Black Lives Matter - Canada

Happy Emancipation Day! ​​Today we are celebrating Black liberation. We are celebrating Black joy, Black space, community care, resilience, rest, and freedom.

Today and every day we also call for the dismantling of all forms of state-sanctioned oppression, violence, and brutality. Together we can end carceral punishment and instead build systems rooted in community care and transformative justice. ✊🏾

Climate Justice is Racial Justice🌍✊🏾

Systemically marginalized communities feel the biggest impacts of the climate crisis. We encourage you to  support national and international hurricane relief organizing and climate justice organizations. 
Swipe to learn more.

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🌟 Join us for Uplift Visions! 🌟We are thrilled to partner with and Uplift Black to bring you an amazing event on August 17, 2024, in Barrie!

📍 Location: 12 Dunlop Street, Barrie
🕛 Time: 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Discover the incredible talent of our BIPOC vendors showcasing their unique arts, crafts, and delicious food. Enjoy live performances and connect with our vibrant community!

Don’t miss out on this celebration of creativity and culture. See you there! 🙌

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GOOD MUSIC, OPEN AIR DUNLOP, FACE PAINTING, ART GALLERY
ALL IN THE HEART OF

12 DUNLOP ST E
BARRIE, ON
10AM TO 4PM

Come out and hang with us!
Take a tour of our Art Gallery. See our recording studio and grab a snow cone or two

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Open Stage

“Pride and Black Music Month” edition.

June 2nd 7pm to 11pm

Come thru! (to register for one stage Scan the QR code on 3rd slide)

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The date you anticipate…..
A ongoing growing event that’s not to be missed!

Open Stage, Open mic, Talent Showcase. Show UP & Show Out, in a fun, safe, supportive space for artists and creatives of all disciplines!

Bring your dancing moves with your dancing shoes…bring your vocals, bring your musical instruments too.

The UP BeatBox is a nurturing environment for all artists and a welcoming space to our community.
Open Stage was created to give artists a space to shine and practice their artistic discipline. Storytelling,
spoken word , poetry, rappers, singers, musicians, dancers, fashion designers and models, drag performers, comedians, ballroom kiki performers, come one, come all!

Defund. Disarm. Dismantle. Abolish.
As we honour the legacy of Malcolm X, we encourage you to support as they advocate for prisoner’s rights and work towards police abolition.✊🏾



[Image Description: Malcolm X speaking with text: “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”— Malcolm X”]

Through the following principles, we recommit to healing ourselves and each other every day, co-creating alongside comrades, allies, and family a culture where each person feels seen, heard, and supported.

The Yonge Street Riot began as a call for justice and accountability. Today, we are still fighting against white supremacist systems and advocating for police abolition. 

Together, we can work towards building a society based in restorative justice, community care, and liberation. ✊🏾🖤

Swipe to learn more about the Yonge Street Riot! 🙌🏾

📣Call for Submissions!!

We are in search of creative expressions that affirm Black life for an upcoming “We Know What We Need: A Platform for Black Resistance” zine.

As part of the upcoming release of our policy platform that has been co-created alongside activists and grassroots organizations, we are creating a booklet featuring creative expressions of the topics highlighted in the report.

Swipe to learn more! Visit our highlight bubble to learn more about the platform.

Please visit the link in our bio to apply. We’re so excited to see your submissions.

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Black Lives Matter Sudbury once again rejects the violence and punishment led by the Greater Sudbury Police Services against community members. We call for an urgent investigation into the recent reports of the disproportionate use of force of the police (2022 Annual Use of Force Report - page 29) which reflect that while Black community members make up only 2.5% of the population in the City of Greater Sudbury, they represent 11% of use of force incidents at the hands of GSPS, and Indigenous community members making up 11% of the city’s population account for 17% of use of force incidents. This is unacceptable.

We continue to demand the immediate defunding, disarming and dissolution of police bodies. We must reduce the scope and power of the GSPS, or they will continue to harm our communities and continue to uphold dangerous anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism which we know already circulates within our city.

All community members, including racialized and marginalized members must not be subject to use of violence and brutalization by the state, and must feel safe to exist in N’Swakamok. Another way is possible to police free futures.

To learn more about police free futures, please visit the Resources page on blmsudbury.ca to view Building the World We Want: A Roadmap to Police Free Futures.

This month’s Abolitionist’s Bookshelf is another set of recommendations from ! Swipe for a fantastic selection of books.

If you’ve read these books, or know of others that you love and would like to share, let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear your thoughts and recommendations!

Together we can build a collective wealth of knowledge and support each other as we fight for a more equitable future.

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While communities work to keep each other safe, police systematically work to undermine their safety.

7 years ago, Toronto activists gathered in protest of the police murder of Andrew Loku, as well as systemic anti-Blackness. This protest evolved into Tent City, a 15-day self-supported and self-determined community. Today, a $90M USD police militarization facility is being built—Atlanta Public Safety Training Centre, nicknamed ‘Cop City’.

Swipe to learn more. Defund, Disarm, Dismantle, Abolish.

Black Lives Matter—Canada exists to resource, to support, and to mobilize around an affirmation for all Black life.

Today, we take a moment to call attention to discrimination against sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia and the grassroots activism that seeks to keep people safe amidst human rights violations.

We encourage you to learn more, share this information, and support organizations working to address anti-Black racism in Tunisia.

On February 22, 2023, we launched our third mutual aid campaign: The Black Inflation Support Fund! Our two consecutive 2021 COVID Relief Mutual Aid Fund provided support for Black families and individuals experiencing financial hardship across Turtle Island. This time, we supported those impacted by rising grocery costs, inflation and other challenges.

Together, we raised $66, 610 to support 189 Black families and individuals with $350 microgrants each. Swipe to learn more!

By now, applicants should have received two email notifications with instructions and your e-transfer. Please DM us if you have any questions.

We know that there are still countless people in need of ongoing support. We invite and encourage you to community to tag groups facilitating similar programs in the comments below! If you are located in the Toronto area and are in need of food support, we invite you to visit our Community Fridge as well (24 Cecil St.). 🥕🍞

March 15th is International Day Against Police Brutality. First organized by the Montreal-based Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière and a Swiss civil liberation group, demonstrations are now held globally to advocate for victims of police harm and call for accountability.

Black, Indigenous, and marginalized people are disproportionately the victims of police brutality and misconduct. Today, we would like to signal boost grassroots responses to police brutality occurring across Turtle Island.

Swipe to find upcoming actions and visit the link in our bio for printable posters that you can bring along with you. ✊🏾

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📣 Tomorrow! 📣 At UPlift Black we are Q***ring Black History with a look back to the Kiki Ballroom community who were and continue to be instrumental in shaping both the Pride liberation movement and Q***r culture across the globe!

What’s the history of Kiki Ballroom?

Ballroom culture, which originated during the Harlem Renaissance as far back as the 1920s, allows Q***r people to express their authentic selves through pageantry and performance that’s glamorous, fun, engaging, and affirming. Ballroom was born out of a need to create space for Black and Brown LGBT+ people to feel safe and in community with each other, free from the racist, homophobic, and transphobic constraints that society had placed upon them. It was within these spaces that Black and Brown LGBTQ+ people could be whoever they wanted to be. Kiki is born from this ballroom culture.

To honour its roots, Kiki is as diverse as our community is: Black and White, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, Brown and Latinx, citizens and newcomers, cisgender and transgender, Q***r and questioning, binary and non-binary, young and old m, all make up the fabric of our community. We are a community in solidarity composed of many unique individuals, perspectives, and experiences, and this is what makes us strong.

Our community deserves to Kiki!

Today, the Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance and Toronto Freedom School takes the magic and impact of Kiki ballroom and brings it to our community.

What to expect:
12pm to 12:30pm Snacks + mingle
12:30pm to 1pm History of Kiki Ballroom Presentation
1pm to 2pm Vogue workshop with TKBA
2pm to 3pm Realness workshop with TKBA
3pm to 4pm Runway workshop with TKBA

Thank you to the City of Barrie and the Enchante Network for supporting this event!

The deets:
When: March 4, 2023
Time: 12pm to 4pm
Location: UPlift Black Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion,
12 Dunlop St E, Barrie, ON L4M 1A3

This is a free event, all you have to do is register! (Link in bio)

Donations are welcomed and appreciated to help ensure we keep our events accessible.

At UPlift Black we are Loud and Proud! ✊🏾🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

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“I have been living in nogo on-and-off for about 8 years. I am a trans feminine non binary black/African person and my experience of living in Peterborough has had its shares of ups and downs. Overall, Peterborough is very small but very diverse in very surprising ways. Personally, I had to carve out my own space for me to thrive here, but Peterborough gave me that space to do so (mostly) without hesitation. Sometimes late at night I fill the tub up with marinara sauce and I pretend I’m a meatball. For more ‘Stupid Thoughts from a Stupid Thot’ make sure you follow Sahira Q on Instagram Sahira Q] and you can also find all her upcoming drag events at linktr.ee/dragsahiraq”

Model: Sahira Q]
Photographer:

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This post is part of a photo series we're doing with Photographer Jonathan Semugaza for Black History Month called "Black People Of Nogojiwanong" where we showcase local people who live and love in this city, be they longtime locals or newcomers. Our hope in doing this series is that we show that Blackness comes in many shades, as well as normalize Black folks being out and about in this city and engaging with community events and businesses without fear of discrimination or stereotypes. Our Blackness isn't just in our skin tones but also in how we express ourselves, how we show up for the community, and who we love. We've been here, so please start getting used to us.



Thank you to everyone who applied for the Black Inflation Fund. It is now closed.

If your application was successful, please look out for an acceptance email early next week. Microgrants will only be distributed through an Interac e-transfer system. Password to be sent via acceptance email, please ensure info[at]blacklivesmatter[dot]ca is on your safe senders list. We know many people need ongoing support and we encourage the community to tag groups facilitating similar programs in the comments below.   

We’ll be sharing a recap post on the program’s impact shortly. Thank you for supporting the 2023 Black Inflation Fund. 

Applications for the Black Inflation Fund are open! Please visit this link to apply! https://bit.ly/3YS9e3y

The $350 microgrants will be offered to eligible applicants on a first-come, first-served basis. Each applicant may only apply for one (1) microgrant.

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We encourage you to support and attend these incredible events! Please visit to learn more. 🔥

Free Our Minds: Policing Free Schools

Did you know that police are present in schools in Sudbury and across Ontario? Do you know what they do and what experiences kids have had with these officers? For the last year and a half, Black Lives Matter – Sudbury has tried to uncover some of these realities by collecting data from our community in order to provide insight into the School Resource Officer (SRO) program operating in our children’s schools. As more research is done on the school-to-prison nexus, where Black, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQ+ youth find themselves surveilled and over-policed from grade school onwards, we do a deep dive into the idea of what “safety” really means for our school communities.

Zaagi’idwin: Black and Indigenous Solidarity

Zaagi’idwin, the teaching of love, can serve as a lens for Black and Indigenous communities coming together to talk about working in solidarity and pushing back against the colonizing powers that seek to divide us. Our panel members will speak to these themes, sharing their stories, highlighting the intersections of Black and Indigenous identities and politics.

Deadass Reclaiming the Black Q***r Experience
Join speakers for a riveting discussion on these themes and learn a bit more about what it means to take up space, challenge the status quo and reclaim the Black Q***r experience.

Grow and Flow: Dance Workshop
Join us for our Grow & Flow dance workshop, hosted in collaboration with Centre de santé communautaire du Grand Sudbury. The session will be directed by the choreographer and winner of season 1 of “Par ici le talent”, Pierre-André Muila. Come cultivate yourself and let yourself be carried away by the music of artists and activists.

Trust Black Women: A Keynote Discussion
In this intimate discussion, panellists will tackle themes where race and gender are foregrounded, noting how Black women have been at the helm of many movements for social change.

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Join us at the Sudbury Indie Cinema on Wednesday, March 1st for a screening of the film "Dear Jackie". The doors open at 6:30 pm and the film will begin at 7:00 pm.

Get your tickets here (link in bio!)

Synopsis:
Dear Jackie is a cinematic letter to Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in Major League Baseball and a civil rights activist who broke the colour barrier when he joined the minor-league Montreal Royals in 1946. For a short time, the impossible seemed possible in a segregated North America. But did Montrealers use this historic moment to perpetuate a myth of a post-racial society?

Through eloquent interviews, archival footage, and powerful vérité moments shot in lustrous black and white, director Henri Pardo masterfully threads together fragments of the past with the present-day realities of Little Burgundy, once known as the “Harlem of the North.” Dear Jackie unfolds as an intimate correspondence with Robinson that unravels the myth of a post-racial society, and is a testament to the triumphs and resilience of a community whose stories reveal the insidious racial inequalities in Montreal and Quebec as a whole.

This month’s Abolitionist's Bookshelf contains selections recommended by ! Swipe for a fantastic list of books and podcasts! 🙌🏾

The “Rights Back at You” podcast focuses on anti-Blackness and policing and examines many issues that are relevant to BLM's federal platform including drug prohibition/criminalisation, the border, street checks and unhoused folks. It features the voices of the likes of El Jones, Harsha Walia and Joy Henderson.

If you’ve read these books, or know of others that you love and would like to share, let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear your thoughts and recommendations!

Together we can build a collective wealth of knowledge and support each other as we fight for a more equitable future.

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Calling Black community members who wanna get outside! Come for a walk with us! Registration link in bio 🖤❄️

Happening Now! Call to Action! ⚠️Court Support ⚠️

Only one out of the seven VPD constables who brutally assaulted Jamiel Moore-Williams five years ago is facing trial. He will be judged this Monday, February 13th at 9:30 AM.

📍Courtroom 514
📍Vancouver Criminal Court
📍222 Main St.

Bring signs, friends. We won't let the cops intimidate us!

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BLACK FUTURES: A Northern Caucus is a visionary, educational, and forward-looking spin on celebrations of Blackness which will be taking place from February 26th to March 4th, 2023!

We are excited to once again uplift the voices of organizers, educators, and artists and to share meaningful stories of resistance and joy.

Here is the full schedule! For more information and to register visit the link in bio!

Artwork commissioned by

This Black Futures Month, BLMCanada is launching the Black Inflation Support Fund to directly support Black individuals and families from coast-to-coast with $350 micro-grants.
BLM-CA has already raised $65,000 which supports 185 individuals and families. With your support, we can grow that amount and distribute even more micro-grants to offset minor expenses.

How to help:
1. Donating here (https://bit.ly/3IhVd9K) (No donation is too small.)
2. Share this post on your page, with friends + networks
3. Like BLMCanada on Facebook, and follow us on IG and Twitter

Note: Black Inflation Support Fund Applications will open on Feb. 22 at 4PM PT, 5PM MT, 6PM CT, 7PM ET, 8PM AT

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“I have lived in Peterborough for 17 years, I moved here in 2006. I identify as biracial. My experience since moving to Peterborough has been both good and bad. I have been through many hardships and growing up here as a young child I realized very early I was treated differently. Ultimately every situation I have been through has made me into a stronger woman today. I am a hard-working, passionate woman. I am an artist, a daughter, a sister, and a mother of four beautiful children. My family means the world to me, they are my greatest supports and are always there beyond measure. Family is a love that never ends.”

Model:
Photographer:

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This post is part of a photo series we're doing with Photographer Jonathan Semugaza for Black History Month called "Black People Of Nogojiwanong" where we showcase local people who live and love in this city, be they longtime locals or newcomers. Our hope in doing this series is that we show that Blackness comes in many shades, as well as normalize Black folks being out and about in this city and engaging with community events and businesses without fear of discrimination or stereotypes. Our Blackness isn't just in our skin tones but also in how we express ourselves, how we show up for the community, and who we love. We've been here, so please start getting used to us.

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Members + Friends

Feb 3rd
7pm to 10pm
UP BeatBox Creative Studio/ Uplift Black Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion

Come on out!

We are loud and PROUD space
✊🏾🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

https://upbeatbox-open-mic-night.eventbrite.ca

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We are collaborating with photographer  to bring you a photo series of beautiful Black community members for this Black History Month! We’re looking for 30 people who want to be photographed, un-staged, around the city or in a place you love. If you’re interested drop us an email or a dm on Instagram!
🖤🖤🖤