BY MICHAEL THOMAS

“We want criminal charges to be pressed first of all, and that is figuring out if they will sue him to get the money back or whatever. This person was acting of their own accord, so it was not as if he was doing this on behalf of the organization. He did this for his selfish gains, so whatever the court of law says is the punishment for that, that is what we are looking for.”

Above are the words of Rose-Ann Bailey, an ex-Officio for the organization named Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (AKA Black CAP) from the previous board.

These same sentiments are echoed by many concerned board members of Black CAP who contacted Toronto Caribbean Newspaper about the lack of accountability, bullying, and misuse of board funds by a few people on the inside whose intentions according to the other members are less than honorable. Here are some insights shared with us by these concerned members.

Like many other Black organizations today, like the Black Business and Professional Association (BBPA) and Tropicana Community Services, we too are concerned about financial transparency within the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention; the ONLY Black-led, Black-serving and Black-focused 35-year-old organization in the country. The lack of transparency significantly undermines the accountability and integrity of the organization. We are gravely concerned about the legally required: governance, transparency, and competency of the entire board.

According to the group of concerned members, this is the group that launched the illegal takeover of Black CAP. Please read carefully as to why there are many concerns here.

The primary concerns revolve around financial transparency and governance under the previous Executive Director, Gareth Henry (currently the Interim Executive Director of the Toronto HIV/AIDS Network), and his associates: Ian McKnight, Dennis White, Denzil Buckley, Nester Tom, Tru Stewart, Hamlet Nation, Lisa Duplessis, and Tanaka Chiromobo.

According to the group of concerned members, as of June 7^th, 2024, the Board of Directors led by Ian McKnight and unsecured legal advice and service from Milton Chan (unofficially secured as legal representative of Ian McKnight’s group) terminated the employment of Tina “Tee” Garnett as Interim Executive Director and replaced them with Nief Neamatt, a former staff that was terminated September 2023.

This installation of Nief Neamatt is an effort to ensure that when a new Board of Directors is put in place at the June 13^th, 2024, Special Members meeting the continued independent investigation into the unapproved and documented misappropriation of over $300,000 funds donated by the LCBO and other funders in 2022/2023 cannot be continued and thus attempting to clear Mr. Gareth Henry of any criminal, or legal accountability.

The group of concerned members told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper in a statement, “Mr. Neamatt has a well-known reputation by staff to be transphobic, homophobic, misogynistic, and sexist with multiple harassment and human rights complaints against him by staff.” 

They went on to explain, “We are concerned about the physical, mental, and emotional health of all staff members, especially as they are beginning to heal under the leadership of Tee Garnett.”

Well-intentioned members are concerned that Nief Neamatt will delete all documentation that would prevent the investigation from being continued or continue to financially gouge the organization under the puppet strings of: Gareth Henry, Ian McKnight, Dennis White, Denzil Buckley, Nester Tom, Tru Stewart, Hamlet Nation, Lisa Duplessis, and Tanaka Chiromobo.

Again, according to inside sources, Mr. Neamatt has absolutely no previous experience, or competency as an Executive Director and can only rely on others to do the work.

Since October 20^th, 2023, there have been many legal infractions and despite efforts to solve these issues internally, a group of six board members has consistently obstructed progress and failed to fulfill their duties. Here are some of the infractions.

• Undeclared conflict of interests and unwilling to sign Oath of Confidentiality and Declarations of Conflict-of-Interest Board forms (Requirement as a board member).
• Unethical behavior violation resulting in Human Rights complaints and investigations from staff based on interaction with board members.
• On-going violation of Union and Labour relations from Board Members.
• Demands by board members for full salary compensation for temporary replacement of the Interim Executive Director role.
• Inability to provide a safe work environment for the over 25 staff members of the organization.
• Blatant disregard for legal requirements has undermined the effectiveness of the Board of Directors at Black CAP.
• Unauthorized cancellation of the investigation around the ongoing independent financial investigation of the misappropriation of financial funds by Gareth Henry.
• Failure to meet the Enhanced Monitoring requirements set out by the Ministry of Health.

I spoke with three people from the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention: Tee” Garnett Interim Executive Director who was forced out illegally, Rose-Ann Bailey who is an Ex-Officio for the organization from the previous board, and an employee of Black CAP who for security reasons we will call Miss X.

Tee Garnett, a seventh-generation Canadian said to me, “Black CAP is near and dear to my heart. We have been here since 1781, and so seeing the first Black organization was a very monumental time in Black history for Black Canadians.”

“I came in knowing that the board was at a divide not realizing how deep it was, so I’ve been doing a lot of Afrocentric healing work with the staff who have gone through a lot of traumas, abuse, intimidation and I have been holding that space with them and for them.”

“We spent three days,” Garnett told me. “a week ago, doing healing work as an organization, only for one week later to have a board come in, who is in direct conflict with: standards, bylaws, code of conduct and then come in with an unretained, none-black legal representative, and call me while I was on sick leave with COVID to terminate me.”

Garnett told me in her closing words, “Black CAP needs community support because it belongs to the black community.”

Next up was Miss X who told me that her experience was that there is a lack of compassion and for a while Tee Garnet brought healing to the situation.

Speaking of the removal of Tee Garnett, Miss X said, “It was a hostile takeover because they took over I.T, and how they got access to the system nobody knows.”

I asked Miss X what she would like to see in the future at Black CAP, “That conflict of interest be declared from the get-go, places of power should be reserved for people who genuinely believe in the organization, and the moment we sense that things are not right, people need to say something.”

Rose-Ann Bailey was exceptionally candid about what has been taking place at Black CAP from a fraudulent point of view.

“We have the documentation to show that there have been funds that have been e-transferred to family members as well as a number of items that have not been approved by the board and were arbitrarily sent to different individuals.”

Bailey narrates a situation in Black CAP between Gareth Henry and Ian McKnight that makes the listener wonder why these two men are not in jail. From: doctoring credit card limits without the board’s consent, e-transferring thousands of dollars into a family member’s bank account, to stonewalling proper investigations and yet both men are free.

When asked what she would like to see happen to these guys for what they have done, Bailey answered, “Some of the times as Black people, we do not want to put our business out in public, but if we don’t people will continue to misuse the funds that are publicly given to community members that need it, so the more the public knows about what’s going on, the more honest we will make these organizations.”

Bailey told me this is not Black CAP’s first brush with internal thieves, however, this time the stakes are so high and outrageous that something has to be done publicly. “We want to make sure that they know that this has to stop,” she said.

By providing the information below, this organization wants the public to see the troubling number of patients who need their care, yet some who were entrusted with patients’ funds have chosen to funnel that money to places where it does not belong.

According to the Canadian AIDS Society and Health Canada, about one in four Canadians living with HIV identify as women.

In fact, an estimated 16,880 females live with HIV (including AIDS) across the country, with 597 new diagnoses among Canadian women in 2022 alone. All women have risk factors for HIV infection, but women who belong to socially and economically marginalized populations face many interconnecting determinants of health that adversely impact their risk for HIV infection, and their experiences accessing diagnosis, care, treatment, and support. ACB women, along with: Indigenous women, trans women, women who use drugs, women who experience violence, and women who are incarcerated are at a higher systemic risk for HIV.

A question that we do have as a paper is why are our organizations all being put on blast? Was the BBPA the genesis of our community organizations losing the trust of the community? Something insidious is developing, and we have to get to the bottom of it.

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get distracted. Have you ever found yourself losing focus while working or studying? You’re not alone. Do you find it hard to concentrate on a single activity for a long time? This could mean your attention span is shortening. Lately it may seem like external distractions, like noises, can easily pull you away from what you’re doing.

One clear sign of a shortening attention span is the frequent urge to check your phone, or social media. You might also find yourself losing interest quickly during meetings, or conversations. What you don’t realize or might not care about is that when your mind wanders, it can affect your ability to absorb important information.

Research indicates people’s attention spans have been shrinking over the last 20 years, and guess what is to blame? You got it; good old social media, and there is a specific type of consumption that we can blame for our shortening attention spans.

A new trend of social media consumption has arisen in recent years. In 2018, the video platform musical.ly was transformed into TikTok, a video platform where people: record, lip-sync, and share short-form videos, a type of video consumption where the attention of the user needs to be attracted in the first few seconds to keep them from scrolling towards the next video. This type of video production became increasingly popular, so that the direct traditional social media competitors like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook started to adopt this type of video consumption. It became one of the most popular video formats so much that people using social media are almost unable to miss this type of video platform

One study found that participants spent about an hour per day watching short-form videos and acknowledged their addictive nature. While immediate effects on attention span were not apparent, participants reported feeling less focused in their daily lives and recognized a connection between short-form video consumption and attention span. It is now becoming apparent that this trend of dwindling attention spans is affecting how we consume content, and I’m not just talking about social media videos — even television and film shots are getting briefer. 73% of consumers prefer to watch short-form videos to learn about a product or service, and 56% of marketers reported that short-form video was the top trend they planned to invest in in 2024.

Videos started out much longer. I can go back to videos like “Thriller” (Michael Jackson), which were seven to eight minutes long. Now, they now average about four seconds a shot length. If you watch MTV music videos, they’re much shorter; they are only a couple of seconds. The fact remains that we are becoming more accustomed to shorter bursts of content, and it’s bleeding into the kind of content we consume and what is being created.

So, why are short-form videos so popular? Science tells us that one of the crucial reasons we love short-form videos is that our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Turns out there are a few reasons, one of which involves a bit of psychology. Let’s get into it!

Short-form videos are videos that are less than 60 seconds in duration. However, short-form videos can be up to three minutes long. Studies found that most consumers will only watch an entire video if it’s less than 60 seconds long. Then you have apps like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels that push short-form videos to users in an infinite scroll format.

With long-form videos, marketers and creators must work extra hard to keep their audience engaged. That means strengthening the content with dynamic shots, mood-setting music, and a long but compelling script, and all that takes: more time, effort, and (most importantly) money.

Researchers have found that there has been a decrease in our attention span from 12 to 8.25 seconds in recent years. In addition to that, the concept of attention span is suddenly gaining popularity on social media, with memes portraying individuals referred to as “iPad kids” (etc.), who constantly seek entertainment through video games, and by other means. This constant exposure to short-form entertainment videos not only entertain, but also provides people the opportunity to constantly compare themselves to others, which can lead to detrimental effects if they constantly compare themselves to others who they see as “better people” than themselves.

By recognizing the signs of a shortening attention span and taking steps to address it, you can improve your productivity and overall well-being. Use techniques like the Pomodoro Technique. Work for a set period, like 25 minutes, then take a short break. This can help you maintain focus and give your brain a chance to rest. Incorporate mindfulness practices into your routine. Deep breathing, meditation, and regular breaks can help reduce stress and improve your attention span.

Individuals should be more aware of their social media usage and engage in self-regulation, while schools and policymakers can implement awareness programs and regulations on social media platforms. Additionally, providing mental health support and resources is crucial for those experiencing negative effects from excessive social media usage.

Remember, it’s about finding balance. Take care of your mind, and your mind will take care of you.

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

As summer gears up, we are all eagerly anticipating beach days, vibrant festivals like the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, and traveling across the border to see our friends and loved ones. The excitement of sun-soaked adventures and cultural celebrations fills the air. Unfortunately, looming decisions threaten to disrupt many of our plans, potentially making crossing the border a tedious procedure.

More than 9,000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada working for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) have secured an overwhelming strike mandate which could lead to significant disruptions to the flow of goods, services and people at Canadian ports of entry as the busy summer season approaches. Members voted 96% in favour of taking job action during strike votes held April 10^th to May 23^rd, 2024. The union represents more than 245,000 workers across Canada – including federal public service workers, provincial, territorial and municipal workers, as well as post-secondary education, law enforcement and public safety workers and many more.

“Taking job action is always a last resort, but this strong strike mandate underscores that our members are prepared to do what it takes to secure a fair contract,” said Chris Aylward, PSAC National President. “Unless they want a repeat of 2021, Treasury Board and CBSA must be prepared to come to the table with a fair offer that addresses our key issues.”

Job action by CBSA personnel in 2021 nearly brought commercial cross-border traffic to a standstill, causing major delays at airports and borders across the country and a marathon 36-hour bargaining session to reach an agreement.

PSAC-Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) members at CBSA: include border services officers at airports, land entry points, marine ports, and commercial ports of entry, inland enforcement officers, intelligence officers, investigators, trade officers, and non-uniformed headquarters staff.

Workers have been without a contract for over two years, yet Treasury Board and CBSA are still not prepared to negotiate an agreement that protects workers and continue to demand concessions at the bargaining table. Key issues in this round of bargaining include fair wages that are aligned with other law enforcement agencies across the country, flexible telework and remote work options, equitable retirement benefits, and stronger protections around discipline, technological change and hours of work.

“Our members’ response to this vote has been unprecedented – we extended the voting period to meet the overwhelming demand from workers,” said Mark Weber, CIU National President. “We’re sending a clear message to the employer: we’re prepared to fight for fair wages, equitable retirement and to make CBSA a better place to work.”

CBSA personnel deserve fair wages that are aligned with other law enforcement agencies across the country, and an equitable retirement regime.

These uncertainties cast a shadow over our summer dreams, reminding us of the ever-changing landscape we must navigate to enjoy the moments we’ve been looking forward to.