African Methodist Episcopal Church 1849

African Methodist  Episcopal Church
Photo:C.Ferguson

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Ian Beard - Mayor Town of Oro-Medonte

Dedicated to the memory of the Black pioneers who settled in this area. The first settlers were soldiers of Captain Runchey’s “Company of Coloured Men” who fought the Americans in the War of 1812.

The next wave of settlers were the “Freemen” from the Northern U.S, they initially settled on Wilberforce Street (line #1), worshipped in this church and were buried in this, and nearby unmarked cemeteries.

It is with this highest esteem we acknowledge the challenge they accepted, the contribution they made to the development of this community and their unique spirituality.

Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of this Heritage Church 1849 – 1999.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church built in 1849 is located in the Township of Oro-Medonte, on the West side of Oro Rd.2 (concession Road #2)  about 10 minutes North of Barrie.

Michael Thompson

 Michael Thompson
Photo:C. Ferguson/AfroCanadaViews

 Michael Thompson

By Francine Buchner

Councillor Michael Thompson spearheaded the Wexford Heights Business Improvement Area, the Taste of the Lawrence Avenue East Festival, launched the ‘Scarborough Rocks’ community image, the 2006 Toronto Transit Commission strategy for Scarborough, built new basketball courts at Goodland Park all in his Ward 37, Scarborough Centre area. .“In this position, you don’t own anything,” you can just initiate, said Thompson. As a councillor, that sits in the municipal government this is his job and he takes it very seriously. 

His office door is always open, he makes a point follow up on issues and ready for any debate in council. Thompson was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica and came from a family of business people, he came to Canada at the age of 11, but credits his strong foundation that was nurtured in Jamaica to his life achievements. “The values, not simply immediate parents, but community, had a ‘Can Do’ attitude. 

There was nothing that you couldn’t do. I grew up in that environment,” said Thompson. So even though he was raised by a mother who was a nurse and sometimes worked three shifts, it was never an excuse to go astray. Thompson set goals for himself and found mentors.

Charles Roach

Charles Roach
Photo:C.Ferguson/AfroCanadaViews

Charles Roach

By Francine Buchner

Charles Roach is a lawyer and best known for his refusal to swear allegiance to the Queen of England and thus after 40 years is still not a Canadian citizen. This meant giving up a cushy job as a judge and a nice pension to go with it. 

He is attacking the Canadian Constitution, essentially freedom of conscious; freedom of thought; religious freedom; spiritual freedom; saying that the fundamental laws of Canada are racist. It is not democratic because “you can only get there by blood,” points out Roach, “how can we ever have another be Head of State?” It is the struggle of my life,” said Roach.

 He is a trial lawyer, in the practice of international humanitarian law and human rights law. He is a Pan-Africanist, which means he focuses his attention on the peoples of Africa and places of the Diaspora. He is also of mixed race. “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,” reminisces Roach.

Karolyn S. Frost

Dr.Karolyn S. Frost
Photo:C. Ferguson/AfroCanadaViews

Dr. Karolyn S. Frost

By Francine Buchner

Karolyn S. Frost is an archeologist, history professor and historian whose field of expertise is in Black History, an expertise that is fastly becoming extinct. “We are a small network of historians working tirelessly to bring stories alive,” admitted Frost, referring to some of her fellow colleagues, Afua Cooper, Bryan Walls and Bryan and Shannon Prince.  Frost is Canadian and her book, I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: A Tale of the Underground Railroad, uncovers yet another untold Canadian black history story about the Blackburn family that Frost literally dug up in the soils of Toronto, as part of the “Digs for Kids” program, an Archeological Resource Centre initiative. “The story of the Blackburns dies within a generation because they could not read and write,” explained Frost. “This is the first time an unknown slavery story from birth to death has been told.”

Frost put it into context, saying the Underground Railroad was written by Whites and framed in storybooks as a “reaction” of those enslaved, taking a risk, but the truth is they were leaving anyway. “I don’t have a black experience, but I have black ancestors,” said Frost, who looks white, but the blood of black enslaved persons runs through her veins. Her great-grandmother was a black slave from Virginia, U.S.A who married her slave owner, a confederate officer.

Frost is a 2010 Top 10 Finalist for TVO’s Best Lecturer Competition and a winner of the Governor General (GG) Award for Non-Fiction.

Joan Butterfield

Joan Butterfield
Photo:C.Ferguson/AfroCanadaViews

Joan Butterfield

By Francine Buchner

Joan Butterfield is an art director, curator, activist, artist and businesswoman and the only one of her kind, in that black art is her expertise. And she is good at what she does, very good indeed, because she makes a living in black art! “ Black art depicts black culture and can be done by black, white, or any colour artist,” explained Butterfield. It is her that crowns the term “Butterfield technique.” Butterfield is the first black curator in Canada and the first black curator to show at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), the fifth largest museum in North America. 

Butterfield is probably most noted for her annual Caribana exhibits, in association with her company called COLOURBlind, which always centre around a theme that Butterfield styles in the form of a poem.  Black art in Canada is rare to the mainstream, but Butterfield tirelessly advocates for Black artist in Canada, “behind the scenes, I’m really fighting for black artists” trying to get government grants and approaching those Fortune 500 companies to buy Black art.

National Ethnic Press and Council of Canada

Images from the annual National Ethnic Media and Press Council Gala held in Toronto 16th December 2011

Eddie Bullen

Eddie Bullen

Eddie Bullen

By Francine Buchner

Eddie Bullen is a pianist, songwriter, arranger and producer. He is probably best known for his “Hands Up” theme music of that highly contagious Club Med commercial that gave him a Juno Award nomination. Numerous accolades came after that pinnacle career achievement, including artistic director for 2008 International Performing Arts for All (IPAFA), and various Juno Award nominations. Bullen has been nominated again for the 2010 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards Keyboardist/Pianist of the Year.

Born and raised in Grenada it took determination, consistency and a lot of hard work for this multi-talented artist to make a name for himself in the Canadian mainstream market and extending that worldwide. Bullen moved from the pop scene to jazz, which is closer to his roots. Classically trained, it wasn’t until he was 14 years old, playing the calypso song, “My Nanny and My Nana” on the organ his father sold to his primary school in Grenada that he realized his gift and the power of music.

Dr. Bryan Walls

Dr.Bryan Walls
Photo:C. Ferguson/AfroCanadaViews

Dr. Bryan Walls is a historian, lecturer, founder of the Underground Railroad Museum and the John Freeman Walls Historic Site located in Puce, Ontario. 

This location was a terminal on the Underground Railroad. Dr. Walls is fifth generation Canadian and his book, “The Road That Led to Somewhere” is based on a true story of his ancestors’ journey on the Underground Railroad to Canada. 

The Walls’ family almost lost their property to strangers when his 92 year old Aunt Stella gave Power of Attorney to her lawyer, not realizing the consequences of her actions.  “Our ancestral burial ground is there and I did not want to ask strangers to go and visit them,” said Walls. Walls was a dentist by profession, but in 1999 he was in a car accident and broke his neck. No longer able to practice dentistry, it was at this moment that Walls accepted the baton from Aunt Stella and became the next caretaker of the family’s legacy. 

Karen Burke

Karen Burke

Karen Burke

By Francine Buchner

Karen Burke describes herself as a mother, conductor, educator, songwriter and performer. She is a full-time music professor at York University, but 22 years ago started with her husband, Oswald, in their spare time, what today has become the widely-acclaimed, Toronto Mass Choir (TMC). The TMC has toured North America and Europe, and of which Burke is the director.  In 2003, the TMC album titled, “Going Home” won a Juno award. “I love music. I need to hear music. Music makes sense. It is the soundtrack of your life,” said Burke.

Gospel music is a new phenomenon to the Canadian education system and the curriculum Burke teaches at York University is the first of its kind in Canada. She has been teaching The History of Gospel Music since 2005. 

The demand has been so great that Burke, when she can, visits the various high schools and universities teaching their choirs and conductors. Burke has taught OISE at the University of Toronto a course titled, “How to use Gospel Music in the Classroom.” She has been nominated for the prestigious Leslie Bell Conducting Prize. Burke realized at a young age that she has a gift for conducting, “conducting is showing the flow of breath,” said Burke.

Judge Stanley G. Grizzle

Judge Stanley G. Grizzle

Judge Stanley G. Grizzle

By Francine Buchner

Judge Stanley G. Grizzle became Canada’s first black Citizenship Court Judge and  became Ontario’s first black Ministry of Labour employee, notwithstanding being black and living in a racist City of Toronto in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Canadian-born Stanley G. Grizzle was a war veteran, a Sleeping Car Porter, a student at King Edward Public School and a member of the College Street United Church.

“Because in those days Black people lived south of College Street, down to King Street and all the White people lived North of us – Anglican Church, United Church,” said Judge Stanley G. Grizzle. Grizzle was born at Mount Sinai hospital in Toronto in November 1918.

Discipline mattered to my father, said Grizzle. Admitting that the action alone of his father taking his belt off his waist was enough to bring him to tears (most times the lash was never needed). “So I became Canada’s first Black judge. Who do I thank, my parents. They raised me right,” said Grizzle.

By the early 1950’s Grizzle became a member of Canada’s Joint Labour Committee to Combat Racial Intolerance and he was a member of the Labour Committee for Human Rights organized by the Jewish community. He led groups that met with provincial and federal government officials to discuss antidiscrimination legislation. Grizzle left his job with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and went to work as a Labour Relations Officer with the Canadian provincial government. 


At the age of 58 Stanley Grizzle received a letter from the Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau appointing him Citizenship Court Judge

Dr. Herbert Carnegie

Dr. Herbert Carnegie

Dr. Herbert Carnegie

By Francine Buchner

Dr. Herbert Carnegie founded the first organized hockey school in North York, Canada in 1955 and called it Future Aces, “it’s the best card in the deck. If anyone calls you an ace, smile and say, thank you because they are telling you that you are really a nice person. 

A year later he wrote the Future Aces Creed, a code of ethics, a character guideline that helped Carnegie heal his soul and take a proactive approach to life’s challenges, “I will develop a positive attitude toward all people and toward my work. I will co-operate with and respect others by seeking understanding will all people, regardless of race, gender or beliefs. I will show empathy and consideration by advancing the values that are important to me and others.

I will be of service to others. I will because I’ve got to change myself. No one will change me,” said Carnegie. In 1987 Dr. Herbert Carnegie founded the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation, a non-profit, registered, charitable organization. Their mandate is to foster self-esteem and ethical behaviour through the application of the Future Aces Creed and to assist youth and adults to attain the highest level of achievement within their capabilities.

Dr. Carnegie achieved all this because of and in spite of having his dream of playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) stolen from him in his prime, because he is a black man, it was the 1940’s in Canada and racism was very much alive.

Lanre Tunji Ajayi

Lanre Tunji Ajayi

By Francine Buchner

Lanre Tunji Ajayi

Lanre Tunji Ajayi is a conscious businesswoman and the first to introduce Shea Butter to Canada’s mainstream. It is through her preliminary work in the early years that she founded, together with her husband Timothy, All Naturals Cosmetics Incorporated in 2002.

“Shea tree is the one tree in the world that has its own mind. You cannot cultivate it. You cannot grow the shea tree. It grows wildly,” explained Ajayi.

All Natural Cosmetics uses the Nigerian ancient method of extracting shea, rejecting any modern techniques.

Appearing on television networks, CTV, CHCH, producing print ads and spending thousands on trade shows, this groundbreaking work led to the introduction and education of this naturally organic shea seed to the Canadian markets, and coincidently, to other well-known competitor brands who have also started to introduce shea to their line of products. The Ajayi’s also provide private labelling; custom manufacturing for other products.

Lanre Tunji Ajayi’s well-being consciousness extends beyond the physical to the mental and social wholeness of oneself. Part of the proceeds from All Naturals Cosmetics goes towards Seeds of Life Philanthropic Organization (SOLPO). SOLPO’s mandates are education and awareness and patient support. SOLPO is a forerunner in stamping out stigma and stands out from the other sickle cell organizations in Toronto because it encompasses all areas of sickle cell and has a strong educational component.

“We have to reach the community, we have to go to the churches, go to the mosque. This disease does not play religion, does not play rich or poor, it touches everybody and anyone,” said Ajayi.

Reverend Dr. Audley James

Reverend Dr. Audley James

Reverend Dr. Audley James

By Francine Buchner

Revivaltime Tabernacle Worldwide Ministries is the second church built in the black community in Ontario, since Sandwich First Baptist Church in Windsor, that’s 129 years, and the second in Canada in the last century. The first is Union United Church in Quebec.

Pastors are trained to believe and taught to believe. Audley  got the call at 9 years old on Tuesday, May 26, 1947 in Trelawny, Wakefield, Jamaica during an alter call, “Something happened and  I knew from then, that I would eventually be pasturing.” Pastors are leaders with a specific function of community responsibility. The Reverend Dr. Audley James and his wife Reverend Rosenda A. James founded Adelfiha’s Christian Academy in 1994 and housed the school in their church until the facility was built in 2003. 


The Reverend Dr. Audley James is surprised at the gradual eroding of the Black community, “because I would have thought that our community would have grasped the endless and boundless opportunities that are here. 


The majority of his churches budget goes towards youth initiatives and his church is the only one in the city that dedicates seven weeks of the summer to youth activities, “because I see them as the future for everything, if our community is going to survive in this country, or anywhere, it will have to do so, not on the backs of the seniors who are gone, but on the new generation going to come in. So all that I have learned and acquired in life I seek to pass it on to the young people,” said Reverend Dr. Audley James.

Dr. Rosemary Sadlier

Dr. Rosemary Sadlier

Dr. Rosemary Sadlier
By Francinne Buchner

Rosemary Sadlier is the author of Leading the Way: Black Women in Canada (1993), Mary Ann Shadd: Publisher, Editor, Teacher, Lawyer, Suffragette (1994), Tubman: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Her Life in the United States and Canada (1996), The Kids Book of Black Canadian History (2003) and she is among the authors of the textbook, Black History: Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas (2009). Nova Scotia will be the first province of Ontario to incorporate the textbook into their high school curriculum.

As a child growing up in Toronto, Sadlier did not know any Black authors. Sadlier thought about majoring in English, but something innate within her, led her to Sociology – because there was no Black History program and sociology was the closest she was going to come, if she was going to have any focus on ethnic or cultural studies of any kind.

She is dedicating her life work to placing, establishing and underscoring that there is an African-Canadian story and she is motivated to correct wrongs and misinformation that have been written and that have yet to be written. She is achieving this through her full-time volunteer work as president of the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS), whereby the existence of this organization will re-educate Canadian society; making it morally accountable in their telling of Black History in Canada, starting with the re-education of a generation of young people.