SMJ Magazine fall issue #6 2014

Autumn 2014 Issue No.6

Thanksgiving ...a daily lifestyle

www.smjmag.com

Image

Life After Hazel:

Mississauga Selects a New Mayor and Searches for a New Identity

EXCLUSIVE

Lifestyle

THE HON. JEAN AUGUSTINE A PIONEER OF THE MODERN ERA

Glenerin Inn & Spa: A Destination of the Heart

BUSINESS Women & Entrepreneurship: How are we doing in 2014?

FALL 2014

SMJ

$4.99 CANADA

PLUS: A LOOK AT

The Jean Augustine Centre For Young Womens Empowerment

SHELLEY JARRETT AWARD WINNING IMAGE/STYLE CONSULTANT, MENTOR, SPEAKER & PUBLISHER

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On Sunday November 9th 2014 from 11:30am to 3:00pm Immigrant Women`s Small Business Expo Metro Hall - 55 John Street, Toronto ADMISSION is FREE

Get ready for the holidays with beauty tips from BeautiFLY and SJ Image Creations

Enjoy

• 1 on 1Styling/Wardrobe Consultation • Mini Makeovers • Photos • Gift Bag • Donations Accepted (min $15.00)

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6.....From The Desk of Shelley 7.....Beauty Secrets 8.....A Winner in African Fashion 16...Life After Hazel: Mississauga Selects a New Mayor & Seeks a New Identity 30...The Man Behind The Canada Glass Awards 32...Spotlight on Men of Excellence and An Excellent Man

20 20....Glenerin Inn & Spa 29....Inspiration Corner 29....Thanksgiving: A Daily Lifestyle 35.....Toronto Mass Choir: A Summer Project That Has Lasted a Quarter Century 38....Hamilton Meets Mozambique To Introduce A New World 40...The Canada Glass Awards - A Different Perspective

10....Close-up on Kwesiya: From Creation to Cloth And What’s Coming Up 13....Women And Entrepreneurship How Are We Doing in 2014?

36....Immigrant Women Small Business Expo

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22.....The Hon. Jean Augustine: A Pioneer of the Modern Era 25.....The Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

Founder & Publisher Shelley Jarrett Editor-in-Chief Andrew Terry Pasieka

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Creative Director/Artwork Sheri L. Lake

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Contributors Shelley Jarrett Andrew Terry Pasieka Caroline Dinnall Barbara Onwumere Josephine Casey Lourita Lue-Shing (video) Michelle Moore Natalia Norton (photography)

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Publicity LIM Media Group Inc. Website www.sjimagecreations.com www.smjmag.com Contact publisher@smjmag.com SMJ Magazine is a division of Seventh House Publishing Arts. c 2013 October 2014 / Autumn Issue / No. 6

Contributors Barbara Onwumere

Barbara Onwumere is a professional licence hairstylist and instructor. She has been in the business of educating hairstylists and individuals about hair and looking your best as both a profession and lifestyle for several years.

Josephine Casey

Josephine Casey is an author, poet and a full-time employee at a law firm in Brampton, Ontario. She published her first book of poetry, Life’s Poetry in February 2013, available on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, xlibris.com, and faithfilledbooks.com. The ebook is available on chapters.indigo.ca and kobobooks.com.

Lourita Lue-Shing

Lourita Lue-Shing is the Creative Director of Laureltree Media, a media production company serving the Greater Toronto Area. Her experience includes television news, culture and lifestyle programming, and corporate video production.

Michelle Moore

Passionate about Entertainment, Media and Fashion, Michelle studied Fashion Design at Fanshawe College in London Ontario.She is currently working closely with the president of CultureONE as well as handling entertainment insurance for Production, Media Liability & Commercial General Liability coverage to TV/Film & Theatre Production Companies.

SMJ MAGAZINE

This past summer was one of the busiest times for SMJ Magazine. The concept of moving to the next level calls for hard work and dedication, for being both consistent and persistent.

It started off with me taking that big step of walking down the aisle with my business partner and best friend this past spring. It continued with moving this past summer. From one community to another within Mississauga yes, but a major move nonetheless, while downsizing and all that entails at the same time.

In the meantime running around and fulfilling commitments, talking to people, attending events., award shows etc.,. I call it working hard but also playing hard. The people I was able to connect with would not have been possible if it wasn’t for SMJ Magazine. I amtruly grateful for this platform.

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a CD for the first time.

We have published articles on meditation (i.e., yoga) before, but for the first time we are publishing meditative prose, in the form of inspirational poetry.

As you know, I have usually confined myself to two articles per issue. Last December, I decided to spread my wings a bit and wrote a piece on a 52 week saving money challenge. After dialing back these past two issues, I am stepping up again, by contributing a report on a very important topic, about women & entrepreneurship.

And now the Fall season is upon us. It is a time to change and prepare. What are you looking to change this season? Is it your hair? Is it fashion? Is it your career? We thought we would share some beauty tips on hair and makeup. Many animals spend fall preparing for winter. This fall the residents of Mississauga are preparing to turn over the reins of leadership to someone new for the first time in 36 years. SMJ will look at the mayoralty race from the point of view of the magazine’s mandate.

Is this a hint of what’s to come? You will have to wait and see! I am grateful and thankful everyday, for this amazing platform I have been given, to be able to give voice to my community through the media. I truly feel this is my calling. It is a very powerful platform because freedom of the press is one of our basic rights. I am truly able to give back in a positive way, bringing certain issues to the forefront . Without a voice, you are invisible, no one knows you exist. I am humbled by the many people I meet everyday who encourage me about all that we are doing with the magazine.

There are many firsts in this issue. My first time meeting the Honorable Jean Augustine, Ontario Fairness Commissioner, a pioneer MP and Cabinet Minister in her own right and my first trip to Ottawa. We have reviewed books before but in this issue we are reviewing

I’ve been able to achieve so much in such a short time. It’s not easy, but one has to be self driven, motivated and think positively all the time. Yes! I have the privilege of being a CEO and living the entrepreneur lifestyle, but I also work very hard and stay very much in focus. I am not content with

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

Beauty

By Barbara Onwumere

just achieving for my self. I love to share information and empower others so they too can succeed as well.

Start fulfilling your assignment by walking in your purpose.

Discover what it is you enjoy doing, then “change” and “prepare” to start your journey.

Also “be prepared” for when an opportunity presents itself.

Be success driven. Surround yourself with like-minded people who love and support you.

Sometimes you may have an idea, an inspiration, a vision, but you do not always understand what it is all about until you agree to take some risks, explore and share it with people around you whom you trust or been entrusted with.

The universe will repay you.

SMJ MAGAZINE

SeCRetS

The 5 Minute Morning Make-Over Not enough time in the morning to look your best? As a licensed professional hairstylist and instructor, I have to look my best at all times. I always have a full day, but with only 5 minutes in the morning, I can look my best all day. That’s all it takes, 5 minutes to look amazing with minimal effort. You can too!

Make-Up Tips The first thing to do is to purchase a small make-up bag that fits into your daily purse. This way, you can take it with you everywhere you go to do touch-ups throughout the day. Next, purchase 2 favorite lipsticks, black eyeliner, lip liner, eyebrow pencil, and a good moisturizer. Moisturize your face (your face instantly looks younger and healthier), underline your eyes with the black eyeliner (your eyes will stand out), outline your lips with the lip liner (this defines your lip line), fill in your lips with one of your favorite lipsticks (your lips look vibrant), and fill and shape your eyebrows with the pencil (eyes make a beautiful frame for your face).

Easy Hair Tips If you have long to medium hair, put your hair in a high ponytail before going to bed. Let it down in the morning. Brush or comb it into an easy style. It will have bounce and body and also look great. If your hair is short, tie it down in place with a silk scarf before bed and your hair will stay put all day. Purchase sheen and hair sprays. After a quick styling of your hair, spray sheen and hairspray for a healthy, shiny look all day. And that’s it! You look fabulous!

I’m looking forward to sharing professional tips and tricks of the trade with you in future issues. Let me know what secrets you’d like me to share with you. Also, I’d love to hear your beauty tips for looking fabulous!

Email me at: creativenation23@hotmail.com

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

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SMJ MAGAZINE

A WINNER

IN AFRICAN

FASHION

By Michelle Moore

Sexy and feminine, classy and unqiue

are just some of the descriptive words that describe the clothing line of “Miss Beida Fashion”, the work of designer Leyla Wakabeza.

On August 9th 2014 I had the pleasure of attending Africian Fashion Week in Toronto, Ontario.

I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes back stage and interview this year’s Student Competition Winner of African Fashion Week: Leyla Wakabeza.

Leyla’s back-story involves both family and familiarity. She grew up in Tanzania and at the age of 12 years old her father began to teach her the art of tailoring. Her natural gift of creative beautiful things with fabrics was born. She began making dolls dresses and school uniforms for young girls in her hometown. It is at this point in her life that Lelya first set her sights on becoming a successful fashion designer.

Leyla moved to Canada in 2007, where she enrolled at George Brown College in the Fashion Design Program. Her passion for

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OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

fashion grew here and combined with the technical skills she gained in college allowed her to move forward with her dream of becoming a fashion designer.

When asked what her inspirations are when she designs clothing, Leyla answered that she has a deep love of creating elegant, unique pieces which incorporate a touch of African print.

As her designs strolled down the runway, I noticed “Pretty in Pink, with a touch of “African Tribal Print” to the classic “Little Black Dress”. Check out her fashions in the short in the photos elsewhere on this page!

CLOSE-UP ON KWESIYA:

From Creation to Cloth

AND WHAT’S COMING UP

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

Usually designers are asked about their creations in terms of how their audience has reacted to it or how critics have rated it. Rarely have they had the chance to comment on or share details about the creative process itself.

We asked designer Fanny Ngantcheu, the woman behind Kwesiya, and whom SMJ readers have met in previous issues, to guide us through the various stages of taking a fabric and making an original design from it. Two originals we will highlight were for the Publisher and the Editor-in-Chief and were worn at the recent Canada Glass Awards.

We first asked her what are the factors or variables that come into play when she is asked to design an original. Is it just simply body shape, complexion, and style preference of the client requesting the original?

Fanny responded using the example of SMJ’s Publisher. Not only was she familiar with the above trio of considerations as they related to Shelley Jarrett, but Fanny had met Shelley on several occasions, knew her personality and how she carried herself, knew how she liked to dress up and celebrate her femininity in a teasing yet tasteful way. By wearing a Kwesiya original, it meant she could be exotic without being extravagant. Fanny knew the Publisher was also an image consultant, knew the type of event the new piece would be showcased at, and the type of audience that would be the first to see the final piece.

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

The next consideration which Fanny had to deal with was color. Once a style was picked by SMJ’s Publisher, the color consideration was crucial. What colors does the client want? Do they correspond with the ones that are available for the style that was selected. Does her wardrobe have a lot of certain colors, and not so much of others? Often Fanny has to educate the client on why they should avoid picking some colors and why they should stop wearing so much of a certain color(s). Publisher Jarrett chose a combination of royal blue and yellow in an Africanstyle cotton print called ankara. It was a vibrant look, in keeping with what Shelley enjoys wearing.

The next stage in the process is the consultation where are these variables are discussed at length and an agreement is reached on what Fanny will be designing.

In the case of Ms. Jarrett, Fanny had a hunch from the beginning which was validated as variables were confirmed. Her initial thoughts, or her ‘head sketches,’ centered on something glamorous and not glam, type of gown which would accentuate Shelley’s height and would give her a ‘long’ appearance. When asked how close her ‘first view’ matched the final product, Fanny replied that she was very gratified that she felt she was 90% correct. When asked how often she gets that close, she replied that it happens well over 50% of the time.

Fanny guesses her accuracy is due in large measure to being an image consultant herself. It sensitizes her to look at designing also from the client’s point of view; she can be both an educator of and elightened by the design process. For example, the appropriateness

of an outfit is not just in educating the client on body language (i.e., how to wear the piece); it is in the designer understanding how the client moves in an outfit she feels comfortable in vs. not comfortable. As she says, it comes down to the client and designer agreeing on “dressing the way you want people you meet to correctly perceive you.

Sketching and then cutting out the design are the next things Fanny would do. With Ms. Jarrett’s gown, this took only one day. Two alterations she made with the fitting was shortening the leg slit along the one side, and adding one off-the-shoulder strap to what was a strapless look.

At the same time a toned down Aftrican border print white shirt was made for the Editor-in-Chief to wear at the morning event. This was in keeping with the nature of the event (the Men of Excellence breakfast) and the fact that the client was of non-African descent.

Emotions she felt when she saw the video of the morning event and then when she watched the awards from her seat in the audience ranged from stress to surprise to joy and finally to pride. Fanny describes her feelings when the couple walked onstage to present the final (and most important) award of the night.

“First of all, I didn’t know how important the award was. Maybe Shelley didn’t tell me on purpose. Then when she came onstage I don’t know, maybe it was the lights, the colors of the gown, or Shelley herself. There was an aura around her; she was literally glowing!! People in the audience around me are going ‘wow!’ and ‘look at that gown!’ and I’m thinking, oh my God, that’s my work!!”

What made the process such a success in this case? “She trusted me. She has always tried to support me; she is like the sweetest person I have met. She is quiet but knows how to stand out. When I received the few lines in the email I didn’t know at first what Shelley wanted me to do but I just knew I was doing it. When you meet a person like that you have to cherish the relationship. I was really honored that she contacted me.”

What’s next for Kwesiya? Only twenty new pieces (10 for women and 10 for men) at Latin American Fashion Week, coming up at the end of October at the Toronto Convention Centre. Then two weeks later at the same venue along Front Street, she is, as she puts it, “gently introducing” her accessory collection at the National Women’s Exhibition & Show.

Then some well deserved ‘r and,’ because Kwesiya is going international in 2015!

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

www.limmediagroup.com • Media Relations • New & Social Media Analysis • Marketing and Promotions • Web Content Management • Project Management • Event Management • Virtual Administrative services (Data Entry, Bios, Press Releases, etc.)

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Women & Entrepreneurship: How are we doing in 2014? by Shelley M. Jarrett

There has been a lot of discussion in social media this year that 2014 has been a break out year for women entrepreneurs. We wondered if this was true.

To find out the answer, we checked out a very reliable source, one that was directly a part of my recent past. The Halton Women’s Centre in Oakville is a facility providing some unique programs and services for women which effect positive change. One such service is ``The New Start Program for Entrepreneurial Women``. I am proud to say that I am a graduate.

There are

SMJ Magazine had a chance to speak to Executive Director, Melvina Walter.

SMJ : You are the Executive Director for the Halton Women’s Centre?

What is your background?

I never imagined myself to be the Executive Director of a Women’s Centre, especially in Oakville. I grew up in a large family in the East Coast of Newfoundland and always wanted to be a missionary as a child; I didn’t know that I would use that same dream and vision of helping others here in Oakville, Ontario.

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SMJ: How was the Centre started?

What role did you play?

The need for the Women’s Centre in Halton was first identified by staff at COHR Family Services and Halton Women’s Place. Following a stay at a shelter there were two common scenarios for a woman- she returned home or she made a fresh start for herself. In either case, it was recognized that she would need ongoing support once she was back in the community.

It was therefore determined that there should be a safe place within the community where women could

reasons why women entrepreneurs succeed:

Women have the right stuff; they have the potential to make better leaders than men in that they work harder and more efficiently at being liked and respected as managers.

Organizations that include more women in managerial positions bring more diversity, improved performances and innovation to the business.

Women are inherently more creative when brainstorming on spending.

Women use the power of their portfolios differently than men.

Women enjoy networking more naturally than men.

Women are more open to continuous learning.

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

receive support and information, particularly around abusive relationship. The Women’s Centre was imagined as a non-threatening place where women could receive validating support, using the selfhelp model of “women helping women” I was a part of that vision for The Women’s Centre.

In October of 1989 the Women’s Information and Support Centre of Halton (our name at that time) was opened at St. John’s United Church in Oakville in the basement with a couple of other women along with myself . In 1991, the Centre became a recognized and registered Charitable Organization.

SMJ: When you first took on this task, was it very much as it is today?

What were some of the growing pains the Centre had to face?

The women’s Centre has gone through a lot, but it is still standing and will continue to be here as we are the only Women’s Centre in the Region of Halton and surrounding areas. . One of the challenges of growth that we currently face and often continue to face is that we have no core funding.

We are constantly expanding and changing with very little or no money – doing all these wonderful programs and offering support to over 2500 women annually through our peer support and workshops on a very tight budget.

SMJ: With these limitations, how then has the Center grown under your leadership? What have you been able to give back, that you did not envision at the start?

It has always been our desire to see the Women’s Centre grow beyond our original vision. We never wanted

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

it to be an agency that was limited by our founding parameters. We always want to be changing as our society changes and I think we’ve accomplished that. Over the years our services have expanded; we have held events such as Women of the Year, and we have hosted workshops for young girls with our anti-bullying project. We have always been on the cutting edge of evolving our agency to reflect the needs of the community.

Currently we have now expanded to address the needs of senior women as we have seen a trend of seniors accessing our services. We

have added a variety of workshops that address issues that seniors are currently facing, such as abuse and isolation through our PACE program and our Women of Wisdom workshops.

We are now pleased to announce that we are hosting an event for recognizing men in the community who are leaders, men of character and who are making a difference using anti-violence techniques and strategies in their communities and their own interpersonal relationships. If men are part of the problem then it’s only natural that they should be part of the solution.

This project was very well received by the community -the event is called Men Who Make a Difference and was very successful last year.

We will be hosting the event again in Oakville in April 15, 2015 at The Oakville Conference Centre and believe we will have even more men nominated than last year. These men make a difference wherever they invest their energy and join us at The Women’s Centre. We feel we are at the forefront of a movement to engage male voices in the fight to end gendered violence.

SMJ: One of the programs at the Centre is called “New Start Program for Entrepreneurial Women.”

Have you got statistics on what the success rate is? How many graduates have gone on to be successful with their businesses?

This is a fantastic program with a great success rate! A little bit about the program: it’s a professional

template for women with a business idea who want to take the leap into entrepreneurship and independence.

This specialized program prepares women to successfully launch and manage their own business.

different from any other program out there, is the level of support that women feel.

Participants learn through workshops, group discussions, individual exercises and professional oneon-one consultations. Sessions are conducted by seasoned business professionals in the Halton area.

Many of our women benefit from this program. Roughly 10 women attend the 3 month training which is held once a year and we have a 90% success rate with the women who have gone through the program.

They have the continued support of our Centre and are set up to succeed in the business world through our committed volunteers and staff that support them through their journey.

This, I believe is key to their success and which makes this program

I would like to say that the Women’s Centre is a magical place where women have been coming for 25 years to find support and start a new life. We believe each woman who comes through our door is important and unique. We provide an opportunity for women to learn, grow and recognize their own strengths and abilities.

SMJ: Is there anything you would like to add that we have not asked?

We thank you for this interview and wish you much success in the future.

To find out more about the Centre and what they offer, go to www. haltonwomenscentre.org

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

SMJ MAGAZINE

“Well begun is half done.” (Latin proverb) That seems an appropriate to describe a city that is really just beginning to discover itself.

LIFE AFTER HAZEL: MISSISSAUGA

SELECTS

A NEW

MAYOR AND SEEKS

A NEW

IDENTITY

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

In 1974 three historic villages west of the Humber River merged to form a new city called Mississauga after the tribe of aboriginals who occupied the land at the mouth of the Credit River and beyond well into the 19th century. During two short terms of office of the first two mayors other villages were amalgamated.

Then in 1978 the third mayor emerged: a feisty woman from Streetsville who was on those first two councils. Thirty-six years later the legend that is Hazel McCallion is leaving a legacy. The biggest suburb in Canada transformed into Canada’s 6th largest city. A city with the nation’s largest and busiest airport. A city with sixty Fortune 500 companies, many of them in the pharmaceutical industry. A city with a world class recording studio (Metalworks). A city with the award-winning, twin Marilyn Munroe towers.

With the good comes the not-so good. A legacy of a city without a daily newspaper. A city without a full-fledged local TV station. A city without a fully licensed radio station. A city without any major league sports franchise. A city with a symphony but no other professional performing arts company. A city with a theatre facility but whose two largest theatres have far more dark nights than they do lit.

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* “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” (Wm. Earnest Henley/1849-1903) A growing city with a correspondingly more complex political brain and economic heart cannot properly mature without an artistic soul that is growing as well. This includes all full-fledged arts, culture and heritage groups, and their social conscience ‘cousins,’ professional electronic and print media.

So this is the legacy upon which is layered the current mayoralty race to replace the retiring ‘Hurricane’ Hazel. As the current issue of SMJ Magazine was being designed, a somewhat embarrassing fact of Mississauga emerged; one that is part of this overall legacy that the new chief executive of the municipality will have to inherit.

One of the two leading candidates in the race, Steve Mahoney, conducted a poll with a difference.

His office had three separate but inter-related polls taken; each one with the candidates for mayor in Mississauga but with one of the three leading Toronto candidates added to the list. In each case the two leading Mississauga candidates remained on top, but the inserted Toronto candidate was third and the undecided vote dropped significantly. One of Mahoney’s senior staff remarked in a memo that “the results are nothing short of shocking.” The memo went on to say that the Toronto media has an inordinate at influence on voters here, “many of whom apparently don’t realize

SMJ MAGAZINE

that they live in a municipality that is not Toronto.”

within the city. We are only a station, and not a destination.

somewhere else. We are a world class city. Let’s start acting like it.”

One inference that can be drawn from all this information is that Mississauga’s difficulty in developing its own social conscience (i.e., professional media) and its own soul (i.e., a fully integrated arts community) is due to its difficulty in developing its own identity (i.e., overcoming the Toronto monolith).

Other comments from the floor during the evening included the following:

In terms of their platform on the topic at hand, SMJ Magazine went to Bonnie Crombie’s website to obtain information on her. She served on Mayor McCallion’s Task Force on the Arts, eventually being made Vice-Chair. She wants Mississauga to be more of a walkable city. Our diversity as a populace helps us connect culturally and economically. We need to nurture our creative sectors; only $2.70 is spent per capita on arts and culture as compared to other cities, which spend up to $14 per capita.

It is on the basis of all this that SMJ went to Mahoney and Bonnie Crombie, the other leading candidate for mayor in Mississauga, to see how they stood, not on just the typical issues that a reporter would elicit in an election story, but on the issues pertaining to the mandate of this magazine. We were able with speak to Mr. Mahoney, but as of our publication deadline, Ms. Crombie’s office did not respond to our invitation.

We were able to speak with Mr. Mahoney, but as of our publication deadline, Ms. Crombie’s office did not respond to our invitation.

Both leading candidates attended the Mayoral Forum on Arts, Culture & Heritage, sponsored by the Mississauga Arts Council and held in early September. What the panel who controlled discussion noted at the outset is that we are a city where the vast majority of our population goes outside the city to enjoy leisure activities and to receive media information rather than from

• a significant proportion of the populace have a very limited awareness of the arts scene in Mississauga; • artists in general feel they have been left out of the discussion about policymaking and programming in their chosen field; • the city as a whole needs to educate its leaders as well as its citizens more about this crucial sector of society.

During the Forum, Ms. Crombie made the statement, “our city is at the crossroads. Arts and culture must be the heart and soul of Mississauga moving forward.” She also suggested falling back on a legend to perpetuate a legacy.

The planned museum should be named after Hazel McCallion.

Mr. Mahoney had no alternate suggestion for a name, but was adamant that it should reflect all segments of Mississauga past and present. This would include the aboriginal Mississaugas, whom he wants to return to Celebration Square next year for their annual pow-wow. He also pledged to double the city’s investment in the arts by the end of this upcoming term of office (2018) because in his words “an investment in the arts brings a return to all parts of a municipal economy. I want the people of Mississauga to go to downtown Mississauga as opposed to downtown

Ms. Crombie would support funding for creative companies poised for growth, which would raise this per capita amount.

She wants to set up regular networking events for arts groups, and a task force on the grant process for artists. Finally, she sees the benefit in a formal arts, culture & heritage partnership among the Living Arts Centre, Mississauga Arts Council, and the community of artists and craftspeople, that would both attract new talent to the city while showcasing present talent.

* “Everyman is the architect of his own fortune.”

If there was a theme associated to our interview with Mr. Mahoney, it was encapsulated in the above Latin proverb. He wanted to initially point out, as opposed to any other candidate for mayor, he has actually being both directly

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

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SMJ MAGAZINE

and indirectly involved in the development of Mississauga over its four decades. He served for one decade in a few of Ms. McCallion’s early councils, then for nearly a decade as an MPP at Queen’s Park, and another almost decade as MP in Parliament at Ottawa, both times representing Mississauga ridings.

When asked what has stayed the same about the city over the years and what has been the biggest change, Mr. Mahoney is quick to respond that the sense of community is the stabilizing force and the increase in visible minorities to 53% has been the biggest change. While he acknowledges that stability has marked most of the past thirtyplus years, he would characterize his characterize his candidacy, if successful, to continuation of a highway rather than bridging a gap.

“I’m certainly not looking to be a one-term mayor. My head thinks in terms of twenty years. Whether I am in office that long or not, it is important that I put a plan in place that has a twenty-year vision.”

In a wide-ranging discussion, Mr. Mahoney agrees with Ms. Crombie that Mississauga needs to be made more of a walkable city. He sees events like Buskerfest being expanded from Port Credit to also take place in Celebration Square.

He mentioned Celebration Square again as the perfect location for next year’s annual Mississaugas’ pow-wow.

A number of candidates have

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mentioned bringing a professional sports team to Mississauga.

Mahoney pointed out that any serious negotiations that follow on this subject will have to include the construction of a state of the art facility. The Living Arts Centre was built without any public funding. “Residential development of the scale that marked most of our history up to now is ended.

We have no money for any major capital investment in the arts. We will need to find ways to duplicate what we did with LAC.” He sees improvements happening more quickly at a grass roots level upwards rather than from a high level down. “I want to change Mississauga from being a suburb to being a hub. In order to have a proper vision on what we want to be and what image we want to portray on a world class basis, we need to engage our community of artists that are here with us right now.”

“When you look at the sky line twenty years ago and look at it today, it is quite remarkable.

Imagine it twenty years from now.

We will have the population and the density to attract the kinds of artists and activities that will keep our people in the city.”

It is in the way we allow growth to occur in the next twenty years, how we engage our artists over that time, and how we take advantage of our opportunities over the upcoming two decades that will determine the extent to which we are successful. Hence, Mahoney’s twenty-year plan.

* What do we know at the end? We know the type of presence we want the arts and the media to have in Mississauga.

What want and what we will get and when could very well be reflected in who; that is, who becomes Mississauga’s next mayor.

The difference between winning and losing is counted in the number of votes. But the success or failure of Mississauga finding its ‘soul’ will be measured in what the winner does with their victory.

And, just like in Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish play,’ those of us in the arts and in the media here at SMJ Magazine have no way of knowing which of the leading mayoralty candidates has the magic elixir. Or even if either does.

“If we fail? Then we fail!

But screw your courage to the sticking (polling) place. And we’ll not fail.”

(William Shakespeare, Macbeth)

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a perfect fit. The inn was like a little resort in the middle of the city. The surroundings are breath-taking,…(so a spa)…is an expectation that many guests would have.”

GLENERIN INN & SPA: A DESTINATION OF THE HEART

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

R

ounding the first turn travelling north-west on The College Way, making a modest climb as one leaves Mississauga Road and the University of Toronto at Mississauga, one comes upon the Glenerin Inn & Spa almost by surprise.

This writer is convinced that many a first-time motorist on this stretch of road have done a double take, wondering at first if they had come upon some small castle.

Once the surprise subsides, it is fairly certain that curiosity takes over. What is this place? SMJ’s Publisher and Editor-in-Chief were invited to an event there one evening this past summer and discovered a treasure trove of answers, which will evoke surprise all over again.

The Victorian styled mansion was built in 1927 by Toronto lawyer Watson Evans and used as his second home. During the Second World War it became a safe refuge for 90 girls from St. Hilda’s Private School in Whitby, England. It was bought by retail giant Robert Simpson and used as a rest haven for employees of Simpson’s Sears.

After 1960 it was transformed, in rapid succession, to St. Basil’s Novitate, a Cadillac Fairview event & exhibit center, the Solel Synagogue before finally opening as the Glenerin Inn in 1986.

The last major renovation was completed in 2011 when the spa was added, and that’s where co-owner of the spa Audrey Hlembizky comes in. She has been in the spa business for over twenty years and has owned spas before, but this one is different even for her, as she is partnering with an inn. The hotel wanted to offer a complete boutique experience, and as Hlembizky remarked, “adding a spa was

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The spa packages are many and varied, either for One or for Two. The packages and their marketing plan have made a positive impression in the GTA. The clientele has gone from 90% local when the spa first opened to 60% just three years later. Has social media been a factor in the transition to a greater GTA response? Well, yes and no. Hlembizky said even though the social media is part of the marketing plan, 75% of her new business has come from word of mouth.

On the hotel side, however, with a 90th anniversary coming up in two years, General Manager Jason Mercier stated that a large part of their re-branding success was based on the social media network. Mercier, who joined the Inn three years ago, says the focus on rebranding has been due to the “serious investment in hospitality. The goal is to make every visitor, every guest, every client feel that they are at home.”

Mercier has spoken to many former clients that go back some twenty years and are rediscovering the Glenerin Inn. One of the attractive trends that has emerged from this re-discovery is a term called ‘staycation.’ More and more, people who cannot afford to get out of town because of ‘fiscal or physical’ limitations, are opting for some down time at a hotel right in the city in which they live.

Glenerin can give these people more options because it is an inn and spa.

They can combine an elegant lunch right after a morning facial. They can have afternoon tea with a pedicure.

Hlembizky has no hesistation in saying, “we’re just a big family here. You feel

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that when you walk in.” She has a firm philosophy. “Unless your service is top notch your clients are not going to return.

It is easy to get a client, but harder to keep them. When you come into our spa, we want time to stop for you. We need to receive you as if you were entering our home.”

Both Hlembizky and Mercier have other interests beyond the Inn & Spa. Audrey is Director of Project Management for an organization called Team SynerG, that provides life and leadership education for at-risk young women. Mercier has had another ball thrown his way to juggle as the over age 55 high-rise building called Pallisades-on-the-Glen opened for business just next door over a year ago. He has had to deal with the odd double booking and noise issue for an event that the Inn or Spa are having. However, he has worked hard with the ownership group of the retirement community to keep them onside, and can see that they have come around to be very supportive of what the Inn & Spa are doing. “There is a real sense of comraderie between the two properties.”

Hlembizky sums up her passion for the Spa this way. “It’s about being able to contribute to someone else’s life. We want your one hour with us to be a memorable experience. We want to give you a total body wellness from the inside out. We want to be your spa therapists.” Mercier echoes her sentiments from the standpoint of the Inn. “I’ve been fortunate to be a part of working in a great environment with staff that enjoy a great employee experience while providing a great guest experience. I really believe that there opportunities in people’s lives where you can actually make a difference. There is no real bureaucracy around getting things done. We don’t hire people who don’t care.”

Glenerin Inn & Spa: a multi-faceted complex with a very personal service experience. From one heart to another.

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The Hon.

JEAN

AUGUSTINE: A Pioneer of the

Modern Era

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

Jean Augustine has had many titles and accolades ever since the Grenadian native emigrated to Canada in 1960 as a young woman of 23. She was part of a domestic plan Canada had at the time that allowed women to enter the country as nannies and receive landed immigrant status after working for one year.

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She arrived with a plan to find out the procedures for entering post-secondary education and establishing a career in her new country.

As she remarks, her plan was not an elaborate one, just to move up in life

“one foot at a time.”

Jean Augustine is a calm, self-assured woman.

Tastefully dressed in a predominantly black outfit, she cuts an impressive figure of a woman who learned her lessons well as a girl in Happy Hill, Grenada. It starts with a grandmother who instilled the thought within her “there’s nothing you can’t do.”

She has acquired many titles and monikers along life’s journey. After her one year as nanny, she was then a university student, an elementary school teacher, vice-principal, principal, committee member, board member, agency head. She had her own version of ‘freedom 55’ when, at that age, she became Canada’s first female M.P. of Afro descent. During her time in Ottawa, which covered the period from 1992 to 2006, she was Parliamentary Secretary, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism, and Deputy Speaker before finally becoming Canada’s first female Cabinet Minister of Afro descent.

When asked how she got involved in politics, the Hon. Augustine replied that she always had a natural curiousity about how a civilized society worked in a political sense and from a policymaking point of view. She found it easy working ‘in the backrooms of politics,’ so to speak, as a committee member of the Status on Women and a board member of Harbourfront before assuming the role of the head of Metro Housing, which she held for six years before entering Parliament.

It’s an impressive list of achievements, but when you add the monikers of role model, mentor, social advocate, political trail blazer, and national treasure, all of which the Hon. Augustine has been referred to as, and then recognize that she was appointed to the Order of Canada and was bestowed Commander of the Order of the British Empire after leaving Ottawa, we get the feeling we are in the presence of greatness.

And she far from finished. We are talking with Ontario’s Fairness Commissioner. It is a testament to the wideranging skills of the woman that her latest title has little to do with women or community involvement at the grass roots level. It is her mandate to interact with regulators in all professions to review and make recommendations of revisions where necessary, to ensure that all immigrants who enter Canada with a professional background (i.e., lawyer, doctor, accountant, etc.) are given access and transparency by the regulating body in Canada for their profession, to determine what processes exist, what courses need to be taken, in order for them to achieve equivalency and be able to resume a career in their chosen profession in Canada.

In other words, the Hon. Augustine wants to ‘fairly level the playing field.’ However, a woman with that kind of resume doesn’t get there entirely on her own. Who were her role models and mentors?

For the Hon. Augustine, it starts with her grandmother, but then continues with a list of what she refers to as

“strong, strong black women.”

Beginning with aunts and cousins, then mothers of girl friends, it continued with female teachers and nuns at St. Joseph’s Convent. She was taught in an all girls’ school at a time when emphasis was still put on boys’ education, and she feels very strongly that those connections gave her the grounding she needed to move ahead in life. In fact, she said that in researching a number of women who have achieved a level of universal greatness, such as Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Thatcher, they did so with formative education in all-girls’ schools.

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She calls herself a resilient person who knows she has been blessed during her life, and who now wants to give back. That is why we are sitting doing the interview in the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment, a place where marginalized and underprivileged girls and young women can get training in life skills free of charge. It is not the first time she has come in contact with the educational system after her stint in Parliament. The Toronto District School Board named the first all-girls’ school after her, the Jean Augustine Leadership Academy. The words discrimination and disparity are terms that are not used as much to refer to race and gender as they once were, but the underlying tones remain nonetheless. How does she rationalize her impact on societal inequalities that just won’t go away? Her answer is simple and say much about a strong woman who wears the mantle of greatness with grace.

“I like to tell the story of a man who was found one day walking along the sea shore, throwing starfish who had washed ashore in the tide back into the ‘water of life.’ He was told, ‘you can’t save them all,’ and ‘there’s going to be just as many washed up every day.’ His reply was ‘I can’t save them all but I can save some of them” Not only is she giving back, but she is doing it in an economical way. She has partnered her Centre with PACT, which offers similar, well-rounded programs for at-risk youth, situated right in the middle of the constituency she represented in Parliament for 14 years and has lived in for over 50 years. How did she come to decide on a partnership and not a standalone facility that could shine the spotlight totally on her. Her answer says a lot about the lady. “I recognized that they were already doing with youth what I wanted to do with young women. I am a firm believer in not re-inventing the wheel.”

In the final analysis, the Hon. Jean Augustine is not a person who has sought out fame and fortune for herself, but is very dedicated in leaving a legacy. “I never asked for any of the honors that I have been graced with. I was the most surprised person when

I received the Order of Canada and the British Empire appointments. I have never nominated myself for anything or never asked anyone to vote for me.”

Part of her legacy is archived at York University and the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. But the two legacies she is proudest of are two unanimously passed private member bills. One is celebrated every February: Black History Month. The other is the only statues on Parliament Hill that are not monarchs, dead prime ministers, or nation builders: the Famous Five. These are five women who in1925 got Privy Council to recognize women as a separate gender in the law and receive enfranchisement: the power to vote. Five ‘strong strong women’ immortalized by a ‘strong strong black woman’ on whom this writer would like to add another title: modern pioneer.

Very fitting and very fair.

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SMJ MAGAZINE

A Report ON THE

JEAN AUGUSTINE CENTRE FOR YOUNG WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

The brochure says “entrepreneurial, self-development and life skills training programs provided free of charge for young women, ages 14-25.”

Easy to say. Much harder to do. Even harder to accomplish.

Yet there is a building in south Etobicoke where it has been happening for the better part of two decades, and in an expanded program since June of this year.

David Lockett is the co-founder of PACT, a community-based program upon which the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment was added and which he now shares in operating duties.

The original program under PACT provided life plan coaching and job skills development for at-risk, underserved, newcomer, and incarcerated youth, ages 14-21. Courses taught include carpentry, gardening, music, TV and film, food and nutrition, sewing and design. The Jean Augustine merger led to new courses being offered, among them live performing arts, soap and candle-making, yoga, meditation, and computer coding.

The expectations are high for a segment of society that is high-risk but Lockett has been amazingly successful at it. He has done this by giving up approximately twenty hours of his time every week for the past twenty years. Think about that for a minute. That is just over 1000 hours per year, or well over 20,000 hours in the past two decades.

Just so some young people in a specialized situation can learn some specialized courses? Well, if you don’t buy into that as a reason for that kind of dedication, you need to think in 3-D. The third dimension is

variation of traditional education taught in a non-threatening, positive atmosphere. Does the environment for learning make that much of a difference? Lockett is quick to reply.

“It is critical, if you want to have an organic, fully integrated recipe for learning. One of the challenges with the current system is that typically, education by the secondary level is 90% classroom and 10% practical. We have inverted that model. There is a lot more attention placed on creation and collaboration, and we need to integrate what is occuring in the real world.”

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Lockett went on to give vivid examples of what he means.

Trying to learn a language or a skill like mechanics or cooking produces limited results in the traditional classroom setting, as opposed to immersion in a community as an exchange student where that language is dominant or exclusive, or apprenticeship in a car repair center or a restaurant.

PACT employs a totally integrated approach in what they call an urban peace environment. That has continued with the Jean Augustine startup this summer. Their mandate is to: 1) break the cycle of poverty through skills development; 2) break the stigma of sexual abuse and teen pregnancy through life coaching; and 3) minimize the reliance on subsidized housing through strong mentorship in real life elevated environments.

PACT also works closely with school boards to identify youth at-risk as early as posssible. Lockett paints a vivid scenario. “It is much easier for us to get to a young woman when she is just hanging out with the wrong crowd at 14 than at age 22 when she has already been a victim of sexual abuse and has a kid.”

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Lockett emphasizes that solutions happen when we get involved on their terms, and not on our terms. “We can write cheques, donate food, and clothes, but that only deals with the problem on visual basis. Our response at the Centre is to create an integrated model that deals with best practice solutions in a holistic approach.”

Lockett went on to explain how for years now they have been assigning life coaches to troubled youth, who will assist them re-priortize their life and turn it around before they get caught up in the adult criminial system. This strategy has been employed with young women entering the Jean Augustine Center.

The organzation was recognized by the International Coaching Federation about a year ago with an award. The significance of this can be seen when they already have statistics showing that 6 to 7 of 10 youth can be saved in time from incarceration in the adult system, and this can be viewed against the fact that upwards of 100 young women will be registered for programs at Jean Augustine by the fall, and 400 to 500 in the next year. Lockett also points out that the danger to offend is much lower among young women than young men, so the success rate at Jean Augustine will trend higher.

It’s all very impressive, but the premise and the programs behind Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment needs to be replicated all over the country. Lockett smiles wistfully. He has a final message and a somewhat stark revelation.

“What I want to say to the community-at-large is that we have the talent, the resources, and the capital to transform the social infrastructure. But we also have governments that are not good at scalability. They make funds available but then impose their perception of what the needs are and how the funds should be applied for. Our model should be shared with other communites wanting to set up a similar program. They shouldn’t have to cover the same government application ground that we did. The funds should be readily available, and the group themselves should dictate how the funds are to be used.”

Powerful words from a slight man with the ultimate power tool: knowledge!

At The CANADA GLASS AWARDS 27

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APRIL 18TH

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Inspiration Corner

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sey

phine Ca

By : Jose

r a ll H o p e f o u ld y o u f a ll o h s e up Never y o u g iv ld u o h N e v e r s a ll eve r a n d b e li C o n q u e e , f a it h , t r u s t p H a v e h o il l r e c e iv e w Fo r y o u le s s in g s s b ’s e f y le s s o n a A ll li d y r e v ge Le a r n in

u p h ig h il l s o a r w u o y h y ’s g that B e li e v in d o u b t s a n d w h E v e n w it h o u ld h a il s u t o s a il Ye s y o for you il a e f p u o o h y e E v e n if w il l a lw a y s b s e t o p u r s u e e o Fo r t h e r o u d o a n d c h o y I n w h a t m e n t in y o u le I t ’s a n e Hope

THANKSGIVING ...a daily lifestyle

By Sheri L. Lake

“Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.” ~ The Hausa, Nigeria This is the time of year when many of us celebrate Thanksgiving as a singular holiday. We gather with family and friends for the traditional food, fun and fellowship, while reflecting briefly on the good things in our lives. My thoughts lead to these questions. Why should we only be encouraged to be thankful for ONE day each year? Shouldn’t we be grateful every day?

Recently, there was a Grateful Challenge being shared on social media platforms. The Challenge?

List 5 things that you are grateful for, share them online and then choose one person to invite every day - for 5 days straight. At the

end of my challenge, I was saddened that it had come to an end because by then, I recognized that reflecting on the wonderful things in my life made me happy. And frankly, I didn’t want the feeling to end.

I find it interesting that many successful individuals express thanks and appreciation for what they have and for those around them frequently. Research shows that experiencing gratitude impacts your mental and emotional state in positive ways - which in turn affect your ability to achieve the life you deserve. Gratitude is also directly tied to your level of happiness (which coincidently has little to do with age, social position or income).

Darren Hardy, a best-selling author and Publisher of Success Magazine says it perfectly, “To be GREAT, be GRATEFUL”.

People who adopt an attitude of gratefulness are always aware of their blessings and are happy. They seek out success through laws of attraction, because they recognize , celebrate and share them. Great resources and people of all sorts are drawn in when they believe they are being valued - which in turn creates loyalty, fosters support and births opportunities.

The truth is ... being grateful makes us happier and more optimistic about life and what it offers. Being grateful is an attitude, a choice and a habit we all need to cultivate.

The next 4 articles in this magazine feature successful people who have found that it is truly more blessed to give than to receive.

OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

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THE MAN BEHIND

““

““

the

…your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.

(Acts 2:17)

Michael Stuckey is a young man with visions. However, one came to him that was even unusual for him. At 7:30am on February 16th, 2013, he was driving home from an award show when had his first encounter. He was told to “do your own award show in Toronto.” The thing that was so unusual is that Stuckey is American and not Canadian. He lives in Ohio not Ontario. The award show he was driving home from was in Knoxville, Tennesee.

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CANADA

He just accepted what was before him and waited. A week later he had another vision. This time he was given the name of the award, ‘the Canada Glass Awards.’

So Stuckey took his visions and started to plan the reality. Early on he introduced the word ‘excellence’ into his planning. That evolved into the pre-award morning program which was labelled Women of Excellence last year (one winner of whom was SMJ’s Publisher!!), and altered to become the Men of Excellence this year.

In addition, the morning pre-show was deliberately planned for a different venue that the evening awards. In talking with Stuckey, he is hoping to expand both to a week-long setting, with the morning devoted to seminar sessions where both Christian and secular leaders are brought to counsel, instruct, and inspire on various topics, and the evening is focused on celebratory interaction like showcases, open mics, and presentations. He says it would be akin to what T.D. Jakes is doing in Texas with his ‘Mega Fest.’ The culmination on the Saturday would be “Excellence” recognition in the morning and the actual Glass Awards in the evening.

In addition to keeping the morning and evening venues separate, Stuckey wants to take the evening show out of the church arena, where it has been the first two years, just as the morning pre-show is. As he puts it, he wants to bring both church and secular people together “out to where they are so they can come as they are.” It sounds like the ultimate ‘people of goodness networking event.’ (Ed. Note: And it sounds like SMJ Magazine’s ‘good news’ principle!!)

Heady stuff for a man who was one of six children adopted into a family of six. The focus in his family was more on hard work and the completion of tasks than it was on education. As it was, he did not complete his high school certificate until he was thirty, but he made up for that by immediately after enrolling in Columbus State for a degree in Business Management. He considers himself a thinker and an enabler. That being said, what are his thoughts about what he wants to enable for 2015?

SMJ MAGAZINE

GLASS

AWARDS

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

First of all, he wants to set aside Friday to recognize and mentor youth, sort of a bridge between the week-long morning sessions and evening showcases, and the weekend awards, if they grow to be week-long. “We want to have a special time that is youthcentered where they are made aware they have special purpose in life.”

Second, he wants to attract former awardwinners, nominees, or attendees to step forward and invest in the Glass Awards.

“This is not for me but for the future. As CEO, I know it will be years before I reap any benefits from the awards. I want to build on something that will sustain itself long after I am no longer involved.”

Spoken like a visionary.

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At the Canada Glass Awards 2014, five special men of the cloth were honored with a We also did a number of interviews on the red carpet leading up to the main show,

on the

Spotlight Men of

Pastor DeVon Tomlinson of Hope Christian Ministries in Brampton first felt the calling of the priesthood twenty-four years ago when he arrived in the thriving community.

His journey finally took him to the doorstep of Hope Ministries twelve years ago. They recently acquired their own building, which the Pastor feels gives them a position of strength to do more Kingdomminded work beyond the church’s four walls.

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Pastor Bolton Noah of Logos Apostolic Church in Toronto has been a minister for thirty-six years.

He came to Canada in 1982, and was involved in a number of ministries before starting Logos in 2000. It has evolved into what he terms “a holistic ministry whose mission is to reach out to the surrounding community and inform them about Logos and what they are doing.” It is his personal goal to ensure that every member of the church is “positively engaged to influence and evangelize everyone they come in contact with.”

A tall order, but something one would expect a man of excellence to take up.

Pastor Jay Caprietta of Bethel Kingdom Ministries in Scarborough originally is from the GTA. He had a personal salvation experience twentytwo years ago at age 14, married an American girl and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he started his ministry twelve years ago. After seven years, he returned to Toronto, and has remained here the past five years.

His goals are to take the message of Bethel everywhere that Jesus would have taken it if He lived in the area.

Man of Excellence Award. SMJ Magazine spent a little time talking to each one. and there is one man on whom we would like to bestow an ‘honorary’ award.

Excellence &

Bishop Woodroe Thompson is more than just a pastor of the Church of God Prophecy; he actually ‘pastors’ pastors.

He is called an overseer, and his immediate mandate is to ensure that all pastors within his jurisdiction have an equal opportunity of receiving pastoral care. As he simply puts it, “Pastors are always caring for their congregation.

Someone has to care for them.”

It is because he is caring for a different minister in a different church in a different location almost every day that he is left with a beautiful feeling that the church is “everywhere that I am.”

It almost sounds like he experiences Continued on next page

An Excellent Man

And finally, there is Prophet Kofi Danso of Miracle Arena for All Nations, whose ministry has been the shortest (three years) of all the recipients, but in many ways has made the biggest impression in the GTA. He is one half of a dynamic husband-and-wife team; the Rev. Joanne Danso is the licensed pastor of the congregation. All his weekly services, and there are five, are live streamed, so they can be viewed by anyone online as they happen. He also has more than one weekly radio show and TV show.

He received his award during the evening show. When asked on the red carpet prior to the ceremony how he Continued on next page

SMJ SMJ MAGAZINE MAGAZINE

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

We wanted to add the story of one of the MCs for the evening who did not receive a Man of Excellence award but in our estimation is an excellent man. Issac Simpson is a former school teacher turned artist who still mentors to young men. It was because of this selfless act of kindness towards his fellow man that he found himself on the wrong end of a near fatal shooting because of his involvement with one such man. The result of his near-death experience and subsequent rehabilitation was an inspiration that became the studio album entitled The Process.

Continued on next page OCTOBER 2014 AUTUMN ISSUE

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Bishop Woodroe Thompson (continued)

Profit Kofi Danso (continued)

Issac Simpson (continued)

something akin to what the Apostles did in the Book of Acts.

would justify receiving an award like the Man of Excellence or how he would use it in his sermons, he responded that the award can be viewed as something like a gift card. He went on to say that the Bible is full of promises that can be claimed by any believer. Anytime one receives an award or an achievement, it is a confirmation of a promise that has been made, and is like receiving notification that a reward awaits you in Eternity. It is also a validation of one’s faith and confirmation of God’s grace.

When asked how he viewed that defining moment in his life, he says “I was at the right place at the wrong time.” He went on to describe that life-changing night, the painful ride to the hospital, the collapsed lungs, the many blood transfusions, “but God brought me through it and I am standing here today with joy and victory...I went through a flesh reviving process in order to gain a divine inspiration that became The Process.”

When asked what he finds pastors are particularly in need of, he responds that “pastors are lonely.

Often they just don’t know who to trust. They are afraid to talk to just anyone.” That is where Bishop Thompson comes in and why his service is necessary. It makes for a lot of travel but it brings even more fulfillment.

Because he is one half of a power Christian couple, the award can also be claimed by both of them as a victory for strong covenant (i.e., married) couples, upon which the foundation of their message is based. Much of our success in life can be traced back to whether or not we are part of a strong earthly trinity (a covenant with a partner and God) walking hand-in-hand with the Holy Trinity.

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In other words, it may have appeared to be a set back, but ultimately it was a set up. Simpson concludes “God gave me a title that would lead me to a place that would enable me to speak life to someone else. We all go through situations in life. If we take the good or bad out of it, it just becomes an experience. If we use it to help us find ourselves to become a better person, we have just gone through a spiritual process.”

SMJ MAGAZINE

TORONTO MASS CHOIR:

A SUMMER PROJECT THAT HAS LASTED A QUARTER CENTURY

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

While at the Canada Glass Awards 2014, SMJ Magazine had the opportunity to speak with Karen Burke, Co-Founder and Choir Director of the Toronto Mass Choir, who were honored at the evening awards ceremony with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Burke says the award is special, but the fact that they have been together twenty-six years now is still a bit surprising to her. Karen and her husband (the group’s producer) are two of five original members of the group. “None of us could have foresaw that we would have lasted this long when we started out,” she says.

They were conceived as a summer project at a time other cities had mass choirs, so there was nothing special about what they were

doing. After completing their summer project with a recording, the group felt compelled to stay together. Now, ten albums and a Juno Award later (with an eleventh album, Made For Worship, just released), the group is as energized as they have ever been. Burke attributes this to two factors, the grace of God and the fact that all group members have strong Christian roots. “When you are passionate about your message, that can’t help but come through in the performance.”

The original group was 110 members strong. In recent years, TMC has had between 35 and 40 members, but has remained fresh and relevant according to Burke. Despite the revolving door, the mandate of the group has been strictly observed: 1) their

music has to be excellent; 2) the relationship among the members has to be excellent; and 3) their worship has to be excellent.

An examination of Made For Worship finds Toronto Mass Choir fulfilling at least the first third of their mandate. They sang with a confident maturity which reflects on their stature and the longevity that the group has attained. The revelation of the album is the depth of the writing; at least eight members co-wrote at least one song, and ten members had at least one solo or shared in a solo. A particularly strong section of the album were tracks #6, #7, and#8 (“Come Let Us Sing”, “You Are”, and “Your Name”).

A solid *** out of four.

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Immigrant Women’s Small Business Expo

By Shelley M. Jarrett

Are you an immigrant woman or a woman interested in building your own business?

If so, then join us on November 9th at the Metro Convention Center in downtown Toronto.

SMJ Magazine, in collaboration with Immigrant Women’s Small Business Expo, will gear up our latest venture, “SMJ LIVE!,” and will be reporting on location at the venue “as it happens”.

The fair is FREE to the public and there will be several exhibitors presenting workshops, mini makeovers, demos, giveaways and door prizes.

This is a must-attend event for women who have a dream of becoming entrepreneurs, or who may already be in the start-up phases of fulfilling their dream. The day-long event is expected to attract over 1000 attendees.

Goals of this expo are to connect, inspire and teach women the path of becoming successful entrepreneurs by providing workshops, networking opportunities and access to educational start-up services.

Register to attend today at www. immigrantsmallbizexpo.ca

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H

amilton has a few well kept secrets. A world class size airport that is never busy. A castle that tries to rival Toronto’s Casa Loma. A park that is the Steel City’s version of Toronto’s High Park. A mountain that ‘carnaps’ unsuspecting motorists and keeps them from their destination for hours!

And now, a secret that its founder wants to share immediately: a World Music Festival!

This past July 11th-12th-13th, Hamilton played host to an eclectic group of almost one hundred

and respect for the legacy of each culture represented in our festival.

I want my daughter to grow up knowing and respecting other cultures…I want you to celebrate, to connect or reconnect with your heritage.”

Filimone, who also goes by his father’s name (Manuel), is from the south African nation of Mozambique, a beautiful jewel of mountain tops and valleys, a former Portuguese colony surrounded by former British colonies. He was especially pleased that one of the acts he persuaded to come was a young

HAMILTONmeetsMOZAMBIQUE

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

to

INTRODUCE a

artists representing about twentyfive groups or individuals, about twenty of them outside Canada.

They came at the behest of one man, Artistic Director Filimone Mabjaia, an articulate gentleman who has also headed up Matapa Music and Arts Organization for the past three years.

Never thought of Hamilton as a multicultural draw before? Don’t say that to Filimone. He ‘built it and they came,’ “because I told them how great our city is. I wanted to share my love

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band from his homeland, Kakana.

Fronted by infectious singer/ dancer Yolanda, they represent a new energy of music, as evidenced in their debut international release, Serenata.

His musical affiliation with Hamilton began almost immediately upon his arrival in 2010. He was impressed with the quality of the music scene here, but there was virtually nothing in roots/world music. As he put it, “I needed something to fill my soul,” and realized that arts and heritage had to be part of the dream. That

is how Matapa Music and Arts Organization was born.

He smiles wistfully. “I was able to attract enough people so we have attained some measure of success.

But when I shared the dream I lost the dream.” So you are successful then? “I would say we have our foot wedged in the door of success far enough that it will not close on us. There is still a lot of work to be done.”

The opening of the World Music Festival has helped to close the gap, but Filimone’s goals are very

http://www.bandakakana.com/ seat arrangement

NEW WORLD

free event website ceremony &reception

guestlist manager

high, according to the Matapa mandate. The ultimate aim ‘is to engage and increase the vision of Hamilton’s cultural diversity everywhere in the city.’ We press him further. Will the continuation of and expansion of the World Music Festival in the next few years be that catalyst?

checklist manager

playlist manager

favorite vendors

budget manager

timeline manager

inspiration board

song suggester

vendor reviews

Filimone is pressed for time. Assistants are hovering around, ready to sweep him away to his next commitment. Yet he stops for a moment, puts a finger to his lips, then speaks with conviction. “Ask me that question again in five years. Then I will be able to answer.”

He is whisked away. Gathering up materials and preparing to leave, there is already an answer. If Filimone is still the architect of the dream, the door will be opened.

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THE

CANADA GLASS AWARDS - A Different Perspective

By Caroline Dinnall

Empowering, exuberant and funfilled. These are the best ways to describe the impact that the Glass Awards 2014 had on me while on and off-stage. As an attendee and reporter last year, to an attendee and performer this year, I could honestly say that both awards shows were unique in their own way.

This year, instead of welcoming artists to red carpet to interview them, I was one of them. I strutted my stuff with a holy pride across the red carpet and posed for silly photos with Sheldon Neil & The Way. We were there to sing “Under the Rock,” the new single to the Y-Evolution album, released this past September.

Upon entering the auditorium at The Church on the Queensway, the sound of hundreds of people in the audience singing congregational hymns rang in my ears. It was a sight that I have never seen or heard about occurring at any other awards show in Canada.

But that’s what made it different. And I loved that. It was also refreshing to see J Moss, a gospel artist whose talent I thoroughly enjoy, host the awards show this year. Although he wasn’t Canadian, I believe that this could count as a step forward towards an unbreakable bond in the gospel music realm between Canada and America.

I was taken while listening to the sensational sounds of Toronto’s own For the Master, Jean Jean from Montréal, and Karen Clark-Sheard from Detroit. Artists like these allow their spiritual gifts to manifest freely.

It’s a beautiful thing to worship at an awards show. A constant humble spirit to remind us of God’s grace and provision. Then came time for Sheldon Neil & The Way to hit the stage with Londa Larmond. Our turn.

To be honest, at first I was frightened because I didn’t know what to expect from the audience. Would they enjoy the new single, or would they stare at us blankly as if they were saying, “That’s all you got? Give us more.”

Thankfully it wasn’t the latter.

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The room was filled with excitement and smiling faces. I couldn’t help but dance my face off because the audience was responding so well to the performance. It was truly a liberating experience, despite barely being able to see because of the bright stage lights.

The Glass Awards 2014 was another chance to acknowledge the countless blessings that God has given us, and an opportunity to re-learn the importance of working together in love. And yes, it’s also our one night to be “glamorous” for the kingdom, but the mandate for this annual event carries a far greater purpose than what we think—to unify.

Michael Stuckey is to be congratulated for pulling off another success in honor of accomplished artists and spiritual leaders across Canada.

SMJ MAGAZINE

Feeling The

Homeland

10,000 Miles Away

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

The inaugural Hamilton World Music Festival. The very first act on the very first day.

Putting together our SMJ booth within sight of the main stage, at first I don’t hear it. By the second song I am stirring. Something deep inside me is welling up. Artists know what that is. It is when you perfectly capture what you are trying to relay to your audience.

In this case, it came to me in a flash. HOME. Not only is the artist singing about it, the artist is there while they are singing.

Then I looked and listened. A white man and a black man. The language was foreign. I quickly headed to the information booth next to ours and bought a program. Frank Yamma and David Bridie, from Australia. Australia. Could this be? Could they be thousands of miles away as they are singing? I did not have it in mind to interview any act from the Festival, but I was going to now.

Yamma and Bridie hail from opposite ends of the island continent. David is from the sophisticated south of Melbourne, and Frank is from the nomadic north near Darwin.

Music brought them together in the geographic middle of Alice Springs. A simple barbeque. Frank was looking for some introspective rock to go with his folklore-tinged roll. David was looking for some aesthetic acoustical backdrop to go with his soulful insights into the human condition.

What transpired with the resulting union is nothing short of magic. A magic which cannot be measured by quality or quantity, but by the land they come from. They are Australia. They would probably argue the point, but that is precisely the point. They are in Canada’s heartland as they are singing.

In Frank’s case, his plaintive aboriginal stories are more attractively lined with David’s distinctive harmonies. In David’s case, the stirring observations on his part of the world are caressingly embedded in Frank’s guitar solos.

Neither is embarrassed to admit what they were reaching for is what the writer caught in the resulting duo. They still work as separate artists, but have toured together, and have done some co-writing. Still, in Canada you say? David explains.

“Our mutual management team booked us into festivals in Calgary and Winnipeg, so were fortunate to get a spot in Hamilton. ” When asked about similarities between the two countries, David sees the fierce confidence in the midst of urbanity that marks the western Canadian cities. Frank sees an affinity with the aboriginal spirit that exists in our north and wilderness areas, as it does with theirs.

Does it make it easier to sing about their land when they seem to feel so at ease singing in this land? David smiles.

“Let’s just say we have been very pleased with our bookings so far and the response to our music!”

We couldn’t put a dollar figure to it, but we get the picture.

The pair were not at home but it felt like home. Close your eyes and you’ve just traveled ten thousand miles.

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At The CANADA GLASS AWARDS

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SMJ MAGAZINE

Photo Courtesy of AJPhotoimages

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