BLACK FUTURES: A Northern Caucus is a visionary, educational, and forward-looking spin on celebrations of Blackness which will be taking place from February 26th to March 4th, 2023.

During this week, and always, we will centre Black, queer, and diverse perspectives as we honour past accomplishments and future endeavours.  

Throughout the week, we will be hosting three online panel discussions, and one in-person keynote featuring El Jones, a journalist, professor, activist and Halifax’s former Poet Laureate. In addition, we are collaborating with local organizations and venues to offer Afrocentric film screenings, open-mic night and more.

We are excited to once again uplift the voices of organizers, educators, and artists, and to share meaningful stories of resistance and joy. Artwork commissioned by Kayode Jonathan Akande.

Please see the full #BLMSBlackFuturesWeek schedule and registration links below:

 

  Sunday, February 26th

Free Our Minds: Policing Free Schools

2:00 – 3:30PM EST, Virtual Panel

Did you know that police are present in schools in Sudbury and across Ontario? Do you know what they do and what experiences kids have had with these officers? For the last year and a half, Black Lives Matter – Sudbury has tried to uncover some of these realities by collecting data from our community in order to provide insight into the School Resource Officer (SRO) program operating in our children’s schools. As more research is done on the school-to-prison nexus, where Black, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQ+ youth find themselves surveilled and over-policed from grade school onwards, we do a deep dive into the idea of what “safety” really means for our school communities. 

Moderator: Isak Vaillancourt // Panelists: Andrea Vásquez Jiménez, MayaSpoken & Hailey Yasmeen Dash

Register (free)

This panel discussion will have ASL interpreters provided by Interprétation signes et paroles. Participants who register via Zoom Webinar will have the opportunity to use the moderated Q&A feature. There will be translated subtitles available in French. Panelist and moderator bios can be found here.

Monday, February 27th

Grandir pour s’épanouir : Atelier de danse | Grow & Flow : Dance Workshop

6:00 – 7:30 PM EST, McEwen School of Architecture – 85 Elm St.

Join us for our Grow & Flow dance workshop. The session will be directed by the choreographer and winner of season 1 of “Par ici le talent”, Pierre-André Muila. Come cultivate yourself and let yourself be carried away by the music of artists and activists!

Instructor: Pierre-André Muila

Register (free)

Tuesday, February 28th

Zaagi’idwin: Black & Indigenous Solidarity

7:00 – 8:30 PM EST, Virtual Panel 

Love is an action, never simply a feeling. These wise words from author/activist bell hooks make clear the power that can come from Love. It should be no surprise that both Indigenous and Black communities center love in the radical and anti-colonial work they do. It is one of the seven grandfather teachings and also central to Black feminist transformational politics. Zaagi’idwin, the teaching of love, can serve as a lens for Black and Indigenous communities coming together to talk about working in solidarity and pushing back against the colonizing powers that seek to divide us. Our panel members will speak to these themes, sharing their stories, highlighting the intersections of Black and Indigenous identities and politics.

Moderator: Connor Lafortune // Panelists: Tara Chapple, Cora-Rae Silk, Laura Hall & Zainab Amadahy

Register (free)

This panel discussion will have ASL interpreters provided by Interprétation signes et paroles. Participants who register via Zoom Webinar will have the opportunity to use the moderated Q&A feature. There will be translated subtitles available in French. Panelist and moderator bios can be found here.

Wednesday, March 1st

Dear Jackie (Film Screening)

7:00 – 9:00 PM EST Sudbury Indie Cinema, 162 Mackenzie St.

Dear Jackie is a cinematic letter to Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in Major League Baseball and a civil rights activist who broke the colour barrier when he joined the minor-league Montreal Royals in 1946. For a short time, the impossible seemed possible in a segregated North America. But did Montrealers use this historic moment to perpetuate a myth of a post-racial society?

Through eloquent interviews, archival footage, and powerful vérité moments shot in lustrous black and white, director Henri Pardo masterfully threads together fragments of the past with the present-day realities of Little Burgundy, once known as the “Harlem of the North.” Dear Jackie unfolds as an intimate correspondence with Robinson that unravels the myth of a post-racial society, and is a testament to the triumphs and resilience of a community whose stories reveal the insidious racial inequalities in Montreal and Quebec as a whole.

Purchase tickets 

Thursday, March 2nd 

Deadass: Reclaiming the Black Queer Experience

7:00 – 8:30PM EST, Virtual Panel 

What spaces exist that cater directly to the Black queer experience? This panel will surface the challenges that Black Queers make to the white supremacist body politic, the heteronormative and whitewashed gaze, and the constant teefin’ (i.e. appropriation) of culture from Black queer community. Join speakers for a riveting discussion on these themes and learn a bit more about what it means to take up space, challenge the status quo and reclaim the Black Queer experience.

Moderator: Lewis Perdicou // Panelists: Tsholo Khalema, Shanese Anne Steele, C.G. Smith

Register (free)

This panel discussion will have ASL interpreters provided by Interprétation signes et paroles. Participants who register via Zoom Webinar will have the opportunity to use the moderated Q&A feature. There will be translated subtitles available in French. Panelist and moderator bios can be found here.

Friday, March 3rd

 

SOUL & SPIRITS: Open Mic Night

8:00 – 10:00PM EST, Alibi Room, 113 Durham St.

Join us for an evening filled of Black, Indigenous and racialized talent. All community members are invited to attend for free! Please note this event is 19+ due to the venue.

Performer sign up

Saturday, March 4th

 

Keynote Discussion: Trust Black Women

2:00 – 5:00PM EST, Laurentian University, Fraser Auditorium, 935 Ramsey Lake Rd.

Black women told you! Join us for a one-on-one conversation with journalist, professor, activist and Halifax’s former Poet Laureate El Jones, with artist, professor and BLM-Sudbury co-founder, Ra’anaa Ekundayo.

In this intimate discussion, panelists will tackle themes where race and gender are foregrounded, noting how Black women have been at the helm of many movements for social change.

This panel discussion will have ASL interpreters provided by Interprétation signes et paroles. This keynote is presented in collaboration with the Equity, Diversity and Human Rights Office, Laurentian University.  Keynote speaker and moderator bios can be found here.

Purchase tickets below:

Thank you to our community sponsors

Collaborator

We acknowledge the support of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation with funding provided by the Government of Canada

Partner

Supporter