Black History Month proclaimed in City Hall as Vancouver kicks off 12th official annual celebration

Celebrations for Black History Month kicked off in Vancouver City Hall with a proclamation ahead of Tuesday’s council meeting.

It’s been 12 years since Vancouver officially declared February as Black History Month, and this will be the first year a mayor of colour signed the city’s proclamation.

On Jan. 31, Mayor Ken Sim held the microphone for Pete Fry as the Green Party councillor recited the document.

“The City of Vancouver affirms the rights and is striving to strengthen the full and equitable participation of people of African descent,” reads the proclamation.

The legacies of B.C.’s first Black MLA, Emery Barnes, Hogan’s Alley restaurant owner Vie Moore and sports pioneer Barbara Howard are highlighted in the city’s document.

The three are praised for how they “significantly shaped this country and paved the way for the leadership, creativity, determination and future imagination of Black Canadians, African Diaspora and other racialized communities.”

The city also writes it’s working on an Anti-Black Racism Strategy, highlighting the need for continued input from Vancouver’s Black community in planning processes—especially those related to Northeast False Creek. That neighbourhood was home to the city’s Black population until 1967, when the construction of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts displaced Hogan’s Alley residents.

Maurice Earle, the president of the non-profit Unity Centre Association for Black Cultures, received the proclamation from the city.

The UCABC was founded in 2012 “to pursue the goals of unifying, promoting and integrating Black cultures within Canadian society” according to its website.

One of the group’s long-term goals listed online is “ensuring that the identify, history and political presence of the Black community in B.C. is recognized by the federal and other provincial and national leaders and decision makers.”