Viola Desmond and the Legacy of Martin Luther King: Canada's own Legacy of Racial Exclusion and Omission, January 20, 2019

Viola Desmond and the Legacy of Martin Luther King: Canada's own Legacy of Racial Exclusion and Omission

Patricia Trudeau, Donovan Hayden and Wilburn Hayden

Unitarian Fellowship of Northwest Toronto

55 St. Phillips Rd.

Etobicoke, Ontario M9P 2N8

416-249-8769

Sunday, January 20, 2019. Service begins at 10:30am

As Canadians, we can be proud that Viola Desmond's image appears on our new $10 bill. What does it mean to us as Canadians? Many have called her the Rosa Parks of Canada without understanding the nuances that make her story different from that of American civil rights leaders. As Canadians, we have our own stories of resistance.

Patricia, Wilburn and Donovan plan to honour the legacy of MLK by looking through the lens of Canada's history of racial exclusion and omission. We will begin with Viola Desmond's story and move on to the lived experience of being black and racialized in Canada today.

Patricia Trudeau, Unitarian Universalist minister preparing for ordination is completing a Masters of Divinity degree at Emmanuel College. She has been a friend of Northwest Fellowship and plans to become more closely involved in 2019. She is a member of NUUC, Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

Her passion for racial justice is defined through her ministry, her work in directing workshops and sessions on racism and white privilege, and her writing on racial justice with a focus on confronting anti-black racism.

Wilburn Hayden, Professor Emeritus, School of Social Work, York University continues his research of the black experience in Canada. He is a social work educator and practitioner, community organizer, and Appalachian Scholar. Hayden has taught in nine American and Canadian public universities. Research interests: racism & privilege; rural social work; policy; curriculum outcome assessment; Appalachia; black Appalachians; professional orientation & leadership; race in Canada; and disadvantaged communities. His book, Appalachian Black People: Identity, Location and Racial Barriers was published in spring 2015. 

Donovan Hayden is a BA student at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, studying Sociology and Africana studies. Over summers, he was a research assistant at YouthREX in Toronto. Working with youth in Jane/ Finch and other neighborhoods, he has conducted research for the Ontario Black Youth Action Plan.  His work mainly focuses on intersectionality and anti-black racism. Applying his experiences to academics, Hayden provides a critical and open perspective on Canadian multiculturalism.