In recognition of Black History Month, we’d like to highlight resources created by and focused on Black Canadians, with a particular focus on law and legal issues. You’ll find links to organizations that celebrate and promote Black history, provide support and advocacy in the present, and work to build brilliant and equitable Black futures.
We have also included recommendations for print titles you can purchase with your 2021 LawMatters grants! Yes, we are pleased to tell you that after last year’s hiatus, we will be sending out grant offers later this spring.
Black-led organizations in BC and Canada
- Black Lives Matter – Vancouver chapter
- See their Community Resources for advocacy, legal aid, community support, and mental health resources.
- Black Lives Matter also has a chapter in Toronto.
- Hogan’s Alley Society: a non-profit that works to preserving and promoting knowledge of Black history in Vancouver and BC.
- BC Black History Awareness Society (BCBHAS): A BC-based non-profit that celebrates the current and historical achievements of Black people in BC and Canada.
- Check out the Learning Centre for a ton of resources on a range of topics, including a Legal Issues section.
- Federation of Black Canadians: a national non-profit that aims to support Black communities and interests, including community building, education, and legal initiatives, throughout the country.
- Black Youth Helpline: a national helpline available to Black youth to support their health, mental wellbeing, education, and communities. They are available toll-free at 1-833-294-8650.
- Black Health Alliance: an organization that aims to reduce the health disparities for Black communities in Canada by addressing the determinants of health, including racism.
Print Resources
We are in the process of curating our 2021 Law Books for Libraries List, and each of these titles will be included. If you would like to suggest a resource on this topic that matches our selection criteria – legally focused and written for a British Columbian or Canadian audience – please get in touch with us at lawmatters@courthouselibrary.ca.
Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter Canada (2020) by Rodney Diverlus, Sandy Hudson, et al.
Edited by founding members of Black Lives Matter Toronto, this anthology of essays focuses on pressing issues faced by Black communities and provides context on the Black Lives Matter movement in Canada.
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power, (2020) by Desmond Cole
Contextualized by events that took place over the course of 2017, Cole provides historical and current perspective on anti-Black racism in Canada:
Black Life: Post Black Lives Matter and the Struggle for Freedom (2019) by Rinaldo Walcott & Idil Abdillahi
The authors: “pull from local history, literature, theory, music, and public policy around everything from arts funding, to crime and mental health--presenting a convincing call to challenge pervasive thought on dominant culture's conception of Black personhood.”
Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present (2017) by Robyn Maynard
Maynard traces the history of state oppression of Black people as well as Black resistance in Canada.
Racial profiling and human rights in Canada : the new legal landscape (2018) by Lorne Foster, Lesley Jacobs, Bobby Siu, & Shaheen Azmi, eds.
Edited by Canada’s leading scholars on racial profiling, this text: “examines a combination of psychological, sociological, organizational, political, and community perspectives, resulting in a holistic, multi-faceted approach to understanding the phenomenon of racial profiling and to pre-empting or eradicating it.”
Parentbooks’ Social Responsibility, Anti-Oppression and Equity Resources Collection is a great place to find resources for kids that cover these topics. Below are just a few that stood out:
- A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara, (toddler board book version available)
- A Black Woman Did That! 42 Boundary-Breaking, Bar-Raising, World-Changing Women by Malaika Adero, illustrated by Chanté Timothy (ages 10+)
- #BlackLivesMatter Freedom School Workbook 2017 by Leroi Newbold & Janine Carrington (ages 6+)
- This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons On How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by Aurélia Durand (ages 11-15)
- Black Women Who Dared by Naomi Moyer (ages 9-13)
- Breaking the Ocean: a Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Reconciliation. Annahid Dashtgard