A number of years ago, I wrote a piece called “Why a Black History Month?”, and I believe that the final line in that piece, which is probably somewhere on the Internet, said that when all of our contributions and achievements are recognized then there will not be a need for a Black History Month. But we are clearly not at that stage yet. We won't be at that stage until people of African origin are recognized as a founding people. Moreover, newcomers, newer Canadians, have a lot of difficulty with what they feel is the message of Black History Month, namely, that it's all about the underground railroad, particularly in Ontario. I think this provides a comfort zone for teachers. If they know anything about black history, that's where they're going to focus. But newcomers to Canada have different experiences, particularly newcomers of African origin coming from the Caribbean, where colonialism and neo-colonialism have affected and informed how they view the world. They want Canada to recognize both. They want the wonderful story of the underground railroad, but they also want those other aspects of our early society to be recognized. There was slavery in this country, and they want us to deal with that in a meaningful way.
Those messages can't get out there unless we engage the educators. But it's not just the educators. Having gone to teacher's college myself, I can assure you that nothing was provided in the way of black history or black heritage at all, except what I brought to my class that year. I suspect it's that way for many schools and many teacher education programs.
It's a complicated question, but I think it requires educators to be involved. It requires a philosophical shift in how we view what it is that is Canada. If this takes place, then I hope we can move on from there.