Associations
Don Wall February 2, 2021
Canada’s new Afro-Canadian Contractors Association celebrated its launch the first day of Black History Month with its first president acknowledging that the ACCA has assigned itself multiple challenging mandates.
“We started talking about this organization three years ago, and we’ve had lots of meetings, but COVID sort of pushed it back,” said Toronto-based contractor Stephen Callender. “Then the George Floyd incident happened and we thought we should move faster.”
The group was formed in September with a six-person board of directors and it was decided February, Black History Month, was the best time to have a formal launch. The ACCA has strength in Toronto at this point but Callender said its reach will be national.
Posted: Jan 31, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: February 1
Sephton Spence of Kubbie Construction Inc. says racism in the construction industry is not new, but protests over the summer emboldened some people to act on their bigotry.(Mark Bochsler/CBC)
From subtle systemic racism in awarding contracts to outright hate-motivated incidents at job sites, a new Black builders association wants to lay the foundation for a fairer construction industry.
Sephton Spence of Kubbie Construction Inc. says seeing racist graffiti on construction hoarding and nooses left at the construction site at Michael Garron Hospital sped up the group s plans. It s disturbing, but . it s not uncommon, said Spence. It is a very painful time to watch. So, you know, this is a continuation, but we ll continue the fight.