Working towards the empowerment and unity of the National Capital region's Black community
From the Archives of Black History
About Black History Month
In 1995, the Government of Canada designated February as Black History Month, to celebrate the contribution of people of African descent to the Canadian mosaic. The theme for 2012 is Our Canadian Story: Making Community Engagement A Priority. Black History Ottawa wishes to use the celebrations to highlight the need for adults in our community to provide leadership, support and guidance, and be positive role models that our youth can emulate by engaging in community-based volunteer activities. This theme will be highlighted in all Black History month 2012 activities, which also serve to highlight those programs, services and initiatives that speak to our role in education, sports, civic engagement, politics, law, sciences, technology, military. All residents and visitors to our great city are welcome to join the celebrations.
Black History Ottawa acknowledges the support of the City of Ottawa, Ottawa Public Library, CTV Ottawa, CHUO 89.1FM, BlackOttawa411.com and Rogers Television, for Black History Month 2012.
We are also indebted to the Ottawa Police Service for the printing of this calendar and to Sarah Onyango for the translation.
Please Note: All events are in English unless otherwise stated.
Saturday, January 28
Black History Month Launch & Opening Ceremony
City of Ottawa, Jean Piggott Hall, 110 Laurier Ave
2:00 4:00 p.m.
Free Admission. Donations to Black History Ottawa gratefully accepted.
An evening of inspiration and entertainment reflecting the theme Our Canadian Story: Making Community Engagement A Priority, to highlight the importance of volunteerism and community building in creating a vibrant inclusive community. Proclamation of the 2012 Black History Month by the Mayor of Ottawa, unveiling of Canada Post stamps honouring Nova Scotia's Viola Desmond and Alberta's John Ware, presentation of 2012 Black History Ottawa Community Builder Awards, special guest Dr Henry Bishop (Black Cultural center of Nova Scotia), performances by Ottawa singer/musician Nambuusi "Rita Carter" Kyeyune and percussionist Eric Sarah, and more.
Information
bhottawa@yahoo.ca
Black History Ottawa acknowledges the kind generosity of the City of Ottawa for this event.
Wednesday, February 1
React to the African Film: Courting Justice
Ottawa Public Library main branch auditorium (120, Metcalfe St.)
5:30pm (refreshments), 6pm (screening)
FILM: As part of its "React to the African Film" series, The South African High Commission presents: "Courting Justice", created by Ruth B. Cowan and produced by Luna Films. This film illustrates how the new constitution in post-apartheid South Africa partially lived up to its goals of promoting justice and human rights. Essential to keeping these promises, indeed mandated by the constitution, is a diverse judiciary -- one that includes women. By 2008, 18 percent of the superior court judges were women. This film is their story. More info at www.courtingjustice.com Event includes an introduction and a discussion with creator/executive producer Ruth B. Cowan. Free admission.
Thursday February 2
Our Health in Our Hands
Ottawa Public Library auditorium (120 Metcalfe Street
5.30 - 7.30 p.m.
Free admission.
Organized by the African, Caribbean and Black HIV/AIDS Prevention Group. Join us for a frank, informative and fun evening as we explore the social impacts of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Information table will have a variety of resources and fact sheets on healthy sexuality, and other information. A partnership with Ottawa Public Health, AIDS Committee of Ottawa and Somerset West Community Health Centre.
Information
Mike Cecilio
613-238-5014 ext 236
The contemporary art-quilts of East St. Louis, Illinois artist Edna J. Patterson-Petty are improvisational and 'jazzy' in their aesthetic quality. They function as conveyors of memories and histories of place slavery, race and racism, community and self-emancipation. The quilts in this exhibition not only speak about adversity, they are testaments of the
inventiveness of African-American culture as expressed in the syncopated jazz beat. More info on exhibition at http://ottawaartgallery.ca/exhibits/2011/edna-patterson/index-en.php
Curated by Andrea Fatona, Guest Curator. Sponsored by U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section.
Gallery Hours
Monday: closed; Tuesday: 10am to 6pm; Wednesday: 10am to 6pm; Thursday: 10am to 8pm; Friday: 10am to 8pm; Saturday: 11am to 6 pm; Sunday: 11am to 6 pm. Admission to the Gallery is "Pay-What-You-Can".
Information
Tel.: 613-233-8699
info@ottawaartgallery.ca
www.ottawaartgallery.ca
Thursday 2 February 2012
6:30 pm
The Ottawa Art Gallery, Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue
Edna Patterson-Petty In Conversation. When Adrian Harewood, co-host of CBC News Ottawa on CBC Television, met Edna Patterson-Petty many years ago, they spent the day talking about art, community and how one can
enrich the other. Harewood and Patterson-Petty will resume their conversation, while artists, poets and musicians round off the evening of celebration. Sponsored by U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section.
Information
Tel.: 613-233-8699
info@ottawaartgallery.ca
www.ottawaartgallery.ca
8 pm
Natalie Stern Studio Theatre, 294 Picton Ave. (Westboro)
Moon Dog Theatre in association with PACT-Ottawa (Persons Against the Crime of Trafficking in humans) present: THE WALK (a play about trafficked girls). By Catherine Cunningham-Huston. Directed by Natalie Fraser-Purdy. SYNOPSIS: Celestine, a Nigerian who was a sex slave for eight years in Italy, is now struggling to raise her infant son in Canada. Her story is at the heart of this drama about three wildly incompatible Canadians trying to write a play about sex trafficking and its impact on young women from around the world. Very powerful and believable, leaving many a tearful eye in its wake. (Rajka Stefanovska Capital Critics Circle). Tickets: $20 in advance / $22 at the door
Information
Catherine: 613 733 0776
Saturday, February 4
7pm
Dominion Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper St., Ottawa
CONCERT: The Ottawa International Jazz Festival presents: The Oliver Jones Trio, feat. Oliver Jones - pianoEric Lagace - bassJim Doxas - drums. Disciple and friend of Oscar Peterson, Oliver Jones' career as a jazz musicians peaked later in life. Gifted with amazing technique, he first mastered classical music before moving on to a wider variety of musical genres. His fostered a growing affinity for jazz in the 1980s when he signed with the Justin Time label and started making concert appearances all over the world. Jones has won Juno (the Canadian Grammy) awards in 1986, 1990, and 2006, and Félix Awards in 1989 and 1994. The album Just You, Just Me also won recording of the year, and Jones keyboardist of the year, from the National Jazz Awards in 2006. Hes also the proud recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. award, celebrating his contributions to the Black Community in Canada and in his native Montreal. In 1993 he received the Order of Québec, the provinces highest honor, and the next year he was awarded the Order of Canada, for outstanding achievement in the arts. 2005 saw Oliver being honored in Ottawa by Canadas new Governor General Michaëlle Jean, as a recipient of the Governor Generals Performing Arts Awards for lifetime artistic achievement.
More info at: www.justin-time.com/artists.php?lang=en&aid=283 and inter-jazz.com/web/artists/oliver-jones/
Tickets:$33.50 (general admission), $43.50 (reserved seating) (Available by phone or website from the Ottawa Jazz Festival)
Saturday, February 4
Safari-Afrika
Library & Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street
7:30 p.m.
Admission: $10 in advance & $15 at the door. Children under 10 years: $5
Presented by African Heritage Centre, Dsfiena and African Festival. Join us to share some of the rich heritage from Africa and Latin America, which is now part of Ottawa cultural mosaic.
Information
Mama Rosa Chiombola.
613-860-3022
africanheritagecentre93@gmail.com
www.africanheritagecentre.jimdo.com
Monday, February 6
Ottawa Police Service Black History Month Celebration
Ottawa Police Service Headquarters, 474 Elgin Street
4.00 5.00 p.m.
Free Admission
Come and join the Ottawa Police Service as they raise their Black History Month banner in celebration of Black History Month. Music and refreshments provided.
Buses #5 and #6.
Information
613-236-1222 Ext. 5011
Thursday, February 9
Public Lecture: Professor Charmaine Nelson, McGill University
Ottawa Public Library auditorium
120 Metcalfe Street
4.00 - 6.00 p.m.
Free admission
Presented by the Common Law Section, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa.
Keynote address by Professor Charmaine Nelson, Dept. Of Art History and Communications Studies, McGill University. She is the author of The Color of Stone: Sculpting Black Female Subjects in Nineteenth-Century America (2007) and Representing the Black Female Subject in Western Art (2010). Her most recent book is Ebony Roots, Northern Soil: Perspectives on Blackness in Canada (2010). Her new manuscript project examines nineteenth-century landscapes of Montreal and Jamaica, through critical readings of geography, topography, colonial commerce and travel.
Information
Professor Joanne St. Lewis,
613) 562-5794
Friday, February 10
Black Students' Union Presents: "Soulful Expressions"
University of Ottawa, Jock Turcot University Centre, 85 University, Agora
7:00p.m. - 10:00p.m.
Free Admission. Donations will be accepted!
Join BSU for an entertaining and insightful night of spoken word, poetry, singing, and rap in honour of Black History Month! If you would like to showcase your talent at this event please email bsu.uottawa@live.ca before Monday, Jan 30th.
Sunday, February 12
11am
Riverside United Church - 3191 Riverside Dr., (near Walkley Rd.), Ottawa
Black History Month Church Service. Guest speaker, CBC Television anchor Adrian Harewood. Also, performance by Caribbean Voices Choir. For more info, contact Mary at mhack@sympatico.ca
Sunday, February 12
Childrens Stories in the Diaspora
Ottawa Public Library, Nepean Centrepointe Branch, Childrens Program Room 101 Centrepointe Drive
2.00 4.00 p.m.
Free Admission. Donations to Black History Ottawa gratefully accepted.
Listen to readers from the black community share children's stories written by black authors from the diaspora. Books from the library will be on display and a local bookseller, Sankofa Bookstore, will have books for sale on site. All are welcome to attend this family event.
A partnership between the Ottawa Public Library and Black History Ottawa.
Information
bhottawa@yahoo.ca
Sunday, February 12
Youth and Children Talent Showcase
Ottawa Church of God (1820, Carling at Maitland )
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.Information
Carol Campbell
613-294-6750
Joel Charles
613-729-3172 ext 2
5:30pm
Ottawa Public Library (Main branch auditorium), 120 Metcalfe St.
Canada Reads Africa: Inaugural African Celebrity Read. This monthly literary event, presented in collaboration with the Ottawa Public Library and Carleton University Institute of African Studies, brings together different influential Canadians and celebrities from different sectors to read short excerpts from chosen and popular African literary works to a live audience. In this inaugural edition, Senator Raynell Andreychuk will read an excerpt from "Conversations with Myself", by Nelson Mandela, and a chapter from The Famished Road, by Ben Okri.
Readings are followed by a Q&A with the audience about the book and the celebritys thoughts on Africa. The African Book Celebrity reading aims to celebrate, inform, and expose Africa through books and articles that focus on Africas development. The perspectives will be drawn from African authors, who through their books celebrate Africa, critique development, inform on current and geopolitical issues of our time. The idea is to expose the listener to a discourse on Africa that moves from Afro-pessimism to a reality evidenced based African optimism. Free admission. For more info: Ms. Tamara Ndaba, South African High Commission - Tel: 1-613-842-7003
Ujimaa Job Fair
Carleton University Unicentre, 1125 Colonel By Drive Ottawa, ON
11am - 4 pm
In celebration of Black History Month 2012, our organization will be hosting the Ujimaa Job Fair to assist local minority youth in finding summer employment and work experience.
Tel.: 613-567-0600
Email: info@jakukonbit.com
Website: www.jakukonbit.com
Sunday, February 19
2:00 PM
Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa | 420 Sparks Street at Bronson
Cathedral Arts presents: NOTES FROM AFRICA. Excerpts from David Fanshawe's "African Sanctus", feat. Members of the Cathedral Choirs Instrumental Ensemble, Soloists: Rebecca Abbott & Ghislaine Marceau, Directed by Matthew Larkin. Also, Excerpts from Joe Sealy's "Africville Stories", with Paul Novotny, Jackie Richardson and Joe Sealy. C TICKETS Platinum $40 | Gold $30 | Silver $20 | Students $10. C Purchase online at www.cathedralarts.com Information 613-567-1787, cathedralarts@yahoo.ca
Friday, February 24
Black Youth Conference Day
Saint Paul University, 223 Main Street, Ottawa ON
8:30 a.m. 4.00 p.m.
"Black Like Who? Black Like Me! A conversation designed and facilitated by Black youth for Black youth, young adults, adults to empower themselves to be active in the discovery, manifestation, and articulation of their visions for themselves, Black communities and the World!. Join us as we explore conversations about "black identity".
Information
3dreads@gmail.com
www.3dreads.com
Saturday, February 25
BlackYouthaPalooza
Saint Paul University, 223 Main Street, Ottawa ON
11.00 a.m. 4.00 p.m.
Black Like Who? Black Like Me! Celebrating our community's Young, Gifted, and Black
Information3dreads@gmail.comwww.3dreads.com
Saturday, February 25
Singin' in the Spirit
Ottawa Seventh-Day Adventist Church (2200 Benjamin Ave. (Woodroffe Ave & Highway 417)
7:00 p.m.
Admission: Donation to local charity
A musical celebration of the black experience through spirituals and gospel music, featuring choirs, soloists and instrumentalists.
Information
Janice Anderson
613-728-8178
Saturday, February 25
Global Community Alliance Gala Night
Sheraton Ottawa Hotel (150 Albert Street, Ottawa)
6.00 p.m. 1.00 a.m.
Admission: $55 per person (with complimentary cocktails). Note: Advance tickets only.
Presented by the Global Community Alliance, this event will highlight the diversity that fosters unity within the Ottawa community, raise awareness of some of the issues in the community and recognize the efforts of individuals, associations, businesses and organizations that make a significant difference within our Global Community.In addition, the Gala Night will feature the presence of prominent members of the community, a keynote speaker, an African fashion showcase by Pure Joy Creations, and inspiring entertainment for the evening. Proceeds from this event will be donated to Black History Ottawa.Tickets available from BHO by emailing bhottawa@yahoo.ca
Information
Yomi or Kelly Pratt
613-824-6392
Thursday March 1 Saturday March 3
Afroculture: the Cultural Festival (In French &English)
Shenkman Arts Centre
March 1: 5.30 9.00 p.m.
March 2 & 3: 10.00 a.m. 8.00 p.m.
Presented by Action et Développement Jeunesse, this annual event illustrates a positive and dynamic representation of Ethnocultural Communities in Canada. This event will feature artists like Groupe des Arts Bassan, Bertin Nzangue, Les Cobras du Mandingue, El Hadj ; A spectacular cultural/exotic Fashion Show and food. There will also be a kids village and cultural exhibition. This event is partly funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Government of Canada.
Admission: $15/person (Festival Passport)
Information
Patrice Essindi
613-265-2628
3Dreads and a Baldhead Speaker's Bureau
The 3Dreads and a Baldhead Speaker's Bureau is the place for you to find a great speaker for your small and large group presentations during Black History month. Using this year's theme of Black Like Who? Black Like Me! each of our speakers will share, in their own unique way, how they are transforming the world and altering the conversation of who they are in the world. From poets to students to community builders, this group of Ottawa's Young, Gifted and Black will transform the world!
For Profiles and booking information, visit www.3dreads.com or email 3dreads@gmail.com
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Who we are:
· Registered Canadian charitable organization
· Recipient of the 2009 Community Partner award from the Childrens Aid Society of Ottawa
· Member of Council of Heritage Organizations in Ottawa
What we do:
· Celebrate the contributions of Black People to the Canadian mosaic;
· Support local artists, designers, writers and innovators;
· Organize child and youth-centered mentorship and leadership programs;
· Organize community centered activities.
As a non-profit organization, Black History Ottawa depends entirely on membership fees and donations to carry out its work and does not receive government funding.
Black History Ottawa, a legacy worth preserving!
Information
Charitable Business Number: 85368 6952 RR0001
Disclaimer: All events are in English unless otherwise indicated. Please note that this information was correct at the time of publication and may be subject to change without notice. Updates will be available at www.blackhistoryottawa.org. Black History Ottawa will not be responsible or liable for any accidents, injuries, property damage or other untoward incidents that may occur during any of the events of Black History Month.