Black History Month: Making space for Black music in Canadian radio 

By Cheryl Thompson and Francesca D’Amico-Cuthbert In 1983, Toronto radio personality Ron Nelson introduced local audiences to the... Read More

Black History Month: Eartha Kitt’s forgotten visits to Toronto

If there is one thing I have missed more than anything else during the pandemic, it is nightlife. In 2020, at least 22 music venues... Read More

EXCERPT FROM ‘UNCLE’: Aunt Jemima in Chicago

Excerpted with permission from Uncle: Race, Nostalgia and the Politics of Loyalty, published this month by Coach House Books... Read More

The ‘bashment’ parties of my childhood are Black history

In 2002, reggae artist Sean Paul shot the video for his song ‘Get Busy/Like Glue,’ in Vaughan. Directed by Toronto’s own Director X... Read More

THOMPSON: What if the Caribana Carnival went back to its roots?

“The watching Torontonians didn’t cheer, didn’t wave,” reported the Toronto Daily Star on August 5, 1967, as “Caribana” left Varsity... Read More

THOMPSON: Saunders’ departure won’t fix the problem of policing in Toronto

What can be said about chief Mark Saunders’ sudden departure from the Toronto Police Service (TPS)? In truth, I am neither happy nor... Read More

THOMPSON: Policing the boundaries of space and race during COVID-19

When a Black person is killed by police, it feels like Black people are suddenly taking up a lot of space in Canadian media. I’ve had... Read More

Beverly Mascoll, a trailblazing Black entrepreneur

At this year’s Academy Awards, Hair Love won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. The six-minute film tells the story of an African... Read More

The complicated history of Canadian blackface

In 1841, travelling American circuses came to Toronto for the first time and blackface came with them. According to University of... Read More

Janice Reid’s “Real Love” intersects race and space

Earlier this week, Mayor John Tory and mayoral candidates Saron Gebresellassi, Knia Singh and Jennifer Keesmaat debated transit... Read More