Browse "Minorities in the Arts/ Diverse Communities"

Displaying 16-30 of 31 results

  • Article

    Elsa Gidlow

    Elsa Alice Gidlow, poet, journalist, philosopher, humanitarian (born 29 December 1898 in Hull, United Kingdom; died 8 June 1986 in Mill Valley, California). Elsa Gidlow was a key LGBTQ2 figure in the first half of the 20th century. She co-published Les Mouches fantastiques (1918–20), the first queer magazine in North America. She also wrote what is believed to be the first collection of openly lesbian love poetry published in North America: On A Grey Thread (1923). Her 1986 autobiography was the first memoir by an openly lesbian writer. She was also a co-founder of Druid Heights, a utopian community outside of San Francisco.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/815px-Elsa_Gidlow-_Poet-Warrior_1981.jpg Elsa Gidlow

  • Article

    Haviah Mighty

    Haviah Mighty, rapper, musician, songwriter, producer (born 18 December 1992 in Toronto, ON). Haviah Mighty is one of Canada’s best young rappers. She is known for the intensity of her performances, her politically charged lyrics and for addressing issues of systemic injustice. Her first studio album 13th Floor (2019) won the Polaris Music Prize, making Mighty the first Black woman and first rapper to win the prize. She also became the first woman to win the Juno Award for Rap Album of the Year when her mixtape Stock Exchange (2021) won in 2022.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/48790946786_5c3e2e82c0_c.jpg Haviah Mighty

  • Article

    I Couldn't Forget: Reflections on Truth and Reconciliation

    Author Lee Maracle reflects on the presentation of the summary of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Justice Murray Sinclair on 2 June 2015.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/e2fc5e7b-a9d8-44b1-9ad2-d3eb4b918457.jpg I Couldn't Forget: Reflections on Truth and Reconciliation

  • Article

    Jeff Barnaby

    Jeff Barnaby, writer, director, editor, composer (born 2 August 1976 in Listuguj Reserve, QC; died 13 October 2022 in Montreal, QC). Jeff Barnaby was a multitalented Mi’kmaq filmmaker who worked mainly in the horror genre. His award-winning films, such as Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) and Blood Quantum (2019), are notable for incorporating gritty portrayals of Indigenous characters into stories with elements of science fiction, body horror and magic realism. Barnaby was a rising talent in Canadian and Indigenous cinema. He died of cancer at the age of 46.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/JeffBarnaby/CP2453732_resized.jpg Jeff Barnaby

  • Article

    Jennifer Podemski

    Jennifer Podemski, actor, producer, writer, director (born 3 May 1973 in Toronto, ON). Jennifer Podemski established herself as an actor in Bruce McDonald’s Dance Me Outside (1994) and CBC’s The Rez (1996–97). She then became one of the leading Indigenous film and television producers in Canada. At the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards, she received the Academy Board of Directors’ Tribute Award in recognition of “her extraordinary impact on the growth of the Canadian media industry.”

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/Producer-actor_Jennifer_Podemski.jpg Jennifer Podemski

  • Article

    Jessie Reyez

    Jessie Reyez, singer, songwriter (born 12 June 1991 in Toronto, ON). Jessie Reyez released her first EP, Kiddo, in 2017. That same year, she won the inaugural Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Slaight Music Emerging Songwriter Award. She has since released several critically acclaimed records, the EP Being Human in Public (2018) and the albums Before Love Came to Kill Us (2020) and Yessie (2022). She has been nominated for a Grammy Award and was shortlisted twice for the Polaris Music Prize. She has won five Juno Awards, including Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2018, and three for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year (2019, 2020, 2023).

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/JessieReyezTweetOnly.jpg Jessie Reyez

  • Article

    Kay Livingstone

    Kathleen (Kay) Livingstone (née Jenkins), organizer and activist, broadcaster, actor (born 13 October 1919 in London, ON; died 25 July 1975). Kay Livingstone founded the Canadian Negro Women’s Association in 1951 and organized the first National Congress of Black Women in 1973. An established radio broadcaster and actor, Livingstone also devoted a great deal of her life and energy to social activism and organizing. Her tireless work to encourage a national discussion around the position of racialized people in society, particularly Black women, led Livingstone to coin the term visible minority in 1975.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/KayLivingstone/2018_Black_History_Kay_Livingstone_Stamp.jpg Kay Livingstone

  • Article

    Kim Thúy

    Kim Thúy, CQ, writer (born 18 September 1968 in Saigon, Vietnam). The winner of several prestigious literary awards for her first novel, Ru, this Quebec writer of Vietnamese origin is known for her short and elegant stories. Her novels deal with the migrant experience and the challenges of adapting to a new culture. Written in French, which Thúy calls her “second mother tongue,” they have been translated into 15 languages.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/c21c847d-d32a-4aea-9d70-2160aa06f1f2.jpg Kim Thúy

  • Article

    Maestro Fresh Wes

    Wesley Williams (a.k.a. Maestro Fresh Wes, Maestro), rapper, actor, author, motivational speaker, radio and TV host (born 31 March 1968 in Toronto, ON). Maestro Fresh Wes is regarded as the “godfather of Canadian hip hop.” His debut album, Symphony in Effect (1989), was the first album by a Black Canadian artist to be certified platinum in Canada. It yielded the hugely successful and influential hit single “Let Your Backbone Slide.” In 2019, it became the first rap song to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Maestro has been nominated for 17 Juno Awards and has won two, including the inaugural award for Rap Recording of the Year in 1991. In 2013, he was named No. 1 on CBC Music’s list of the greatest Canadian rappers. Between 2022 and 2024, he earned three straight Juno nominations for Children’s Album of the Year. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and received a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in 2024.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/43d42d71-70ac-431c-b58c-9a8eca0b50e5.jpg Maestro Fresh Wes

  • Article

    Margaret MacMillan

    Margaret Olwen MacMillan, historian, author (born 23 December 1943 in Toronto, Ontario). Margaret MacMillan is professor emerita of history at the University of Toronto and international history at the University of Oxford. Her bestselling 2001 book, Paris 1919, examines the lasting impact of the Paris Peace Conference at the end of the First World War. She continues to write about the role of war and peacemaking on human society.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/MacMillan.jpg Margaret MacMillan

  • Article

    Oscar Peterson (Plain-Language Summary)

    Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC, CQ, OOnt, jazz pianist, composer, educator (born 15 August 1925 in Montréal, QC; died 23 December 2007 in Mississauga, ON). Oscar Peterson was one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. He was famous for his speed and dexterity, flawless technique and swinging style. He earned the nicknames “the brown bomber of boogie-woogie” and “master of swing.” Louis Armstrong called him “the man with four hands.” Peterson released several albums a year from the 1950s until his death. He played on more than 200 albums by other artists. He was also a noted jazz educator and advocate for racial equality. He won a Juno Award and eight Grammy Awards. He was the first person to receive the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the International Jazz Hall of Fame. He was also made a Companion of the Order of Canada and an Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters in France. This article is a plain-language summary of Oscar Peterson. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Oscar Peterson.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/b7950167-9ad9-4a98-83b9-7908f9f5eb7f.jpg Oscar Peterson (Plain-Language Summary)

  • Article

    Portia White (Plain-Language Summary)

    Portia May White, singer, teacher (born 24 June 1911 in Truro, NS; died 13 February 1968 in Toronto, ON). Portia White was one of the best classical singers of the 20th century. She was the first Black Canadian concert singer to become famous. Her voice was described by one critic as “a gift from heaven.” She was often compared to the African American singer Marian Anderson. The Nova Scotia Talent Trust was founded in 1944 to allow White to focus on her singing career. She was named a “person of national historic significance” by the Government of Canada in 1995. This article is a plain-language summary of Portia White. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Portia White.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/PortiaWhiteHeader.jpg Portia White (Plain-Language Summary)

  • Article

    Priscila Uppal

    Priscila Uppal, FRSC, poet, novelist, playwright, professor (born 30 October 1974 in Ottawa, ON; died 5 September 2018 in Toronto, ON). Dubbed “Canada’s coolest poet,” Priscila Uppal was a politically pointed voice in contemporary Canadian poetry. Her writing addressed issues surrounding women, violence, sexuality, culture, religion, illness and loss. Her works were shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and a Governor General’s Literary Award. She was named the Canadian Athletes Now Fund poet-in-residence for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London, England. She also taught creative writing and English literature at York University.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/PriscilaUppal.jpg Priscila Uppal

  • Article

    Simu Liu

    Simu Liu, actor, writer, director, producer, stuntman, model (born 19 April 1989 in Harbin, China). Simu Liu is best known for his role as Shang-Chi, Marvel’s first Asian superhero, and for his role as Jung Kim on the hit CBC sitcom Kim’s Convenience. A former stuntman and model who also produces his own projects, the Chinese Canadian Liu has also become an advocate for equal race representation in the entertainment industry. He was named one of the top 500 entertainment business leaders of 2021 by Variety and one of the 100 most influential people of 2022 by Time magazine.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/1024px-Simu_Liu_48469091851.jpg Simu Liu

  • Article

    Sugar Sammy

    Samir Khullar (a.k.a. Sugar Sammy), comedian (born 29 February 1976 in Montreal, QC). Sugar Sammy is an award-winning multi-ethnic and multilingual comedian. He is best known for his observations about Canada’s Francophone and Anglophone communities from his vantage point as the child of immigrants who settled in Montreal. His groundbreaking 2012 bilingual tour, You're Gonna Rire, sold more than 371,000 tickets and grossed over $17 million. Sammy is also a star in France. He was hailed as the “funniest man in France” in 2017 and has been a judge on the French version of America’s Got Talent since 2018.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/7268787770_317b460ec9_c-2.jpg Sugar Sammy