Celebrating the achievements of Black Canadian women

October 18, 2024

Until Grade 8, Karen Hudson was the only Black student in her classrooms in Nova Scotia.

In junior high, that changed when three female Black students joined her.

“I felt like I was in heaven,” Hudson recalled. “It was amazing.”

She also felt empowered.

Wanting to learn more about Black history, Hudson sought permission from her teacher to read ‘Soul on Ice’ written in 1965 by Black Panther leader and political activist Eldridge Cleaver while he was in California’s Folsom State Prison.

Telling the student that ‘the book would be too difficult for her’, he provided Gordon Parks’ ‘The Learning Tree’ which is a fictional study of a Black family in a small Kansas town in the 1920s.

Parks was one of the first Black American filmmakers to direct films in Hollywood, developing films relating the experience of slaves and struggling Black Americans. He also helped create the ‘Blaxploitation’ genre.

“I wanted to read books written by people of African ancestry,” said Hudson. “The teacher took that into consideration, saying ‘This is a book for your reading level’.”

Karen Hudson is the Principal of Auburn Drive High School in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

Recognizing the power that educators hold that could influence change, she pursued the profession.

The award-winning educational leader was among 100 accomplished Black Canadian women recognized at Woodbine Banquet Hall in Etobicoke on September 28.

In 2018, Hudson pioneered the first Africentric cohort in Math and Literacy within a public school aimed at empowering students by infusing Afrocentric concepts into the curriculum.

The Learning Partnership recognized her groundbreaking initiative a year later, naming her one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals.

Hudson has been at Auburn Drive High School in Cole Harbour for the last decade after serving a year as Principal at a junior high school.

Eight years ago, the late Preman Edwards – a Math teacher at Auburn – reminded his Principal that Black students were underperforming and suggested she, with a background in Afrocentricity, is the best person to confront the issue.

“We brainstormed and the data I was looking at showed that Black students were taking low-level Math and they were in individual program plans (IPPs) and resource rooms,” Hudson, who was awarded an honourary degree by Saint Mary’s University last May, pointed out.

“Further investigation revealed that most Black students were told this is the Math they should take. I decided we should try something different and, in 2017, we did a small test by placing half of our students in a Math cohort class to see how it would work. From that, we could see how they were pushing each other. The next year, we did a full class which was critical for us in that it changed the trajectory in terms of what we were doing next. The students wanted to be together working as a cohort. That was powerful.”

Becoming an educator was not something Hudson aspired to do.

“Though it was not my first love, I knew if I went into it that I would want to do something different,” she said. “I did not want students to experience some of the things I went through. If I had the opportunity to make a difference, I promised to work hard and influence young minds without seeking recognition.”

Role models play critical roles in shaping lives.

For Hudson, her guiding light is multidisciplinary artist David Woods who, through the Cultural Awareness Youth Group (CAYG) of Nova Scotia he headed, provided leadership, cultural awareness and history lessons to local schools and community groups.

“David is my mentor and role model,” said Hudson who graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University with a Master of Education in Curriculum Studies in 2005 and a Master of Education degree with a concentration in Literacy in 2010. “If it was not for him, I didn’t think I would be in this leadership role that I am in today. He gave us the information that was missing in terms of us understanding our culture and provided opportunities for us to come together as young people to talk about critical issues, celebrate each other, learn how to debate and write plays.”

Hudson, who has actively helped expand Africentric cohorts to other Nova Scotia institutions, including Horton, Woodlawn and Citadel High schools, said her mother, Yvonne Hudson, was in her thoughts as she and the other distinguished Black women were celebrated at the biennial event.

“She is the epitome of honesty, integrity and an amazing work ethic,” the Black Educators Association Interim President said. “She made sure her children understood that their life experiences are part of their richness of living here, that you recognize that community is critical and that you pay attention to your elders and the wisdom they bring. She represents the spirit of Black women and the knowledge that we sometimes don’t respect.”

Sitting at a table with a mother and daughter, award-winning singer/songwriter Tanya Mullings was teary-eyed for a few minutes.

“I told the young woman to hold on to her mom because I don’t have mine anymore,” the dancehall reggae vocalist said.

Marie Mullings passed away at her home in July 2023 at age 73.

“The day after her death, I went back to work at the radio station and buried myself in music until about six months later when I was no longer with FLOW 98.7,” the 2015 Brampton Arts Walk of Fame inductee said. “I then took a break to grieve. My mom always told me to take some time off for myself which I never did. She would say, ‘You are a go-getter, but it is okay to stop and breathe Tanya’. I did that and am rejuvenated. Receiving this accolade is acknowledgment of how much I have put into the music industry.”

Tanya Mullings is an 11-time Canadian Reggae Music Award winner (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

This was the first time that Mullings, whose Juno-nominated singles ‘A Love Thang’ and ‘Love & Affection’, which were featured in Trey Anthony's television pilot, ‘Kink In My Hair’, opened up about the close relationship with her mother.

“I left that event thinking I have my strength from my mom,” said the host of the Tanya Mullings Show on Atlanta-based radio station www.DaFlavaRadio.com that is simulcast across internet stations in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean. “That helped me get through things and if I had the opportunity to dedicate that honour to anyone, it would be her.”

The 11-time Canadian Reggae Music Award winner started performing at age 15 under the tutelage of her late father, Karl Mullings, who was her manager. He died in July 2005.

Coming to Canada in 1963 with his band, The Sheiks, the Cornwall College alumni worked with several top artists, including the late Jackie Mittoo, Lynn Taitt and Hopeton Lewis.

“I didn’t take my dad’s death well,” Mullings noted. “He groomed me to be who I am today.”

She is following in the footsteps of her father in helping young artists find their feet in the music industry.

“I am trying to groom other artists and just guide them in certain ways,” the five-time Juno Award nominee said. “As long as my foot is in music whether it is singing or being behind the scenes, I am happy.”

Manitoba is more than just Canada’s coldest province in winter.

It has the biggest mating dens in the world, Wapusk National Park in the north is the world’s largest denning site for polar bears, there are over 25,000 beluga whales in the Hudson Bay and the approximately 100,000 lakes and waterfalls are the perfect lure for anglers seeking some of the continent’s largest fish.

Also, Canada’s largest indoor waterfall -- The Leaf -- reaching nearly six storeys, is in Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg.

As Travel Manitoba’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) since June 2022, Angela Cassie oversees business operations and leads the development of innovative ideas to expand and improve the diversity of tourism experiences offered in Canada’s eighth-largest province.

Angela Cassie is Travel Manitoba’s Chief Operating Officer (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

“It might be challenging for people to see Winnipeg and Manitoba as a destination, but they leave as ambassadors once they have experienced it,” she said. “We are a four-season destination because of the scenic mix of urban, rural and wild settings. There is an incredible product here for people to experience. We are also working on ensuring a high calibre and high quality of export-ready products. We collaborate with large and small operators across the province to help them get market-ready. It is about enhancing and developing the products and services we have to offer in the province.”

Manitoba is also widely recognized for its diversity of food and culinary experiences.

Three Winnipeg restaurants – Deer + Almond, Yujiro and Clementine -- made this year’s Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants List.

Locals and visitors can also indulge in fine cuisine on Winnipeg’s frozen rivers at the winter-inspired pop-up RAW: almond where Canadian and American chefs create unique dishes over three weeks in the winter.

“Not only is the food incredible, but some of the experiences where you can eat that food are unique as well,” said Cassie whose office is close to Bindy’s Caribbean Delights Eatery.

Travel Manitoba has also collaborated with the National Indigenous Residential School Museum in Portage la Prairie to help them broaden their scope.

“We are working with them to see how they can expand their reach nationally and internationally, recognizing that Canadians and people around the world are interested in learning more about Indigenous Residential schools and contributing to the journey of reconciliation,” added Cassie.

In the mid-1990s while pursuing a degree in Political Science & History at the University of Winnipeg with the intention of going to Law school, she was turned on to Communications.

After finishing her undergraduate certification, Cassie joined the Department of Canadian Heritage in 1998 as a Regional Director of Communications & Executive Services (Prairies & Northern Region).

In 2008, she moved to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) as Director of Communications & External Relations.

As a member of the Museum’s inaugural leadership team, Cassie played a lead role in the establishment of the first national museum since 1967, leading communications, public and community engagement, government relations and partnership development efforts. As one of the Museum’s primary spokespeople, she led exhaustive cross-Canada consultations that travelled to 10 provinces and territories to raise awareness and identify stories and issues to populate the institution’s content.

After 11 years in progressively senior roles at the CMHR in Winnipeg, she stepped down in 2019 as Senior Vice-President with responsibility for Programs, Exhibitions & Public Affairs to pursue a mini-MBA at McGill Executive Institute.

Cassie spent a year in Ottawa at the National Gallery of Canada as Interim Director and Chief Executive Officer before returning home to become Travel Manitoba’s COO.

Her father migrated from Haiti in 1976 and her mom was born to stateless Ukrainian parents who settled in Paraguay. The family matriarch came to Canada at age 10.

In the company of a celebrated group of Black Canadian women, Elizabeth Moses could hardly contain her emotions.

Just over two decades ago, she and her family came to Canada as refugees from South Sudan.

“It was a phenomenal feeling to be among so many talented women who are thriving,” Moses said.

In Grade 10 at Assumption College Catholic High School in Windsor, she was placed in a woodworking class and loved it.

“I was one of the few girls there in a place I didn’t want to be,” said Moses who enjoys drawing. “Over time, I realized I was good at what I was doing with my hands. The woodwork and robotics teacher also saw that and invited me to present at First Robotics of Canada competitions. For three years, I built robots for competitions across the country and, in the process, I saw an opportunity to work in the trades.”

Elizabeth Moses is a sheet metal worker in British Columbia (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

With her family struggling to make ends meet in a new country, she didn’t want to burden them with finding tuition costs.

Instead, Moses did a free precision metal cutting pre-apprenticeship St. Clair College.

“My education and tools were taken care of and I got my sheet metal certification when I completed that,” she said.

Two years ago, Moses moved to British Columbia to start an apprenticeship in construction as a Sheet Metal Worker.

“I am learning about heating, ventilation, air and cooling,” she said. “Working in sheet metal, we make the ventilation air cooling systems for buildings.”

In her second year of apprenticeship with Local 280, Moses is the apprentice liaison to the union, representing more than 600 apprentices, a SMART (Sheet Metal, Air, Rail & Transportation) Army ambassador and the co-chair of Build TogethHER BC that is the BC Building Trades Women’s Committee.

Barbara Taylor brings a community lens to everything she does.

Born and raised in Cocoyea Village in San Fernando, she founded the Blue Triangles that was deeply immersed in her community and the People’s National Movement (PNM) first youth group in San Fernando which was home to close friend and Trinidad & Tobago’s fourth Prime Minister Patrick Manning who passed away in 2016.

“That is where my community service took off,” said Taylor.

Leaving the twin islands republic in 1965 to pursue Nursing in England, she did administrative work, instead, before coming to Toronto two years later.

Barbara Taylor is a retired Toronto District School Board Principal (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

While working with Canada Life and the municipal government, Taylor was a member of several community organizations in the city, including the Harriet Tubman Centre and the Black Education Project founded by the late Marlene Green in the 1960s.

She later joined the defunct Harambee Services Canada as its Director of Educational Services before switching to teaching.

“Harambee was going sideways and Madge Logan (she spent 38 years with the Toronto District School Board, rising to Principal before retiring in 2002) encouraged me to go into education,” said Taylor. “I took her advice and joined the then North York Board of Education.”

She taught at Lawrence Heights and Brookview Middle Schools, succeeding the late Vernon Farrell as Principal after he retired in June 1998, and at Flemington Public School before being seconded to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) where she retired.

At the late Vernon Farrell’s retirement ceremony in June 1998, Barbara Taylor makes a presentation to the Principal who she succeeded at Brookview Middle School (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

During a celebrated professional career, Taylor raised her son, Sean Taylor (DJ Sean Sax), as a single parent.

He died in his sleep in 2021 at age 51 due to autoimmune disease complications.

Her pride and joy, Taylor is still struggling to come to grips with his death.

“Soon after his birth, I looked into his crib and said ‘Seanie boy, you are not going to be a statistic’,” she said. “I didn’t have him by accident. I decided to have Sean and gave him all my love. That child made me who I am today.”

In the 1980s, she re-migrated with her son to Trinidad & Tobago.

The stay was brief.

“I packed up everything and went back to be close to my mother and gave back to my birth country,” said Taylor. “However, it didn’t take me long to discover the folks down there were not receptive to things I brought forward to advance what they were doing. After two years, I had enough and came back to Toronto.”

Event Planner Carole Adriaans met South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu for the first time when he was in the city for the Toronto Arts Against Apartheid Festival at Massey Hall in 1986.

After the event, he interacted with a few South Africans residing in the city, including the owner of Adriaans & Associates, a full-service event management agency.

“I remember the Archbishop looking at me and saying, ‘Just don’t let the enemy know that you are angry and just smile with them and go along with it’,” she recounted.

Carole Adriaans is an Event Planner (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement, died in December 2021 at age 90.

Adriaans, who started the South African Women for Women (SAWW) organization in the mid-1990s, and Tutu were close friends.

One of the highlights of the SAWW calendar was an annual fundraising gala celebrating South African Women’s Day on August 9.

The SAWW made significant strides in empowering African women through education and poverty alleviation. One of its key initiatives was the Desmond Tutu Scholarship Fund which provided scholarships to disadvantaged African youth, enabling them to pursue educational opportunities that might otherwise have been out of reach.

In addition to education, the organization worked on projects aimed at improving living conditions and addressing economic disparities among women and their families.

SAWW also played a pivotal role in responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa, supporting Archbishop Tutu's initiatives to assist those impacted by the epidemic. The organization's broader mission was to uplift African women by promoting self-reliance and instilling hope in communities grappling with unemployment and poverty. Through its partnerships with Zenzele Development Organization and other efforts, SAWW left a lasting legacy of empowerment and social change.

In the fall of 2006, Adriaans attended Tutu’s 75th birthday in South Africa.

For his 90th birthday three years ago, she played a key role in establishing a bursary for divinity students at the University of Toronto, ensuring that his legacy of faith, justice and equality will continue to inspire and support future generations in perpetuity.

Celebrating Black Canadian women and the advancements they have made, said Co-Master of Ceremony Itah Sadu, is a watershed moment.

Itah Sadu was the event Co-Master of Ceremony (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

“When you get 100 accomplished Black women in a room and they feel the moment is about them, for them and probably by them, we feel electrified in their moment,” the entrepreneur and community builder said. “It is a moment where they don’t just see themselves as individuals. They see themselves as part of the sisterhood. They belong to a society of greatness. They look like every shade under the rainbow and at the same time they are Black women.”

Sombo Saviye was the recipient of the Vanguard Lifetime Achievement Award.