08/01/2026
📚🎉🚇A joyous and abundant Emancipation Day and Month to all! An empowering experience it was last night to welcome in aboard Blackhurst Cultural Centre's Emancipation Freedom Train Ride, August 1st! On this day, we commemorate Black resilience and the abolition of slavery in Canada and much of the British Empire.
This year's theme is Food and Freedom in recognition of Black farming, agriculture, and Black champions of the food sector Ontario. Yvonne Grant, the proud owner of Caribbean Corner, a Black, family-owned grocery in Kensington Market, is the honoured conductor of Freedom Train Ride 2026. For 49 years and counting she and her family have been nourishing communities by making Caribbean produce accessible.
Congratulations, also, to Hyacinth Houghron, an entrepreneur, pastor, and community leader who was awarded the 2026 Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride Award for the selfless work she has done for Toronto’s unhoused community.
These two champions of the food sector in Ontario demonstrate powerfully through their examples that there is a deep connection between the history of enslavement of Africans and the land: Africans are resilient and have survived - survived to make significant contributions in key areas including agriculture.
In fact, Aina-Nia Ayo'dele, a director of the BCC, noted that for 60 years, Caribbean workers have formed the backbone of Ontario's agri-food sector through programs such as SAWP (Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program). But people are not fully emancipated. Wendell, a Caribbean migrant worker spoke about the sad truth of the injustices many migrants workers face: They are overworked; they don't have health benefits; they work in dangerous conditions; they do not receive good pay for the work they do. Much work then needs to be done to realize full emancipation, and it must be achieved collectively, as Marc-Édouard Joubert, Canadian Labour Congress Executive VP, reminded us.
🫶🏿 to all of the wonderful speakers and performers at this year's Underground Freedom Train Ride - the Verity Centre for Better Living Choir, Kemba Byam, Dwayne Morgan, Aina-Nia Ayo'dele, Yolanda McClean!
And people get ready, there's a train a comin' next year. See you there. Have a bless and safe weekend of Carnival festivities!📚
