Viola Desmond Awards and Bursary Ceremony recognizes professor Stephanie Latty and student Naomi Wokocha for outstanding community impact

Viola Desmond, renowned Canadian civil rights activist and businesswoman, is remembered for her unyielding efforts in challenging racial discrimination. A multifaceted figure of Black Canadian history, Desmond was also a successful entrepreneur—operating a beauty school where she educated and employed young Black women. 

Desmond’s resistance to the implicit forms of racial segregation entrenched in Canadian society helped mobilize a bourgeoning civil rights movement supported by other Black leaders and activists. Desmond’s legacy testifies to her fortitude and resilience yet reminds Canadians that change is a slow and unfinished project. 

In honour of her legacy, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)’s Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion (OVPECI) recognizes and bolsters the achievements, labour, creative and critical contributions of Black women and gender-diverse people for their impact on TMU’s community. This year, the Viola Desmond Awards Planning Committee partnered with the Lincoln Alexander School of Law for the 16th annual Viola Desmond Awards and Bursary Ceremony.

Accepting the award on Stephanie Latty’s behalf, professor and Criminology Graduate Program Director Joshua Price remarked on Latty’s invaluable contributions to the African-Canadian community, support of Black faculty, and extensive work in human rights and anti-racist scholarship—particularly noting her work documenting and working to stop deaths in custody and scholarship on strip searching of Black women and girls in Canada. 

Latty was also recognized for her positive impact on her students and fellow faculty members at TMU. “Reading her students’ comments about how much she meant in their lives was a gratifying experience,” Price remarked. “As a colleague, she’s inspiring to work with and displays intellectual acumen and imagination. She continually motivates me to think more deeply, ambitiously and creatively about what the classroom space could be.”  

Latty’s community work and academic scholarship exemplify Viola Desmond's tenacity and dedication. Latty’s critical voice and scholarship reached the audience of academics, students, and community members at the ceremony, who applauded and celebrated her impact and accomplishments, resounding hope, and unyielding determination.

Naomi Wokocha is completing her honours bachelor's degree at TMU, double-majoring in English and Philosophy with a minor in Criminology. Wokocha’s impressive academic career has included working with TMU’s PreMedical Society and Research Ethics Board, the Student Initiative Fund, and as a research assistant for the Philosophy and History departments. “I would say my work as a research assistant with the TMU History department's EDI committee was the most transformative,” remarked Wokocha. “It introduced me to the significance of EDI in academic and professional spaces, helped me gain experience in research, and learn so much about quality improvement.” Wokocha’s involvement was supported by TMU’s faculty, who recognized her potential and emboldened her continual pursuit of equity and excellence. Wokocha reflects, “The professors I worked with, especially Dr. Jennifer Tunnicliffe and Dr. Melanie Knight, were so encouraging and gave me so much room to learn.”

Wokocha’s interest in equity-centred research and bioethics has informed her dedication to exploring the ethical challenges within the healthcare system. Wokocha’s critical insights flourished in the bioethics department of SickKids, where she worked as a student researcher developing a quality improvement research project and clinical ethics internship at William Osler Health System. Wokocha continues to appeal to her interest in epistemology and moral philosophy in championing equity-deserving groups, Black maternal health, health equity and policy. Recently, Wokocha has begun working as a research assistant for TMU’s Canadian Excellence Research Chair in Health Equity and Community Wellbeing, where she is exploring Indigenous Disability Health.