Funds raised through UWI Toronto Benefit event help Caribbean students complete university
June 2, 2021
Completing the University of the West Indies (UWI) three-year Bachelor of Health Science program last month and looking forward to graduation in October, Mikkel Wilson can breathe a lot easier.
Just weeks after enrollment and assuming his tuition was fully covered under the Trinidad & Tobago Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) program, the Trinidadian student learnt that wasn’t the case.
“I was basically told that the online information I accessed that led me to believe I had full coverage was incorrect,” said Wilson.
Without government assistance, he had to fend for himself.
His mother, Tricia Carribon, and a cousin, Duane Wilson who resides in Florida, provided the aspiring health care practitioner with the financial help needed to complete the first year.
Sensing he might have to quit the program, Wilson approached UWI’s Student Enrolment & Retention Unit at the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados where he spent almost two years before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. He completed his program online in Trinidad & Tobago.
“With the help of a guidance counselor, I applied for many scholarships, but UWI Toronto was the only one that came through for me and I am so very grateful,” he pointed out.
Wilson, the recipient of a kidney from his mother in January 2015 after he was diagnosed with renal failure, received almost Can$4,000 in the last two years.
“That was a big help because I just had to pay for one course and miscellaneous student fees,” he said.
Currently shadowing an occupational therapist, Wilson is considering pursuing a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Maracas Valley, Trinidad.
Since the UWI Toronto Benefit Awards inception 12 years ago, Scotiabank has been the event lead sponsor.
The partnership has raised over $2.3 million and approximately 600 scholarships have been awarded to Caribbean students in dire financial need.
Anya Schnoor, the Executive Vice-President for the Caribbean, Central America & Uruguay for International Banking, said Scotiabank is committed to breaking down barriers and providing equal access to education.
“One of the foundational pillars in our corporate social responsibility platform is to support young people in our communities,” the Jamaican-born banking executive pointed out at the virtual awards ceremony on May 22. “Youth are our future for both social and economic prosperity. By investing in scholarships with the University of the West Indies, we are building for the future and unlocking the potential of students across the Caribbean.”
It costs Can$3,000 to sponsor a student’s scholarship at UWI.
The theme of this year’s celebration was ‘Meeting the Moment’.
Vice-Chancellor Dr. Hilary Beckles said it represented a call to action.
Dr. Hilary Beckles (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“It celebrates the fact that as a university, we didn’t retreat from this existential threat we all face globally with the same challenges,” he said. “In the Caribbean, especially with small island nation states, the poverty and inequality have been exposed and the lack of access to equality on a global scale has been exposed.
“The purpose of this event is to raise financial support for students who would not otherwise have access to quality higher education and, who through no fault of their own and through the circumstances of the material poverty, are not able to have liberated their intellectual richness. I celebrate you also as the future of this university and of the world.”
Each year, individuals and organizations making significant contributions in Canada and around the world are honoured with Vice Chancellor’s, Chancellor’s, Luminary and G. Raymond Chang Awards.
This year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Award winners are Shepherd Village President & Chief Executive Officer Wendy Beckles, International Trade Centre Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton and Dr. Kevin Fenton who is the Regional Director of Public Health and the National Health Service in London, England.
Managing through ambiguity while providing strong leadership in uncertain times enabled Beckles to safeguard the lives of 900 seniors and 500 staff members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the novel coronavirus outbreak starting in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and Toronto’s largest service retirement community located in a Scarborough area with a high Asian population, she acted swiftly.
Wendy Beckles proudly displays her Vice-Chancellor’s Award (Photo contributed)
Less than a month later, Beckles – who was born in Montreal to immigrants from Barbados and St. Vincent & the Grenadines -- started taking proactive measures by establishing a COVID Preparedness Team to ensure the virus didn’t infiltrate her workplace.
The day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11, Shepherd Village rolled out its pandemic plan.
Beckles exemplary leadership resulted in an invitation to advise the Ontario Ministry of Health on the implementation and oversight of COVID protocols.
Coke-Hamilton’s experience and expertise in trade and sustainable development have been critical during the pandemic, especially when it comes to the most vulnerable, focusing on women and the economic impact on tourism-dependent states, including those in the Caribbean.
She completed an International Relations degree at UWI and helped design and implement the university’s Master’s in International Trade Policy program that’s in its 16th year.
“The University of the West Indies has always represented a seminal marker in my life,” said the Jamaican trade leader in her acceptance speech. “My passion for the Caribbean as a single space, my understanding and appreciation for the history of economic disenfranchisement, the politics of inequality and the need for a new international economic order, which ironically has now been promoted by the developed world, and an unbridled confidence in not just our ability but our responsibility to assume our space on the world stage and make a difference were fired up in those hallowed halls.
“UWI continues to be that place that nurtures the dreamers, the changemakers, the misfits, the quiet rebels and the leaders of our future. It has been our most successful experiment and continues to shine as a beacon of excellence to the rest of the world.”
Pamela Coke-Hamilton dedicated the Vice-Chancellor’s Award to her son (Photo contributed)
Coke-Hamilton dedicated the award to her son, Matthew Hamilton, who is a second-year Liberal Arts student at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
“His quest to capture our stories of struggle and triumph from the slave trade to the Maroons and translate these stories for a new generation fills me with hope and gratitude,” she added.
Born in England to Jamaican parents, Fenton has been leading the fight against COVID and the devastating impact on Black and other ethnic communities.
Dr. Kevin Fenton (Photo contributed)
Last year, Powerlist named him the second most influential Black Briton behind seven-time Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.
Fenton, who graduated from UWI and worked in public health in the United States for 10 years, said the UWI Award recognizes not only his personal accomplishments, but the work of countless health care workers, policy makers and communities around the world who have been engaged in developing new approaches to disease prevention and control, innovative treatment, vaccination and care programs.
“It is truly a testament to what we can do together to protect and improve the public’s help,” he noted.
The Chancellor’s Award was presented to the Centre for Mental Health & Addiction (CAMH) that is Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital and a global leader in mental health research.
In October 2009, late UWI Toronto Benefit Award patron Raymond Chang donated $5 million to CAMH to advance research and education.
“As an international leader in the world of mental health, we at CAMH understand that our duty extends beyond Canadian borders and we honour that duty through partnerships with mental health organizations and leaders around the world, including the University of the West Indies,” said CAMH President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Catherine Zahn. “I am proud to lead an organization that has a positive impact on people in the Caribbean and Canada and I am pleased that CAMH staff maintain collaborative relationships with our counterparts at UWI.”
Award-winning British model Naomi Campbell and Graca Machel, who is a global advocate for women and children rights, were honoured with Luminary Awards.
Award-winning model Naomi Campbell (Photo contributed)
Campbell was recognized with the award on her 51st birthday, just a few days after announcing the birth of her first child.
“This award means more to me than you would ever know because Jamaica is my heritage country,” she said.
Machel accepted the award on behalf of Africa’s women and children.
Graca Machel (Photo contributed)
In 2001, Ryerson University conferred honourary doctorates on Machel and her late husband, Nelson Mandela.
Businessman, philanthropist and community stalwart Denham Jolly was the recipient of the G. Raymond Chang Award.
He founded a senior care business and Canada’s first Black-owned radio station and co-founded the Black Business & Professional Association.
In August 2019, Jolly paid off the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) centre mortgage with a $312,000 donation and, four months later, the City of Toronto named a street in his honour.
Denham Jolly (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Last November, he was appointed to the Order of Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau graced the ceremony with his presence and congratulated the award recipients.
“I know that virtual events aren’t the same as being together in person, but it is important that we still celebrate our accomplishments during this challenging time,” he said.
The Chang family -- Donette Chin-Loy Chang, Brigitte Chang-Addorisio and Andrew Chang - and Wes Hall are the event co-patrons.
