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They have taken the oath! Peel Regional Police swear in two new deputy chiefs

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BY: ASHELLY SMITH 

At 1 pm on March 27th, families, friends, police officers and well-wishers were present at the Emily V. Kolb Centre for the swearing-in ceremony of Peel Regional Police new deputy chiefs. Deputy Chiefs Marc Andrews and Ingrid Berkeley-Brown are the two new black deputy chiefs of Canada’s third largest police service.

The ceremony started off with Superintendent Dale Mumby as Master of Ceremonies (MC) doing the welcoming message. In a few minutes, guests of honour were escorted in by police cadets. The guests of honour were Chair of Peel Police Services Board Sue Mcfadden, Honorable Justice and Officiate Sandra Martins, Chief of Peel Regional Police, Jennifer Evans, Superintendents Marc Andrews and Ingrid Berkeley-Brown.  There is no ceremony without the singing of our national anthem, O Canada which was done by Brooke Pastuch, a Grade 10 student at Mayfield Secondary School. The blessing was done by the Chaplain, Curtis Hinds. 

It is important to know that the new deputy chiefs were not appointed for the positions because they were born with silver spoons in their mouths. It was because of intensive work and dedication to their profession that allowed them to be in such a high ranking position. Deputy Chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown is from Guyana and immigrated to Canada in 1974. She began her policing career in 1986 with the Peel Regional Police as a Constable. She has worked in several areas including Uniform Patrol, Community Services, Race and Ethnic Relations Bureau, Divisional Criminal Investigation Bureau, Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Bureau, Public Affairs, Neighbourhood Policing Unit, Recruiting, Duty Inspectors’ office, Record Services and Divisional Commander at 21 Division. Berkeley-Brown is committed to community development and has been actively involved with many community organizations including the Peel Multicultural Council, the Young Men’s Christian Association(YMCA) Achievers Program, the Congress of Black Women (Mississauga, Brampton and Kitchener-Waterloo chapters) and the United Achievers Club of Brampton. Berkeley-Brown has been the recipient of several awards for her work in the community, including the Congress of Black Women Mississauga and Area Chapter ‘Phenomenal Woman’ Award; the Association of Black Law Enforcement (ABLE) ‘Leadership in Law Enforcement’ Award just to name a few. 

Similarly, Deputy Chief Marc Andrews joined Peel Regional Police in 1990 as a Constable at 12 division in Uniform Patrol and was assigned to the Morality Bureau. In 1998, he transferred to the Homicide Bureau, where he received his first promotion to Detective. The Jamaican-born Andrews was the primary investigator on a number of high profiles homicide investigations. In 2003, Andrews was promoted to Staff Sergeant, then in 2011, he was assigned to 21 Division as the Uniform Inspector. Soon, the promotion to a Superintendent position was knocking at his door in May of 2013.  So, it is without a doubt that these two deputy chiefs have reached the pinnacle of policing and do not intend to stop blazing a trail for younger police officers to follow.

Sue Mcfadden was one of the two speakers at the ceremony.  As the chair of Peel Regional Services, she was a part of the decision-making process of promoting the two deputy chiefs.

“We originally set out to replace one vacant deputy position. The board in collaboration with Chief Evans determined that both Marc and Ingrid stood out for their skills, experience, expertise and their absolute commitment to our community,” said Sue Mcfadden, chair of Peel Regional Police.

She closed her speech by congratulating both Ingrid and Marc on behalf of the Peel Police Services Board. She further commented that the swearing-in ceremony is a special day for the deputy chiefs and they should celebrate it as their families saw them achieve this wonderful accomplishment.

Chief Jennifer Evans was the second speaker at the ceremony. She spoke about both deputy chief’s historic journeys and achievements.

“To Marc’s and Ingrid’s families, I want to thank you for your continued support. I know that throughout their careers you have put up with many absences because of their work commitments and I also know that their new role will add to their workload. They may not think that, but I know that,” said Chief Jennifer Evans during her presentation as she made the audience giggle.

Evans commented that over the course of her career, she noticed the differences in their personalities will serve to complement each other as they move forward in their new leadership roles. She also believed strongly that both deputies will do exceptionally well with their strong leadership skills and extensive experience.

Finally, it was the moment everyone was waiting for. The time for the superintendents to be officially sworn in as deputy chiefs. Honourable Justice and Officiate Sandra Martins had both Ingrid and Marc hold the Bible to take their oaths. Deputy Chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown was the star of the ceremony. She had received loud applause and cheers from the audience after she was sworn in. It was very evident that her supporters, families and co-workers were thrilled about her accomplishment. Surprisingly, there was a queue to take a picture with her.  Was she expecting this splendid response?

“I can honestly say I did not. It was quite overwhelming and welcoming so for me, I really welcome that. It also let me know that there are a lot of people supporting me in my lieu of becoming deputy chief,” said Deputy Chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown.

During an interview with Deputy Chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown, she shared her goals of creating a more friendly and transparent society with the police force and citizens with the aim of improving the relationship with both the public and police personnel, ultimately creating trust and confidence within the society.  For officers who want to be the next deputy chief in the future, if your mind can conceive it, you can achieve it.

“They too can achieve it but my best advice to them is to work hard, treat people fairly and always remember who have helped you along the way,” commented Deputy Chief Ingrid.

She further added, “Even though you have achieved whatever goal you’re looking for always remember to give back. That could be either giving back to the community or being a mentor to a junior officer.”

Marc Andrews is the officer-in-charge of Operations Support Command. This includes areas such as Court Services, Record Services, the Community Engagement and Inclusion Bureau, Emergency Support and Road Safety Services.  During an interview, Marc said he will be focusing on issues such as road safety in his command. He wants to eliminate the high numbers of accidents in Peel as there are more accident reports than homicide. He believes that everyone’s life is valuable and as a result, his aim is to bring those numbers down to zero deaths on the roadways.  Moving on to his new role in policing, he was reminiscent of the birth of his two sons.

“The birth of my two children is the most memorable experience in my career,” he said laughing.

He added, “But looking from a policing perspective, the most memorable experience was convicting a multiple murderers Jeffrey Campbell. He was a dangerous offender and he was arrested in 2001 and convicted in 2005.”

Andrews believes that he can bring a different perspective to the executive level as he is passionate about his hometown Brampton. Civilians and stakeholders of the community can expect respect, humility and courage in his jurisdiction.

It is evident that Deputy Chiefs Ingrid Berkeley Brown and Marc Andrews have a clear and strategic plan for their jurisdiction. They are headstrong individuals with a passion to make changes where it’s necessary. Deputy Marc Andrews wanted each police officer to know this:

I would advise any young officer to be engaged in the community, work hard, commit to lifelong learning and conduct themselves with honour and dignity. By doing those things whatever they deem as success is achievable, not only in terms of promotion but also in life.”

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Canada is Sinking – Is there a correlation between the rising economic costs, and the siphoning of funds to other sources in Canada?

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BY ADRIAN REECE

At some point Toronto was a city that people enjoyed living in. Recent political leadership at every level of government has caused citizens to consider moving out of the country as a whole. The high cost of living, coupled with the difficulty affording housing, and remote work becoming more regular has made the rest of the world seem much more appealing for Canadians as a whole.

Many countries are offering travel perks and visas to travelers in the west, to encourage them to visit, or to even move into their countries. Costa Rica, Japan, and France currently have travel perks and have opened their borders to make it easier to enter. Specifically for Canadians and even more specifically Torontonians who work remotely, are looking to countries and cities with lower costs of living. The Canadian dollar goes far in other parts of the world.

We owe the struggling economy to a few factors. Political leadership has greatly impacted the state of Canada, immigration policies that have changed over the years have caused stress on Canadian citizens.

In 2023, the federal government released its new Immigration Levels Plan to welcome 485,000 permanent residents in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025 and 2026. This announcement came on the heels of an Environics public opinion survey revealing a significant increase in the number of Canadians who believe the country accepts too many immigrants. That marks a dramatic reversal from a year ago, when support for immigration levels stood at an all-time high.

The Trudeau led government has held true to their commitment to bring in millions of immigrants in a short span of time. Housing policy is draining the income of Canadians, and political debates do not provide any real answers towards understanding what is going on in the country. Consistent political scandals regarding Trudeau overspending, and not adhering to budgets, and using money that was originally allocated for certain things. Trudeau was audited and it was found that $123 million was given to ineligible businesses, or projects that should have never been awarded at all. This is one in a long list of Trudeau scandals that have been a part of Canada political identity for the last nine years.

Trudeau’s government has even siphoned off funds to their personal businesses, after audits by the auditor general, we have seen too many inconsistencies with the funding of the Trudeau government in misusing funds as well as money disappearing into places that it should not be going.

In June of this year, the auditor general (AG) released two reports about: improper contracting practices, conflict of interest, and funding provided for ineligible projects. What these reports brought to light is an unpleasant reality; politicians and bureaucrats in Ottawa do not always act in the best interest of Canadians.

According to the first AG report, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the federal agency responsible for funding green technology projects, demonstrated “significant lapses… in governance and stewardship of public funds.” Nearly 20% of the SDTC projects examined by the AG were in fact ineligible (based on the government’s own rules) for funding, with a total price tag of $59 million. There were also 90 instances where the SDTC ignored conflict of interest provisions while awarding $76 million to various projects. Indeed, the AG found 63 cases where SDTC agency directors voted in favour of payments to companies in which they had declared interest.

The second AG report focused on 97 contracts totaling $209 million awarded by the federal government to the McKinsey & Company consulting firm from 2011 to 2023. According to the AG, the government demonstrated “frequent disregard for procurement policies and guidance and that contracting practices often did not demonstrate value for money.” About 70% of these contracts were awarded non-competitively, meaning no other companies were permitted to bid on the contracts. Interesting!

These findings also follow an earlier report in February that found the federal government “repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the: contracting, development, and implementation” of the ArriveCAN mobile app, which cost Canadian taxpayers at least $59.5 million.

Is there a correlation between the rising economic costs, and the siphoning of funds to other sources in Canada? Potentially, it will take a lot more investigation to confirm if that is really the case. However, Canadians can see that there has been a drastic change in the economy since the Trudeau government has come into power.

For governments to work there needs to be transparency, and there has been a lack there of in regard to our political leadership in the last few years. There are too many scandals and too many mishaps with money. Too many policies that do not benefit the citizenry, and not enough effort made to rectify the sinking economy.

Canada cannot continue to stay in these dire straits, we are sinking, and leadership plays a big role in the state of the country. We won’t see changes unless we demand it, we can take a page out of France’s method of protest; other countries have set a precedent of what their expectations are, and Canadians need to do the same. They need to demand change and implement strategies to achieve it. Within acceptable methods of protest there exists a strategy and method of changing the nature of Canada’s problems, but it starts with the citizenry. Coming together is the greatest power we have, and we need to utilize it.

REFERENCES:

https://www.environicsinstitute.org/projects/project-details/public-opinion-about-immigration-refugees

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/supplementary-immigration-levels-2023-2025.html

https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_202402_01_e_44428.html

https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_202406_06_e_44493.html

https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_202406_e_44491.html

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/scathing-auditor-general-reports-underscore-political-realities

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The Jamaica Food and Drink Festival – where every bite tells a story, and every sip celebrates Jamaica’s vibrant soul

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BY SIMONE J. SMITH

What if I told you that Visa is offering two amazing opportunities that YOU, our loyal readers have an opportunity to take part in? For one of our lucky readers, you have a chance to:

  • Win a trip to Trinidad Carnival 2025
  • Win a trip to Jamaica

“What is this all about Simone,” you might be asking? Well, the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival (JFDF) turns 10 this year, and Visa International is thrilled to be part of the celebration once again. Welcome to the heart of Jamaica’s culinary playground – the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival, where flavours, culture, and music blend into one unforgettable celebration.

Step into the lively Craft Market downtown, where the spirit of Jamaica comes alive. Here, they celebrate the island’s rich history and vibrant flavours – an ode to the past. Guests get a chance to immerse themselves in the legacy of festival favourites like: Crisp, Chopstix, Pork Palooza, and Picante – all in one electrifying space.

Taste, sip, and groove your way through the night, reliving fond festival memories while savouring the global influences that have shaped the iconic dishes we love today – no passport required (except to travel of course)!

As the hot days turn into steamy nights, and steamy nights turn into sweltering days, what better way to close out the festivities than with one last delectable event? The finale is not just a celebration, but a reflection of Jamaica’s culinary renaissance. After four unforgettable days, guests get a chance to honour the island’s: finest chefs, mixologists, and artisans who have made this festival a true showcase of creativity and passion.

Naturally, the festival had to find accommodations that match its prestige, and the only hotels of choice this year are: The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel and The Courtleigh Hotel & Suites. At the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, the Caribbean’s most distinguished address, you will experience the perfect blend of elegance and island charm. Nestled in the heart of New Kingston, surrounded by lush gardens and views of the Caribbean Sea, this 17-storey gem is where business meets leisure in true Jamaican style. You also have the option of immersing yourself in the timeless charm of The Courtleigh Hotel & Suites, a true jewel of Jamaica’s capital city. With spacious accommodations, award-winning dining, and all the modern comforts, it is the perfect way to end your festival experience.

Waldemar Cordero, Marketing Senior Director for Visa in the Caribbean and Central America, expressed his excitement about being involved in the festival’s decade-long run. “We’re really excited to be part of the 10th staging of the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival. It’s amazing to see how far this festival has come, and we’re proud to have been part of the journey over the last 6 years. This festival isn’t just about food, it’s about celebrating Jamaica’s rich culture and the incredible talent that drives it.”

Visa’s partnership with JFDF has grown over the years, evolving from a traditional sponsorship into a dynamic collaboration that enhances the festival experience for everyone. “Our relationship with the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival has deepened over time,” said Waldemar. “We’ve moved from simply being a sponsor to becoming the main partner, working closely with the organizers to bring fresh, exciting elements to the event each year. This time around, we’re especially excited about the initiatives we’re rolling out that will make it easier and more enjoyable for attendees to experience all that the festival has to offer.”

Visa is excited to enhance the celebration of the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival’s milestone 10th year by offering an exclusive hospitality package to Trinidad Carnival 2025. One lucky Visa cardholder who purchases festival tickets between October 16th and November 9th, 2024, will win this incredible experience. This offering includes: two economy class tickets from Kingston, Jamaica to Port of Spain, Trinidad; six nights of luxury accommodation at the Hyatt Regency; and comprehensive airport transfers and event transportation. The winner and their guest will enjoy: inclusive meals, stylish Monday Wear and Carnival Tuesday costumes, and access to premier events such as Brian Lara’s Event and PinkNicTT. Additionally, they will be treated to glamour make-up and photos. This package promises to deliver an unforgettable festival experience and celebrate the unified Caribbean culture in style.

In addition, one lucky winner from our Caribbean neighbour Trinidad and Tobago, who uses the First Citizens Bank card in Trinidad, will win a trip for two to the Food and Drink Festival in Jamaica. This is an all-expense paid trip for two with the winners to ensure the festival and enjoy scenic places in Jamaica such as Dunn’s River Falls and Port Royal. Ready for that almost winter getaway? Visit https://jafoodanddrink.com/ for more details. Good luck!

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Welcome to the Black Scholars Institute—where excellence thrives, and liberation is pursued

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BY SIMONE J. SMITH

At the heart of the University of Windsor’s campus, centrally located in the lower level of the CAW Student Centre, lies a space dedicated to fostering: African-Caribbean excellence, academic growth, and community empowerment: The Black Scholars Institute, or BSI.

The BSI Lounge is more than just a meeting place. It is a safe and welcoming space for African/-Caribbean faculty, staff, and students—a venue that fosters not only academic engagement, but community connection. Here, important university and local events, aligned with the Institute’s mission and values, take place.

The Black Scholars Institute is a multidisciplinary research institute—a home for African-Caribbean scholars at UWindsor. It is dedicated to advancing Black excellence and liberation through scholarship, research, and community engagement. The Institute’s work enriches teaching, learning, and social justice efforts across the University, with a focus on making an impact nationally and globally.

BSI hosts a range of weekly programs that encourage meaningful dialogue and academic collaboration. Events such as “Think Tank Thursday” provide a platform for African-Caribbean faculty and students to come together, exchange ideas, and discuss relevant research and current events. For those who are deep in their academic work, “Just Write” sessions offer dedicated time for focused writing in a supportive environment. “Coffee and Convo,” a collaboration with Leddy Library, creates space to explore Black literature and hold thought-provoking discussions around important topics.

Graduate students are invited to participate in student saloons, where they present their works-in-progress in a safe, inclusive space, where they can receive valuable feedback from peers and faculty members alike. Additionally, the “Black Research Spotlight” shines a light on the groundbreaking work of African Caribbean scholars, providing them with a platform to showcase their research and innovations.

In recognition of the challenges posed by systemic anti-Black racism, the BSI offers its members a membership with the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, providing on-demand access to a wealth of professional development resources. This is just one of the ways BSI ensures its scholars are well-equipped to thrive and succeed in their academic careers. As a research institute, BSI is committed to supporting Black Studies and promoting excellence in scholarships. One vital aspect of this is the awarding of grants to Black scholars. These grants are instrumental in advancing research that is often overlooked in traditional funding competitions.

While visiting the University earlier this month, I learned more about some of the challenges that have been faced in opening BSI. The establishment of this initiative was approved by the University of Windsor’s Senate on October 7th, 2022. The initiative is in alignment with the University’s commitment to the Scarborough Charter (utoronto.ca) on anti-Black racism and Black inclusion in Canadian higher education. In 2023, the University of Windsor (UWindsor) announced their new academic home that would spotlight: Black excellence, scholarship, research, and community. The inaugural Black Scholars Institute (BSI) at UWindsor, was formally launched in September 2024.

Dr. Clinton Beckford, UWindsor’s Vice President of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, envisions that the BSI will be the institutional home for Blackness at the University. “The establishment of a Black Scholars Institute at the University of Windsor is ground-breaking and transformative,” he says.  “It positions the University of Windsor as a post-secondary leader in intellectual thought and practice around Blackness and makes real our commitments to Black flourishing and thriving at and beyond the institution.”

The BSI will work closely with UWindsor’s Interdisciplinary and Critical Studies Department within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Building a Black Scholars academic program represents an innovative plan of action intended to meaningfully understand UWindsor’s approach to African-Caribbean ways of knowing in Canadian universities. The expected output will enhance UWindsor’s research profile in Black Studies and feature scholarly work, special events, speakers’ series, mentorship, and more.

Dr. Camisha Sibblis, the Director at BSI, is hopeful that the institute will enrich the experiences of Black faculty at UWindsor. “We believe that the inclusion of Black peoples, ways of learning and knowledge systems are integral to the growth of our community. The establishment of the BSI is a crucial part of fulfilling the University’s Strategic Mandate Agreement (ontario.ca) and purposefully moving the institution into the future. The Institute will enhance the University’s research profile and will also establish the University as a center of excellence in Windsor-Essex and the Detroit area – a region known for its historic importance for Black people in North America.”

Welcome to the Black Scholars Institute—where excellence thrives, and liberation is pursued through scholarship, research, and community engagement.

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