All posts on 2021

At 17 years-old former Montrealer Zhane Williams-Deshong carved out for himself a path towards his life-dreams, which is becoming a commercial airline pilot. Williams-Deshong, who relocated to Concord, North Carolina when he was 12 years old, recently earned his private pilot’s license following a stringent training and study regime first with the North Carolina Civil Air Patrol then through a local flight school where he earned the required 40+ hours necessary to sit his ‘checkride’ exam. The examination known also as the Practical Test is a must for every aspiring pilot seeking certification in the USA. It placed Williams-Deshong in …

Karim Fall (LJI) Joel Anthony has had success at multiple levels in his playing career from college to the NBA. Now he is hoping to recreate some of those accomplishments with the new Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) franchise the Montreal Alliance as their inaugural general manager. His appointment, which was made public at a news conference at Dawson College on December 8, provoked quite a lot of excitement among Montreal’s basketball community, which has produced a lot of successful players at the college level as well as in the NBA. Joel Anthony isn’t new to the CEBL which has …

“I miss him… I miss him… I miss him,” laments Charla Dopwell as she contemplates Christmas and the holidays without her son Jannai. The 16-year-old was accosted by three other teenagers and stabbed to death on October 18, just outside his school, Programme Mile End, located at the campus of Coronation Elementary on Van Horne in Cote des Neiges. Ms. Dopwell says it’s difficult for her to even think about putting up a Christmas tree or making any preparation for the festive season, knowing that her baby boy will not be part of it. “He loved Christmas,” she pines. “And …

Marci Ien considers it a perfect fit: her appointment as minister for Women, Gender Equality and Youth and her commitment to the issues that motivated her to get involved in politics. “Ever since entering politics, I’ve been very clear about who I’m and why I chose to run.” says the former broadcast journalist who is only the second Black female cabinet minister in Canada. “I did it because of George Floyd, and so I’m always trying to bring my perspectives and policies that are important to me to the table,” She says one of her priorities is to stay focused …

As an increasing number of helping agencies across the city struggle to meet the demands of needy Montrealers, Union United Church Food Bank is more than ready to meet its obligations to marginalized, low-income families, the homeless, newcomers, and seniors as the holidays approach. Sven Telemaque, outreach director at the church says between 85 and 100 families “that differ in ethnicity, faith and race” benefit from the food bank’s offerings weekly and everything is in place to ensure that the support will continue over the coming weeks. He lauds ongoing assistance from several organizations in the area such as Moisson …

Rosie Awori (LJI) With the holiday season in full swing, officials are enacting measures to try and curb the spread of the newest COVID-19 variant, omicron. Canada is once again advising against non-essential international travel; the same advisory had been in place for most of the pandemic but was lifted in October. “To those who were planning to travel, I say very clearly — now is not the time to travel. The rapid spread of the omicron variant on a global scale makes us fear the worst,” federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said. The virus is spreading quickly and not just within …

Rosie Awori (LJI) On Saturday, December 11, officers and members of the Jamaica Association of Montreal pulled out all the stops to ensure that their annual general meeting and election of officers was carried out. So even when the power went out minutes into the meeting the 27 members who were at the hall on Jean Talon avenue, along with 24 others who were on-line were able to continue and saw the process through. At the end of the night, the association had a newly elected board of directors and executives. Mark Henry, who was voted in as president in …

By Karim Fall (LJI) The job of the journalist is to report on the world around us, delivering news and stories that as compelling as they are informative. Ironically enough, news and stories about Black journalists in Canada are rarely told. And a big reason why is because they are under-represented on screen, on air, but more importantly in newsrooms across the country. In the recently published Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) inaugural Canadian Newsroom Diversity Survey, it shows that 80% of newsrooms across Canada do not have Black or Indigenous journalists. Now that’s a story worth telling. One of …

Nineteen-seventy-one was a special year for soccer players from the Caribbean and their supporters in Montreal. It was the year that Caribbees Football Club, a team made up mainly of players from the Trinidad and other islands along with a few hardy men from elsewhere, finally found their stride in the Quebec Soccer League earned province-wide supremacy by snagging the premier division loop title . In a report documenting the team’s dominance that year, the Montreal Star, the leading daily at the time, heaped praises on the boys, for their goal-scoring prowess and the “razzle-dazzle” that they exhibited on the …

Seasons Greetings to all the readers. This time of the year is always quite special. The whole atmosphere changes and it’s because of LOVE. The love that people want to express and share at this time of the year is far greater than what we feel and express at any other time even more than during Valentine’s celebrations. That is because this is the time when we celebrate Christmas. Christmas is about love more than anything else. The Bible tells us “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in Him may …