Give Them Their Flowers: Celebrating Vancouver's Hometown Heroes

As a trained planner and resilience professional, Anthonia Ogundele has a passion for cities and engaging communities. She was a member of the Northeast False Creek Stewardship Committee, igniting the launch of the Hogan’s Alley Land Trust, and later the Hogan’s Alley Society.

In 2016, she turned a storefront facing closet on Carrall Street into the Cheeky Proletariat: an accessible and inclusive space that fosters free expression of all People. Inspired by her teenage daughter, Anthonia founded the Ethọ́s Lab, a non-profit social enterprise that leverages culture as a vehicle to access STEM exploration. Youth ages 13-18 have access to emerging technologies and a vibrant community of innovators.

Ethos Lab advocates for access to the tools and Skills youth members need to create the future they want through their collaborative online platform and physical space.

The Movement for Black Lives unapologetically works towards the liberation of all Black people.

BLM Vancouver is feminist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, abolitionist, and internationalist. They aspire to uphold these principles in their work simultaneously while acknowledging their deep, committed solidarity with Turtle Island's Indigenous peoples. Their mandate to center all Black Lives, including; those existing at the intersections of gender diversity, sexuality, class, disability, neurodiversity, body size, religion, formal education, age, phenotype, ancestral journey, ties to the existing community, sex workers, drug users, and undocumented people work is firmly rooted in Afro-diasporic progress.

In support of Black healing, the affirmation of Black existence, and in response to the anti-Black racism that permeates nationally, Black Lives Matter works to forge critical connections through education and policy reform, embodying the promise of a safe and limitless future for Black people in Canada.

Listen to BLM Vancouver's hopes for Black Vancouver

Recording scribe

Our freedom is not and should have never been up for negotiation. Black Lives Matter Vancouver issues the following demands and calls to action: The City of Vancouver must direct financial resources from the Vancouver Police Department towards Initiatives that demonstrably support long-term community safety. This includes child care support, education, comprehensive mental health intervention and social support, local restorative justice services, employment programs, access to justice services, employment programs, access to recreational facilities, community-directed public investment, peer-based programming, culturally-led policies and more. The City of Vancouver must commit to improving social conditions across the city with a commitment to the goal of eventually abolishing police and prisons, as they serve the primary purpose of oppressing marginalized communities and protecting the riches of the wealthy minority of denizens.

Shanique Kelly, aka Softieshan, is a DJ, event producer, inclusion and equity consultant, and community organizer.

Born and raised on the unceded, ancestral lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, Shanique works passionately to carve out safe and inclusive spaces for folks who exist within marginalized communities.

An advocate for equity in the arts, Shanique is a member of lululemon's Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board and was a primary driver of the Vancouver chapter of Intersessions– a grassroots organization aiming to bridge the inequality gap facing women and LGBTQ+ folks in the music and nightlife industries. Shanique founded 'LEVEL UP,' Vancouver's only QTBIPOC-centred hip hop dance party. LEVEL UP continues to be a fixture for Queer people of color and a true example of cultivating community.

Roger Collins is an entrepreneur and art director whose work cultivates engaging environments for celebrating diverse local talent.

As co-founder of Calabash Bistro in Gastown, Roger pursued his vision to create a restaurant that celebrates and shares Caribbean culture with the Vancouver community through food, music events, and the showcasing of consciously curated art from the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa.

For over a decade, Roger has provided countless opportunities to Brown, Black, and Indigenous artists to share their voices, songs, stories, instruments, and paintings. This encouragement of creativity has actualized into nourished careers and changed lives.

Roger was a member and contributor of the Northeast False Creek Stewardship Committee, also known as the Hogans Alley restoration initiative. Roger is an active board member of B.E.B.C. (Black Entrepreneurs Businesses of Canada) and Afro Van Connect– an organization focused on empowering Black youth's voices. Roger strongly believes in the importance of investing in the futures of racialized youth and is currently teaching movement and mindfulness at A.R.C. Community School.

Listen to Roger's hopes for Black Vancouver

Recording scribe

My hope for Black Vancouver is to see more unity and pride here in Vancouver. We have many people here representing the diaspora coming from the Caribbean, Africa, Latin, America, yet we seem displaced. I would love to see a day when we can represent and showcase our cultures, in a proud way for everyone to see and learn from. Our children will benefit from this, and future generations will come up with a sense of pride and dignity knowing where they come from and who they are. I would love to see this happen in Vancouver, and I think now is the time. One love.

Black Women’s Program at BWSS was formed to redress the deeply entrenched systemic and institutional barriers faced by Black women, highlighting the experiences that are too often moved to the margins of discourse, service, policy, and advocacy.

Through her community-based organizing, frontline work, and activism over three decades, Angela Marie MacDougall has been deeply involved in social justice movements.

Since the nineties, Angela has developed training curricula from an intersectional and anti-oppression framework. Angela’s impact includes developing empowerment and advocacy-based programming and service delivery models that address gender-based violence and violence against women. This includes feminist trauma-informed analysis that integrates the role of substance use and mental wellness.

Angela is a founding member of Intersectional Feminist Justice Research: an organizing Collaborative that brings together researchers, academics, data and policy analysts, students, and community organizers to provide critical research, data, policy, and strategic support for ending violence, gender equity, and social justice movements.

Listen to Angela's hopes for Black Vancouver

Recording scribe

Canada has not reached gender and racial equity as an examination of the lives of Black women and girls and gender diverse people reveals. People of African descent have lived in Canada for centuries, today 1.2 million people in Canada self report as Black, including 620,000 women and girls, in particular continue to live in poverty and poor health, experience significant levels of violence and struggle to access decent employment, public housing and public services. Violence against Black women and girls, and gender diverse peoples is largely rendered invisible in Canada. In the era of “Me Too” where Black women and girls, and gender diverse peoples are still struggling to have society recognize the ways gender based violence disproportionately affects them. I feel the weight of the responsibility to support and build a pan-Canadian awareness and response that addresses gender-based violence in the lives of Black women and girls, and gender diverse peoples. And to make visible the experience of Black women and girls, and gender diverse peoples in policy and program, provincially, federally, and here in Vancouver.

The British Columbia Community Alliance (BCCA) is a Black-led not-for-profit organization dedicated to combating systemic racism throughout BC, especially as it concerns the Black community.

Upon its formation in 2019, the BCCA developed several strategies to help improve the state of racialized British Columbians within the province, including the pursuit of a Human Rights Tribunal Class Complaint in response to a racist bomb threat at a Vancouver high school. The BCCA was successful in holding the Vancouver Police Department accountable by filing a report with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and advocating for a more comprehensive K-12 Provincial curriculum that showcases Canadian Black History and the inclusion of anti-racism training for all teachers and staff throughout the province.

The BCCA is currently working with various community stakeholders to further develop programming to support the Black community and improve racialized communities throughout the province.

Listen to BC Community Alliance's hopes for Black Vancouver

Recording scribe

When BC community alliance thinks about its hopes for Black Vancouver there are several priorities that ring true. Safety: We want to feel safe in schools, places and communities where the are free from discrimination and racism. Humanity: We want to be viewed as human beings with the full respect and dignity that we are entitled to. Authentic Inclusion: Where we shift from the periphery of society to mainstream engagement, with the broader community so our voices are heard and integrated into key decisions. Unity and Engagement: Where innovative spaces are realized to heal generational traumas we’ve endured, where we can hold discussions on what’s most important to our community as we reestablish and embrace our identity and empower Black children and youth. Equity and Opportunity: Where our full potential is realized across social, political and economic dimensions that we’ve been marginalized in for generations. And finally legacy, where there is acknowledgement of our many historical contributions in this city but also where we can create a new narrative where we can steer our presence here into a more fruitful direction.

Lama Mugabo is a community planner with a passion for social housing, food security, nutrition, and wellness. A member of the Hogans Alley board of directors, Lama leads engagement projects that provide opportunities for members of the diaspora to build interrelationships with the community.

At Nora Hendrix Place, Lama uses gardening, nutrition, and wellness as a platform to connect and inform. Lama’s work prioritizes food security and nourishment, encouraging the tenants and members to engage in a healthy, active lifestyle.

Dedicated to the global impact on Black lives, in 2005, Mugabo co-founded BBR – Building Bridges with Rwanda, a non-profit organization designed to create a platform for collaboration between international volunteers and their Rwandan counterparts who are rebuilding their society.

The Hogan’s Alley Society (HAS) is a non-profit organization composed of civil rights activists, business professionals, community organizations, artists, writers, and academics committed to daylighting Black history in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia. HAS adopts a research-driven approach to community development that seeks to preserve and promote the historical, cultural, societal, and economic contributions made by Black Settlers and their descendants to Vancouver, Greater Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia, the Pacific Northwest, and Canada. With this history in the archives, HAS is in the process of developing partnerships with local government and business interests to acquire and develop land and operate assets as a community land trust.

Listen to Lama's hopes for Black Vancouver

Recording scribe

My hope for Black Vancouver is in three fold. First we receive a signed memorandum of understanding from the City of Vancouver, giving Hogan's Alley Society a 99 year lease to the block. Second, we convene another [“ashokan” (sic)]  community meeting to discuss how we will use community land trust as tool to build prosperity on the block. Third, we engage the wider community to revitalize Hogan's Alley and bring back the glory of Black Strathcona. Thank you.

Khari Wendell McClelland is an award-winning musician and sought-after facilitator who uses the arts and experiential activities for transformational learning.

Originally from Detroit, Khari made his way to Canada over a decade ago and is currently based in Vancouver, BC. Khari’s passion for community service is clear; both in his musical life and in his facilitation work. He has worked throughout Canada and internationally in Africa, Australia, Europe, the United States, and Jamaica.

Recently, Khari received critical acclaim for his Freedom Singer project, recreating the music that fugitive slaves carried on their journey north into Canada. He also performs with the beloved gospel group, The Sojourners. Whether on stage or in community, Khari’s passion for equality and justice is palpable, as is his belief in the redemptive power of music.

Judith is a content creator and community activist who resides on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded Indigenous territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.

Through adventures and travel, Judith highlights her experience as a black woman that skis, hikes, camps, climbs, and explores. Her active participation in the outdoors brings to light the importance of representation. Through conversation and grace, her work draws attention to underrepresented minorities by changing the narrative that people of colour are not active participants in the outdoors.

A former refugee from the The Democratic Republic of Congo, she was raised in South Africa, Australia, the United States and Canada. Judith’s unique upbringing allows her to draw from diverse experiences and cultures. Judith is a fellow at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. She is also the founder of Colour the Trails, a community group that focuses on getting Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour out in nature.

Listen to Juju's hopes for Black Vancouver

Anthony's love for the arts began to bloom as a teenager. While attending St. Louis Park Senior High School, Anthony came under the tutelage of Robert "Doc" Anderson, his high school teacher and now lifelong mentor. Through Doc's teachings, Anthony's pursuit of the arts was reinvigorated as he dedicated himself to studying fine arts, embarking on various art projects, commissions, and shows, both at school and within his community.

Continually seeking to hone his art skills, Anthony relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1998 to study at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where he earned a Bachelor of Media Arts with a major in Animation. In 2014 Anthony launched ADO Works, an art studio through which he creates mixed media paintings and illustrations.

Anthony currently resides in Vancouver, where he continues working on various fine art, clothing, and animation projects. In the summer of 2020, Anthony commissioned a memoir depicting prominent Black figures of the historic area of Black Strathcona for the Vancouver Mural Festival. His contribution to Vancouver's public art landscape can be seen on the Dunsmuir Viaduct near Georgia and Main Street.