Black community looking for more engagement with Black History Month in Renfrew County
Ro Nwosu has lived in Renfrew County for more than a decade, and has mixed feelings about her experience with the community.
"There's been some really scary points to living in the valley, but some really joyful points as well," she says.
As the calendar turns to February and Black History Month arrives in Renfrew County, Nwosu believes more community engagement is needed.
Algonquin College's Pembroke campus has events planned throughout February to celebrate and acknowledge Black History Month, and the county plans to highlight Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.
But when Nwosu looks for activities to engage her son with locally, she says she often finds herself heading out of Renfrew County and into Ottawa.
"There's not really anything that goes on in town unfortunately," Nwosu tells CTV News.
"I would love to see that more so in the community, the township taking initiative."
Nwosu runs a yoga studio in Arnprior and she sat on the town's diversity advisory committee, but as a Black woman living in rural Ontario, she also says she has faced racial discrimination.
"I still find it's definitely getting better, more people are aware, the community is changing which is really great."
Nwosu admits that she can feel isolated in her community as a Black woman.
According to the 2021 census, just 710 people in Renfrew County, out of the county's population of 106,365 identified as Black. That accounts for 0.6 per cent of the county's total population.
"Do I feel like that number in Renfrew County participates, shops in the area, participates at local events, are out and about? No," Nwosu says.
"I'd love to see more people talk about Renfrew County as a spot they'd want to move to. I'd love to see more Black-owned businesses or different people in the area."
To celebrate Black History Month, Nwosu says she plans to reintroduce her culture to her son, and bring awareness back as to why the month exists.
She also plans to continue to support the Black community.
"I love being able to express joy, to lift up others that have been doing really great in the community," she says.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit natural gas levies to the federal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer filled with relief and grief following acquittal in death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
North Bay doctor accused of assaulting patient, threatening another
A North Bay doctor is facing charges after allegedly assaulting a patient with a weapon and threatening another person at the hospital, police say.