Black hair salon owner provides much needed sisterhood in Quebec City

"When George Floyd called his mama before he died, he called every Black woman," said Plaquie Zion, who owns Ébène, a hair salon specialized in caring for curly hair in Quebec City.

Seeing how much she and her clients had in common, in November 2018 Zion created Sisterhood Qc — a space for women to congregate, to feel safe and to talk about issues facing Black women in the city.

George Floyd's murder forced Canada into a racial reckoning. That — and the stress caused by the pandemic — increased the need for community, Zion says.

"We have to get together, you know, to see if we're all okay."

In some ways, founding the Sisterhood was accidental. She knew people loved talking to their hair stylist.

"The barber shop or the hair salon will always be a place where we start some revolution," Zion said. "Clients started opening up to me … I realized that we are not alone."

She thinks about it in relation to her own life. Before becoming an entrepreneur, she worked in customer service for an insurance company. She says she realized that, no matter how many diplomas she had, she would never get the promotion she deserved because she is Black. She wouldn't find that space where she could thrive.

And for years, she felt alone in this experience. She didn't have any friends from the Afro or Afro-descendant community with whom to share it. And she felt she couldn't be herself while trying to fit in elsewhere.

"So if they will never give me my place, I will have to create my place," she said. "I needed to create a job where I can be valid, where I can be a boss."

And so she did.

She thought that if one client feels this way, maybe others do too. Maybe they need a safe space to get together, to talk, to be themselves.

LISTEN | Plaquie Zion shares her story on Quebec AM:

Word got around.

Soon, the 15 initial members of the Sisterhood grew to 47. People told their cousins, sisters, mothers. Zion recognized that magic was happening.

"For me, magic things need a name," she said. This is why she now calls it The Sisterhood.

She wonders if the spirit of the Sisterhood will remain as her membership grows. Can the group jump from 15 women to 100 and still be a safe space?

She doesn't have the answer yet. Maybe she will have to restructure the organization.

But, she is clear on one thing.

"If we are together, we are stronger," she said. "I'm glad that I constructed something for my community."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.