Maria Rizzo, Chair of the Board the of Chair Rizzo, Maria Education of Director McGuckin, Rory Psalm 23: 1-4 23: Psalm sake. For His Name’s Name’s His For in right paths paths right in soul. He leads me me leads He soul. He restores my my restores He beside still waters; waters; still beside He leads me me leads He pastures; pastures; lie down in green green in down lie He makes me me makes He I shall not want. want. not shall I my Shepherd, Shepherd, my The Lord is is Lord The CANADIAN HERITAGE CANADIAN FRICAN A 2019 CELEBRATING TORONTO CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEES 2018 - 2019 Wards 1. Joseph Martino 416-512-3401 2. Markus de Domenico 416-512-3402 3. Ida Li Preti 416-512-3403 4. Teresa Lubinski 416-512-3404 5. Maria Rizzo 416-512-3405 6. Frank D’Amico 416-512-3406 7. Mike Del Grande, Vice Chair 416-512-3407 8. Garry Tanuan 416-512-3408 9. Norm Di Pasquale 416-512-3409 10. Daniel Di Giorgio 416-512-3410 11. Angela Kennedy 416-512-3411 12. Nancy Crawford 416-512-3412 Taylor Dallin, Student Trustee 416-512-3413 Joel Ndongmi, Student Trustee 416-512-3417 Rory McGuckin, Director of Education Maria Rizzo, Chair of the Board Toronto Catholic District School Board 80 Sheppard Ave. E., Toronto, Ontario M2N 6E8 416-222-8282 . www.tcdsb.org We transform the world through witness, faith, innovation and action. ON THE COVER... VIOLA DESMOND FIRST TIME A CANADIAN WOMAN IS ON A COUNTRY’S CURRENCY The new $10 bank note unveiled in Halifax features the portrait of Viola Desmond. It’s the fi rst time a Canadian woman has been celebrated on the face of her country’s currency. Viola Desmond was also a cosmetics pioneer for black women in Atlantic Canada. Following in the footsteps of her father, a Halifax barber, Ms. Desmond started out in business at a time when few beauty schools would accept black students. After training in Montreal, Atlantic City and New York, she founded her own institution, Halifax’s Desmond School of Beauty Culture, selling her own line of hair and skin products across Nova Scotia. In 1946, Ms. Desmond attended the Roseland Theatre to watch a fi lm. The Roseland was a segregated theatre; the fl oor seats were for whites only, while black patrons were confi ned to the balcony. Ms. Desmond was shortsighted and needed a better view, and tried to buy a fl oor seat, but was refused because she was black. She then bought a balcony seat (which was one cent cheaper) but sat in the fl oor area – until theatre staff called the police and had her dragged out. She spent 12 hours in jail. Viola Desmond’s stand at a segregated Nova Scotia movie theatre made her into a civil-rights icon for black Canadians. FEBRUARY - A MONTH FOR CELEBRATION A headline in the Toronto Star Thursday 7 Feb and an editorial on Sunday 10 Feb were interesting from a history perspective. Glen Cook from Windsor, Ontario was awarded the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour for his contributions to Canadian History. Cook took it upon himself to save and preserve an old cemetery near Puce River in southwestern Ontario. Sadly, the cemetery, overgrown with weeds, shrubs and trees had long been forgotten. Why worry about an old cemetery? It contained the graves of the fi rst Black settlerswho had fl ed to Canada and freedom via the Underground Railway in the mid-1800s. It became his personal mission and with the assistance of the Ontario Heritage Trust, it has been restored with appropriate bronze plaque and will once again take its proper place in Ontario and Canadian History. Thousands of Blacks sought refuge in Canada during the 1800s. As farmers, blacksmiths, mechanics, carpenters, shoemakers, doctors and politicians, to name but a few occupations; they became an integral part of the fabric that was Upper Canada, later Canada West and fi nally Ontario. By the 1850s, over a thousand Blacks resided in Toronto. Did you know, Thornton Blackburn and his wife Lucie started the fi rst taxi company in Toronto? He called it “The City” and he started with a single horse drawn carriage. In 1843, he and Lucie helped build and establish Little Trinity Church on King Street, the oldest surviving church in Toronto today. In 1985 archeologists began digging at the corner of Eastern Ave and Sackville Street and unearthed the remains of the Blackburn home, the only dig on an Underground Railway site in Toronto. Two historic plaques to the Blackburns will be found there today and in 1999, the Canadian Hertiage Department proclaimed, Thornton and Lucie as “Persons of National Historic Signifi cance.” W.R. Abbott made his fortune in real estate and tobacco in 1850s Toronto. His son Anderson, a graduate of the University of Toronto became a Medical Doctor and was one of eight Black surgeons who volunteered for the Union (Army of the Republic) during the American Civil War, 1861- 65. Afterwards, he became a resident physician at Toronto General Hospital. {Of note: thousands of Blacks living in Upper Canada/ Canada West volunteered to fi ght for the Union Army. The fi rst Black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry from Boston - eirth story told in the 1989 Academy Award nominated movie Glory in which Denzel Washington won for Best Supporting Actor) - had many Black volunteers from Canada}. Mary Ann Shadd founded the fi rst refugee newspaper in Toronto called The Provincial Freeman. She later moved to Windsor, ON, and has been recognized as the fi rst Black newspaperwoman in North America and likely the fi rst woman publisher of a newspaper in Canada. While many are familiar with Adam Beck and his contributions tohydo-electricity in the province of Ontario, most, would be unfamiliar with the name of William P. Hubbard. Hubbard had a versatile career as baker, master cakemaker, taxi driver, city politician and Acting Mayor of the city of Toronto at the turn of the 20th century. It was his vision that persuaded city council to acquire the Toronto Islands and being a strong advocate of cheap, publically owned electric power and water supply, it was his untiring eff orts that led the provinicial government to allow the establishment of the Toronto Hydro Commission. Whereas Adam Beck - for his contributions to hydro electricity - was knighted by King George V, and is remembered with a monument on University Ave., his name on a couple of schools, and a power station in Niagara Falls, Hubbard, an ally and friend of Beck received little to no recognition for his contribution. And the list of achievements by Blacks to our city, province and country, goes on and on. This is but a brief intro. I am asked by many, Why do we need a Black History month? Actor Morgan Freeman doesn’t see the need. He states: “...is black history not part of Canadian, American and world history? Why should it be condensed and highlighted only during this month?” Others, (namely the conspiracy theorists) question why the shortest month, February, was chosen. Many express the view that the history of all peoples be celebrated and taught all year round? Sounds great on paper, but is it? The fi nal esponser is best left to Rosemary Sadlier, author, Order of Ontario recipient and President of the Ontario Black History Society. She writes: “The greater Canadian community needs to know a history of Canada that includes all of the founding and pioneering experiences in order to work from reality, rather than perception alone. We need a Black History Month in order to help us to arrive at an understanding of ourselves as Canadians in the most accurate and complete socio-historical context that we can produce. As a nation with such diversity, all histories need to be known, all voices need to be expressed. One needs traditional history to engender a common culture; one needs Black History to engender a clearer and more complete culture. When the contributions of people of African descent are acknowledged, when the achievements of Black people are known, when Black people are routinely included or affi rmed through our curriculum, our books and the media, and treated with equality, then there will no longer be a need for Black History Month.” Ms. Sadlier’s new book titled Harriet Tubman, Freedom Seeker, Freedom Leader is now available. Harriet Tubman passed away 100 years ago this year, a remarkable story hers. Of the hundreds of “passengers” she helped north to freedom, not one was lost. Below is the link to the publisher, Dundurn Press, http://www.dundurn.com/books/harriet_tubman Tim Stewart, History, Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School Here are a few additional links with further informatio: http://www.blackhistorysociety.ca/black_history_month_en_209cms.htm http://www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/english/video_black_history_month.shtml http://www.blackhistorysociety.ca/posters_en_188categ.html Sources: Marco Chown Oved, “An honour for preserving sanctuary”, Toronto Star, February 7, 2013, p. A2; Faisal Kutty, “Are 28 days history or just a footnote?”, Toronto Star, February 10, 2013, p. A11; Daniel G. Hill, “Black History in Early Toronto,” Polyphony, Multicultural History Society of Ontario, Summer 1984, pp 28-30; Ontario Museum Association Newsletter, currently, February 2013; http://www.thestar.com/news/2007/02/11/escaped_slaves_helped_build_to.html Kadine Taylor is a Human Resources Professional with a passion for people and making a positive impact in the lives of those she encounters. To the next Generation: “Love yourself because you are wonderfully made by an almighty God who does not make mistakes.” KADINE TAYLOR REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN hƩ ps://www.100abcwomen.ca/2018-honorees/ OUR MISSION The Toronto Catholic District School Board is an inclusive learning community uniting home, parish and school and rooted in the love of Christ.