Black stories matter, and we want to highlight Canadian authors and their work this month.
February is a time to celebrate and honour the many accomplishments of Black Canadian communities. We recommend reading these books not just this month, but all year.
From non-fiction to fiction, memoir to poetry, and short stories to children’s books, here are 18 books that celebrate and highlight the remarkable talent of Black Canadian authors.
Angie Seth discusses inclusivity & anti-racism within companies with Cicely Belle Blain, CEO of Bakau Consulting and the founder of Black Lives Matter Vancouver on her show This Hour with Angie Seth on CTVNews.
Thinkific Labs Inc. ("Thinkific") (TSX: THNC), a leading platform for creating, marketing, and selling online learning products, today will host 'Think in Color Los Angeles' — a dynamic, in-person event aimed at celebrating and supporting underrepresented women and BIPOC entrepreneurs.
Bringing together a diverse lineup of Creator Educators, the event's notable roster of speakers features leading lights from across the Creator economy. The event's theme 'Head of the Table' encourages women to go beyond having a seat at the table and to chart their own unique path to success.
Think in Color On Demand
All Think in Color content will be made freely accessible On Demand from October 19th. Those wishing to join a waitlist for this content can do so via this link. Registrants will gain free access to all the speaker sessions along with a bonus presentation from renowned investment educator, Teri Ijeoma of Trade & Travel, a Course Launch Resource Pack and behind-the-scenes content previews.
Fur babies and their paw-rents have been thrilled to see dog libraries popping up around North America. These free doggy toy and treat libraries create a community for both dogs and humans (and possibly other creatures) to play, uninhibited by any financial, physical or social barriers.
"While dog libraries seem simple and whimsical, they have genuinely transformative effects on local communities. In a world of increasing isolation and living costs, dog libraries are a simple but crucial addition to any neighbourhood. "
Two, four, six, eight - who do we appreciate? This week's guest of course, who happens to be the fantastic writer and activist, Cicely Belle Blain! Cicely joined the team at their residency in London, in front of a packed-out audience, which also happened to contain her mother, who will only entertain sitting f'row, for maximum effect. Cicely starts things off with a story worthy of its own Netflix special, let's just say, if you enjoyed the Tinder Swindler, this will be RIGHT up your strasse. We then hear the details of a crime which happens to involve the 'worst woman in London' no less ...does she move cities, or manage to get an even worse nick name? Listen to find out! We then hear from one of the lovely audience members, who, with their crime, gives us the opportunity to blame the mother, and as we all know, it doesn't get better than that!
Cicely Belle Blain and Becca Schwenk forged a connection through their shared passion for social justice. Their allyship is active and grew from a foundation of camaraderie and solidarity.
Their story is part of a series about Black Canadians and the people they consider allies. For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. Visit cbc.ca/beingblackincanada.
Published by The Georgia Straight
February 9th, 2023
What does it mean to be Black in Vancouver?
It’s a hard thing to answer, even for people in this community. It’s a small community, for sure, but a place is built from its people—all of its people, regardless of how large or small their representation in the larger community. Black perspectives are a vital part of the city’s cultural fabric, and should be celebrated as such.
In honour of Black History Month, we've asked four local creatives and activists to tell their own stories, in their own words, about what being Black in Vancouver means to them. Not just to celebrate the past, but to take stock of the present, and offer hope for the future.
Date: Wednesday, April 19th, 4pm - 7pm PST
Location: Virtual
TOM is a unique online financial literacy program that brings together the psychology of trauma and scarcity and our relationship with money.
TOM certifies professionals, such as therapists, coaches, counsellors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurship program directors, non-profit directors who work with those who have been economically marginalized, financial advisors, mortgage brokers or debt counsellors, to teach these new collaborative methods to their clients, helping them overcome trauma and create financial security.
In this session, instructors Cicely Belle Blain, Malina Dawn and Sunnie Townsend will discuss the following topics:
Becoming aware of social and cultural narratives and systemic injustices
Unconscious Bias
Racial Divide: Race as a socially constructed concept and how it creates injustice
TRANSFORMATIVE POWERS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE with Cicely Belle Blain and Becca Schwenk
Date: June 21 - 25, 2023
Location: Cortes Island
Unravel the potential for social justice to heal and transform all spheres of life. Group connection, introspection and creative processing will instil within us deeper understandings of social justice and its powerful potential. Learn to utilize social justice as community care, and dream up ways to meaningfully apply it in relationships to work, others, and the self.
Social justice is for everyone, and can be enacted in infinite ways. When we nurture collective desire for a just world — engaging with unique ideas and shared dialogues — we build greater awareness of pathways towards effective change. This awareness allows us to effectively navigate the paths; guiding us towards a horizon of deep justice.
Through interactive methods, mindful prompts, ‘aha’ moments, and skill-building, activate your ability to tend to the world through social justice.
Session themes include:
Fundamentals and theories of anti-oppression
Racial justice, anti-racism and unpacking white supremacy
Fundamentals of gender, sexuality, sexism, patriarchy, queer identities and more
Language, communication and connection
Bias, allyship and solidarity
Date: Tuesday, March 14 2023
Location: Virtual
THRIVE is a three-month virtual program that will develop the next generation of queer and trans people managers. Participants will get exclusive access to queer and trans leaders working at the highest levels of Canadian business and engage in important peer-to-peer discussions. Through live Zoom sessions, collaborative group study, and self-directed work our third THRIVE cohort will collectively unlock their potential as out leaders.
To see the schedule and get to know the full list of sessions and speakers visit prideatwork.ca
Being an Anti-racist Leader
Supplementary topic: Building Anti-Oppression into your Inclusive Leadership Strategy
Approved EDI Professionalism: two (2) hours
By Cicely Belle Blain
Public health sets us up for poor health outcomes [and] nudges us towards death by operating with whiteness as the norm,” writes Daniella Barreto, a Black activist and epidemiology graduate, in a Dec. 2020 tweet.
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Daniella and her family were struck with the virus like millions of others worldwide. Concerned for her mother’s health, Daniella called British Columbia’s COVID-19 hotline. She was told to stay home and only come into the hospital if her mother’s lips turned blue.
“She’s Black,” Daniella said, “her lips will not turn blue.”
The Barreto family’s experience with the helpline is one example of the racism and colourism that plagues Western medicine. Throughout history, there are many examples of doctors and scientists abusing or neglecting people from racialized communities. Today, many medical professionals lack competence (or are intentionally ignorant) in how to assess patients with different skin tones, leading to poor or dangerous outcomes for people with darker skin.
As an example, a quick internet search for ‘lip cyanosis’ (skin turning blue due to lack of oxygen) will show images of white people with previously pink or reddish lips, now a light shade of blue or purple. A more detailed investigation will turn up resources explaining that people with darker skin may instead experience grey or whitish skin around the mouth — and those with a yellower skin tone may find themselves going green. Lighter-skinned people have fewer cells that produce melanin pigment in their lips, meaning blood vessels (and therefore the blood’s redness) are more visible.
DATE: APRIL 27TH, 7PM GMT
LOCATION: 21SOHO, LONDON, UK
The hit comedy podcast DRUNK WOMEN SOLVING CRIME returns to the stage with this new monthly residency in the heart of London’s Soho.
Drunk Women Solving Crime is a true crime podcast with a twist…of lime. Join writer/comedian hosts Hannah George, Catie Wilkins and Taylor Glenn as they welcome top guests from comedians to crime writers to test out their drunk detective skills.
Each episode sees the boozed-up panel tackle personal crime stories, solve true crime cases, and seek justice for your listener crimes. When women sit around and drink, we try to solve the world’s problems. So we’re taking back the night and putting our inebriation to good use. You’re welcome.
The event consists of two show recordings.
In March, the Tegan and Sara Foundation launched a healthcare survey to understand experiences with the COVID-19 vaccine within the LGBTQ+ community. The survey was developed in collaboration with health communications firm Entree Health and reviewed by researchers at SurveyMonkey, a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback, with contributions from physicians and healthcare experts specializing in LGBTQ+ healthcare.
The completely-confidential survey, developed with leading LGBTQ+ healthcare experts, was designed to be sensitive to the needs of the community. While current gender was asked in this survey, there was no question asking sex assigned at birth. These questions are often asked insensitively create unnecessary barriers for gender nonconforming, nonbinary, and transgender people. The survey did include 17 gender and sexual orientation choices, including the option to write-in or choose not to disclose. With the help of our community, we received 7,700+ responses.
To obtain a holistic understanding of the queer community, TSF we prioritized survey outreach and distribution to community-level organizations and underserved groups, to make sure that survey responses included the diverse voices of the LGBTQ+ community. We hope that LGBTQ+ people of all identities are able to see themselves in this data, and use it to start conversations and create change within their communities.
