Eternity Martis receives Viola Desmond award

Eternity Martis, journalist, author and new j-school staff member, was recently awarded a Ryerson Alumna Viola Desmond award.

The ceremony, which took place on March 21 awarded Martis and five other recipients during a two-hour online ceremony.

President Lachemi congratulated the recipients, saying, “When I look at the awards recipients today, I see inspiration and hope.”

In her acceptance speech, Martis spoke about her experience finding her identity as a Black woman and journalist in an industry not known for its diversity. 

“I just had this drive to actually do the work, talk about race, talk about gender, because I was writing about it when nobody really was in journalism in 2010, 2011, 2012. You weren’t supposed to write about race. You weren’t supposed to talk about race, and as a journalist it wasn’t considered newsworthy, so to be here and be honoured for that feels incredible.”

In her nomination for Martis, Janice Neil said that Martis “has been promoting issues that matter to Black Canadians and telling stories that Canadian society needs to be hearing and acting on. She is the modern manifestation of Viola Desmond’s courageous and uncompromising quest for social justice, and an end to anti-Black racism. She is the perfect choice for this award.”

The Viola Desmond awards focus on the celebration, achievements and appreciation of Black women across the university. Award recipients are positive role models and advocates for Black communities across the country.

Before closing her speech, Martis spoke about the importance of this award.

“This award ceremony is so important because there are not a lot of spaces for us to just be open and celebrate Black excellence and Black woman excellence. We’re going through the day every day with these oppressions on us, and so to have this space to honour what we do, especially in industries like mine where the work that we do is rarely ever celebrated and we can hang up that stereotype of being strong all the time and having to have everything put together, we can come together and celebrate each other. Because I think one of the best things about being in this industry and being a Black woman is that we uplift each other, so this is the space where we get to do it and it’s a space just for us.”