17-year-old Amherstburg student wins anti-racism award from Ontario's lieutenant governor
Lladaneyah Gayle co-founded a Black youth empowerment program when she was 12
An Amherstburg student is one of three young people from across Ontario to win a prestigious award for her leadership in eliminating racial discrimination.
Lladaneyah Gayle was honoured during a Monday ceremony in Toronto by the province's lieutenant governor, Edith Dumont, with the Lincoln Alexander Award. It comes with a $5,000 cash prize. Education Minister Jill Dunlop was also on hand.
Alexander was the first Black Canadian MP, cabinet minister and lieutenant governor in Ontario.
WATCH | Lincoln Alexander through the years:
Gayle, 17, moved to Essex County from Jamaica seven years ago, a country where their motto is "Out of many, one people."
"I grew up knowing a lot of different people from different backgrounds, different races," she said.
Then, when she arrived in Canada, she says she quickly realized how different she looked.
"Wow, I'm Black. My hair doesn't look the same. I don't eat the same foods. I interpret a lot of stuff differently, and really coming from that type of background really set me apart from everyone else, but because of that, I wanted to find a way to make sure that everybody felt included."
Gayle says accepting the award on Monday was a "very big empowerment" for her — and maybe others.
"Winning this award and people being able to read about me, for example, if there's another Black girl who can look up to me and be like, 'Wow, look! All the stuff she was able to do just by the age of 17, I can do the exact same thing.'
At the age of 12, Gayle co-founded the Black Youth Empowerment Program in Windsor-Essex. Over its first three years, it grew to more than 300 young people.
"It is a racism initiative … to overcome racism and oppression through experiential learning, capacity building and leadership development. The goal is to help them become entrepreneurs for themselves, start their own businesses, and really make a positive impact on Ontario and really Canada itself."
While in high school, Gayle assisted her student council as a deputy prime minister — and was also part of the Greater Essex County District School Board's student senate and of its Black student advisory mentoring committee.
"We have been able to mentor different students, have made so many connections, and through this, I see how we all start to grow as people. This is going to be the new face of Ontario, and I'm very happy to be a part of that."
Now at the University of Windsor, Gayle is double majoring in biochemistry and biomedical sciences, with long-term goals of attending medical school and becoming an oncologist to study cancer.
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.
