NOT BLACK ENOUGH
Church denied fed funding
Members of a historic Black Windsor church are speaking out after being denied funding under a federal government program designed to support Black communities because they didn't meet eligibility requirements.
“I'm not here to complain about being rejected,” church clerk Nancy Allen said. “I'm here to say, when you're rejected because of your ethnicity or you're told that you're not Black enough to receive this grant, because it was for a Blackled organization, that's very, very ... it's disheartening.”
Allen said a 16-page application was sent for the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative on behalf of the Ontario Chapel-british Methodist Episcopal Church at 685 University Ave. E.
It outlined the church's place on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses used by escaped African-american slaves fleeing to Canada.
The grant request was to cover about $98,000 in improvements to the building 's inefficient and expensive-to-run heating system and outdated kitchen and to add air conditioning. The church moved to its present location in 1963, after the original 1856 church and land on Mcdougall Avenue was expropriated by the city.
Allen said the church received an email from Employment and Social Development Canada denying the application.
It said in part, “Black Governance and Black Leadership — Information provided did not meet this eligibility criteria or was insufficient to clearly demonstrate that the organization is led and governed by people who self-identify as Black.”
Clark showed reporters a copy of the church's application where it is clearly marked that the organization is Black-led and the origins of the Black Canadian community served by the church are Caribbean and of African origins.
She said she added “Descendants of Underground Railroad” to the list as well.
“The word Black is used, I'll bet, a hundred times,” she said. “We had to justify our group — the group in this church, the trustees in charge of the property. It's all in there.
“We need to make the government and people aware of some of the procedures that are being followed that we feel are not right.”
MP Brian Masse (NDP — Windsor-west) and Rob Vidamour of Winmar Property Restoration joined Clark at a Wednesday news conference.
The grant application denial and its basis was “very insulting and diminishing,” Masse said.
“It's unfortunate because the church, actually it goes back to the 1800s,” he said. “It's been an anchor as one of the institutions around here and it's part of our history — especially when we look at the pride (we have) when it comes to the Underground Railroad and how it's connected us together.”
Masse called on Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen to apologize and then to take another look at the application and provide the “real reasons if there's a problem with the application.
“If a Black community is going to be supported and if it's going to be enhanced with government projects you just can't pretend when there's mistakes,” Masse said. “You just can't pass them off and that's what the department did here. They just, basically, they sent an insulting email and then they retracted.
“And then they didn't give a reason why the funding was denied.
On top of that, the minister has yet to respond or take actions like correcting the department's behaviour.”
Clark said a second email letter was sent the day after the first email was received, indicating the minister was not aware the original correspondence was sent and “he wanted us to ignore that letter. Four-hundred organizations were turned down. So we are one of 400.”
Hussen said shortly after the initial letter was sent to unsuccessful applicants that it was “completely unacceptable” and he demanded a retraction as soon as he saw it.
In a thread on Twitter, Hussen said he discussed with his department's officials how such a mistake could have happened and implemented measures to make sure it does not happen again.
“I will continue to work with Black Canadian organizations to improve our systems,” he said, also mentioning the systemic barriers he has faced as a Black person.
When asked for comment Wednesday, Hussen's office referred the Star back to a Jan. 14 Twitter comment.
“Black Canadians face many systemic barriers in Canada — I know this because I've lived it,” Hussen wrote. “Before I got into politics, I was a community advocate. I worked with folks to help bring new life to the Regent Park community, and pushed to strengthen civic engagement.”
Vidamour's company provided the renovation estimate for the church.
“Nancy was like a second mother to me growing up,” Vidamour said. “I grew up in this area. I'm a downtown kid.
“The renovations that I included, they were not glitzy and glamorous, just to bring the property from the '60s up to 2020,” he said. “We're just trying to make the church and the community centre viable to keep their membership and maybe to grow more.”