J’can organisation honours three for advocacy, leadership

In its celebration of Black History Month, the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) chose the theme ‘Black Resistance’ and lauded three individuals who, it said, exemplified such through their work, advocacy and commitment to equity.

Dr Andrew B. Campbell, assistant professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto; Pastor Eddie Jjumba and the Dominion Church International; and Pastor Judith James were this year’s awardees at the association’s 24th annual Boonoonoonos Brunch, held to honour the achievements and contributions of those in the black community “who are working to build, document and share our stories, and push for change”.

Adaoma Patterson, past president of the JCA, said the award presented to Dr Campbell was in recognition of his commitment to advancing equity in education.

Dr Campbell started teaching at the age of 19 years old in Jamaica, graduated from teachers’ college at 21, and after teaching in Jamaica for a while, moved to The Bahamas where he worked for eight years, before relocating to Canada in 2008.

“When I got news of this award, it meant a lot to me, because no matter where you go — and I’ve gotten several awards — an award coming from your own countrymen, coming from your own community, that is absolutely special.”

Dr . Campbell underscored the power of showing up in one’s community, noting that the most valuable thing he has in his life is people.“In all your getting, make sure you get community. I feel seen by my community.”

Jjumba, a Ugandan Canadian ordained minister and registered psychotherapist, is the senior pastor of Milliken Church in Markham, Ontario, and the president of Dominion House of Hope shelter, coordinating the efforts to help refugees and asylum seekers in the settlement process.

David Betty, the JCA’s president, said the award presented to Pastor Jjumba was in recognition of his advocacy and leadership during the black refugee crisis in Toronto. He noted that some of the preparation of meals for the refugee claimants was done by the pastor in the kitchen of the JCA last year.

Jjumba said when he and his team started helping African refugee claimants who were sleeping outside the city’s shelter intake office in downtown Toronto, they had no plan.

“We only started because the people that were supposed to go to Pastor Judith could not go, because her church became full within just one day. So, the people that were at Dominion waiting to be taken there, up to this day have not been,” said Jjumba.

He said out of those difficult and challenging circumstances, he formed many connections that he knows will last forever.

HISTORICAL MOVEMENT

Pastor James is the founder and CEO of The Beautiful Foundation, a charitable organisation that serves women and children who have survived domestic violence and substance abuse. She is also the dean of students at Adelfiha Christian Academy and the co-chair of Stand United Canada, an organisation committed to impacting present and future generations.

Patterson noted that Pastor James led a historical movement in the summer of 2023, when she became the first responder to provide shelter for over 1,000 African refugees and asylum seekers who were left to live on city streets for several months.

“They were systematically shut out until The Beautiful Foundation spearheaded the movement with the generosity of her church, Revivaltime Tabernacle. Their response ignited other churches to join the movement in turning the churches into the true meaning of a sanctuary,” said Patterson in her introduction of James, who was listed in Toronto Life magazine’s ‘50 Most Influential People of 2023’.

Pastor James said when her foundation answered the call to help the refugees, she did not know what she was going to do. However, she received a call from Dr Sylvanus Thompson of the JCA and the association provided breakfast for the entire first week.

James thanked her son Jalen Joshua and daughter Jasmine-Rose, and members of The Beautiful Foundation for their support.

“I truly believe that my existence as well as yours is the resistance. My existence is a resistance to hate, my existence is a resistance to all injustice. My existence is a resistance to the demonic tyranny trying to suppress the black woman. My existence is a resistance to the black Church being silent when, really, we are the core of our black society. My existence, and your existence, is the resistance.”

James said she stands on the shoulders of her late father, Reverend Dr Audley Neville James, who was a proud Jamaican from Wakefield, Trelawny, and her mother, Reverend Rosenda Adelfiha James, founder of Adelfiha’s Christian Academy.

Keynote speaker Dr Jean Augustine, whose advocacy as the first black woman to be elected to Parliament resulted in Black History Month being officially recognised in 1995, said the story of African Canadians has always been one of struggle and resistance.

In reflecting on the time since her arrival in Canada from Grenada in 1960, she said there were demonstrations every weekend in Toronto. “It was the way to get our message out,” she said, noting that black history is Canadian history.

She was pleased that the Ontario government recently announced that black history will be mandatory in the history curriculum for grades seven, eight and 10 students, starting in September 2025.