Black Canadians

• The interactive map will also be beneficial for large-scale business owners looking to diversify their supply chains.
• This tool is part of a new three-year sponsorship with FACE, a Black-led non-profit organization aimed at accelerating wealth creation for the Black community in Canada.
• "We are excited to embark on this transformative partnership with Interac," said Tiffany Callender, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FACE.
• Together, we aspire to empower and uplift the vibrant community of Black entrepreneurs, promoting inclusivity and driving positive change across Canada."

• Anti-Black racism continues to be a major determinant of poor health and social outcomes for Black Canadians.
• Addressing this racism within Canadian institutions — like the health-care system, justice system, the child welfare system and education — has far-reaching implications.
• Moreover, in the early days of the pandemic, living in a Black community was strongly correlated with a diagnosis of COVID-19.

Contemporary and historical inequities

• Black Canadians’ experiences are rooted in contemporary and historical inequities, including Canada’s history of slavery and racial discrimination.
• Policy formulations still shape access to material resources and contribute to structural inequities in Canada, evident in the pervasive low incomes of Black Canadians.
• While median annual wages generally increase for the Canadian population, Black men’s wages have remained stagnant.

Black youth mental health

• Black youth spoke most about racism in our research on their mental health experiences.
• Read more:
  Black men's mental health concerns are going unnoticed and unaddressed

  Income inequality and insufficient financial resources are complicating factors, impeding many young Black men from getting the counselling they need to improve their mental health.

• LGBTQIA+ Black youth may face dire situations, experiencing racism within the LGBTQIA+ community and homophobia within the Black community.

Addressing inequities

• Partnering with Black communities is a crucial component in effective efforts to mitigate inequities.
• Indeed, it is essential that Black community members participate, to capitalize on their strengths and actively engage in improving their well-being.
• Through my personal and professional experiences, I’ve had a unique glimpse into the brilliance and strengths of various Black communities, which are often untapped.
• Institutions must do more than just provide education and develop anti-racist policies; they must also ensure accountability in addressing racism.

Looking ahead

• However, anti-Black racism has consequences for population outcomes for all Canadians, as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• These moves will improve health and social outcomes for Black Canadians and generate stronger population outcomes in Canada.

Bukola Salami receives funding from Policywise for Children and Families for a project on mental health of Black youth named in this article

• Aurelia Jones was a prominent member of the Black community in mid-19th century London, Ontario, Canada, and the spouse of Abel Bedford Jones, a Black entrepreneur and religious and political leader.
• As research associates on the Black Londoners Project at Western University, we are finding historical clues about people like Aurelia Jones and exploring the Black history of London, Ont., by using a digital mapping approach.
• The migrations of Black individuals often reflect the geographic and cultural connections of Black communities across borders and further into the African diaspora.

Black geographies, Canadian myths

• Scholars such as Katherine McKittrick, professor and Canada research chair in Black Studies, have highlighted how understanding Black history means being attentive to how geography, culture and race intersect in the formation of Black communities.
• Such considerations challenge persistent myths of Canada’s past.
• Read more:
  Meet the Black snowshoers who walked 1,000 kilometres across Canada in 1813

  Shifting the focus from nationalist discourse to migrations among Black communities helps us better understand everyday Black life.

Digital Black history projects

• The Black Londoners Project approaches Black history geographically by supplementing the narratives of 16 Black refugees from slavery and racial oppression in the U.S. with archival evidence (among others, personal narratives, census information and newspaper articles) of their lives in London, Ont.
• The website will also connect with other digital Black Canadian History projects:

The Black Press in 19th-century Canada and Beyond explores the history of journalism as intellectual activism in Black Canadian and international history. It is led by Boulou Ebanda de B'béri, research director and professor in the department of communication at University of Ottawa, and Nina Reid-Maroney, history professor at Huron University College;
Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives presents a map of museums and archives that house records of Black-centred histories and is led by Cheryl Thompson, associate professor of performance studies and director for the Laboratory for Black Creativity at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Black oral history, digital mapping

• Digital mapping of Black migrations allows us to centre Black historical presence in public memory and examine Black oral narratives outside of their abolitionist framing.
• The teacher and white abolitionist, Benjamin Drew, published narratives of Black refugees in Ontario in his 1856 anti-slavery report, The Refugee; or, A North-Side View of Slavery.
• However, the attitude of many Black Canadians toward the potential of equality in Canada would change after the 1850s as, for example, access to education became increasingly segregated.
• Many would move within Canada, to the U.S. and other places in search of support from and community with the African diaspora.

Aurelia Jones

• B. Jones’s account, we learned of his spouse, Aurelia Jones (née Bonsor), in the marriage register of Upper Canada/Canada West.
• Following A. B.’s death around 1860, there are few records of Aurelia living in London.
• However, Aurelia reappears in Hutchinson’s Nova Scotia Directory of 1867 and in the 1881 Canada census for Nova Scotia, living in Halifax.
• There, Aurelia lived on Creighton Street with a Black couple from Antigua and Jamaica.

Nova Scotia’s Black communities emerged from layers of migration; for example, Black Loyalists arrived during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), and African Caribbean peoples came looking for work in the 19th and 20th centuries. Creighton Street was a centre of Black Haligonian life well into the 20th century.

Migrations, diasporic connections

• We recognize the irony in writing this piece during Black History Month.
• For Black communities as well as activists and scholars, remembering Black history happens every day of the year.
• Visualizing Black geography asks us to think of more permanent, transnational ways of commemorating Black history and honouring lives like that of Aurelia Jones.

• The Black Londoners Project receives funding from Western's Strategic Priorities Fund.
• David Mitterauer works for Dr. Miranda Green-Barteet and Dr. Alyssa MacLean's Black Londoners Project at Western University.
• Patrick Kinghan works for Dr. Miranda Green-Barteet and Dr. Alyssa MacLean's Black Londoners Project at Western University.

• OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 1, 2024 /CNW/ - Applications are open for Ingenium - Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation's new Black and African Canadian Scientific and Technological Innovations Fellowship.
• Developed in partnership with the Black Canadian Studies Association, this fellowship program invites graduate students to undertake research in the study of historical and contemporary connections between Black and African Canadians and science and innovation.
• This opportunity encourages fellows to craft an engaging research project that connects Ingenium's collection with Black and African Canadian communities and histories.
• "We are pleased to be the founding donors for the establishment of Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation's new Black and African Canadian Scientific and Technological Innovations Fellowship.