It’s no exaggeration that this past season has been fraught with unforeseen challenges for everyone. There were also many times this past summer when a bright sunbeam would slip through a fissure in the dark clouds of uncertainty. Meeting Lane Smith was one of them. Amidst all of the challenges of curtailed summer activities, 11-year-old Lane began thinking of ways to make a … [Read more...] about Kids connecting through love of reading
Library books for kids heading to Jamaica
In February, 2012, Jodie Godwin, her 12-year-old daughter Leah and I had the opportunity to visit Jamaica. The purpose of the trip was to meet the families of the men who worked on farms in our neighbourhood back home. It had been a whirlwind tour, and after 10 days we arrived in the parish of St. Mary. Slightly disoriented after a dizzying day of traveling on … [Read more...] about Library books for kids heading to Jamaica
Black history is NOTL’s history
NOTL could lead the push for change at the federal level Until the last quarter century, most of early Black history in Niagara-on-the-Lake was buried in obscure documents or barely acknowledged by one of our town’s foremost historians, William Kirby. The following two events have survived the whitewashing of much of our history, and presently we take great pride in … [Read more...] about Black history is NOTL’s history
Farm worker struggles to get permanent resident status
It never gets easier. There is a price to be paid for families that are separated for eight months of the year. Three of those seasonal workers will not return home, having died from COVID-19 contracted while working on farms in other areas of Ontario. In Niagara-on-the-Lake, workers have so far remained safe. The men and women working here on the temporary foreign … [Read more...] about Farm worker struggles to get permanent resident status
One migrant worker’s experience when he arrived here in Niagara
There has been much in the news lately regarding the systemic racism which most of us who have grown up in a white dominated culture have been blissfully unaware of, yet benefited from. We have a lot to process, especially when the institutions which we relied on for education and spiritual guidance have remained silent, insisting that there was no such thing as systemic … [Read more...] about One migrant worker’s experience when he arrived here in Niagara