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PROJECT FOR the Advancement of Childhood Education (PACE) Canada is inviting those in- terested to ‘Take A Walk Down Memory Lane’ on November 7. It promises an exciting interactive afternoon of rich Jamaican culture and memories and a silent auction. The event will feature Jamaica’s consul general at Toronto, Lincoln Downer; Miss Lou poetry reading by Tania Hernandez; Heritage Singers Canada; Poetry Slam champion Dwayne Morgan; visual artist Shantel Miller; and DJ Eugene Chang. The host is Sandra Whiting. The admission is“pay what you can”, and those who register online will be sent the Zoom link. Funds raised will be used to support the future of early childhood education in Jamaica and Canada. www.pacecanada.org/memories PROFESSOR SIR Hilary Beckles, vice chancellor of The University of theWest Indies, recently delivered the keynote address at a pre-conference event for 2023 Universities Studying Slavery Conference in Canada. Sir Hilary is chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, advisor on Sustainable Development to former United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, president of Universities Caribbean, and chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council. In anticipation of the conference hostedby theUniversity of King’s College andDalhousieUniversity, inpartnership with the Black Cultural Centre of Nova Scotia, an online pre-conference event was held on November 1 on the theme of Slavery andReparations: AfricanNova Scotia, Canada and Beyond. It began with a panel discussion featuring Dr. Andrea Douglas, direc- tor, Jefferson School African American Heritage Centre;Cikiah Thomas, chair- person of the International Working Committee of the Global African Congress, which is campaigning for governments to issue an apology and reparations for slavery; and Delvina Bernard, a PhD candidate at Saint Mary’s University with her disserta- tion topic examining reparations and models of reparatory justice for historic inequities including slavery and eco- nomic underdevelopment. Dr. Afua Cooper was the discussant. She is Canada’s leading expert on slav- ery and freedom and, further, is trained in Black Canadian history, the history of the African Diaspora, and Decolonizing studies. A professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science at Dalhousie University, she is director of the Black People’s History of Canada Project and holds a Killam Research Chair. Her book The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold Story of Slavery in Canada and the Burning of Old Montreal broke new grounds in slavery studies, and the history of Black Canada. The 2023 Universities Studying Slavery Conference will run from October 18-21, 2023. As a major in- ternational conference on slavery’s role in higher education and its leg- acies, which include the international movement for reparations and redress, this is the first USS conference to be held outside of the United States. It will also be the first USS conference to foreground the history of slavery in Nova Scotia and Canada, and the experience of African Nova Scotians particularly. THE WEEKLY GLEANER | NOVEMBER 4 - NOVEMBER 10, 2021 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | ENTERTAINMENT 11 ‘Dr. J’ IN THE ‘HOOD: NBA legend Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving joined other legends of the sport at ceremonies in Harlem, NYC, on October 9, marking the re-opening of the newly renovated basketball court in Rucker Park. For decades, NBA players and amateurs would compete in tournaments during the summertime at Rucker Park. LEONARD MCKENZIE UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles. FILE Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon greets Daphne Mahoney at the 30th Annual Friends of Mustard Seed Communities luncheon in Dix Hills, NY on September 25. CONTRIBUTED EVENTS CTFF, IN association with JAMPRO, is proud to present Becoming a Queen: a special encore screening during Jamaica Night at the Royal Cinema. The Caribbean Tales International Film Festival will present an encore screening of two films by Jamaican film-makers on November 6 at the Royal Cinema in Toronto. Hosted by radio personality Carrie Mullings, this event features a special in-person screening of the feature docu- mentary‘BecomingaQueen’by Jamaican- Canadian, Toronto-based film-maker Chris Strikes and short film‘No Entry’ by Jamaican film-maker KalebD’Aguilar. Therewill beanonstage talkbackwith select members of the cast and crew of ‘BecomingaQueen’which is about Joella Crichton who aims to leverage her win- ning Caribbean Carnival Queen legacy to impact the larger society and reveal the level of fine art that Carnival truly is. Strikes is an award-winning director who began his career in music videos working with artistes including Nelly Fuertado, Kardinal Offishall andMachel Montano. He was accepted into the HotDocs Accelerator Fellowship and was also one of only six recipients of HotDocs’ first CrossCurrents Fund for emerging Canadian documentary film-makers, with ‘Becoming a Queen’. “Against thebackdropof theWindrush scandal, a Jamaican mother, Valerie Powell, struggles tokeepher relationship with her son Eli intact. She suffers in si- lenceas shebattleswiththegovernment’s hostileenvironment tactics, as shekeeps the threat of deportationa secret, herpsy- chological state begins to deteriorate as she grapples with the fear of losing her sonandthecountry, shecallshome,”notes the synopsis of ‘No Entry’. D’Aguilar is a Jamaican writer and film-maker currently based in London. His background is in theatre and per- formance, but after completing his BSc in anthropology, D’Aguilar transitioned to writing and directing for film. His curiosity in culture and the tensions be- tween the individual and society drives his storytelling, which he hopes will help embolden the voices of the under- class and marginalised communities. UWI vice chancellor addresses pre-conference event on slavery’s role in higher education PACE to host cultural show Festival to feature works by two Jamaican film-makers THE WE KLY GLEANER | NOVEMBER 4 - 3