Innovations in Black Education in Canada

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island.

This book describes various local initiatives across Canada that have
been put into place to counteract long years of neglect, indifference,
and even race prejudice by the dominant white culture. Four articles
relate specifically to Nova Scotia, another four to Ontario. In his
introduction, D’Oyley describes all the experiments as simply
“etchings” in need of “institutionalisation.” One such example
is the creation of a University Chair in Black Canadian Studies, aimed
at providing much-needed research, scholarship, and role leadership. It
would be a work of supererogation to comment seriatim on the
contributors, all of whom are masters of subject and of narrative style.
If the fulfilment of a black identity in Canada is to be fully realized
(as vividly expressed in the two introductory poems), then this book
must hopefully be regarded as the first of many.