Save the date, April 10, 2025 6:00 – 7:15pm EDT
The profile of the global movement for reparatory justice for the trans-Atlantic slave trade is rising. Led by the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which issued a Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice in 2013, the issues are being debated in academic and policy circles, and increasingly in the context of international relations.
Reparatory justice in everyday parlance means acknowledging and writing the wrongs of slavery (and its legacies), by pursuing such measures as an apology, financial compensation, and cultural, scientific, social, educational, and spiritual redress. It is hoped that these measures will help to mitigate the harm done to Africans and their descendants because of enslavement, and to bring about some degree of healing for this collective.
What can reparatory justice look like? How do we bring it about? What are some examples, in modern times, of reparatory justice for descendants of enslaved Blacks?
The Canada-Caribbean Institute and the Canada International Council are pleased to welcome two scholars of the issue of Reparatory Justice to share their views and to engage in a Q&A.
The distinguished historian Professor Sir Hilary Beckles is Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and Chairman of the Caricom Commission on Reparation and Social Justice. He has a Ph.D. in economic and social history from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom and, among his distinctions, an honorary doctorate from Brock University in St. Catherines, Ontario. He has recently been named, by the Secretary General of the United Nations, as Chancellor of the UN University.
Dr. Afua Cooper, is Distinguished Professor of History, and Feminist Epistemologies, University of Toronto and former James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies 2011- 2017 at Dalhousie University. Dr. Cooper’s research interests are African Canadian studies, with specific regard to the period of enslavement and emancipation in 18th and 19th century Canada and the Black Atlantic; African-Nova Scotian history; political consciousness; community building and culture; slavery’s aftermath; Black youth studies.
Early registration is encouraged.
Robert Ready, Executive Director of the Canada-Caribbean Institute and a former High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica and the Bahamas, will facilitate the Q&A session.
Agenda
6:00 – Introduction of Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and Dr. Afua Cooper – Robert Ready
6:05 – Remarks from Sir Hilary Beckles
6:25 – Remarks from Dr. Afua Cooper
6:45 – Facilitated Q&A – Robert Ready
7:15 – Closing and Thanks – Robert Ready
Reparatory Justice in the International System – Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 6:00PM EDT