After 60 years of giving back, this legend isn't slowing down
Gemma Raeburn-Baynes is the mind behind countless initatives that have helped shape Montreal
CBC Quebec is highlighting people from the province's Black communities who are giving back, inspiring others and helping to shape our future. These are the 2024 Black Changemakers.
Six and nine.
Those are special numbers to Gemma Raeburn-Baynes and her family.
After five consecutive miscarriages, her mother gave birth to her older sister, Ann. Two more miscarriages followed before pregnancy number nine introduced the world to Gemma, born at around 28 weeks.
"You think it's going to live?" her father said, according to stories she was told.
Raeburn-Baynes is now 73, but as far as she's concerned, she was never supposed to be here. Her mother's tenth and final pregnancy also resulted in a miscarriage.
"That is why I figured I had to do something. I had to be somebody, you know? Why would God bring me here and not take me with the other eight kids?" she said.
"I am here for a purpose."
A lifetime celebrating Blackness
That sense of purpose has catapulted her to six decades and counting of community building and community service.
Whether it was raising money for young people to go to school, showcasing the best of Black culture, or even challenging eurocentric standards of beauty, Raeburn-Baynes seemingly always had a plan to empower Black people.
She is the driving force behind the city's Carifiesta parade, which debuted in 1974 and has been a staple in the city's arts scene for decades. During the late 70s, she began organizing beauty pageants and modelling events for Black women.
She helped put a spotlight on Caribbean food, music and culture when she founded the Taste of the Caribbean and Spice Island Cultural festivals. She's also written countless articles for the Montreal Community Contact, a go-to news source for generations of English-speaking Black Montrealers.
The McGill University graduate juggled these different projects while carving out a 35-year-career at the Bank of Montreal, a relationship that's led to the bank sponsoring many of her initiatives.
Despite her busy schedule and the heart condition that was passed down to her from her father, Raeburn-Baynes always has time to smile, chat, laugh and even dance.
"I can dance them down under the table!" said the 73-year-old, whose son Kevin calls "the energizer bunny."
"Put on that Calypso music and I'm gone!"
Raeburn-Baynes has left an indelible mark on the city. But her philanthropic nature was apparent when she was a child in Grenada.
One memorable example came — fittingly enough — at the age of nine.
'It's in her blood'
Raeburn-Baynes's father worked as an agricultural inspector for the Grenadian government.
As a child, she was a bookworm. She noticed that many of the less fortunate children in Westerhall, her village in Grenada's St. David's parish, weren't able to go to school.
When she was nine, Raeburn-Baynes rounded them up and invited them to her family home's veranda and set up tutoring sessions. She says those children also got the chance to wear nice clothes her mother prepared for them.
"We would invite the parents and we'd have them parade up and down in these nice clothes. I never knew it was a fashion show I was doing," she said, smiling.
"It gave me so much inspiration. It made me feel that I was doing something worthwhile."
Friends and family say the ability to rally people around ideas and turn those into action became synonymous with Raeburn-Baynes.
"It's just in her blood. She doesn't slow down and she doesn't want to slow down. Community is just a part of her," said Elysia Bryan-Baynes, Gemma's stepdaughter, who was a television anchor and reporter at Global Montreal for several years.
"She has that ability to both make people feel like they're included in her projects and included in helping the community, and she's very good at explaining her 'why' and why it's so important."
Raeburn-Baynes was 13 when she left Grenada for Montreal with her mother and sister, settling in the Parc-Extension neighbourhood.
Her father never got to join them, however. He died of a heart attack five months after they landed in Montreal.
As an adult, Raeburn-Baynes discovered that, like her father, she also has an enlarged heart.
"I have a defibrillator in my heart that's keeping me alive," she said, pointing toward her chest.
It's a big reason why she says people around her question why she's still involved in so many projects.
"Especially my son [who's like], 'why are you working so hard?'" she recalled.
"I said, 'Kevin, what do you want me to do? Sit and watch Dr. Phil every day and get fat and eat? I said 'no, no no.'"
'The foundation of a changemaker'
Latoya Belfon, a teacher, an author and publisher, nominated Raeburn-Baynes to be a 2024 CBC Black Changemaker.
With the series in its fourth year, Belfon was shocked she hadn't already received the honour.
"If, for example, she has an idea and nobody's going to go with her, she's going to go alone and that's really the foundation of a changemaker," Belfon said.
"She sees what's going on and she does something about it. Many of us see what's going on and we talk about it, but she puts action to it."
Bryan-Baynes describes her stepmother as a "persistent" and "courageous" woman who has molded other leaders.
"She sets a standard that she encourages everyone to follow. She encourages everyone to take their role and take their space in the community," she said.
"I think that will be her lasting legacy — the way she's able to do it with such care and diplomacy."
One of her latest initiatives, the Gemstar scholarship program, provides Black high school students in Quebec with scholarships and bursaries and connects them with mentors.
She calls it "my 70s project," and wants it to be her most impactful yet.
She said four students received scholarships last year. This year, that number has ballooned to 16, all of whom excel in school.
"If I pass away today, I think I've fulfilled what I wanted to do," she said. "I feel that I have given them their wings and that they can fly and change this community."
The Black Changemakers is a special series recognizing individuals who, regardless of background or industry, are driven to create a positive impact in their community. From tackling problems to showing small gestures of kindness on a daily basis, these Changemakers are making a difference and inspiring others. Meet all the Changemakers here.
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.
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