Viola Desmond Awards for outstanding Ryersonians

March 23, 2020

To be honoured at an event celebrating a Canadian civil rights icon and receive the award bearing a hockey pioneer name put television personality Namugenyi Kiwanuka in a space that felt like rare air.

She was the recipient of the Angela James Award at the 12th annual Viola Desmond celebration at Ryerson University on March 2.

The first Canadian female on the face of a banknote, Desmond is a National Historic Person and two schools in the Greater Toronto Area have her name.

Inducted in the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame a decade ago, James is the only Black to captain a national women’s hockey team and one of two Black women to have North American hockey arenas with their names. Flemingdon Park Area, where she learned to skate and hone her hockey skills, was renamed the Angela James Arena in June 2010.

“As a refugee who was mocked for being African and different, I never imagined I would be in this esteemed company,” Kiwanuka said. “This means everything to me.”

Fleeing Uganda’s Civil War in the early 1980s, she and her three siblings along their dad walked to Kenya – a distance of almost 700 miles – where they lived in a refugee camp before being sponsored to come to Canada.

Returning to Ryerson always fill the alumni award winner with pride as she graduated from the Journalism program in 1999.

It’s also a reminder that Kiwanuka’s life on campus wasn’t easy.

“During my first year, a teacher said, ‘Look at the person sitting beside you because they wouldn’t be here next year’,” she recounted. “There were about three or four students of colour in the class.”

Kiwanuka dropped out of school during her third year.

“I was working full-time and attending university and it was very challenging,” she said. “I went to Los Angeles to try to find myself, but I kept saying I had to come back to Ryerson and finish the program as it would be a piece of paper that would allow me to enter certain doors.”

Back in the classroom, Kiwanuka attended an event honouring Canadian television personality and urban music promoter Master T (Tony Young) who was a ‘Much Music’ VJ.

Encouraged by a close friend to approach him with a job request, she initially turned down the invitation.

“I was much too shy, but I succumbed after my friend insisted and Master T told me to call him on Monday and his producer would set up a meeting for me to have an interview,” said Kiwanuka. “I didn’t call because I didn’t take him seriously.”

Weeks later, she made the call only to be told that there was an opening at ‘Much Music’ which was filled.

Extremely disappointed with herself, Kiwanuka went to the extreme to reclaim the lost opportunity, calling the producer weekly for over a year to see if there were vacancies.

The persistence paid off.

“They called me in and I promised them I would do anything that was asked of me,” she said. “I was in my last year of university and one of the producers asked me if I would be interested in doing graphics for ‘Electric Circus’. I said ‘yes’ and I was trained for the position. That was my first paid gig at ‘Much Music’.

Living on her own since age 16 after she and her sister were kicked out of their home by their father, the multi-platform journalist hosts TVO’s ‘The Agenda in the Summer’ and has volunteered with War Child Canada, Journalists for Human Rights and the Canadian Red Cross.

Asked who she would dedicate the Angela James Award to if given the opportunity, Kiwanuka instantly named the late Sidney Tebbutt, who sponsored her family to come to Canada, and her two children, ages nine and seven.

“This woman, who I called Granny, didn’t even see a photo of us when she did what she did,” she said. “I felt loved and seen during the time I spent with her. As for my children, they keep me grounded. There are times when I don’t want to move and they remind me that I have to go forward. I survived my life so they can thrive.”

Olanike ‘Nikki’ Waheed also experienced some setbacks in her teenage years.

Failing to finish Grade 12 at Emery Collegiate Institute, she took some time off to regroup before applying as a mature student to George Brown College where she completed a diploma in Human Resources Administration.

“It’s OK to fail forward because what you see in front of you doesn’t determine the rest of your life,” she often tell students she sees in her capacity as a career education specialist at Ryerson University for the last four years.

Waheed was recognized with the Trey Anthony Award presented to a Ryerson staff member. Anthony was the first Black female to write and produce a television show, ‘Da Kink in My Hair’, for a major prime time Canadian station.

“For me to be acknowledged in this manner means so much,” she said. “It means the students I serve feel the impact of what I do and it says the institution that I serve is impacted by what I am doing.”

Committed to supporting the career and professional development of youths, newcomers and career transitioners, Montreal-born Waheed works with students, faculty and staff to prepare pupils and alumni for success in their post-graduation destinations.

“Seeing the multitude of new graduates who would come to job fairs seeking my advice because they didn’t know what to do with their degrees was what drew me to Ryerson and the position I am in,” she pointed out. “They don’t know their own value even though they have invested thousands of dollars and four years. To come out of that and not feel you have a place in the labour market isn’t fair as far I am concerned.”

Waheed’s work has resulted in the co-creation of the Social Sciences & Humanities Career Integrated Learning course and the introduction of co-operative education in the Faculty of Arts.

Dr. Beverly-Jean Daniel received the Rosemary Moodie Award reserved for a Ryerson faculty member. Moodie, a health care practitioner and former YWCA Toronto President, is a Canadian Senator.

“This honour is about celebrating the history of Viola Desmond who took a stand against racism,” said Daniel who migrated from Trinidad & Tobago at age 16 and completed high school at Parkdale Collegiate Institute before pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies. “The very idea that my name is attached to hers in any way, shape or form is an honour and privilege and it reminds me that the fight against injustice isn’t over.”

She joined Ryerson three ago after teaching at Humber College’s School of Social & Community Services where she developed a landmark program, The Bridge, which fosters and encourages students’ success. Ryerson has implemented the program that provides opportunities for students to enhance their academic skills, levels of engagement and involvement with existing services to help increase their retention and graduation.”

An Assistant Professor in Ryerson’s Child & Youth Care program, Daniel’s research focuses on the factors that foster healthy racial identity amongst Black youth and the role of Child and Youth Care practitioners in supporting positive identity development amongst marginalized families whose children have been taken into care. She’s also engaged in research on Black student engagement and retention

“Working at Ryerson allows me to look at how we challenge racism within the context of child and youth care,” said Daniel who provides support for immigrant and refugee mothers in Etobicoke and has developed training material for the City of Toronto’s Confronting Anti-Back Racism Unit. “For me, it is really about how do I take care of and support my community while doing the work I enjoy doing.”

Latoya Powell was the proud student recipient of the Joan Jones Award. Jones, who passed away last year, played a significant role in the establishment of the civil rights movement in Nova Scotia.

Born and raised in Calgary, Powell is a fourth-year Journalism student.

“When I was looking at universities to attend, Ryerson stood out because its journalism program is considered among the best in Canada,” she said.

Powell’s career goal is to amplify Black voices.

Martingrove Collegiate Institute Grade 12 student Huda Nur was presented with the Viola Desmond Award while aspiring medical physicist Yanique Brandford was the recipient of the Viola Desmond bursary.

Completing high school at Notre Dame Catholic in Brampton, Brandford attended the University Health Network’s Michener Institute of Education before joining Ryerson.

“I was required to do a year at a university while pursuing radiation therapy studies at Michener,” said the fourth-year student who graduates in June and has applied to pursue a Master’s in Biomedical Physics at Ryerson. “I came to this university, liked the medical physics program and stuck with it. With supportive teachers and great peer support groups, I just love the community on campus.”

Growing up in Jamaica without access to some basic hygiene needs prompted Brandford to start ‘Help A Girl Out’ in 2018

“Access to essential products, such as sanitary pads, were a luxury in Jamaica,” she said. “With most of the short supply of funds available used for food, transportation, school books and other necessities, there was no money to buy sanitary napkins. This led to the use of paper, cardboard, plastic and a range of means to satisfy my needs. After coming to Canada, I realized that 'Period Poverty' was a struggle that existed worldwide and not only in underdeveloped countries.”