Advisory Board | The Harriet Tubman Institute

Rosemary Sadlier, OOnt

rebsl — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 15:57:10 +0000

Rosemary Sadlier OOnt (Order of Ontario) is a social justice advocate, researcher, writer, consultant, and, international speaker on Black History, anti-racism and women’s issues. She is the past President, serving for 22 years as the unpaid leader of the Ontario Black History Society – the only Provincial Heritage Organization in Canada with a focus on Black History. An advocate, building on the work of Dr. Dan Hill and others, she initiated and was the driving force of the secured commemoration of February as Black History Month at all levels of government achieving a national Declaration in Dec, 1995; consequently, she was the only non-elected leader invited to address the first national BHM celebration in Ottawa in February 1996. She secured August 1st as Emancipation Day municipally in 1994 and provincially in 2008 with a national declaration passed in March 2021 making this a national commemoration in Canada. She saw to the creation of the national day for the Hon. Lincoln Alexander. She gave deputations to the UN Rapporteur on Race Relations, the Federal and Provincial Governments and provided consultative work with the Royal Ontario Museum, the CMHR, The Ward Heritage Interpretative Group, the Bi-National �첥��Ƶ of the Underground Railroad and heritage conferences.

Her work on committees includes the final selection committee of the national Mathieu Da Costa Challenge for Canadian Heritage for 10 years (until the end of the initiative) and 2 terms with the Canada Post Stamp Advisory Committee. An educator, she has developed or contributed to African Canadian curriculum, inter/national exhibits and publications. She is a Fellow of the Ontario Teachers Federation. She was an appointed member of regulatory committees with the College of Early Childhood Educators and is now with the Ontario College of Teachers and the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario.

An author, Sadlier has written 7 books on African Canadian history. Combining her love of the arts with Black History, she has been subject expert or appeared in a range of African Canadian/African American films and television productions (eg. Discovery Channel’s Underground Railroad; BLK – an Origin Story and Oscar Peterson: Black & White).

A consultant, she effects diversity, equity and inclusion projects, and, is the Equality Lead for the Americas and the Caribbean with the Royal Commonwealth Society. A governance leader, she was appointed to Rogers Groups of Funds overseeing the financial support of innovative film and television projects.

Selected honors include the Order of Ontario, the Harry Jerome Award and the annual Rosemary Sadlier Freedom Award that was created in her honour and has been presented annually since 2020 on national television in celebration of her work to achieve Emancipation Day. In October 2022, Sadlier was identified as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Canadians by Afroglobal Television and the Transformation Institute. She was selected to be part of a special photo exhibit with the Toronto Archives featuring Women of Influence. In January 2023, she was honoured with the Martin Luther King Jr Community Service Award.

Sadlier is dedicated to social justice and using the frame of Black History, seeks to educate and empower others.

Henry Gomez

rebsl — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 05:29:45 +0000

Henry Gomez is an educator, who was formerly employed by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) as a high school teacher; and was nominated for a Teacher- of-The-Year award. He specialized in English Literature, Media Studies and Drama. He holds an MFA in Theatre and a BA in English from �첥��Ƶ and obtained his B. Ed from the University of Toronto. He believes in lifelong learning. After retirement from active teaching, he returned to York, where he recently defended his master’s thesis in Interdisciplinary Studies.

He was born and grew up in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago, where he began his career in education. As an actor, composer, recording artiste and radio host, he has an extensive background in various aspects of the performing arts in Canada and internationally.

He has worked in radio, television, film and theatre; and has hosted shows on CFRB 1010 and CIUT 89.5 FM. He has also worked as a theatre director and Master of Ceremonies. Under his sobriquet, King Cosmos, he became a Canadian Calypso Monarch, the winner of a Canadian Urban Music Award and a Canadian Reggae Music Award. He is also a Sunshine Award nominee. His community service includes helping to develop the Caribbean cultural arts in Toronto. He is a founding member and first Chair/Secretary of the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes (OCPA) and a past Chair of the Caribana Arts Group. For the period 2012 to 2014, he led the team that produced the Flags and Colours children’s carnival for residents of the Jane and Finch community in Toronto. Henry looks forward to working for the betterment of the Harriet Tubman Institute.

Keywords: carnival, calypso, music, culture, Caribbean, Toronto, Africa, Canada, Trinidad, Tobago, Trinbago

Gertrude Mianda

rebsl — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 05:14:28 +0000

Gertude Mianda is the former Director of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas at �첥��Ƶ. She is a Professor in the Gender and Women’s Studies program at Glendon College and was the Chair of the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at �첥��Ƶ (2011–15). Her research focuses on gender and post-colonialism in Africa—particularly on Congolese women—gender development and globalization as well as on immigration. Her immigration research focuses primarily on francophone Africans in the minority francophone community in Canada, particularly their economic and social integration.