Ottawa City Hall on Laurier Avenue was jam-packed with people who had come to celebrate the 2017 Martin Luther King Jnr Day. The annual celebration in honour of the American civil rights icon was hosted this year as a partnership between the DreamKeepers and Black History Ottawa. Highlight of the day was the Lifetime Achievement award to former provincial minister and MPP Margaret Best.

“I’m proud to stand on Dr. King’s shoulders,” Best said. “He is my hero, the person who inspired me to dream the dream: That a little black girl from Jamaica who lost her mother at age eleven could touch the life of others in a profound way and make a difference in the world.”

Keynote speaker, Prof. Kalenda Eaton, U.S. Fulbright Scholar, from Arcadia University in Philadelphia, talked about how Canada served as a “North Star Nation,” first as a haven for escaped slaves travelling along the Underground Railway in the 19th century and then as a progressive, diverse nation in the 21st century.

 

MPP and provincial Attorney General Yasir Naqvi brought greetings on behalf of Premier Kathleen Wynne, while Deputy Ottawa City Mayor Mark Taylor read the proclamation of Martin Luther King Jnr. day.

Other dignitaries present were Rev. Anthony Bailey (MC); Councillor Keith Egli; Acting President of Black History Ottawa, June Girvan; Dreamkeepers founder Daniel Stringer; Imam Zijak Delic; Rabbi Reuven Bulka; community activist Denise Siele; former Spectrum publisher Ewart Walter and Black History Ottawa Directors: Sarah Onyango, Joanne Robinson, Jean-Marie Guerrier and Eldon Hoder Junior.