Spotlight on historic declaration, youth at 4th National Black Canadians Summit in Montreal

When he first heard about the call-out for presenters at the 2024 National Black Canadians Summit, Alfred Burgesson immediately knew he needed to be involved.

"I've been to the summit a couple of years ago in Halifax, and I was blown away by the level of engagement and energy that was involved," said the founder and CEO of Tribe Network, an organization that offers entrepreneurship support to racialized people.

Black communities and allies from across the country will gather at Montreal's Palais des Congrés Sept. 6-8 for the National Black Canadians Summit.

It is the fourth in a series of summit events organized and hosted by the Michaëlle Jean Foundation. The summit was hosted in Toronto in 2017, in Ottawa in 2019 and Halifax in 2022.

The first day of the Montreal summit is dedicated to 500 youth delegates, aged 18 to 35. The youth forum is a day planned by the youth for the youth, although everyone is invited.

Burgesson is one of the under 35s hosting a session called Black Futures. The panel and workshop will lead delegates into a discussion about what the future of Black economics could look like.

Burgesson says this topic is important to him because for decades, Black people have been denied access to generational wealth.

"My session will help bring forth solutions to problems and create opportunities in our communities for people to get jobs, or create their own business, and for people to make a living and pass down their wealth for generations to come," he said.

Halifax Declaration into action

Edward Matwawana, executive director of the Michaëlle Jean Foundation, says Montreal is a tourist destination, so the summit can expect a lot of people from different parts of Canada.

About 1,200 participants attended the last summit. More than 1,500 attendees are expected for this edition in Montreal.

Matwana says it's important for this year's summit to have a "Montreal flavour," especially in regards to arts, culture and language.

"What's interesting in Montreal is that you have a variety of Black communities. There are the francophone and anglophone Black communities to consider," he said. 

The summit allows delegates to participate in programs involving education, infrastructure development, cultural heritage, health and more.

Matwana is excited for participants to identify the obstacles and challenges facing Black communities, but also to share best practices to collectively advance the rights of Black Canadians while using the Halifax Declaration as a guide — a demand for solutions to challenges facing the lives of Black Canadians.

"The Halifax Declaration is the heart of this year's summit," Matwawana said. "Everything happening at the summit is driven by the manifesto that was put together to gather all the aspirations, demands and proposed resolutions of the Black communities in Canada.

"We want people to eternalize it, understand and begin to use it."

Presale tickets for the summit go on sale May 29. Full programming will be revealed in June.

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.