By RON FANFAIR
Pamela Appelt, Canada’s first Black female Citizenship Court Judge in 1987, has been appointed to the Order of Canada in the Officer category.
Officers are appointed for achievement and merit of a high degree, especially service to Canada or to humanity at large.
“I am humbled by this appointment which lets me know that I am on the right path,” said Appelt. “I am so blessed to be in a position where I can be effective, open doors for others and be a true Canadian.”
In the early 1960s, she went to England to further her education and join her parents who were part of the Windrush Generation.
While pursuing post-graduate studies, a professor encouraged her to consider attending McGill University. He figured Appelt would benefit from training under the late Professor Terry Wood who had done advanced work in diabetes.
Arriving in Canada in 1965, she was a biochemist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and a researcher in Medical Biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal before transitioning to community service.
In the last six decades, Appelt has delivered countless hours of volunteer service and given thousands of dollars to scholarships and community initiatives without expecting anything in return.
Also appointed to the Order in the Member category are filmmaker Sylvia Hamilton and philanthropist and medical doctor Budhendranauth Doobay.
As the first high school graduate from Beechville in 1968 to attend university, much was expected of Hamilton.
The Nova Scotian hasn’t disappointed.
After graduating from Acadia University with her first degree, Hamilton started working in social and community development at an alternative school for high school dropouts in Halifax and with community-based organizations across the country through Company of Young Canadians in the 1970s and, in the 1980s, she managed programs at the federal department of Secretary of State in Halifax.
As a trained journalist, she worked for private radio stations and freelanced with the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) before transitioning to filmmaking to visually convey the life experiences of African Nova Scotians to the mainstream of Canadian arts.
Hamilton’s first documentary, ‘Black Mother Black Daughter’ explored some of the powerful women that shaped her life and Nova Scotia’s Black community.
Other important films that Hamilton directed include ‘Speak it: From the Heart of Nova Scotia’ (NFB) that voices the concerns of African Nova Scotian young people struggling with questions of identity, race and empowerment and was recognized with a Gemini Award in 1994 and ‘Against the Tides: The Jones Family’ that explores the history of Blacks in Nova Scotia through a family.
Through her company, she has directed and produced ‘Carrie Best: Champion For Human Rights’, ‘Thomas Peters: Man of the People’ which is the untold story of the Black Loyalist leader and his quest for freedom for Black Loyalists and ‘The Little Black School House’ that looks at segregation in Nova Scotia and Ontario schools.
Hamilton is also the recipient of honorary doctorates from Saint Mary’s, Acadia and Dalhousie universities. At Dalhousie, she served on the Transition Year Program’s (TYP) advisory board and supported the law school’s Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative (IB&M).
To celebrate the university’s bicentenary in 2018, Hamilton made the list of 52 Dalhousie Originals who inspired, strengthened and at times challenged their university, communities, fields of study and the broader world.
She completed her master’s at Dalhousie in 2000. Her thesis, ‘African Baptist Women As Activists & Advocates in Adult Education in Nova Scotia’, examines the activities of African Baptist women in the latter half of the 19th century when there was an expansion of Black churches in the Maritimes.
A household name in South Asian homes across the country, Dr. Doobay represents not just a leader in the Hindu community, but an individual who recognizes the importance of religious freedoms and co-existence in the multicultural community.
As a cardiovascular surgeon, he spent most of his clinical career practicing at McMaster University as an assistant clinical professor, but his career expanded beyond his work in the operating room.
He built the first Hindu temple in Toronto and was at the core of developing the Hindu contribution to the beautiful multicultural city that Toronto has become. He helped organize parades of thousands of individuals during Diwali and built a Museum of Hindu Civilization and World Peace, the only religious institution that houses icons of all the major religions of the world.
Doobay’s temple also built a Memorial for Fallen Canadian Soldiers, the only non-governmental body to honour their contribution to this country’s freedom.
His passion for health care and medicine led to his creation of a medical clinic in his late father’s hometown in Guyana for which he sends medications and aid. In addition, he oversaw the creation of a Dialysis clinic in Guyana.
