Mary, a mental health clinician interviewed for the study, expressed the difficulty Black youth encounter in obtaining appropriate care. She noted the reluctance of providers to take on complex cases, contributing to a sense of neglect among those seeking help.

Despite heightened awareness of racial inequities exacerbated by the pandemic, the study reveals that anti-Black racism remains a significant barrier. The BHA researchers argue that systemic racism hampers access to mental health care for Black youth, emphasizing the insufficient efforts of mental health organizations to connect with Black-led care groups.

During the study, participants discussed their experiences with racism affecting their employment opportunities, income, and mental health. The findings underscore the need for a more comprehensive approach to addressing the unique challenges faced by Black youth.

Jalisa, one of the study’s participants, expressed concern about racial considerations being treated as an afterthought in mental health programs. The study incorporated a social network analysis to assess connections between organizations and their impact on care for Black youth, revealing a fragmented mental health system with inadequate information sharing.

Psychotherapist Alice Wiafe, President of Black Mental Health Canada, emphasized the daily implications of racism for Black individuals, impacting their job searches and housing opportunities. The study indicated that Black-led organizations could play a crucial role in addressing mental health issues specific to the Black community.

Participants in the focus groups highlighted the exhausting process of repeatedly explaining their experiences to care providers, with instances of gaslighting and the need for ongoing education. The study suggests that diversifying mainstream organizations and collaborating with Black-led groups could lead to improved mental health outcomes for Black youth.

The researchers pointed to a 2020 report showing that Black youth wait more than double the time white youth do to access care, emphasizing the urgency for updated guidelines from the Mental Health Commission of Canada. The study authors are calling for a revision of the current recovery-oriented practice guidelines to address the impacts of systemic racism, emphasizing the importance of incorporating perspectives from individuals with lived experiences.

Original Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/black-youth-mental-health-care-1.7036232

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As part of the ongoing efforts, the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative (SBCCI) is being implemented to enhance the capabilities of Black-led and Black-serving community-based organizations throughout the country. The aim is to bring decision-making closer to Black communities, ensuring a more tailored approach to meeting their specific needs and priorities.

Today, Kamal Khera, the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities, announced a significant allocation of $21.5 million to the Black-led National Funders network in the third round of funding under SBCCI. The National Funders network, consisting of organizations like Tropicana Community Services, Africa Centre, Black Business Initiative, and Groupe 3737, has initiated a call for proposals under SBCCI. The application period begins today and extends until December 15 at 11:59 EST, with selected projects expected to be announced in the first half of 2024.

Through this call for proposals, registered non-profit organizations that are Black-led and serve the Black community can apply for funding of up to $105,000 across two streams: Capital Assistance and Capacity Building. This financial support aims to help Black-led organizations enhance their organizational capacity and improve their workplaces and community spaces, enabling them to better serve Black Canadian communities.

SBCCI acts as a complementary measure to existing initiatives working towards greater social inclusion, improved well-being for People of African descent in Canada, and addressing the unique challenges faced by Black communities, including discrimination, bias, and anti-Black racism.

Minister Kamal Khera emphasized the government’s commitment to inclusivity and collaboration with communities, ensuring that investments in Black communities across the country are directed by the communities themselves. The SBCCI National Funders network plays a crucial role in guiding and determining investment decisions tailored to the specific needs of Black communities.

Some quick facts highlight the ongoing commitment, including the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), the substantial investment of over $175 million through SBCCI since 2019, and an additional $25 million allocated in Budget 2023 for 2024-25, extending the program for another year.

The SBCCI seeks to empower Black Canadians and Black-led community organizations, address systemic barriers and anti-Black racism, and advance the full social and economic inclusion of Black Canadians into Canadian society. An External Reference Group, consisting of a Black-led ministerial advisory group, provides expertise and advice on SBCCI implementation, ensuring that priorities from Black communities are recognized.

In addition to SBCCI, the Government of Canada has established the Black-led Philanthropic Endowment Fund, providing a sustainable source of funding for Black-led, Black-focused, and Black-serving non-profit organizations and registered charities. With an endowment of $200 million, managed by the Foundation for Black Communities (FFBC), this fund aims to create a long-term, self-sustaining source of funding for Black community organizations.

The government remains committed to engaging with Black communities, incorporating feedback and ideas into policy and program development. Since 2019, close to $100 million has been committed to Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, marking a historic investment in addressing racism in the country.

The post A New Initiation Proposal: Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative appeared first on Black Wall Street Canada.

Click Here to Apply for the Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee

The Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee provides advice to City Council and serves as a convening table to advise on inter-government and institutional work on anti-Black racism in sectors such as education, child-welfare, policing and the justice system, housing, and employment. In doing so, the Committee can further build on the objectives of the Toronto Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism by supporting the implementation of the themes of the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent, namely, “Recognition, Justice, Development”.

Responsibilities of the Racism Advisory Committee

The mandate of the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee is to provide advice to City Council:

• To support the implementation of the principles of the International Decade for People of African Descent under the themes of Recognition, Development, and Justice
• On the elimination of barriers faced by Black communities and recommend City engagement to help improve access to provincial, federal, and community agency services and programs
• To ensure the interests and needs of Black communities are reflected in City programs and service delivery
• On emerging issues and trends of significance to Black communities as they relate to City services and programs
• In addition, the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee will enjoy a collaborative, cooperative and cohesive relationship with the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit’s Partnership and Accountability Circle

Composition of the Racism Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee is composed of 14 public members and one Member of City Council. The public members will include the following:

• 8 representatives of organizations working in such fields as (but not limited to) housing, healthcare, education, employment and entrepreneurship, child welfare, policing and the criminal justice system
• 3 elder members, who self-identify and represent the wisdom of Black communities
• 3 youth members between the ages of 18 to 29

Chair and co-chair

The Chair will be a Member of City Council. At its first meeting or as soon as possible after, the Advisory Committee will elect a member of the public as co-chair.

Term of office

Public members are appointed for a term coincident with the term of City Council. The Advisory Committee will meet until the completion of its mandate or the end of the current City Council term, whichever comes first.

Qualifications for the Racism Advisory Committee

In addition to the general eligibility requirements set out in the Public Appointments Policy, members should be comprised of community and policy leaders with lived experience and/or expertise in issues of Black communities’ and reflecting the diversity of Black communities, including:

• Housing, healthcare, education, employment and entrepreneurship, child-welfare, policing and the criminal justice system
• The elimination of barriers faced by Black communities to help improve access to provincial, federal, and community agency services and programs
• Efforts to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Black Torontonians as part of the City’s contributions to mark the International Decade for People of African Descent
• Emerging issues and trends of significance to Black communities as they relate to City services and programs
• How to ensure the interests and needs of Black communities are reflected in City programs and service delivery

Meetings for the Racism Advisory Committee

The advisory committee will meet up to four times per year at the call of the Chair. Meetings take place during business hours and will be approximately 2-3 hours.

Honorarium for being on the Racism Advisory Committee

• Public members of the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee receive an honorarium of $125 per meeting attended, to the maximum number of meetings specified in the Terms of Reference for this advisory body.
• Honoraria are not intended for members who serve on the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee as representatives of organizations or businesses where they are employed.

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When Michael Tulloch was a young Crown attorney appearing before Justice Patrick LeSage in Brampton in the early 1990s, the judge was so impressed that he sent Tulloch’s boss a note.

“I know I said to a number of people how good he was, how fair he was, how balanced he was, and how wise he was for a young man … and I forwarded a note to his superior just saying more or less what I just said to you,” said LeSage, who went on to become chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court and is now retired.

“And then over the years our paths would cross, and I watched his career and I continued to be impressed.”

Tulloch would go on to become a judge on the Superior Court and then on the Ontario Court of Appeal, becoming the first Black provincial appeal court judge.

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tulloch as the next president of the Court of the Appeal and Chief Justice of Ontario, the first Black person to hold the top job. He replaces Chief Justice George Strathy, who retired in August.

Described as a fair and brilliant jurist with experience as both a prosecutor and defence lawyer, who cares deeply about giving back to his community, Tulloch’s appointment drew immediate praise.

“I think he’ll bring diversity for one thing, and I think he’ll bring brilliance. He’s a very astute and brilliant gentleman,” said Toronto entrepreneur and civil rights activist Denham Jolly, who has known Tulloch for over 30 years.

Saying that Black people in the justice system have been “maligned and given the short end of the stick,” Jolly said Tulloch’s appointment “will send the message that there’s going to be fairness, as much as it’s in his ability.”

Born in Jamaica, Tulloch received his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and was admitted to the Ontario bar in 1991. He practised as a Crown attorney and then as a criminal defence lawyer prior to his appointment to Superior Court in 2003.

He was tapped by the previous Liberal provincial government to lead two major reviews on police oversight and police street checks, also known as carding.

His report on police oversight recommended far greater transparency from the Special Investigations Unit, the civilian watchdog that investigates police-involved deaths, at a time when full SIU reports into incidents were kept hidden from public view.

“The people of Ontario are entitled and deserve to know that, when it comes to the operation of police services in the province, justice is not only done, but is seen to be done,” Tulloch said when he released his report in 2017.

He recommended in 2018 that random street checks, where police would stop individuals and gather personal information, should be banned, finding the practice wasn’t very useful at preventing crime while disproportionately impacting racialized people.

“Those reports were essential reading for anyone who practises in the justice system, and it shows he has a keen understanding of how police interact with the public and how that can impact our confidence in the justice system,” said lawyer Daniel Brown, president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association.

Tulloch is not an “ivory tower kind of person,” said lawyer Danielle Robitaille, who was lead counsel on the police oversight review, where she said she got a sense of Tulloch’s deep humanity.

“He had this uncanny ability to connect with such a wide array of stakeholders,” she said. “He could make himself completely approachable in meetings involving police unions, and also meetings involving mothers of sons who had been shot dead by police.

“He was there to convey through his emotional intelligence that he was there to listen and to understand.”

Understanding and dealing with anti-Black racism is “one of the biggest challenges” facing the justice system, and Tulloch through his work “has begun us on a path of understanding and change,” said University of Windsor law professor David Tanovich in an email.

“With the stature of the position of Chief Justice, he will hopefully now have the clout to motivate all relevant actors to commit to understanding and take meaningful steps to ameliorate the corrosive effects of racism,” Tanovich said.

“I am hopeful that he will inspire more Black students, especially Black male students, to apply to law school. I am also hopeful that with his leadership and mentorship that we will see more Black lawyers applying to the bench.”

Outside of his work in courts, Tulloch co-founded the Second Chance Scholarship Foundation, to help young people who have come into conflict with the law complete post-secondary education.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am, and I’m not exaggerating,” said foundation president Rick Gosling, who has worked with Tulloch for over 30 years. “What’s so important is that the kids see themselves, and the community see themselves, on the bench like this in such a prominent role.”

As Tulloch prepares to take on his new role, LeSage has one main piece of advice, from one chief justice to another.

“Listen, listen, listen,” he said, both in terms of the litigants and colleagues. “And Michael does that very well. I believe he will continue doing that, and he will be a very, very good chief justice.”

CC: The Toronto Star

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