Black on Bay Ball – Celebrating 20 years of change on the Street

Award winner - Daouli Abouchere - sweir photo
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Dr. Fearon interviewed in hall by Planet Africa TV














































Black on Bay Ball – Celebrating 20 years of change on the Street
By Stephen Weir
On Saturday night the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals (CAUFP) marked 20 years of toiling mightily for the advancement and inclusion of black leaders in the Canadian financial services industry with what else? A black tie ball on Bay Street.  It was one part looking at the future, another part looking back to when diversity was an unspoken word on the Street but for the most part, it was a blowout party amongst hundreds of colleagues and friends!
The Black on Bay Ball was a sold-out fete in Toronto’s famed Arcadian Court. The iconic art deco hall is on the 8th floor of the Hudson Bay building at the corner of Bay and Queen Streets.
The Ball ticked off all the right boxes. A red carpet reception. Caribbean style haute cuisine food stations. Moko jumbie stilt walkers swished through the room. African and Mas dancers and models wowed the 500 guests. There was an inspirational speech by Dr. Gervan Fearon, the country’s first Black university president. Oh, and just for fun, the Honourable Justice Donald McLeod (the emcee for the evening) adjudicated a tuxedo dance-off between executives from Scotiabank, RBC and CIBC banks.

Men wearing bow ties and tuxedos, and women in full-length gowns, poured into the hall.  This was not a sit down events. Michael Carter of LeapAgents and Kwesi Thomas of ForthK transformed the large room into a fancy night club with couches, bottle service and face painted wait staff serving ox tail Hors d'oeuvre and shark n bake inspired canapés.


 “Tonight is really an evening of affirmation that we all hold a vision of the Canadian financial services industry where Black people are active, included and successful,’ said CAUFP president Abdul-Aziz Garuba, as he officially started the party.
 In between performances by the Crawford Academy Adventist Academy Concert Winds Orchestra and the African Dance Troupe, Dr. Fearon was helped to the stage to address the crowd. He is the new President & Vice-Chancellor, of Brock University in St Catharines.
Like many Canadians of Jamaican ancestry, Fearon was born in England. His parents took him to Jamaica, their birthplace, where they lived until he was 9. The 59-year old then settled with his family in Canada in 1968.
It was an amazing address given by Dr. Fearon that took the audience on a wild 10,000 year ride that started with the building of pyramids, touched on dinosaurs who never figured out how to stop asteroid induced climate change and ended with his wondering what would happen to racial inequalities when mankind finally meets space aliens!

"I see it (evolution of society) as transformative for individuals, communities and society," he told the crowd. "At an early age it became very clear to me that with education all dreams become possible.”

There was a point to this time-travelling talk.  Dr. Fearon told the men and women working in the financial industry to expect major technology advances and job turmoil over the course of their careers. “Don’t fear change.  When the ATM was introduced everyone feared major job loss in our banks.  That hasn’t happened.


The Brock president said he was in a room full of successful people but cautioned them not to forget the people who have been left behind.  “They don’t forget and when times are tough they can (bite back)”.

 
Caribbean entertainment for after-party - Gerard Richardson photo








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