“To try to create an event to spread hate in a community that’s still reeling from a tragedy is quite frankly disgusting,” MacDonald said. “That’s not something this neighbourhood needs after the tragedy it had to go through.”
Mr. Armstrong founded or served in several organizations, including the Jamaican Canadian Association, the Black Business and Professional Association, the National Council of Jamaicans and Supportive Organizations, the Canadian Ethnocultural Council and the board of governors for the Canadian Centre for Police Race Relations. In 1975, he was also among the founding members of Toronto’s Urban Alliance on Race Relations.
"Of all his accomplishments — marked by his fearless, unrelenting, nonyielding drive for equality among all people — Armstrong’s most impressive quality might have been his ability to speak truth to power, without engendering lasting animosity."
"Armstrong, who was named to the Order of Canada in 1994, is considered a pivotal figure in the campaign for the nation’s first anti-discrimination laws. He was 92.
“Bromley Armstrong’s work was trail-blazing and courageous, and the legacy he leaves in Ontario and across our country is exceptional,” Prime Minister Trudeau wrote in a tweet on Thursday."
Bromley Armstrong - a trade unionist and community organizer whose activism paved the way for anti-discrimination legislation and police reform in Ontario - has died. Herman Stewart, former president of the Jamaican Canadian Association, says children should learn about his friend's legacy in school.
“The planning of this event, which was due to fall on the first anniversary of the racist, neo-Nazi gathering in Charlottesville, U.S., gave us all a disturbing insight into what can happen when ignorance, racism and Islamophobia join together with the intention of dividing our communities. It is critical that we do not become complacent in our rejection of racism and other forms of hate,” said Nigel Barriffe, president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.
Go into conversations about race with the awareness that the topic is a delicate one. When in doubt, connect with organizations, community groups and activists who are accustomed to answering questions and have expertise in education. Some suggestions: Toronto for All, Urban Alliance on Race Relations, activists like Desmond Cole or Roopa Cheema, and writers like Alicia Elliott and Chelsea Vowel.
After leaving politics she served with many organizations, including the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, Canadian Alliance of Black Educators, the Toronto Child Abuse Centre, the YWCA and Harbourfront Centre. And she co-founded Tiger Lily, the first magazine in the province that gave women of colour a voice.
Currently, Morrison is on the board of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and volunteers on the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association’s Advocacy and Communications Committees.
Wynne’s comments came as the Urban Alliance on Race Relations added its voice to calls from the Liberals, New Democrats and some Muslim groups for Allen to be barred from the April 21 nomination race because of posts comparing Muslim women in burkas to “bank robbers” and “ninjas” and questioning gay marriage, which is legal in Ontario.
