Toronto / July 2026
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born.
Now is the time of Monsters”
(as the Antonio Gramsci saying goes)
(Venceremos- We will overcome/win)
This is a letter of gratitude to my village in all its diversity.
I found myself becoming nervous as we prepared to enter the hall for the investiture ceremony, arranged in an order that went unexplained but found myself fourth after the Governor General, Louise Arbour. As we entered, the audience stood and applauded- family and friends proud of their person they came to see ‘honored’. I saw the look of deep pride on the face of my mother and the look of loving incredulity on the face of my life partner. She must have been reading me. The political contradictions of my participation in such a colonial space although with somewhat toned-down pomp and circumstance. It is this contradiction playing out in my mind and body that gave rise to the nervousness that I was experiencing.
To bow or not to bow. How can I bow to the representative of the colonial powers who enslaved my people. The representative of the powers that genocided culturally and otherwise, the first peoples- First Nations, Inuit and Metis - of this place I now call home.
During our briefing earlier that morning, they walked us through the routine. What we do from the time our names are called. They stressed the stopping and bowing to the GG first before facing the audience as a short few sentences were said about why I and others were being recognized. I had spent the morning seated next to and chatting up a fellow honoree from Saskatchewan, a man my age from a Cree Nation. I looked at him and before I could say anything, he smiled and said, ‘you know what they say about being in Rome’? I laughed but the uneasiness remained.
I believe when my name was called, I stopped in front of the GG and gave a slight nod of my head- the Caribbean silent acknowledgement of another. Or so I tell myself.
More important than my inner self argument, was the overwhelming sense of gratitude that I carried with me that day and in the two and a half years I waited between the announcement of my being inducted into the Order of Canada as a Member and the Investiture ceremony. Gratitude for my village who have walked this journey with me every step of the way- professionally, politically and personally. Grateful to the small group of comrades who are family who worked diligently to get that nomination in- my sister-friends and colleagues, Denise Andrea Campbell and Omo Akintan; my brother in queerness, Doug Kerr and my love and life partner, Aina-Nia Ayo’dele. And the broader circle they reached out to, who stepped up and without hesitation said yes, we will support. I especially want to shout out, my Grenadian mother-friend and champion, the honorable Dr. Jean Augustine who has been in my corner from our first meeting decades ago. And is one of the few people beside my mother, who gets to boss me around.
And you, my extended village. Many of you reading this /blog have played a role in my life, have walked with me on protest lines and into boardrooms. Have plotted public policy advocacy strategies and argued on standing committees with me. Have planned ‘days on the hill’ and vented and cried together in frustration at government overreach or reactionary policies. Some of you have sat in silence with me – words not being enough as we bore witness to the destruction of lives unfolding before our eyes. Lives of those we work with. Lives upended by, short sighted funding changes to programs or laws like Bill C-12 which disrupts the lives of hundreds of thousands of our neighbours and friends which undermine our country’s long-standing humanitarian traditions. This hits hardest for those who are already vulnerable and marginalized - especially those who identify as LGBTIQ or women fleeing violence, and people with precarious or temporary migrant status. The existence of the Safe Third Country Agreement with the US means that our borders are closed to the over three hundred thousand Haitians affected by the recent US Supreme Court decision – the decision that they and Syrians no longer have protection against deportation from the USA. Or Bill C-5 which runs roughshod over the rights of Indigenous peoples and ignores the provisions in UNDRIP – The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada has ratified.
The backlash against progressive movements has been harsh and unrelenting. Anti-Palestinian racism is manifesting across public institutions including in our public schools. Anti-Muslim hate and incidents of Islamophobia are erased or ignored. Canada turns a blind eye to millions displaced and killed in Sudan while inking trade deals with the UAE, the military power behind the Sudanese genocide. The displacement and rape of women in conflicts in the DRC- Congo while millions look for safety does not warrant even a blip in mainstream Canadian or other non-African media. While billions of dollars have been poured into the European war between Ukraine and Russia, and a pathway to safety was offered to Ukrainians fleeing the violence of war, Palestinians, Sudanese and others in conflict zones around the globe can only hope that an opportunity to save their lives will also materialized.
This federal government is blatant in its disregard for Indigenous, Black and other racialized lives. An Advisory Council was recently appointed to advise the Minister responsible for the Canadian Multiculturalism Act on the government’s efforts on antiracism and equality. Yet the Council had no Black/African-Canadian representation. Neither were First Nations and Inuit represented. Nor East/Southeast Asian representation. It was not until members of Black communities across the country raised their voices against this blatant erasure of our presence here and our ongoing experiences of anti-Black racism, did the Heritage Minister appoint as of this writing, two women both retired judges and eminently qualified to speak on the experiences of Canadians of African descent. This last-minute appointment is performative at best. I expect that we will see a similar response to the protests from Chinese and other Asian communities. And from First Nations and Inuit. Representation matters. The cliché – ‘if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu’, meaning if you’re not part of the decision-making, others will make decisions for and about you- is especially apt in this moment.
We are witnessing the dismantling of our fragile social safety net. Federally, funds are being removed from social programs across government and redirected to militarism and border security. Deportations are quietly increasing with about 22,500 people deported last year (2025), an unprecedented number. With Bill C12 now law we know that number will continue to increase. Instead of a regularization program which so many advocated for and which was committed to by the Trudeau government, we’ve ended with a ‘border plan’ which focuses on deportations and enforcement.
Organizations that provide services to immigrants, migrants and refugees are seeing cuts of up to twenty-five percent (a few agencies have reported an even higher percentage cuts). Many have been forced to lay-off staff who are primarily immigrant and racialized women.
Here in Ontario, our social safety net continues to fray. Those on OW and ODSP have watched their ability to meet their basic needs lessen with each passing month. It isn’t a cliché when you hear that individuals must decide between rent, food or medication. This is the reality as well for an increasing number of retired seniors and for many working people. At present here in Toronto, many human services workers organized by OPSEU are on strike for decent wages and decent workplaces. Social service workers are finding themselves in foodbank lines next to their clients.
Affordable housing, price controls on food and other products and a living wage must be part of all of our advocacy work and activism.
In spite of all this and more, I am hopeful. I look across our national sector/village and know that in spite of differences in priorities, political strategy or tactics amongst us, we share a vision of a world where liberation and freedom are our watchwords.
To borrow the line so often pinned on Gramsci, “the old world order is dying, and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of Monsters”.
I look forward to fighting those monsters with you, as we struggle together to co-create this new world.
Thank you all for walking in solidarity with me!