{"id":35394,"date":"2024-11-14T14:52:09","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T19:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=35394"},"modified":"2024-11-21T16:56:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T21:56:06","slug":"abc-library-honour-contributions-of-black-canadian-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/abc-library-honour-contributions-of-black-canadian-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"ABC, Library honour contributions of Black Canadian soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The contributions of Black Canadian soldiers, both in history and in today\u2019s Canadian Armed Forces, were celebrated at the Aurora Public Library (APL) last week, in a presentation facilitated by the Aurora Black Community Association. (ABC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted by Phiona Durrant of the ABC and Nelia Pacheco of the APL, the November 5 panel discussion showcased the lived experiences of Dr. Vincent Conville of the Jamaican Canadian Association, Captain Kevin Junor (Retired), Sergeant Darnel Leader (Active Duty) and Registered Psychotherapist Leticia Osei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the panel shared the history of the Black soldier, as well as the role of the Black soldier today, local artist Dubi used his skills with the paint brush to bring a historic photo to life in real-time, with the finished product set to be donated to the Aurora Museum & Archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal of this evening\u2019s program is to honour and raise awareness of the contributions made by Black Canadians who served in the Canadian military, both in times of conflict and in peace,\u201d said Durrant. \u201cBlack Canadians have a proud and enduring legacy of service to the country, serving with courage, distinction, and, in some cases, making the ultimate sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday, Black Canadians, inspired by the legacy of their pioneering predecessors, continue to serve with pride in uniform, contributing to the sacrifice and achievements of the Canadian Armed Forces\u2026. By immersing ourselves in the culture and history of Black Canadians, we enrich the fabric of Aurora, making it more inclusive, informed and vibrant for all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junor, a resident of Bolton, shared that he first considered a job in the Forces when a recruiter came into his Scarborough High School, pitching it as a summer job. He said it sounded like fun and, once the summer was over, stayed in part because of the camaraderie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of my favourite movies is The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and over that summer, over my career, there is the good, the bad, the ugly and the very ugly,\u201d said Junor. \u201cIt is all of that who made me who I am today and why I stayed over 30 years in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leader came into the service with heritage. In St. Kitts, his father, uncles and many other members of his family served in Cadets. Here in Canada, he said he was partially inspired to pursue a role in the Army due to the long-running TV drama J.A.G. He agreed it was all about the challenge and camaraderie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their respective roles, both have served as change-makers in their units and the wider-forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junor, for instance, as served as a Personal Advisor to Canada\u2019s Chief of Defence Staff, tasked with developing ways and initiatives to ensure the Forces were fully inclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy job as a leader was to change the game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, a common theme in last week\u2019s panel was to increase the sense of diversity that comes with Remembrance Day, Remembrance Week, and how we think of the Forces throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlack men and women are not excluded,\u201d said Junor, when asked by an audience member how communities like ours can raise awareness of the day-to-day experiences of Black soldiers. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re respected the way we should be. From an inclusion perspective, inclusion means you\u2019re a part of the organization and feel comfortable. What we have within the Canadian Armed Forces is a diverse organization, diverse in that we have different races, different cultures, different ethnicities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to the role of the Black soldier in the role of Remembrance and within branches of the Royal Canadian Legion, he added, \u201cwe have to change the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn needing to change the game, sometimes it\u2019s uncomfortable because people are used to the status quo, they are used to doing things the way they have been done forever,\u201d Junor continued. “When I moved to Bolton, I went out for Remembrance Day and the local legion was doing their thing and I went up and said, \u2018Can I help?\u2019 I was a Regimental Sergeant Major at that time and part of my role was to do parades. When I walked up to him, he said, \u2018I don\u2019t know if you know what you\u2019re doing.\u2019 Well, I had a little bit of experience and he said, \u2018Okay, I\u2019ll tell you what to do and make sure you do it to the letter.\u2019 After that, he came to me [and said], \u2018I\u2019ll never do another parade here again.\u2019 We need to get into these spaces and let people know that we\u2019re there. Don\u2019t just take what they\u2019re going to give us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Leader: \u201cI think the first thing is showing your true authentic self is the way to go. Just don\u2019t get discouraged. I think there is a lot of synergy between the Legion itself and the community, and those bonds need to be strengthened by finding similarities, not focusing the negativity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The contributions of Black Canadian soldiers, both in history and in today\u2019s Canadian Armed Forces, were celebrated at the Aurora Public Library (APL) last week, in a presentation facilitated by the Aurora Black Community Association. (ABC) Hosted by Phiona Durrant of the ABC and Nelia Pacheco of the APL, the November 5 panel discussion showcased […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/2024-11-14-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9cS","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 05:27:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35396,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35394\/revisions\/35396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}