For decades in Toronto, Black TLGBQ (trans, lesbian, gay, bi, queer) people have found it necessary to create spaces and events which represent and welcome Black TLGBQ people. 

There will be Pride celebrations held from the largest of cities to the smallest of towns across Canada during the month of June. I will be celebrating my first Pride in Waterloo Region this year. It already feels and looks different. To begin with, I have only met one other Black and LGBTQI2S+ identified person since moving here. I know there are more. I have seen them at small events and in Facebook groups, but I don’t know any of them personally.

A sunny day in July 2016 was the most meaningful time I’ve ever missed the bus in Toronto. Instead of waiting 40 minutes until the next one, I decided to order an Uber. A lovely middle-aged woman from Zimbabwe arrived within a few minutes. We had a long, in-depth conversation about rideshare driving, flexibility to choose her own hours and driving as a woman. I enjoy driving and was desperate to find a better replacement for my toxic job, working overnights at a restaurant. Our conversation convinced me to quit that job and one month later, I became an Uber…

If you woke up in remote proximity to the NBA and the Toronto Raptors, you know that history was made last night. The Toronto Raptors qualified for the NBA finals for the first time in franchise history. The NBA Finals will be played outside of the United States for the first time in history.

In April, Ancestry ran an ad that attracted a lot of negative attention as it aimed to target both white and Black consumers.

As the city of Winnipeg was preparing to host a large celebration to mark the beginning of the National Hockey League playoffs for its team, the Jets, a storm broke out over social media over a headline about the hockey street party.

In his lecture on The Developmental Psychology of the Black Child, Dr. Amos Wilson suggests “the reason you have children will influence their development...it will indicate, then, that to a degree and in some way, the black community itself has been induced in helping to bring about inferiority in their children.”

In 1971, the Yale professor Robin Winks wrote that Black Canadians wanted “nothing more than to be accepted as quiet Canadians.”

If there’s a single question that haunts all non-white people living in North America, it’s this one: “So, where are you from?”

The first meeting of what would later become the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took place in 1905 in Fort Erie near Niagara Falls, Canada. Legendary thinkers such as W.E.B. Du Bois attended.

“We are socialized to accept less.” This is part of a quote from my friend, Angelina, as we were having a discussion on relationships. She went on to say that as a black woman, she has to give allowances to black men for our bad behaviour. She made it clear that she isn’t the exception, either. That most black women share this mindset.

We have a responsibility as black writers to share our stories. That’s the new narrative for writers of colour.