Diversity and inclusion advocate recognized with Visionary Award
November 14, 2019
You don’t get to where you are in life without the support of others who, sometimes, are not of your colour.
When Hamlin Grange was trying to break into the mainstream media in the early 1980s, late Canadian Suffragan Bishop Arthur Brown ensured that print media executives in the city knew he was available.
“Art connected me and made sure I got interviews with the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun and the Globe & Mail,” he recalled. “I met face-to-face with the key people because of Art who said to them, ‘You need to talk to this young man because your newspapers don’t reflect this city’.”
An advocate for equality, Brown – who appointed the church’s first Black Warden -- was the Archdeacon of York for seven years and the incumbent at St. Michael & All Angels for 18 years until 1981.
“He was a powerhouse in this city and very supportive of the Black community behind the scenes,” the former Canadian Association of Black Journalists President said.
Three decades after joining the Toronto Star as a reporter in January 1981, Grange and his wife – Cynthia Reyes – started Innoversity because they felt the Canadian mainstream media was a ‘closed club’. The couple also co-founded DiversiPro Inc. that’s a training and consulting firm specializing in diversity change management. Their clients include some of Canada’s major broadcasters.
Prior to the emergence of these entities, Canadian actress Tonya Williams conceived the idea for the Reelworld Film Festival to showcase Canada’s diversity and provide a platform for visible minorities to display their artistic talent and, in the process, motivate audiences through film.
“At that time, people were in their own racial lanes and I found it impossible to convince anyone that bringing racial diversity together was important,” she said. “But it’s the way I was raised and the way I see the whole world.”
At its closing night gala on October 20, Reelworld honoured Grange with a Visionary Award for advocating for artists of colour in the entertainment industry.
Tonya Williams presented the Reelworld Film Festival Visionary Award to Hamlin Grange
“We give this award to people who are really working behind the scenes, the people that you don’t know who have made a real impact on this community by helping to promote diversity at all levels,” said Williams. “Their dedication has opened doors for many people, some of whom are in this audience. Hamlin has been an advocate for artists of colour and someone who has pioneered numerous inclusion initiatives.”
The award, said Grange, is special because it recognizes a body of work that he has done to diversify the media and make it more reflective of Canada.
“It’s also special because it’s coming from an unexpected source,” the Diversity & Inclusion Strategist pointed out. “It’s coming from a film festival which is an unusual place for an award like this to come from, but I can see why it’s a good fit.”
Before becoming an agent for change, Grange was a reporter/managing editor for 21 months with the defunct Contrast Black newspaper and a reporter, news anchor, host, municipal affairs specialist, news documentary reporter and senior producer with several Canadian mainstream news organizations.
His passion for telling stories emerged at an early age.
“As a kid, I had a keen interest in writing stories and finding out about people,” said Grange who migrated from Jamaica at age 10 and was a YMCA Greater Toronto Board member and Liquor Control Board of Ontario Diversity & Inclusion Consultant. “My first job was writing for my high school newspaper. I was always trying to find out the motivation of people, why things aren’t the way they are and sometimes that means asking people in power difficult and uncomfortable questions. There’s also a real keen sense of social justice that oozes through me and I try to temper that by not being overly activist about it. It’s the whole sense of social justice and fairness for those who may have the short end of the stick sometimes that drives me.”
At the 105-year-old Central Technical School where he was the school’s first Black student President, Grange helped organize the first student walkout of high school students across the city in the early 1970s, protesting education cuts.
“It’s like déjà vu all over again when I see what’s happening now with funding cuts to Toronto’s largest school board,” he said.
In addition to being an activist, Grange was an exceptional student-athlete.
He was awarded a full scholarship to attend the University of Colorado Boulder whose notable alumni include Dave Bolen who was the first Black American to serve as ambassador to a nation behind the Iron Curtain (the German Democratic Republic) and the university’s first Olympian, finishing fourth behind Jamaicans Arthur Wint and Herb McKinley and American Mal Whitfield in the 1948 London Summer Olympics 400-metre final.
Grange held the Canadian junior record in the 400-metre hurdles for several years, won the 1975 Canadian Senior Championship in Sudbury in a time of 52.7 secs. and just missed qualifying for the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Choosing the University of Colorado Boulder over other universities, including Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley was easy.
“I wanted to go to a place that was a good educational institution because I wanted to study Journalism and also continue to do track,” said Grange who was a reporter with the Denver Rocky Mountain News. “Back then, a lot of Canadian athletes who were going to the United States on scholarships would come back complaining that they were forced to compete when injured and that athletics took precedence over academics.”
Grange was sold once he spoke on the phone to coach Don Meyers who was a collegiate long jump and pole vault champion.
“I really got a sense that this was someone who cared about me, not just as an athlete, but as a person,” he said. “At Colorado, there was a balance that was very good for me. It was also such a beautiful place up in the mountains and close to nature.”
While in university, Grange met Reyes when he was back in Toronto during a school break.
Hamlin Grange and Cynthia Reyes
Arriving from Jamaica in 1974, she was the first Black female on-air personality in Toronto and one of the youngest executive producers.
“What attracted me to Cynthia and continues to do is the fact that she’s such a really smart woman,” the former Toronto Police Services Board member noted. “When we first met, she thought I was a bit too militant. She tells me now she’s happy to see I have matured and become a different person. I think I am a different person because of my relationship with her.”
The couple has two grown daughters
Nikisha Reyes-Grange is an award-winning Marketing leader with Microsoft in Seattle and Lauren Reyes-Grange — who recently gave birth to a daughter — is a Digital Strategist and author. She was the inspiration behind her mother’s first ‘Myrtle the Purple Turtle’ book and the co-author of the series.
Grange co-authored and took the photos for his wife’s newest book, ‘Twigs in My Hair: A Gardening Memoir’, in which Reyes explores her lifelong passion for gardens and nature.
Despite being busy working with clients to make their organizations more inclusive and serving as a member of Samara Canada and the Consent and Capacity Board and Chair of the Responsible Gambling Council Board of Directors, he finds time to engage in recreational cycling and photography.
Family means everything to Grange and this was evident when he made his acceptance speech after receiving the Visionary Award.
“I share it with my wife,” added the former External Advisor with the Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services and Royal Ontario Museum Trustee. “She’s not only been my partner, but she has really been on this journey of inclusion with me over the years. I also want to share this award with my daughters. They are the three most important people in my life.”
