Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much. Before I begin, I want to say that I almost don't have to do anything because of the wonderful presentation that we've already received from Anthony Sherwood. I also should take a moment to just frame myself as being the descendant of people of African ori

Canadian Heritage committee  It's a very complicated question. I think we know that Black History Month is incredibly successful, and we are the organization of February's Black History Month in this country. That being said, we know black history is something that should be happening not just in the confine

Canadian Heritage committee  I think that gets back to the idea of what we are telling Canadians. If our founding peoples are European, and somehow, magically, the aboriginal people have suddenly become in vogue again or recognized as having a history and a presence.... How can you look at somebody who came

Canadian Heritage committee  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 Bl

Canadian Heritage committee  Right now in the west there is an organization called the National Black Coalition, one extant chapter, and we do try to work with that person. The Exodusters—that's a phenomenal story of people who accepted the offer to come into Canada to settle like anyone else, only to sudd

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for your question, and just to finish the 10 seconds of your response here—

Canadian Heritage committee  God love us. I appreciate your question, and I think money is a factor. To say that it isn't would be unfair and untrue.

Canadian Heritage committee  My sense is that we're moving from a multicultural reality to a multicultural future. I think we have failed to recognize and underscore the reality that we had a multicultural beginning. I think we need to do that, or we can't move on to a multicultural future. That's in terms o

Canadian Heritage committee  I think, number one, we are not going to eradicate poverty. That is just not going to happen anytime soon, no matter what the initiatives are or whether they are towards 2017 or not. But the point you make, which I think the museum speaks to—I love cannons—is that when you have,

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay. Is this going to go on for awhile?

Canadian Heritage committee  What were we talking about?

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay. I think what I started out by saying is that no matter what this committee should opt to do, we're not going to be successful in ending poverty. That's just a given, unfortunately. The other part of it is that there is poverty, in part, because there is racism. We have ra

Canadian Heritage committee  Perhaps I could just add one other thing. In 1967 I think one of the wonderful things that came about from that particular celebration was a greater sense of Quebec and issues around Quebec. I think this is an opportunity for us to add that other piece to the founding peoples, so

Canadian Heritage committee  The need for a museum is well documented. But no matter what the model for a centre or museum of African Canadian history is, at the end of the day it would be a place where people can come, learning can take place, and a foundation of memory can be laid. Between now and 2017, we

Canadian Heritage committee  I understood you correctly; I think the priorities would include.... First, let me go back to say that black is not a colour; it's an ideology. And I think that black is synonymous with African Canadians. So do people see themselves as African Canadian or black? I don't know.