Dozens of brilliant Black-Canadian minds gathered to celebrate their history and future of triumphs, and London got to host them.
On Thursday, February 8th, the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce hosted a ceremony that saw Afro-Canadians as well as all other walks of life convene to 244 Paul Mall street to recognize black contributions, as well as support fellow black entrepreneurs in their journies.
The program included the interesting history of black people in Canada. From Mathieu Da Costa, the man who’s widely believed to be the first Black person to visit what’s now known as Canada, back in 1604. To learning about George Crum the inventor of the all time favourite snack, the potato chip.
We also got to hear some of the amazing stories from successful Black-Canadians, like Carl Cadogan who knows just about everything there is to know about black achievements in London and Canada.
Including the history of some of the first successful black owned businesses here in London and the triumphs they persevered through.
“They struggle because they got a lot of black folks business, but not as many white people…Like one of the first ever sidewalks in London were built by black businesses, so a lot of history of London is connected to the black community, and people don’t know that, and people were very innovative in trying to create business for themselves and families.”
We also had local stars in attendance. London Major and fan favourite, Cleveland Brownlee joined the panel and spoke about his journey from Atlanta to London.
“I just had that drive for me that, my grandmas, they never would of made it to Canada or seen anything, or known anything about Canada if it wasn’t for me. So I put that on my back everyday and run with it and say you know what, if i made it out of there. I can help out others in my community.”
Nikki Clarke, the national business manager of the CBCC was also there to share what Black-Canadian innovation means to her.
“It means audacity. To create Audacity to be in spaces that are not, maybe, represented by traditionally black people, and the audacity to thrive. I am proud to be a part of current Black-Canadian history of implementing innovation hubs across Canada through the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce we have 5 innovation hubs across Canada…These spaces are there to support black businesses on a local and global market. We provide them the educational programs, the access to funding and just giving them the community support that they may be lacking due to the lack of access traditionally in their communities. So I’m proud to be part of that current history.”
The 5 innovation hubs being launched will be in Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, Edmonton and Ottawa and hope to expand more soon after.
The CBCC can help Black-Canadian entrepreneurs with various types of support and teaching for them.
their website can be found at: https://blackchamber.ca/
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