Emancipation Day celebrations returning to St. Catharines

St. Catharines’ rich Black history will be showcased during a virtual celebration of Emancipation Day July 29 to Aug. 1.

The celebration is presented by Matter of Black (MOB) and Blackowned905 in partnership with Firstontario Performing Arts Centre (PAC), City of St. Catharines, TD Niagara Jazz Festival and other community partners.

Panel discussions, performances and a virtual market showcasing Blackowned905 businesses will all be featured throughout the event.

“We want to teach people about the rich Black history that’s in St Catharines because there’s so much,” co-founder of MOB and event organizer, Mutsa Charamba.

Aug. 1, also known as Emancipation Day, marks the day that slavery was abolished in Canada in 1834.

Charamba said this year is extra special because it will be the first time Emancipation Day is recognized as a federal holiday in Canada.

Historically in St. Catharines, as many as 8,000 people used to gather each year at Lakeside Park to celebrate, but this stopped around 2003, Charamba estimated.

“This has been something that’s been happening in St Catharines for many years, we’re just a part of the revival team,” she said.

Following a successful virtual event last year with over 12,500 participants, organizers hope this year will be just as big.

All programming throughout the celebration is free and can be viewed online through Firstontario Performing Arts Centre’s Facebook and

Youtube channels.

The events kicks off on Thursday, July 29 with a socially distanced flag-raising at St. Catharines City Hall.

There will be an anti-blackness and community health panel discussion later in the afternoon.

Charamba said one most important events of the weekend will be the anti-racism and anti-oppression workshop happening on Saturday, July 30.

“We hear a lot of people say ‘What can we do? How can we help? How can we be allies?’ So now we actually have a workshop to help people to answer those questions,” she explained.

Emancipation Day, which is Sunday, Aug.1 will be filled with music and performances presented by TD Niagara Jazz Festival.

Going forward, organizers of #Emancipationdaystc hope that the celebration can eventually be brought back to Lakeside Park in years to come.

“We always need to be celebrating what our ancestors went through so we can live the lives that we’re living today,” Charamba said.