Jamaican Association of Montreal Helping Local Community

Organization Nominated by Roundtable for Black History Month

NewsMarion Ghibaudo — Published February 8, 2016 | Updated February 9, 2016 at 4:38am

To celebrate 25 years of Black History Month in Montreal, it gave a special spin to their 2016 laureates.

“Every year, we nominate 12 people, but this year, we wanted to celebrate 12 associations instead,” said Vanessa Afuntuki, from the organization. They nominated associations that have existed for 25 years or more, and who take action for the Black communities in Montreal.

One of this year’s nominees is the Jamaica Association of Montreal, which started as a community organization where Jamaica’s culture and food were celebrated. It also was designed to create social services that the community was missing.

Noel Alexander, the former president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal who served for 30-odd years, is one of the laureates of this year’s Black History Month.

“We are very proud,” said Michael Smith, who has just been elected the new president of the association, “that Noel’s work with our association, but also his work with the Black community of Montreal has been recognized.”

The Jamaica Association of Montreal was created in 1962, with the main goal of integrating the Jamaican community and, by extension, the Black community in Montreal.

“We think of our association and its social and culture’s reaches as the two sides of a coin, and we couldn’t do one without the other,” Smith said.

One of the social programs that the Jamaica Association has been pushing is a program called “Au Futur,” coordinated by community worker Susan Hamilton. The association recruited Hamilton in October 2015 to mainly work on the program.

“This program is directed towards young mothers between 15-25 years, and I am here to help them with their daily chores: going back to school for the ones who want, help them with resumes, job interviews, whatever they need,” Hamilton said.

“This program is directed towards young mothers between 15-25 years, and I am here to help them with their daily chores: going back to school for the ones who want, help them with resumes, job interviews, whatever they need.” — Susan Hamilton, community worker.

“Au Futur” welcomes any young mother in need of help in the area of Montreal.

“The program has run for the past 20 years,” Hamilton said, “but I started with new young mothers when I arrived. At the moment, I care for four of them.”

It has the space to care for up to 15 mothers at any given time, and Hamilton expects to have ten mothers by June 2016.

The association also offers other activities relating to the “Au Futur” program, such as parental skill training and counselling, among others.

There’s also a food bank that runs every Tuesday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., with the help of volunteers.

Hamilton is a Concordia graduate in sociology. She also worked in the trades, but has always wanted to do more for her community.

“I thought by becoming a community worker, I would be able to help much more. I also wanted to give back to the community,” she said.

Community is the Jamaica Association’s very foundations, whether in cultural or social activities.

On a cultural level, the association also pushes to celebrate all things Jamaican: on Fridays during the month of February, for example, they have invited reggae artists for a live session at their community centre—Jah Cutta and the Determination Band, as well as King Shadrock and the Untouchable Band are among those that will play.

“The association is in a transition phase at the moment,” Smith said, “as I have just been elected president in January 2016, and we are trying to define our goals for the next few years.”

According to Smith, the association, which counts around 200 members at the moment, needs to push towards technology to reach more young people.