Tom Sosa was Ontario's first Black Deputy Minister

November, 11, 2021

Often, Thomas Sosa Sr. would run into a young person on the street who would remind him of the impact he made in their life.

Ontario’s first Black Deputy Minister passed away on November 1 from Parkinson’s disease complications. He was 84.

After leaving government in 1998, Sosa was Vice-President of Student Services, Community Relations & Human Resources at Centennial College where he developed and introduced the Headstart program for Black students and new immigrants at Warden Woods Public School. Centennial’s staff and faculty members mentored the students throughout their high school stay.

“Just last month (September 2009), I met a young man at a grocery store who told me he graduated from the University of Toronto with honours and was pursuing his Master’s,” he told me 12 years ago. “I felt a lump in my throat because he and the other students that passed through the program were deemed to be at risk. When I thought of that story and what you do in terms of community service, it said that volunteering and giving your time to help young people really pay off in the long run.”

When Sosa made history in 1989 as the first Black Deputy Minister in the province, Joe Halstead was the only Black Assistant Deputy Minister.

“In a civil service of 80,000 people, Tom was ranked in the Top 25,” said Halstead. “That was quite an accomplishment back in the day and, needless to say, he made us all proud.”

They met for the first time in the 1970s at a soccer match at Eglinton Park.

“Tom was then the coach and manager of an unconventional group of Caribbean soccer players that won the national senior championship which was a first,” recounted Halstead. “When I became Chair of Caribana in 2006, he joined us for a short time to instill good management practices in the organization. It was such a pleasure to know and work with him. He was a good man.”

Tom Sosa was the recipient of the Consul General’s Diaspora Award for Excellence in 2009 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

As Deputy Minister in the Ministries of Energy and Skills Development, Sosa led the provincial team in its negotiations with the federal government and co-ordinated the strategy that resulted in a joint $1.6 billion three-year training agreement with a federal funding increase of 83 per cent.

He also directed and promoted a program with school boards to reduce the number of unskilled entry-level employees in Ontario’s workforce.

Before joining the provincial government, Sosa spent 25 years at Ryerson University in various positions, including Faculty of Arts member, Director of Student & Academic Services and Vice-President.

In 2014, he and members of the Ryerson soccer team that won five straight provincial championships in the 1960s, were inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame.

The late Howard Kerr, Ryerson’s first Principal, hired Sosa to coach the team after seeing him play in the Ryerson quad. He was the coach from 1964-66.

Event planner and consultant Joan Pierre met Sosa before he left Trinidad & Tobago in 1958 to study in Canada.

“Tom was like family to me because we lived two houses apart in Siparia,” she said. “Doreene Sosa-Saney, who is his younger sister and I are very close friends and I was always at their home. Tom was like a big brother to me and I took Math lessons from him while attending primary school. We reconnected when I came to Canada in the 1970s and he’s someone I could always turn to for anything.

“During my tenure with Caribana, he was an important mentor and someone who used his municipal and provincial networks to point me in the right direction. When the parade moved to Lakeshore Boulevard, one of the challenges we had was setting up the concession area. I had the idea that Ryerson architecture students could help us come up with a plan and when I mentioned this to Tom, he connected me to the right Professor who set it up as a project for advanced students. I will miss him dearly.”

Retired University of Toronto Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Business Professor Lennox Borel and Sosa were schoolmates at St. Mary’s College in the 1950s.

“Tom acquitted himself very well in academics and athletics,” he said. “He was a superb long distance runner, completing the mile event in 4:12.00 which was a Trinidad & Tobago record at the time and quite an achievement for a 17-year-old. In the last few weeks before his death, he called me daily and we reminisced about our mischievous days at St. Mary’s. We recited some of the prayers we learned as acolytes and talked about how we consumed the wine that was left over by the priests after mass. He was a student prince and veritable factotum.”

Sosa completed his first degree at United College that became the University of Winnipeg in 1967, his Master’s at the University of Manitoba in 1963 and a Master of Education at the University of Toronto in 1977 and successfully pursued certificate programs in Management & Organizational Development and Educational Management at the University of Michigan and Harvard University respectively.

After stepping away from the public service and academia in 1998, he joined his son’s law firm as a mediator and arbitrator.

Tom Sosa with former Canadian & Trinidad & Tobago Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Kamla Persad-Bissessar (Photo contributed)

Sosa served on several committees and boards.

He was a Law Society of Upper Canada Bencher, Canada Employment & Immigration Advisory Council Chair and Director of the Canadian Labour Market & Productivity Centre, the Ontario Training Corporation and the Progress Career Planning Centre. He was also a member of the Arbitration & Mediation Institute of Canada, the Canadian Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution section and the Ontario Society for Conflict Resolution.

Volunteering, for Sosa, was a labour of love.

When he came to Toronto in 1963, he and his wife Betty – they met in Winnipeg – started the 130th Scout group in Thorncliffe Park. His community engagement also extended to the Subway Academy, Afropan Steelband, West Indies United Soccer Club, the Ontario Soccer Referees Association and West Rouge Community Association.

David Peterson, then the Premier of Ontario, congratulates Tom Sosa after he was named the province’s first Black Deputy Minister (Photo contributed)

For his outstanding professional and community contributions, Sosa was the recipient of the Trinidad & Tobago’s Chaconia Gold Medal in 1993 and the Consul General’s Diaspora Award of Excellence in 2009.

In addition to his wife of 58 years, Sosa is survived by their son, Thomas Sosa Jr.

“Dad was a trailblazer in different areas and a community titan,” he added.