by Ron Fanfair
The leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) has hailed the accomplishments of two exceptional anti-racist fighters honored with an award he created three years ago.
Howard Hampton presented the J.S. Woodsworth award to Sri-Guggan Sri-Skanda-Rajah and Dr. Ruth Morris at a reception held last Tuesday at Queen’s Park to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
“They are two incredible recipients,” Hampton said. “Their work perfectly exemplifies the life-long dedication and commitment that is needed to free our society of racism.”
Hampton also went on to put the award in perspective.
“In Canada in the 1930s, it was acceptable to promote racial discrimination because the other parties campaigned on this. Out of that environment emerged J.S. Woodsworth. He risked his own political future to fight for the right for minorities to vote in this country.”
James Shaver Woodsworth was the first leader of the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation, the forerunner to the NDP.
Born in Sri Lanka, Sri-Skanda-Rajah’s social conscience was awakened by the caste system’s inequality and gender disparity which limited employment and education opportunities for women.
After immigrating to England where he studied law, Sri-Skanda-Rajah came to Canada in 1975 and has worked tirelessly ever since to end racial discrimination here.
Among the community organizations he has worked with are the Universal African Improvement Association and the Black Resource Information Centre, both now defunct.
A founder and long-time member of the Greater Toronto Working Group on Policing Multi-Cultural and Multi-Ethnic Urban communities, Sri-Skanda-Rajah also served briefly as interim director of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.
Dr. Morris, an anti-racism academic and activist of the Quaker faith, began her political involvement in the civil rights movement in the United States before migrating to Canada in 1968.
She testified for the Ontario Commission on Systemic Racism in the Justice System and established the Toronto Bail Program.
Dr. Morris describes her life commitment as “the fight to find ways to include all who fall in the cracks of society, and to transform negative forces into resources for change.”
Labour leader and community activist Bromley Armstrong, a former co-chair of The Citizen’s Forum which administers the award, commended the selections.
“Both Ruth and Sri are quality nominees who have done a lot of work in disadvantaged communities,” said Armstrong. “They deserve the honour.”
Among the candidates nominated were retired Citizenship Court judge Stan Grizzle, labour activist Jay Nair, University of Toronto graduate Selwyn Pieters who served for five years as student representative on the U of T governing council and the East York Committee on Race Relations.
Courtesy of the Share
March 23, 2000
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