a lot of these um points here. Um for me it it begs the question of what what's the era we're in? Are we seeing a resurgence and a slide back of uh these kinds of policies and rules that would limit the flourishing of black communities? Or are we going to work together for a different kind of future that continues the trajectory of recognition and movement for black inclusion and black flourishing here in Canada? That's a question for all of us and one for all of us to hold.

But before we leave the past, I just want to mention as well notable um Brit notable facts for British Columbia and notable leaders in British Columbia. Of course, Sir James Douglas is um uh not notice a notable leader of African uh uh Caribbean heritage, Afroaribbean heritage, who was responsible for encouraging the black pioneers to come up from California um in 1858. Um and then uh John Jones settled was one of those that came up and settled in Salt Spring Island. There was a community that came and settled in Victoria and Salt Spring Island from the Black Pioneers. Uh John James is the first recorded school teacher um and and that was really pushing for education and education reform here in BC.

Uh William Jones was the first recorded uh dentist uh in BC uh in in also arrived from from that group that that came from California. Mephlyn uh Gibbs was of course uh um Victoria city counselor and Josephin and Philip Sullivan were well-known uh business leaders in in around what is today's Gas Town. What's notable about them is is their sons are uh recorded as being part of the group that signed the petition um to form the city of Vancouver. So, um, there you have black leaders as founders, uh, part of the group that are considered founders of the city of Vancouver. And of course, Joe Fores, who was recognized for his, um, work as the first recorded official lifeguard um, for the city of Vancouver.

Uh, also want to recognize uh, in in the 1900s and 2000s, Emry Burns uh, the first MLA in BC. Rosemary Brown also MLA in BC. John Sullivan De's um, who uh, who had the area where um, the that that used to be called De's Island. um a very well-known uh businessman here in the Lower Mainland. Um and um is um he his history is being brought back up as we look at um that area uh today because De's Island was was removed as as a name and as a label there in our transit system.

And so that is being brought back um as we speak as one of the recognitions that we're we're bringing back in BC. Of course, Harry Jerome uh a a well-known Canadian Olympian and Valry Jerome who still lives in North Vancouver today. And so we have this risk rich past. Um we have this legacy now where we're starting to to bring back recognition of these communities that were starting to be erased. And for me it often begs the question, who else do we not know about? as we pull up these notables and much gratitude to the historians and the communities that are are doing this work.

But who else don't we know about and what else is hidden about black communities and their contributions to Canada? Um, and what about in the academy? Where where is the overlap and what are the things that we need to pay attention to as notable about the academy? So this second story line um with this I I I will again just point out a few things of note from from the academic lens and and things that we need to be be thinking about. Um the first being that there were learning institutions around the world before what is modern-day universities. But modern-day universities certainly were built um on the tradition of European institutions that were designed specifically for um nobility um who were at the time white men and the children of white men who were being educated to continue um building the the trajectory of um the legacies that they were inheriting. what became known as Studio Generalia. Um so more generalized universities as we know them today.

Um started in and around um uh um later on uh on that but were built on that tradition and expanded across Europe in order to expand knowledge. um expand knowledge because um as economies were growing um knowledge needed to be spread beyond um the small group um of people and and also uh monastery leaders, cathedral schools um there needed to be a spreading of knowledge and so that expansion started happening um beyond religious doctrines and orthodoxies and um elite schools and the embracing of scientific traditions that all happened in the 1500 and the 1600 1600s. Of note, the first recorded woman uh to earn a PhD was in 1678 um in Italy. So that's that's how recent it was for example that women became a part of the academy. Of course in the 1800 with abolition, emancipation and global colonization that opened up the academy.

Um, my family is from Freetown, Seron. The first Western University um, south of the Sahara was in Freetown um, and was uh, built there uh, because that was the the colony where freed uh, and uh, repatriated previously enslaved people were taken. And so you had a community of um peoples of African descent that um had also western exposure that also spoke English and therefore the first university was was founded there. Um and then we we carry on into the 1900s. Um, this is a time of great segregation, desegregation, coinciding, as you will note from the previous timeline with that time of um where black communities were flourishing and also being pushed back, right? Um, which brings us uh again to today.

When you look at these two story lines, you see certainly that overlap where where we have push and pull between black inclusion in the academy and in society where we're building legacies and we're also seeing systemic erasers happening. Some people of note that um I certainly didn't know about until I started looking into into um these is you have folks like uh Robert Sullivan who was a Queens alumni um alum a Queens University alum was the first known um graduate student of color in Canada and British Columbia's and British North America's first known black lawyer. What is also not known about Robert Solomon and you will find today on the Queen's website um is that he left his inheritance to Queens University at a time where Queens had lost its entire endowment because of a bank collapse. So is literally credited with saving the Queens University as we know it today. Um there are folks like Clement Lor uh who was uh one of the first doctors and also a humanitarian uh hero um in in the Halifax area.

Clement Lagore uh was uh the first doctor in Nova Scotia was denied entry into the military um was denied access to practicing after graduation. so founded um his own hospital, the Amanda Hospital, and became known after uh an explosion in Halifax in 1917 for his response in treating hundreds of patients at that very Amanda Hospital, which was founded because of um uh racial exclusions in the first place. And um and so there's there's these stories. These are only two. There's so many more stories where these come from.

I want to note in my own life and in my own storyline. Um my father has is an alum of the University of Alberta and has both a master's and PhD from the UFA um in the late 1960s early uh 1970s. And a story I like to tell was talking to a colleague at Alberta that was talking about mapping black history at U of A and um looking for um black students who've made who have been there and etc. And and I kind of offh hand said yeah my dad went to UVA um and you know this colleague said oh what's your dad's name and and I told them and they were like never heard that name that is not one of the names we have surfaced. And so I say this um because that gives you a sense of, you know, when when today we're talking about things like um collecting race-based uh data and making sure we know in a disagregated sense who our communities are and where they are.

It is also for black communities and indigenous communities and other marginalized communities. It is also um a matter of of recording our histories because without that data, how would they know to have found my father in the database and all the other potential black alum that have existed at that university and other universities that are not on record. Um and so the storyline of you know we don't have enough black graduate students for this policy or we don't have enough students for that policy. um or you know, black history hasn't existed here continues um when it is in fact not necessarily the truth. And so here we are today.

Um the current situation um is is improving, but we have a long way to go. And whether it's improving, of course, is is a matter of debate depending on what angle you're looking at it from. But here's the last story line I will share as we move towards closing my remarks. Um, roughly in the last 10 years in Canada, here are some milestones that that you need to know about. Um, there was a UN working group that documented s uh significant systemic anti-black racism in Canada um in 2017.

that report exists and it's online and made significant decisive recommendations um asking Canada to to look at anti-black racism and and and make changes. Canada of course um formally adopted um the United Nations International Decade for Peoples of African Descent, the first decade um which has ended and um we have endorsed uh in 2015 the ongoing um that ongoing recognition. Um you've had moments like uh the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's apology for its role in demolishing Hogan's Alley. Um, we have had recognition of the uh over representation of black Canadians in the criminal justice system and um ongoing work around reform. In that regard, we have had recognition of the number two um uh battalion um in our national defense who experienced uh anti-black racism and were not recognized um for a very long time.

Um and and these moments again that have been moments of um looking towards the future, looking at restoring um uh relationships with the black Canadian communities. We've had recognition of the black Nova Scotia's community um community and the fail in the promise to um give them uh land and a start in life. for example, with the black uh loyalists who came to Nova Scotia. And it was because that community did not receive in Canada the promise that they were given um for fighting in exchange for freedom that that community uh again some of that community left and went to again Freetown Seron where my family is from. Um of course some of that community uh remains and continues and is a significant part of the black Canadian um story.

So, um there's been even more recent stories over the last sort of three years. Um there was a story here in BC um reporting on um the experience of black Canadians in BC. There was there's also ongoing research that's done by Environ Nicks and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation that shows continued um uh impacts like black communities being over represented in the criminal um justice system despite being 1 to 2% of the Canadian population being 5% target of street checks um and um constituting 9% of incarcerated persons um uh in in our systems. There are impacts to experience. You have black Canadians, newcomers in in the last few years, both those born in other pro provinces and those born in other countries who do not feel welcomed and included in BC um specifically.

And um and interesting, a survey by Environics showed that not only do black Canadians say this about their inclusion experience, um non-black Canadians also recognize that they don't believe that black Canadians are supported and um experience inclusion here um in in in Canada. there are continued barriers to employment where you have 77.9 um almost 78% uh black under reppresentation in leadership um and yet you have this phenomenon of black Canadians being overqualified and um rejected though qualified by 50%. Um, if you look at the the last black the last uh stats Canada, you'll see that black Canadians are uh are well educated and um and so there's this question about what's the difference between being qualified and access to employment. There's continued health inequities. There's ongoing um discrimination in our schools and in our universities.

I have been part of projects like the unmasking academia experiences of racialized women that I had the pleasure of writing the intro for after reading story after story about the experiences of black indigenous and uh racialized women in the academy and experiences of exclusion and um lack of support and um various dialogues that have happened have been published um recently in Atlantic Atlantis for example in in that journal. And certainly as a mother um of three children that have gone through the BC school system, I can tell you that all three of my children have come home having been called the n-word in schools, having had to be apologized to um by students, having had to go and speak to teachers and principles in our schools. um continuously. This started with my eldest in kindergarten when she came home and asked me, "Mom, what do I respond when people ask me where I'm from?" This is from my BC born daughter. Um and and a note that the where where you from question happens with newcomers and it happens with generational black Canadians.

So that is it's again the ongoing narrative of do you belong here? Um so it's not it's not the it's not the issue of of um you know trying to find out uh people's uh identity which I always say if you are really in relationship with folks you're going to hear those stories anyway. It is the stranger interaction and the insinuation in the context of when the where are you from question is asked that is the issue. So, this is not me saying never ask someone where they're from when it's appropriate at your conferences and elsewhere. Um, you know, be in relationship and let relationship go before the question. Um, but being aware that again, um, black Canadians, there's a whole project that CBC did a few years ago about generational eight generation Canadians and newcomers all contending with this question of belonging um, anchored on the question of being asked where are you from? consistently.

All of these things have impact civic engagement. Earlier I talked about uh and named um uh Emory Burns and named Rosemary Brown. Um it will be uh it's interesting to note that the third and fourth um MLAs's um in British Columbia were only elected in 2024. Emily Rian Gasper from Abbottzford um who was elected in 2024 along with um Emila George Anderson um from Nanaimo um they were both elected at the same time and they are only the third and fourth after a huge span of no black representation um uh in in our legislature and and that that of course comes with these experiences of inclusion exclusion and lack of representation in our civic engagement. Same in housing.

Um uh in BC, black Canadians being over represented in the unhoused um population and uh media representation has also had impacts. uh 60% of survey respondents and again um this uh could be uh black and non-black uh folks in BC saying that black identities are poorly represented in pop culture. Again, when I have a child come home after some video showing at school and say to me, "Mom, I no longer want to be black or African." Because every time they show videos in school, the black and African kids look bad. that gives you a signal of how much this impacts um our children and our communities and black Canadians. So, I'm grateful for today's grreyots.

I'm grateful for folks like Afwa Cooper who was through whose um speaking and history and work in black history I found out for example about the Southerntherlands the Sullivans being signaries to the petition for the city of Vancouver. um folks like the BC Black History Society and the team there um Sylvia and others that are documenting BC Black History, the Canadian Black Scientists Network, the Black Cultural Center in Nova Scotia, um the organization like 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women. For everybody I named, you now have organizations that are documenting hundreds of um black women and others that are making significant contributions here in Canada. So the question is where do we go from here? Um we have 30 years of recognizing black history. We have 400 plus years of history and contributions.

Where do we from here and where do we go in the academy? In the academy um of course you have um this initiative with the scarboro charter. I'm I'm proud in my SFU hat that we are signitaries um to this initiative that is documenting um and working uh to to ensure black inclusion in the academy under the conditions of everything I just uh described. These of course get replicated in the academy, these impacts. The Scar Bro Charter has, for example, documented 10 accomplishments that are promising practices that are things that are advancing black inclusion in the academy in its report last year. Uh we will have the pleasure here at SFU of hosting um Dr.

Wisdom Teti um who's Philip's colleague at um at Carlton uh who was also the initiator of um the scar bro charter will be hosting him in conversation tomorrow um and through the scar bro charter here are some things that we have done that royal roads could also look to um that report is also online um so I'd leave it there and um and we have been building on that work of signitories and our commitments. Um also proud that this week we are opening um it has it has opened um but we are officially open opening a black student center. Um as a student that came to uh SFU in 1999 and um barely saw three other students that looked like me walking around campus and went through classes and would have one other um uh black student in most of my classes. It's such a joy to see how far we've come. And I know there's a way ways to go.

But these are not just um symbolic. They're about uh changing these narratives that you've heard me talk about today. They're about making people feel welcome. They're about making sure that students can learn. They're about students outcomes that they can learn that they can bring their own lived experiences that they can bring their own histories and be recognized and um and do well in terms of academic outcomes and therefore in terms of serving our community whether in the private sector or public sector or otherwise.

So if black history is Canadian history um where do we go from here? And my question that I'll leave us with is when future generations look back, what legacy will you have left individually and would we have left in our institutions for you at Royal Road for roads, for me at SFU and in all the public spaces that I've served? What is the legacy that we're going to leave um in this place? What will future generations say? Will they find themselves more easily in our history? Will they be able to refute um um narratives that say black Canadians are not part of the Canadian story? For me, my wish has always been that we arrive at a future where affirming, recalling, responding, appreciating, and recognizing black Canadians is normalized so that we can all just be. We can be human together. As Tony Morrison said, and I love this quote, the function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining over and over again your reason for being.

Somebody says you have no language and you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn't shaped properly, so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary.

There will always be one more thing. Thank you. >> Wow, Dr. Gilpin Jackson, thank you so much. That was an extraordinary overview.

Um, I loved your your comments at the beginning about the four guiding questions from um the late Marie Sinclair. Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? And who am I? I think uh you you covered that in an extraordinary way and I personally learned so much about black history in Canada. I knew pieces of it, but you wo it together in such a rich and and and remarkable way and I think left us with a with a challenge, too. Um, I know we have about 10 minutes here, so I'm going to um ask folks uh if they have any questions. So, we're going to begin the audience questions now.

And as a reminder, if you could please pop any questions you have in the chat and uh Alejandra will will read those out. And I'm going to turn this over to Alejandra right now if we've got anything uh to start with. Um I'm sure people are processing a huge amount huge amount of information. I've got lots of questions, but I think I'd prefer to turn it over to uh to the community. Uh now Alejandra please.

>> Yeah there is no questions in the in the chat so far. I saw that Lisa raised her hand. I don't know if Elisa is right the question directly >> please. >> Uh yes sorry thank you. Can everybody hear me? >> Yes.

>> Perfect. Um first off I would like to say thank you so much for such a wonderful and detailed presentation. Um, I appreciated that you included in the um, welcome um, land acknowledgement black indigenous and black peoples of um, being brought to Canada um, willingly or unwillingly and the and and the experiences of those who have been here before Canada was Canada. So, I appreciate that. Also, I wanted to acknowledge the amount of information that you shared and how um detailed it was.

It's appreciated that that that you shared so much of Canadian history um in your presentation. Um and I can speak as a as a as a black Canadian of Caribbean descent that a lot of what you spoke to has applied to me as well. And I wanted to say that I in kindergarten was called the gang word. I can also say that I've been told to go back to my own country. I can say that as a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, I've been told that I'm not a real Canadian while in uniform.

So, I wanted to say thank you so much for identifying all of these things because as a black Canadian, um especially one that was born in Canada, um these stories need to be told and shared and you did an amazing job sharing them today. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, >> Alejandra. I see Mon'nique has her hand up as well. Thank you.

>> Thank you, Phillip. Yeah. Um I'm echoing similar sentiments to Lisa when people tell me um you know representation doesn't matter that we're all just part of the human race. I feel like these are poignant times that I can leverage in terms of that transparency of being seen explicitly. And when you share your stories both personal and then um to align it with the academic arena, we're not left out in it.

You carried us with you throughout. And I think um there's a beauty in that. Um I've been afforded a variety of different uh spaces where I've heard speakers, but you so beautifully and eloquently interwo not just your own um personal lived experience, but you were able to to see us as a collective um in our humanness. And so thank you for that. That was a long- winded comment.

Um but yeah, like oh my goodness. Sorry. and all of my lived experience, this has just been so enriching and so informed. I I do um DEI, but I capture it as inclusion. I sorry, I capture it as uh cultural intelligence with emotional intelligence because I feel like you can't separate the two when we're speaking to it.

And so um my I'm doing a masters in leadership at railroads university and the journey to this point in terms of even discovering that I can identify myself um has been a journey and a half. So to recognize that there has been leaders and one of the my favorite books is they came before Columbus and so that was really my leverage point of understanding that our history was vastly more and this is the last thing I'll say in grade seven Mr. Woodley's class. I don't think he'll mind me naming him. I once asked when we were doing our series on black history, Canadian black history, because my dad's Nova Scotian, my mom's Jamaican.

And I asked the question, was enslavement the beginning of black history, or was it an interruption? And I will never forget his face to that day. But what he afforded me over time was access to all that he had access to. And so again, thank you for exactly unequivocally with not any slight changes to how you showcased your information. I appreciate you sincerely. >> Thank you, >> Alejandro.

Any comments? Questions? More questions? >> No comment or questions. And while waiting just to to acknowledge both of you, thank you for for adding to my words and sharing your uh experiences. It's always a bit daunting um black community and people's uh Africans, people of African descents and and black community is so diverse um that uh often it's it's it's it's really it's really difficult to try and capture that while while um drawing that that underlying through line and the connections between all these communities. And so I really appreciate both of you um naming um that you could see and hear yourself in the storyline I shared. Deeply appreciated.

It's it's it's a difficult task. Um yeah, thank you. Not to mention Afro um Latino communities that are often left out of this conversation that are the largest black diaspora outside of the African continent. >> Um when we sit in Turtle Island, North America, we often forget um that community. But you know, even the UN recognizes them as the largest African community um African descent community outside of the continent of Africa.

>> Thank you. Thank you so much Dr. Gilpin Jackson. Uh I know we are at time but I just want to thank you for sharing with us today and for being in conversation with us uh to I I think you you have a sense of uh how how much the community here appreciates you your your time and what you've had to share with us today. And I I was really sort of struck as well by you know I'm I'm very close colleagues with with Dr.

Wisdom Tete. We were just in India for 10 days to >> together as well and I'm I am talking to him tonight too and really struck with the the challenges universities face right now in the context of the backlash against EDI and the way in which um that is supercharging anti-black racism again and uh we have a real responsibility I think as as leaders in these organizations to to really think about how we support black students and black staff and black scholars Uh, as we move forward, there was an article in the New York Times yesterday, black woman talking about how um, she changed the name on her CV because she has an African sounding name. And when she changed the name, the the number of responses increased by 100%. Just an extraordinary thing. And that's happening right now, right? >> People highly qualified and highly educated.

And um it just struck me again today as you were talking about the the ongoing challenges that there's a lot of work to do. But understanding where we've come from and where we we've been and where we are going. I I think you sort of laid that out in a brilliant way for us. I just again want to thank you so much for being here today. Want to thank the community for joining us.

Want to thank Alejandra of course for organizing the event and our communications and media services team. uh for all of their support. So with that, I will wish everybody a very good afternoon and in particular, Dr. Gilpin Jackson, extend our our thanks to you for joining our community. Thank you so much.

Thank you. >> A pleasure. Thank you everyone for joining. >> Thank you. Goodbye.