Former OBHS President, Rosemary Sadlier, Issues Public Statement

I write to inform the public and supporters that I no longer hold the position of president of the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS).  In 1978, Dr. Daniel G. Hill Sr. and Donna Hill, Lorraine Hubbard, Joanne Kaczmarski, Wilson O Brooks, and Phyllis Brooks founded the OBHS.  It quickly became the premier organization for the study, preservation and promotion of Black (African Canadian) history in Ontario. Today the OBHS is the only Ontario Provincial Heritage Organization of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport devoted to Black history and heritage.

For 25 years, it has been an honour and privilege to serve the people of Ontario through the OBHS as a volunteer.  My introduction to the OBHS was as a non-member volunteer.   Subsequently, I graduated to membership, board member and finally the president in 1993.  During my twenty-two year tenure as president, I worked diligently to have the OBHS achieve government introduction of several important measures of recognition of the Afro-Canadian community in Ontario and Canada. The most significant being the 1996 declaration of February as Black History Month in Canada (passed in December 1995) with the assistance and support of Jean Augustine, then Parliamentary Secretary and MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore.   Later, through the OBHS, I spearheaded the recognition of August 1st as Emancipation Day in Toronto, Ottawa, Ontario and Canada and the celebration of Kwanzaa in the City of Toronto and Metropolitan Toronto.

In addition, my research and promotion of the OBHS extended beyond the local, regional and national to include international communities, thus forging diasporic connections to the rest of the world.  These efforts created an awareness of African Canadian contributions to Canadian culture, history, politics and economy, inter-cultural understanding, human rights and social justice.   And, for this I am truly humbled to have received a number of honours, including the Order of Ontario, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and I was designated by the Canadian Teachers Federation’s designation as one of 12 global defenders of human rights in Canada, based on criteria established by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Centre’s “Speak Truth to Power” initiative. On the behalf of the OBHS, I impacted and/or imparted advocacy, awareness, inclusion and a full appreciation and understanding of diversity, using the framework and lens of Black History. I will endeavour to make a difference in all my future projects.

In this moment of transition, I express well wishes to the new OBHS team as it leads the organization into a new era.  I also hope that it will remember, and be informed by the organization’s legacy as it moves forward.  The culture and history of African Canadians must remain central to all future endeavours, and should supersede the individual’s personal agendas. “For whom much is given, much is required.”

Lastly, it would be remiss of me not to thank the municipal, provincial and national governments and the Office of the Lieutenant Governor for their unwavering support towards the importance of Black history, as it began long before ‘Nation Building’.  I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude for the many sponsors, donors, OBHS members, media and community allies, without whose support, I could not have sustained the resolve to further Black history advocacy to this point.  Thank you, merci.

Regards,

Rosemary Sadlier O.Ont.