Racial Equity: From Intention To Action

Afua Cooper is a multidisciplinary scholar, author, and artist. Her 13 books range across such genres as history, poetry, fiction, and children’s literature. Her indomitable research on slavery, and Black history has made her one of the leading figures in African Canadian studies, and the authority on Canadian slavery. Her book on Canadian slavery, The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold Story of Slavery in Canada and the Burning of Old Montreal broke new ground in the study of Canadian and Atlantic slavery. She is a Fellow at the Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University. 

Dr. Cooper led the “Universities Studying Slavery” initiative at Dalhousie University and was the lead author of the subsequent report Lord Dalhousie’s History on Slavery and Race. These initiatives revealed the connections between the Canadian academy and the Atlantic slaving systems. In 2021, Prof. Cooper was appointed as the Canadian representative for UNESCO’s International Scientific Committee Slave Route Project, whose main objectives is to conduct research on the Transatlantic slavery system and its legacies. Additionally, she is the Principal Investigator for A Black People’s History of Canada, a one-million-dollar, Canadian Heritage funded project.  A celebrated poet, in 2020 Dr. Cooper was Awarded the Portia White Prize, Nova Scotia’s highest recognition for the arts. She is also the winner of the J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award for her poetry book Black Matters.

Afua Cooper holds a Killam Research Chair at Dalhousie University where she teaches.

Amy Go, a social worker by training, was Past President of Chinese Canadian National Council. Amy was the Executive Director of Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care. She was one of the founders of CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses in Ontario and was on the boards of National Action Committee on the Status of Women, National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women and many other organizations.

Nadiya Ali is a PhD Candidate in Sociology specializing in anti-racism, community empowerment, and Islamophobia. Nadiya brings extensive experience in education, research, and community development to her role as NCCM’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Specialist.

Nadiya is also a published author researching and writing in the areas of Islamophobia, Muslim identity, and Anti-blackness. Nadiya has also been a part of a range of community-based research and programming initiatives across the Greater Toronto Area, including the Black Experience Project and the Migrant Resilience project. More recently, Nadiya held a Visiting Fellow position at Suffolk University, teaching in the Sociology and Criminal justice department.

Prior to her doctoral work, Nadiya completed graduate work both at Carleton University and SOAS-University of London in politics and international relations. Additionally, Nadiya holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto. Currently, her doctorate focuses on exploring issues revolving around racialization, identity, belonging and resistance.