Public Profile Database
Alda was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia but has resided in Toronto over forty five years and her occupations have been varied. After completing a Nursing Assistant's course, she graduated from the Addiction Research Foundation as a Counselor and worked there for seven years. Alda Arthur, a multi-talented woman of many interests was the founder and publisher of a business tabloid: Women and Business but in 1984 the business “folded”. Another interest close to Alda's heart was the Association of Black Women which she founded in 1982. This was a club of Black business and professional women who provided support and information through business contacts and career development programs.
Arthur said the Association of Black Women did not isolate itself as a Black Group, but shared experiences with all women. The skills of the high-profile group were improved by attending seminars and workshops in the community to be used as a role model. Although the club ceased to operate in 1986, Alda continued to meet challenges on a day to day basis and is always ready to move on to other opportunities. She said with confidence at the time, "My hope is that someday the Association will rise again, in another form, by spirited Black women. It's a need that should never die”.
Born and raised in Barbados, Alison has been a professional theatre artist since 1981. She attended Mount-Alison University in New Brunswick, Canada, on a scholarship where she studied psychology. She performed with the Pelican Players, Canada’s ‘first multicultural community theatre’. Since then she has worked with companies across Canada and in Barbados including the Green Room Players, Stage One Productions, Theatre Calgary, Canadian Stage and the Stratford Festival. Her theatre credits include “Cast Iron” (Nightwood Theatre), “The Polished Hoe” (Obsidian Theatre and the Frank Collymore Hall) and her award-winning performance as Lena Younger in Soulpepper Theatre’s production of “A Raisin in the Sun”.
She has directed theatre productions for the Company of Sirens, LKTYP, the Saidye Bronfman Centre, the National Theatre School, Neptune Theatre, Black Theatre Workshop and Obsidian Theatre. Her film and television credits include “Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures”, “This is Wonderland”, “Da Kink in My Hair”, “Dark Water”, “Honey”, “Talk to Me,” “You Kill Me” and “Naturally Sadie”. She was the voice of Storm on the animated series “The X-Men” and the voice of Scarlett on “Delilah and Julius”.
Alison has received five Dora Award nominations for acting and has won two. She is also the proud recipient of a Harry Jerome Award and a Salute to the City Award for her contribution to the Arts in Toronto, a George Luscombe Award for Mentorship and an Award of Excellence from the Caribbean Tales Film Festival.
Professor Alissa Trotz teaches at the University of Toronto, where she is cross-appointed between Caribbean Studies Programme at New College and Women and Gender Studies (WGSI), Following a year of law school in the Caribbean, she completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Latin American and Caribbean studies at York University, her Master of Philosophy and PhD at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.
Dr. Trotz has received the Award for the Distinguished Contribution to Graduate Teaching at OISE (2007), the SAC-APUS Undergraduate teaching Award (2007) and the Faculty of Arts and Science Outstanding Teaching Award (2010).
Amah Harris, B.A. B.ED., MEd. , Dominican born, is most often identified as an anti-racist advocate, innovative educator, and champion of culture, who fosters the Harmonious Coexistence of Peoples. Amah knitted education and theatre techniques into a fabric of cooperative action, using elements of culture. This process evolved into education and theatre modules and techniques, which allow participants, whether students or performers, children, youth or adults, to actively engage with information, script development and performance.
“Amah is a pioneer in the field of Black Theatre in Canada,” said John Holland Awards co-chair, Evelyn Myrie (Hamilton Spectator 2014). She co-directed Black Theatre Canada (BTC) in the 70s and was contracted by them in the 80s. Her innovative experimentation had its first major forum at BTC. This experimentation reached its peak at Theatre In The Rough; a theatre founded by Amah in 1985. It was at BTC that she became a writer ‘out of need’. She explained, “Plays addressing the reality of the Caribbean and Black Experience in Canada seemed practically non-existent.” Out of this need her, “Kwakoo Anansi Series” was born. She adapted the traditional African figure into a ‘selfless’ problem solver leading progressive change, while retaining his cunning, fun filled personality. He uses wisdom, not violence, to solve problems.
Dr. Amal Madibbo was born in Sudan where she grew up and was schooled. She started her university education in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Khartoum in Sudan and completed it at l’Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, in France with a specialization in French Language and Literature. She then immigrated to Canada where she became the first Sudanese woman to immigrate on her own and continued her education. She obtained a Master of Arts from Carleton University in Ottawa with a specialization in French Sociolinguistics and Black Francophone literature. She graduated with a PhD in 2004 from the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education (SESE) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto where she specialized in Black Francophone immigration to and in Canada and race and anti-racism. Upon graduation, she lectured at SESE/OISE and Glendon College at Glendon College of York University in Toronto. She then joined the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary in 2007 where she is now Associate Professor.
Dr. Madibbo has made significant achievements in research as she has conducted studies in Canada, Sudan, France, Mali, Senegal, Chad and Rwanda in the areas of immigration, race and ethnicity, conflict and conflict resolution, and identity. To date, her research resulted in a book about Francophone immigration in Canada published by Routledge; an edited book about the relations between Canada and Sudan published by McGill-Queen University Press; over 30 articles, book chapters and other publications; and 46 papers delivered at national and international conferences. In addition, she integrates her research in her teaching, which results in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of immigration, globalization, and racial and ethnic relations. She also supervises students studying related issues.
Amoye Henry born of Caribbean parents in Kingston, Jamaica and migrated to Canada with her family. She was raised in Rexdale/Brampton, Ontario but now lives in Toronto. Amoye went to Etobicoke School of the arts specializing in Music Theory and Music Performance and is a classically trained (but not practicing) violinist and pianist. Later, she diverted from the artistic realm and was successful in obtaining a B.Sc in Political Science with a concentration in Communications at McMaster University in 2010. Amoye organically gravitates towards initiatives that focus on the advancement of women and children, globally. She has cultivated an interest in eventually pursuing the MBA, an academic program she believes would serve her launching pad for her aspirations in Healthcare Administration and Systems Management.
Dr. Andrea A. Davis is a Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies and Chair of the Department of Humanities at York University in Toronto, Canada. She holds cross-appointments in the graduate programs in English; Interdisciplinary Studies; and Gender, Feminist, and Women’s Studies. She is former Director of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), a current research fellow of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas, and a member of the Committee of Associates of the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora. She also sits on the Board of the Legal Aid Ontario’s Racialized Communities Advisory Committee.
Professor Davis’s research interests are in the intersections of the literatures and cultures of the Black diasporas in the Caribbean, the United States, and Canada. Her work encourages an intertextual cross-cultural dialogue about Black people’s experiences in diaspora
1) Being a leader at the intersection of Education and Social Justice. 2) Being granted the favour of having such a title as Mother. 3) I AM a breast cancer Thriver!
Leading the labour movement, Fighting at the bargaing table and on the street with workers to win worker right and raise standards for workers, Helping student that need education tools to continue their education
Angela Yvonne Clarke - has enormous talents and skills and loves to share with her community. She migrated to Canada in 1969, from the beautiful sunshine Island of Trinidad and Tobago, leaving a young daughter and a successful modeling career. In Canada, there were many opportunities from which to choose, so with purpose and drive, Angela decided to focus on continuing her education. To that end, she attended George Brown College, Seneca College and Marvel Beauty school. She accomplished all this, while working at Simpson’s Department Store. Her drive for success helped her to obtain Diplomas and Certificates in courses such as, Pattern Design, Drafting, Sewing, Tailoring, Bridal Design, Hair Design, Cosmetology and Floral Design. She continued learning through every and any opportunity that came her way. She advanced very quickly to realizing her dream and subsequently sent for her daughter in Trinidad.