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A Summer of Protest
Four organizers from the Prairie provinces reflect on the world they’re fighting for.
By Melissa Fundira
Four organizers from the Prairie provinces reflect on the world they’re fighting for.
By Melissa Fundira
The realities of anti-Blackness on the Prairies became hypervisible in the summer of 2020.
Massive protests catalyzed by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis swept across Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, bringing renewed attention to the many Black and Indigenous victims of police violence in Canada.
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The YYC Justice for All Victims of Police Brutality protest on June 3, 2020, began in Calgary’s Kensington area. The march then moved through downtown toward city hall. (Leah Hennel for CBC News)
Prairie Portraits
Prairie Portraits By Melissa Fundira. Illustrations by Enas Satir.
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There are countless Black folks laying the groundwork for brighter futures on the Prairies. They’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the sciences, sports and arts. They’re taking their rightful place in prairie politics and media. They’re elevating the fight for Black liberation to heights never seen before and showing the full spectrum of Black identity. Ultimately, they’re building a world we can only dream of today, just as the earliest Black settlers in the Prairies did before them.
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Below, we give flowers to just a few of the movers and shakers shaping the future of the Prairies.
There is significant room for growth in teaching Black history within Alberta schools.
That’s the prevailing thought discovered after speaking with several people, younger and older, about how Black history is presented in the current K-12 curriculum.
Black History Month is internationally recognized during February, but the province’s curriculum, which hasn’t changed since 2005, doesn’t mandate that any specifics be taught about Black history. It was constructed that way so teachers could adapt their lessons to current events.
“Alberta’s future K-12 curriculum will include content on the history of Black Albertans and Canadians. We have engaged various experts, including Black scholars, as part of our mandate to align the curriculum to our new Ministerial Order on Student Learning,” Alberta’s Ministry of Education, which is in the midst of a curriculum review, said in a statement to