Toronto Metropolitan University launches the Black Scholarship Institute to Re-Claim, Re-Awaken and Re-Imagine!

BY PAUL JUNOR

On Thursday, November 5^th, 2023, the Toronto Metropolitan University launched the Black Scholarship Institute (BSI). The BSI was one of three recommendations that came out of the Anti-Black Racism Climate Report released in 2020.

It was based on feedback from African Canadian, Black and Caribbean students, faculty and staff regarding the unwelcoming and negative environment they encountered as manifestations of anti-Black racism on campus. It was after the formation of the Presidential Implementation Committee to Confront Anti-Black Racism by President Mohamed that one of the three working groups (the Faculty Working Group) decided to establish the BSI. The overall goals will see the BSI involved in strategies and tools to dismantle anti-Black racism.

The BSI is a pan-university initiative based in the Faculty of Community Services and is mandated to amplify and expand the work of Black scholars, as well as embed Afro-centric learning, scholarly practice and epistemologies across disciplines. It will be housed in the Faculty of Community Services located in the Sally Horsfall Eaton Centre for Studies in Community Health.

The BSI is currently involved in consultations with diverse stakeholders in order to map the future of Black Scholarship. The website notes, “Your insights, experiences, and perspectives are crucial in informing the Institute’s goals, programs and practices. Your involvement can help ensure that the Institute meets the needs of the Black scholarly community.”

The Interim Director of the BSI is Dr. Grace-Camille Munroe, who earned a doctoral degree in Adult Education and Community Development from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education located at the University of Toronto. Her areas of interest focus on the involvement of parents in the education of their children in Jamaica with specific focus on the psycho-social and environmental factors that motivate parents to become involved in the education of their children.

She has held several leadership positions such as: Former Deputy Executive Director and Director for Education Services at Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning; Lead Research Consultant at the Caribbean Policy Research Institute/UNICEF; Lead Research and Curriculum Development Specialist at the National Family Planning Board; Senior Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information in Jamaica; Fellow at the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning; Manager, Research, Operations & Projects at the Lifelong Leadership Institute; Manager, Projects and Operations, Presidential Implementation Committee to Combat Anti-Black Racism.