‘You are the cream of the crop’ - Grange

TORONTO:

The recipients of Jamaica’s national honours and awards for 2020 to this year were fêted at a reception at the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) where one of them, Brandeis Denham Jolly, was presented with his award by Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport.

“You’ve all excelled in your chosen field and have made an indelible mark in the Jamaican Canadian community,” said Grange who was conferred with the Order of Jamaica on August 6.

Lincoln Downer, Jamaica’s consul general in Toronto, noted that she is the longest- serving female member of parliament in Jamaica.

A member of the selection committee, Grange said it was not an easy task to consider the nominations from all over the diaspora and Jamaica. “It’s a committee of 12 so those who have been recognised you have really been the cream of the crop and you have really been specially honoured by your country to have been awarded a national honour.”

Jolly, 87, an award-winning businessman, publisher, broadcaster and civil rights activist, received the Order of Distinction in the rank of officer for contribution to the Jamaican diaspora in Canada and philanthropy.

“Denham Jolly is a man of the people, a business mogul, civil rights activist, and I remember those days when I was running around with a big afro here in Toronto and Denny Jolly was there contributing tremendously to the growth of the community here,” said Grange, describing him as a “renaissance man who transformed the Canadian landscape through his work”.

She said he had a love for and commitment to community organisations such as the JCA.

Jolly, who received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Toronto this year, said he was deeply honoured, grateful and humbled. “It was beyond my greatest dream when, as a youngster in Green Island, Jamaica, riding horses and tying out the goats and shooting birds in the fields, that a day like this would ever come.”

He remembered when the late Bromley Armstrong and Roy Williams, 93, started the JCA, and he was the treasurer at its first building on Dawes Road. He got a call one night that the place had burnt down and they pooled their money together and bought a building on Dupont Street.

In 2019, Jolly paid off the JCA’s mortgage with a donation of $315,000. “It is always a special honour to be recognised for your contributions by your peers, but it’s even a bigger honour to recognised by the land of your birth.”

The 2020 recipients, Bishop Dr Lennox Walker and Letna Allen-Rowe, were honoured with the Order of Distinction in the rank of officer for their outstanding service to the Jamaican diaspora in Canada. Walker was also recognised for his contribution to religion.

“Jamaica is maybe the greatest country on earth. Seriously speaking, that piece of real estate is a treasure and I’ve travelled the world and, just about anywhere I go, there’s the influence of Jamaica,” he said, noting that he visited Uganda recently and people were dancing to reggae. “And just to know that that country gave me life, I am honoured.”

Allen-Rowe said the award means people are observing her work and so it is her duty to set a good example in the community. “If you don’t know where you coming from, you won’t know where you going. So I am happy and I’m honoured that the Government of Jamaica saw something in me to give me this honour,” said the storyteller.

In 2021, Dr Upton Allen received the Order of Distinction in the rank of commander for contribution to the field of child health and care of children with infectious diseases in the Jamaican diaspora in Canada.

The professor of paediatrics at the University of Toronto and head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) said it was a special privilege to be the recipient of a national award.

Allen, who is the lead investigator of a study assessing COVID-19 prevalence and risk factors among black Canadian communities in Ontario, said the work is going well.

“There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done but we’re really extremely pleased with how things have gone and how much support we’ve gotten from the black community. And so a lot of the work that we’re doing is led by black folks for black folks, and so we are excited about that.”

In 2021, Marsha Brown received a Badge of Honour for meritorious service for dedicated service to the field of philanthropy to Jamaicans both locally and in Jamaica.

“It means a lot to be honoured by the country where I was born. I have been serving Jamaica for a long time. I believe in giving back; I’m passionate about it. Just this July, I brought my son, Cory, to Jamaica for a school build with Food For The Poor Canada. I just feel that it’s so important to hand off what I consider to be an important legacy of philanthropy to my son and to my children in general. My daughter as well has participated in many activities that I’ve done and so I am eternally grateful.”

Like Brown, Carol Phillips, who was not in attendance, received a Badge of Honour for meritorious service, and for outstanding service to the Jamaican consulate in Toronto and the diaspora.

Olive Parkins-Smith, who received a Badge of Honour for meritorious service for outstanding contribution to the Jamaican diaspora in Canada this year, said she was humbled. “ It means a lot to me because, when you receive these things before you die and when you receive it on the recommendation of your peers, (it’s) very, very humbling.”

Adaoma Patterson, immediate past president of the JCA, gave a tribute to Dr Jolly and Jamaica National made a presentation to him. Hamlin Grange paid a special tribute to his sister, Olivia.