From our Correspondent, Vancouver, BC
An action-packed, pan-African and all Canadian cultural and intellectual fiesta. That is how this year’s Black History Month celebration in Vancouver could be described. A consortium of nine African community organizations in Metro Vancouver came together to make this year’s African Heritage/Black History Month a special one. A total of 15 events, ranging from a film week, roundtables, symposiums, lectures, public forums, financial literacy presentations, art and cultural expos and performances, to storytelling and family and heroes’ days were held throughout the Lower Mainland and virtually.
“This was the most consequential and impactful Black History Month celebration I have ever witnessed,” said Reverend Magdalene Nungu, Executive Director of the Lead Disability Inclusive Society of BC. And Patience Okantey (photo), Secretary of the Ghanaian-Canadian Association of BC chimed in: “This year’s BMH collaborative effort put together by multiple organizations of African Descent was a resounding success, demonstrating the fact that there is power in numbers. The community came out to support and rally around each other. And this year reflected that within our community.”
The African Heritage/Black History Month celebration kicked off on February 14 with a launch day event, followed by an African Heritage/Black History Month Film week, which was dedicated to “reviving, celebrating and honouring African history and historical figures through films by people African Descent.” According to Dr. Charles Quist-Adade, leader of the organizing consortium, “The film week was organized to remind us of Africa’s forgotten stories, celebrate her abandoned heroes, rediscover her lost wisdom and re-establish our human capacity for respect, dignity and inclusiveness.”
The events were attended by local politicians and dignitaries, including members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The Africa Art and Culture Expo held on February 18 was particularly star-studded, attended (https://youtu.be/E4dzlsGOVts--) by as many as eight MLAs and Ministers either live or via recorded greetings. The MLAs included Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Education, Kelvin Falcon, leader of the BC Liberal Party, Harry Bains, Minister of Labour and MLA- Surrey Newton, Mike Starchuck, Surrey Cloverdale, Jagrup Brar, Surrey Fleetwood, Stephanie Cadieux, Surrey South, Katina Chen, Minister of State for Child Care and MLA – Burnaby Lougheed, Anne Kang, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training and MLA- Burnaby Deer Lake, Janet Routledge, Burnaby North, Niki Sharma, Vancouver Hastings, Jinny Sims, Surrey Panorama, and Fin Donnelly, Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Keynote speakers included Dr. Macauley Kalu African Union Representative in North America, Central and South America and Okama Ekpe Brook, Executive Director African-Caribbean Heritage Association of Edmonton.
The African Heritage/Black History Month celebration was organized jointly by the Africa-Canada Education Foundation, African Stages Association, Great Lakes Networking Society, the Ghanaian-Canada Association, Salt City Advocacy Society, Kenyan Community in BC, Lead Disability Inclusive Society, African Women Empowerment Society, and National Financial Literacy Campaign Vancouver. More than 1,500 people attend the events. Kombii Nanjallah, Eexecutive Director of the Great Lakes Networking Society of BC summed it all up: “… we were impressed with the collaboration we had during BHM 2022, organizing of different activities from each of the partners was great, and attendance by all the group leaders their families and friends showed the solidarity and the maturity of the leaders of those organizations. The impact may be huge in the future if each organization mobilizes more of its people who will commit to attend. We have been divided during the colonial time and we should strongly break that and focus on our UBUNTU philosophy. “
“Let’s follow in the footsteps of the great men and women who came before us, who lived fighting to free us and the Afrikan movements created by our ancestors impressing our Afrikansim, what we need now is creating more unity among us. A big thank you, goes to our funders, elders who did the land acknowledgments, volunteers and friends who were involved”
The BHM activities were funded by Canadian Heritage, City of Vancouver, and the City of Surrey.
Videos and and photos from the events can be found at (africa-canadaeducationfoundation.org)
A version of this article was published in the Ghanaian News in Toronto
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