African Heritage Month invites us to pause, reflect, and celebrate the enduring presence, contributions, and leadership of Black communities locally, nationally, and globally. This year carries particular significance. It marks 30 years of African Heritage Month being formally recognized in Canada, and 100 years since its inception in 1926 as Negro History Week in the United States, a moment born out of resistance, remembrance, and collective pride.

At Delta Family, this month is grounded in joy, shaped by history, propelled by hope, and guided by a commitment to liberation. We honour the past not as something distant, but as something living and woven into our present-day responsibility to build futures where Black communities can thrive with dignity, agency, and care.

This history is for everyone. African and Black histories are not separate from Canadian history. They are foundational to it. African Heritage Month invites all of us, across identities and lived experiences, to learn, reflect, and engage with the truths of our shared past. It is an opportunity to deepen understanding, challenge silences, and recognize how Black resistance, creativity, and leadership have shaped the communities and systems we live in today. When this history is understood collectively, it strengthens our capacity to move forward together.

As a B3 organization, Delta Family is intentional about centering Black life, culture, and leadership. This commitment shows up not only in what we celebrate during African Heritage Month, but in how we operate every day across generations, programs, and community spaces. In centering Black communities, we also honour and stand in solidarity with other racialized communities who share histories of colonization, displacement, and systemic exclusion.

Through Baba Roots, we create spaces for Black men to heal, reflect, and lead grounded in accountability, connection, and collective strength. Through Kuji Seniors and Kuji Kids, we honour the wisdom of elders while nurturing the imagination, confidence, and self-determination of our youngest community members. Our work is rooted in the Nguzo Saba, affirming values such as unity, purpose, self-determination, and collective responsibility as living principles, not symbolic ideals.

Guided by the Sesa Wo Suban model, we remain committed to deep reflection, transformation, and repair. We recognize that liberation requires both personal and systemic change. Across all our programs, we strive to create spaces where Black identity is affirmed, culture is celebrated, and community wisdom leads the way.

African Heritage Month is not a moment for us. It is part of our mandate. We celebrate this month with gratitude for those who came before us, with pride in the resilience and brilliance of Black communities today, and with hope for the generations who will carry this work forward.

As we reflect, celebrate, and learn together, we recommit ourselves to building a Delta Family and a broader community rooted in joy, guided by history, and moving boldly toward liberation.

Delta Family

Leadership Team

Events at Delta Family

Throughout this month, you can expect to engage in a variety of activities across Delta Family. Staff are encouraged to look out for and participate in inspiration and learning moments led by each department over the next five weeks, as teams share reflections, resources, and programming connected to African Heritage Month.

This week, the Settlement Department shared powerful learning highlighting the contributions of Jean Augustine, Marsha P. Johnson, Ahmed Hussen, and DJ Kool Herc, along with related resources. We encourage staff to engage with this material, spark conversation, and begin dialogue. The Settlement team has also generously offered to host a kitchen table style conversation where staff can come together to reflect and discuss the impact of these individuals and the histories they have shaped.

Delta Family will also be present in the community, participating in shared African Heritage Month events alongside our partners. This year, we are placing particular focus on our Early Years programming, recognizing that our journey toward identity, belonging, and liberation begins in early childhood through EarlyON. This focus also honours Delta Family’s historic funding to open a Black EarlyON Centre in the West, a milestone that reflects our long-standing commitment to Black families and community led early learning.

As part of this focus, we will be inviting Black children’s authors to participate in story readings throughout the month. These readings will celebrate Black stories, joy, and imagination, and will culminate in a collective closing moment at the end of the first week of March.