About John G. Dennison Award
The Black History Ottawa board created this award in 2014 to showcase an individual or organization exemplifying the excellence for which the late citizenship judge, John Dennison was known, in the promotion of Canadian black history and culture. Mr. Dennison, who passed away on January 14, 2014, was a staunch supporter of Black History Ottawa for many years, and this is our way of acknowledging his legacy and reminding the community of his great work in the area of multiculturalism.
John attended the Queen’s College of Guyana.
He held a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Laurentian University in Sudbury, and a Master’s degree in Political Science from Carleton University. John was the first black person appointed as Citizenship Judge for Ottawa on June 4, 2012. He had over 25 years of experience working on multiculturalism related issues in the Government of Canada, including at Citizenship and Immigration and Canadian Heritage. He was the Founding Chairman of Cathedral Arts, the performing and visual arts programme of Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa. He has served on the Ottawa Public Library Board Foundation and volunteered with a number of community organizations in Ottawa.
John is the recipient of a number of awards including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award Medal; Lignum Vitae Award from the National Institute of Jamaican Canadians for outstanding leadership in the Ottawa community; Community Builder Award, from United Way of Ottawa, for contributing to the engagement of the Black community in the arts in Ottawa; and, Award of Excellence, from the North American Black Historical Museum and Society Inc., for exceptional contribution to improving awareness and appreciation of Black Canadian Heritage.
He is survived by his sisters: June, Joye and Vivienne; brothers Courtney and Kenneth; only niece, Carol; nephews Richard, Charles, Ronald, and Mark and a number of great nieces and great nephews and Godchildren.
2025 recipients: Dr. Rosemary Sadlier
To recognize her decades of excellence, leadership and advocacy to elevate Canada’s Black History and the manner in which it is showcased, including in her work with the Ontario Black History Society, the national Mathieu Da Costa Challenge for Canadian Heritage, and the Canada Post Stamp Advisory Committee.
Dr. Rosemary Sadlier, OOnt
Rosemary Sadlier OOnt (Order of Ontario) is a social justice advocate, researcher, writer, consultant, and internationally renowned speaker on Black History, anti-racism, and women’s issues. She is the past President, serving for 22 years as the volunteer leader of the Ontario Black History Society – being the driving force of the secured commemoration of February as Black History Month at all levels of government; she helped to secure the observance of August 1st as Emancipation Day municipally in 1995, provincially in 2008, and nationally in 2021. She saw to the creation of the national day for the Hon. Lincoln Alexander.
She has given deputations to the UN Rapporteur on Race Relations, the Federal and Provincial Governments and on consultative work with the Royal Ontario Museum, The Ward heritage interpretative group, the Bi-National Study of the Underground Railroad and heritage conferences. Previously, she served on the final selection committee of the national Mathieu Da Costa Challenge for Canadian Heritage and the Canada Post Stamp Advisory Committee. An educator, she has developed or contributed to African Canadian curriculum, national exhibits and she was an appointed member of the College of Early Childhood Educators. An author, Sadlier has written 7 books on African Canadian history. A consultant, she effects diversity and inclusion projects, and she recently was appointed Equality Lead for the Americas and the Caribbean with the Royal Commonwealth Society. Sadlier is dedicated to social justice and using the frame of Black History, seeks to educate and empower others. In 2024, for her advocacy and leadership in advancing Black history and heritage, and in promoting anti-racism, Sadlier will receive a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from the University of Toronto.
2024 recipient: Elise Harding-Davis
In recognition of her advocacy, leadership and excellence in showcasing Canada’s Black History through educational initiatives including activities linked to the Amherstburg Freedom Museum and the Nazrey African Methodist Episcopal Church National Historic Site, and other heritage sites.
Elise Harding-Davis is an African Canadian Heritage Consultant and accomplished historian, advocate, author, speaker, and educator.
A seventh generation African-Canadian from Windsor, Ontario, Elise Harding-Davis has spent her entire career seeking to elevate positive Black history — “the Black thread in the Canadian tapestry. She’s made it her mission to uplift Black stories and heritage, changing the way we all think about Canadian history. For over forty-five years, as both a volunteer and professional, she has been involved in efforts to preserve, promote, and educate the public about African-Canadian heritage in Ontario.Her family has been in Canada since 1798 and her great great-grandfather was a slave in Missouri where he was born in 1823. In 1961, her father – Morris Harding was a Master Electrical contractor who passed away in 1989 – did installations at Parliament Building in Ottawa. He also trained his daughter, Shelley-Lynne Harding-Smith, who was Canada’s first Black female master electrician.
Ms. Harding-Davis served as the Curator/Administrator of the Freedom Museum, previously known as the North American Black History Museum, from 1976 to 2008. Through her leadership of the Freedom Museum, Harding-Davis was the first Black female curator of an accredited museum in Canada. She taught the first Black Studies course at St. Clair College in 1993 and served as Executive Administrator at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor for six years.
The author of ‘The Black Presence in the War of 1812’ that uncovers incredible stories of Black military volunteers in North America.
Ms. Harding-Davis has written four letters to Canadian Prime Ministers seeking an apology for slavery in Canada, the last in June 2020 to Justin Trudeau being the only one that the office has acknowledged receiving. Her petition requesting a national apology for over 200 years of chattel enslavement of Black people in Canada has garnered over 2,000 signatures. https://www.change.org/p/apologize-for-slavery-in-canada She was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2022.
2023 recipients: Sylvia Parris-Drummond
Sylvia is the CEO of the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute. Her work in education and the community is rooted in core Africentric Principles. She has a successful history of collaboration with the communities and stakeholders with whom she has worked.
Through her extensive public sector involvement, Ms. Parris-Drummond has gained a deep understanding and appreciation for what it takes to conduct policy analysis, oversee publishing projects, and develop and implement education, multicultural and diversity programs.
Known for getting things done in a thoughtful, respectful and engaging way, she has been actively involved across a broad range of community initiatives and organizations such as Akoma Family Centre and Holdings, FEEDNS, the NS Early Childhood Intervention Services, the Black Business Initiative Community Investment Fund and the NS Mass Choir. She has worked for both municipal (Halifax Regional Municipality) and provincial governments (Departments of Education and Justice) as well as the Nova Scotia Community College. Sylvia is proud that during her time at provincial government she founded and was supported by sistahs to develop the African Canadian Women in the Public Service (ACWPS).
Ms. Parris-Drummond holds a Masters of Arts in Life Long Learning – Africentricity (MSVU), a Masters of Education – Curriculum (St. Mary’s), and a Bachelor of Science, Home Economics / Education (St. Francis Xavier).
2022 recipients: Dr. Dorothy W. Williams
Dr. Dorothy Williams is a historian, author and researcher who specializes in the history of Black Canadians. Through her public presentations, her work with the National Film Board of Canada and her efforts to make resources related to the historical presence of Black Canadians more widely available, she has expanded the cultural and historical heritage of our country.
Dr. Williams grew up in the historic Black community of Little Burgundy in Montreal. She published her first book, Blacks in Montreal, 1628-1986: An Urban Demography, at the behest of the Quebec Human Rights Commission in1989 for their studyon racism in Montreal’s housing market. Her second book, The Road to Now: A History of Blacks in Montreal, published in 1997, remains the only chronological study of Blacks on the island of Montreal.
With the objective of making Black history accessible to all, Dr. Williams founded the non-profit organization Ethnocultural Diffusions to collect the oral history of Blacks in Montreal, and she created The ABC’s of Canadian Black History Kit to promote the teaching of Black history in Canadian schools. She also teaches the extremely popular Concordia University course Black Montreal, which aims to dispel myths and misconceptions around Black history in Montreal.
Dr. Williams has been recognized with many awards, including the Mathieu da Costa Award and the E. J. Josey Scholarship. Then, in 2002, she was made a Quebec Laureate and received the Anne Greenup Award for the fight against racism and the promotion of civic participation. In 2022, she was given the John G. Dennison Award for her “research, scholarly publications, teaching and public speaking engagements showcasing Canada’s Black History.”
For revealing Quebec’s Black history to the world, in 2022, Dr. Williams was honoured as the subject of the first exhibition in the AfroMusee/ Afro Canadian Museum, Quebec’s first Black museum.
2021 recipients: Bryan & Shannon Prince
Bryan and Shannon Prince have dedicated their careers to the preservation and celebration of Black history, not only in their town of North Buxton, but across Canada and the United States. Their work with the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum, which focuses on preserving Black history has earned them accolades including their appointment to the Order of Canada in 2023. Both sixth generation descendants of freed slaves in the Elgin Settlement and Buxton Mission, Bryan and Shannon Prince have been long-time members of the museum. Shannon has been a curator at the museum since 1999 while Bryan, her husband, has been a board member for several decades. Shannon announced her retirement from the museum in early December 2023.
The Buxton National Historic Site and Museum aims to “collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret historical artifacts” related to the town’s history, according to the museum’s website. North Buxton, a town in the municipality of Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario, began as a community by and for freed African-American slaves escaping to Canada.
In addition to their work with the museum, The Princes are members of several organizations in Canada and the US. The Ontario’s Underground Railroad Alliance, the African Canadian Heritage Network, York University’s Harriet Tubman Institute and joint projects with Millersville University in Pennsylvania and the advisory board for Chatham-Kent Tourism are a few of the initiatives the Princes are involved with. The Princes have also lectured about Black history and its preservation at several universities in Ontario and the US. They are also organizers of an annual conference that brings together scholars from across North America, the Canadian/US Black History and Genealogy Conference.
Their appointment to the Order of Canada highlights their commitment to the documentation, preservation and celebration of Black history, specifically history related to the Underground Railroad in southwestern Ontario. Bryan is also the author of I Came As a Stranger: The Underground Railroad and A Shadow on the Household. It tells the story of slaves escaping to freedom in Canada based around the nearly 40, 000 individuals who made their way to Canada through the Underground Railroad. As a historical storyteller, Shannon also played a key role in the theatre production of Rainbows and Wings, which tells the story of John Brown’s failed attempt to overthrow slavery.
2020 recipients: George and Darril Fosty
George Fosty is a Canadian historian, documentary filmmaker and publisher. He is the president and founder of Stryker-Indigo New York. George is the co-author/author of nine books: “Sustaining The Wings: A 50-Year History of Sheppard AFB, 1941-1991” (1991) , “The Desperate Glory: The Battle of Dieppe, 1942” (1991), “Splendid Is The Sun: The 5,000 Year History of Hockey “(2003), “Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925” (2004), “Footie’s Black Book: A Guide To International Association Football” (2010), “Short Lines: The Poems Of A Railroad Trackman 1979-1987” (2010), “Where Brave Men Fall: The Battle Of Dieppe And The Espionage War Against Hitler, 1939-1942” (2013), Tribes: An International Hockey History (2014), and “Creating Excellence: Inside the World of Stryker-Indigo” (2014).
His writings also appear in the book, “Multiple Lenses: Voices From The Diaspora In Canada” (2007). In the early 1990s he worked as a Military Historian for the United States Air Force documenting the history of the USAAF and its predecessor, the U.S. Army Air Corps. He is a leading expert on the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, an all-black hockey league that existed in Eastern Canada from 1895 to 1931. In 2007, he was featured in the ESPN documentary “Frozen Out”. He is a founder and president of the Society of North American Historians And Researchers (SONAHR) www.sonahrsports.com as well as the Black Ice Hockey And Sports Hall of Fame Conference and the Black Ice Project.
In 1991 he served as a historical consultant on two NBC military documentaries: “Early Aviation In North Texas” and “Sheppard’s Medical Air Evacuation-Vietnam”. He has produced four hockey documentary pilots including: “All Or Nothing” (1998), and “Ice Wars: A Hockey History” (1999). He produced/co-wrote “Black Ice: The Documentary”, winner of the Best Short Film Award at the 2008 Roxbury International Film Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2019, Book Authority selected “Black Ice” as one of the top 37 (#28) ice hockey books of all-time.
2019 recipient: Lynn Jones
Gladys Lynn Jones (who goes by Lynn) is an African-Canadian woman born and raised in Truro, Nova Scotia. Lynn was raised by her parents, Willena and Elmer Jones, in a large family, which includes her brother, lawyer and activist Burnley Allan “Rocky” Jones. Her grandfather was Jeremiah Jones, a decorated World War I veteran. Growing up, Lynn was active in her local church, a musician, and an athlete (competing in the 1969 Canada Summer Games).
Lynn came to Halifax, Nova Scotia in the early 1970s, where she studied at Dalhousie University through the Transition Year Program (TYP), and earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree. She then pursued a long career as a Federal Public Service employee, working at the Canadian Employment Centre. During this time, Lynn became an active union member and advocate, and the first Black person to join the executive ranks of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). She was also a National Vice-President of the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU). As part of the CLC delegation, in 1994, Lynn traveled to South Africa as an election observer in the first free elections (which saw the election of Nelson Mandela). In 1993 Lynn became the first Canadian-born African Canadian women to run in a Canadian Federal Election, as the New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in the Halifax riding.
Throughout her life, Lynn has been active in the pursuit of justice, working tireless for many causes and organizations that seek to eradicate racism, secure human rights, and achieve fair labour practices. She has been honoured with many awards including the Queen’s Medal, the Congress of Black Women of Canada’s Women of Excellence award, and the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour Human Rights Award. In 2016, she was recognized with an Honorary Doctorate from Acadia University. Since her retirement from Public Service in 2011, Lynn continues to be active. She is currently the Chair of the Global African Congress (Nova Scotia Chapter), which seeks reparations for the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Lynn Jones African-Canadian and Diaspora Heritage Collection
Fonds consists of material relating to the life and accomplishments of Lynn Jones, members of her family and community as well as material collected by her that documents over 50 years of African-Nova Scotian, African, and African Diaspora heritage and history.
The Collection documents Lynn’s family, her own achievements (Lynn’s candidacy for the NDP, union service, election observer work in South Africa, Canadian Public Service career, and involvement with the Black Working Group), and those of her brother Rocky.
The Collection also documents local, national, and international people, history and issues through a substantive collection of news clippings, pamphlets, brochures, posters, and other materials. These record local communities (especially in Truro, Nova Scotia), local events, struggles against racism locally, nationally, and internationally, and Black community organizations such as the Black Working Group set up to advise Human Resources and Development Canada on how to work with the African-Canadian community.
2018 recipient: Natasha Henry
Natasha Henry is an educator, historian and curriculum consultant specializing in the development of learning materials that focus on the African diasporic experience. In 2017, she was elected president of the Ontario Black History Society.She is the author of Firsts (2014), which was awarded the Gold Medal Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Multicultural Non-Fiction as part of the Sankofa Black Heritage Collection. Natasha is also the author of The African Diaspora (2015), Early Societies: Africa, China, and Europe (2013), Talking About Freedom: Celebrating Freedom in Canada (2012) and Emancipation Day: Celebrating Freedom in Canada (2010). Natasha has written several entries for The Canadian Encyclopedia on African Canadian history. Natasha has developed the educational resources for several exhibits and web-based projects on the Black experience in Canada, including the CBC miniseries The Book of Negroes.
2017 recipient: Thomas Barber
Thomas Barber is a freelance writer and historical researcher whose work on early Ottawa Black History has appeared in The Ottawa Citizen, The Ottawa Sun, and Pan African Publications. He has done mainstream and community television and radio interviews on CBC, CTV Ottawa, CHIN, and CHUO 89.1FM. Additionally, he has made presentations to various community and government organizations, historical societies, church groups and schools about early Ottawa Black history. His display panels have been loaned to various institutions, including the University of Quebec (Hull). These panels include various newspaper accounts, maps and photos regarding early Ottawa Blacks and the White community, along with census information of 1901.
For the last several years, Tom has collaborated with Black History Ottawa at events such as the annual Heritage Day event at Ottawa City Hall.
Most recently he was successful in putting forward a proposal to the City of Ottawa regarding a street name change in Lower town that changed a section of the former ‘Clarence Street’ to ‘Barber Street’, in honour of his grandfather Paul Barber, a former Kentucky slave who settled in Ottawa in the 1880s.
Tom graduated with a B.A. Honors (History) and a B. Soc. Sc. Honors (Sociology) from the University of Ottawa
About Tom's ancestor, Paul Barber:
Born into slavery in Kentucky, in 1848, Paul Barber learned to train and care for horses on his owner’s farms. By the time he came to Ottawa in the late 1880s, he was a highly skilled horseman who was sought out by the city’s élites to train their prized horses. Barber became one of Ottawa’s first Black permanent residents. His marriage in 1892 to Elizabeth Brown of Renfrew is the first known interracial marriage in the city. Settling in Sandy Hill, the Barbers had five children, and their descendants thrive in Ottawa to this day. In 2016, a section of Clarence Street in Lowertown was renamed Barber Street in tribute to Paul Barber.
2016 recipient: Ms. Kathy Grant
Kathy Grant is a public historian and senior administrator. Since making a promise to her ailing father, a WWII veteran, to highlight the stories of Black veterans she has initiated a number of war legacy initiatives.
For the past decade Kathy has devoted her efforts to documenting, digitizing and videotaping the stories of Black Canadian veterans. She places an emphasis on interviewing veterans, inviting participation from the loved ones of deceased veterans, public engagement, and connecting Black veteran stories to Canadian history.
Kathy’s approach has resonated with numerous stakeholders. She has collaborated with the Canadian War Museum, Library and Archives Canada, Department of National Defence, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Veteran Affairs Canada.
Her Facebook page, dedicated to this initiative, receives half million views per year. Moreover, Kathy has made educational presentations to municipalities, schools, and community organizations in order to promote inclusive storytelling and historical documentation.
Her efforts were formally acknowledged in 2012, when Kathy received a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award. Given the current WWI centenary commemoration, and upcoming centenary of the Number 02 Construction Battalion (a segregated black battalion) and Canada’s Sesquicentennial, Kathy is currently mounting a commemorative project inclusive of a travelling exhibition, website, and community-based talks.Kathy Grant is being recognized by Black History Ottawa for her public history initiatives focusing on Canadian Black military history. She has been doing all this amazing work at her own expense on a volunteer basis for almost a decade. Her work has helped black youth better understand the contributions of our black veterans.
2015 (inaugural) recipient: Mr. Robert Dawson
Born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Bob Dawson excelled in baseball, basketball and hockey. With respect to the latter, he attended Saint Mary’s University in Halifax in 1967 and became the “first Black” to play in the Atlantic Intercollegiate Hockey League (AIHL) as it was then known. Later, Darrell Maxwell (1969) and Percy Paris (1970) joined him, making Saint Mary’s the “first and only Canadian university” to have 3 Black players on the same team and at the same time.
While at Saint Mary’s, Bob helped the Huskies compile an impressive record of 72 wins against 13 losses. The team won consecutive AIHL conference championships in 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1971, and represented the league from 1969 to 1971 at the Canadian Intercollegiate
Hockey Championships.
Rather than pursing a career in hockey, Bob went on to Dalhousie University where he graduated in 1973 with a Masters Degree in Social Work. After graduating, he joined the Federal Public Service of Canada where he worked in human resources management in the areas of staffing, employment equity and diversity, and career development. Given his passion for hockey, Bob played in the Halifax Intermediate Hockey League where he was selected a First Team All-Star in 1978-79.
In 1981, Bob and his family moved to Ottawa where he continued his career in the Federal Public Service of Canada. He resumed his love for hockey and played for 15 years with the highly successful Ottawa Travellers, which featured several former university and professional players. To this day, he continues to play hockey in Ottawa in the Ottawa Senior and Kanata Masters Hockey Leagues. In February 2012, during an event on “Reclaiming Our Black Ice Hockey History”, the Black Ice Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame Society in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia recognized Bob for his achievements in and contributions to hockey.
In recognition of his important contributions in employment equity and diversity in the Federal Public Service of Canada, Bob received the Public Service Commission of Canada’s Excellence and Bravo Awards and the Public Service of Canada’s Michelle Comeau HR Leadership Award.
While living in Ottawa, Bob has served on Boards of Directors (Ottawa-Carleton Area Police Community Council, National Capital Alliance on Race Relations), and worked with community groups/organizations and law enforcement agencies on various issues such as employment equity and diversity, race relations, and police – community relations. As a member of the he helped develop the “Community Partners in Action Strategy” for the prevention, management, and resolution of critical incidents involving the police, visible minority and Aboriginal or First Nation communities.
Bob helped in planning and organizing an international hockey conference (Constructing the Hockey Family: Home, Community, Bureaucracy and Marketplace) at Saint Mary’s in Halifax, Nova Scotia in July 2012. He subsequently planned, organized, and moderated panel discussions on Black hockey that dealt with topics on Hockey and The Black Community, Black Ice: A Retrospective on The Colored League of the Maritimes, and Hockey and The Black Experience. Now retired, Bob is a senior sports writer for Box Score World Sportswire, a division of Stryker-Indigo New York Publishing, Inc. He has written a number of articles on different sports-related issues and topics. Of particular note are the following articles on blacks and hockey – A Chronology of Racism in Hockey, 1958-2014, Soul on Ice: Blacks and Historic Firsts in Hockey, Soul on Ice: A Retrospective on Blacks and the NHL, A Season to Remember for Blacks and the NHL, Making Hockey History: Blacks in the 2013 NHL Playoffs, P.K. Subban, Hockey’s Newest Trailblazer, The Way It Was: Black Players Locked Out of the NHL 1961-1974, A Retrospective on the NHL and Ethnic Diversity, History of Black Hockey Players in Europe, and The NHL’s Black Trailblazers. In addition to writing, he has appeared on local TV and radio shows to talk about issues on blacks and hockey. Bob is a member of the Ottawa Independent Writers and the North American Society for Sport History. In addition, he is on the Executive Board of SONAHHR (Society of North American Hockey Historians and Researchers) as well as the organization’s Black Ice Project. He is also one of the founding members of the Black Ice Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame Conference in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
