Schedule

10:00 AM

Welcome Remarks and Greetings from Mohamed Lachemi, President, Ryerson University

Welcome Remarks and Greetings from Pam Sugiman, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson University

10:10 AM

A rendition of For My Country, an original composition by Petty Officer Second Class Nevawn Patrick in honor of the men who served in the No. 2 Construction Battalion in the CEF in WWI, and the Black men and women who have served in the Canadian Armed Forces since then. Introduced by PO2 Patrick and performed (recording) by the Stadacona Band

INTERLUDE

10:20 AM - 11:50 AM

SESSION ONE

John Boileau (Feature Presentation) – "No. 2 Construction Battalion (aka The Black Battalion): A Short History." [view abstract]

Kimberly Head – “Get on the Boat, the Poet Wrote, and Go and Win the War: The Story of George Bolivar Shreve” [view abstract]

Melissa King – “Henry Thomas Shepherd” [view abstract]

Moderator: Hyacinth Simpson, Organizer and Host of Black Canada and the Great War, Associate Professor, Ryerson University

INTERLUDE

11:55 AM - 12:55 PM

SESSION TWO

Danielle Hargreaves-Pittman – “The Road to Prosperity: A Black Woman’s Activism during the Great War in Atlantic Canada” [view abstract]

Sean Flynn Foyn – “Pressing the Issues” [view abstract]

Moderator: Katelyn Stieva, PhD candidate University of New Brunswick

INTERLUDE

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

SESSION THREE

Karolyn Smardz Frost – “Reverend William Andrew White - The Acadia Years” [view abstract]

Dudley Brown – “W. Andrew White, Jr., The No. 2. Construction Battalion, and Black Citizenship” [view abstract]

Moderator: Hyacinth Simpson, Organizer and Host of Black Canada and the Great War, Associate Professor, Ryerson University

INTERLUDE

2:05 PM  - 2:45 PM

PANEL ON REV. WILLIAM A. WHITE

Panelists: John Boileau, Dudley Brown, George Elliott Clarke, Danielle Hargreaves-Pittman

Moderator: George Elliott Clarke, 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-2015) and 7th Parliamentary/Canadian Poet Laureate (2016-2017), Professor, University of Toronto

INTERLUDE

2:50 PM - 4:00 PM

SCREENING OF THE FILM: Honour Before Glory

4:05 PM - 4:45 PM

Post-screening talk and Q&A with audience

Anthony Sherwood – “Actor/Director/Producer” [view abstract]

Day 2

10:30 AM

Welcome Remarks and Greetings for Day 2

10:40 AM

Recitation of “They Trooped the Colours,” a poem written by George Elliott Clarke to honor the service of the men of the No. 2 Construction battalion and other Black men who served in the CEF in WW1. Introduced and performed by George Elliott Clarke

INTERLUDE

10:45 AM - 11:45 AM

SESSION ONE

Mathias Joost – “Black Servicemen Across the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1918” [view abstract]

Kathy Grant – “Band of Brothers: Featuring George William Stewart and Albert Carty” [view abstract]

Moderator: Ronald Cummings, Associate Professor, Department of English Language & Literature, Brock University

INTERLUDE

11:50 AM - 12:50 PM

SESSION TWO

Gord Heath – “An Opportunity Not to Be Missed: The Black Baptist and Methodist War Effort on the Canadian Home Front, 1914-1918” [view abstract]

Hyacinth Simpson – “Institutionalizing Care: The Third Jamaica Contingent, the Canadian Military Hospitals Commission, and Veteran Rehabilitation” [view abstract]

Moderator: Melanie Knight, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Ryerson University

INTERLUDE

12:55 PM - 1:55 PM

SESSION THREE

Natasha Henry – “Making it Count: Black Canadian Women Obtain the Right to Vote During the Great War” [view abstract]

Katelyn Stieva – “Belonging to the Coloured Race’: Exploring the First World War Service of New Brunswick’s Black Servicemen” [view abstract]

Moderator: Faizal Deen, Doctoral Candidate at Concordia University

INTERLUDE

2:00 PM  - 3:45 PM

SESSION FOUR

Vets On Vets: More Than a Century of Black Canadian Service

Presenters: Chuk Ezemenari, Kevin Junor, Darnel Leader, June Parris

Moderator: Scott Moody, Principal, Thomas Street Middle School, Mississauga, Ontario

CLOSING REMARKS AND THANKS