Marcia Brown and other unsung Jamaican-Canadians get the recognition they deserve
October 29, 2025
Listening to the difference that the Jamaica Diaspora Impact Award (JDIA) winners made, it dawned on Marcia Brown that she had truly accomplished something and that it was her mother who had set her on that path.
The playwright was deeply grateful to 93-year-old Hyacinth Hall, who was in the audience at the inaugural celebration on October 24, for sharing the moment.
When late Jamaican actor/writer Aston Cooke asked Brown in 2000 to perform his play, Country Duppy, she was non-committal as she had no money to take it on.
“I didn’t tell him that, but I went home and told my mom about the proposal and that I didn’t have the funds,” she said. “When I told her I really wanted to do it, she reminded me of the risks involved. I assured her it was something I genuinely wanted, and she lent me the money. I wasn’t expecting it, since she always reminded us that she never made the kind of money we make. Country Duppy was highly successful, and I was able to repay her every cent plus a little extra. That is how I started.”
For her first play, Brown was determined to make a big splash, pouring her energy and vision into every detail to ensure it would be memorable and stand out.
When Cooke suggested she reach out to her mentor, Leonie Forbes, to participate in the play, she felt unsure about it.
“When I asked Aston how I was going to pay her, he said, ‘Marcia, ask Leonie’,” Brown recounted. “I called her, and she said, ‘Marcia, anything for you’. It was my first production, and she walked me through every step. In addition, she was a drawing card.”
Forbes passed away in October 2022.
For most creatives, the road to the top winds through struggle and perseverance.
Not long after migrating from Jamaica in 1989, Brown was cast in the late Denise Jones’ play, We Run Things.
“I had great expectations, coming to Canada with a wealth of experience, but I didn’t realize how challenging it would be to find work,” said the Ensom City Dance Club founder who led the group to silver and bronze medals in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission festival dance competition. “I worked for promoters who didn’t pay me, and I even had to find my own costumes for some shows.”
Brown wrote comedic skits that were presented at birthday parties and other social events. She also toured over 150 schools in Ontario with Amah Harris’ company, Theatre in the Rough, performing in a remount of Richardo Keens-Douglas’ children’s play, The Nutmeg Princess.
When the play finished, Harris – who died last July -- encouraged her to make acting her full-time career.
Believing it would be a career enhancer, Brown hired an agent and auditioned for roles in mainstream theatre.
Her efforts were unsuccessful.
“I just could not get any work,” Brown recalled. “I was not alone. If there was a role available for a Black person, several of us would show up to compete for it.”
It was while waiting under a tree with a few young Black actresses vying for the same role that she realized she needed to find a full-time job.
“One of the more established women in the field took out some trinkets, saying she was selling them to pay her rent,” Brown, who performed in pantomimes in Jamaica, said. “We each bought an earring or bracelet for $5 to help her. That is when I said I hadn’t come to Canada to struggle, and I needed a full-time job to support myself and my son.”
For 25 years until last May, she worked in the compliance division at CI Financial, co-founded by the late G. Raymond Chang.
Many artists take full-time jobs to gain financial stability while keeping the flexibility to continue their creative work.
“I worked on my plays on my own terms, said Brown whose productions include I Need to Know My Father, Children Children, Feminine Justice, Single Entry, Rosetta, Wipe that Smile and Common Law. “My agent later lost interest because they called and expected me to drop everything for an audition 24 hours later. I made it clear that I was not sacrificing my job for last-minute demands.”
Marcia Brown (c) with I Need to Know My Father cast members Kevin Davis (l), Stacy-Ann Buchanan, Rochelle Robinson, Errol “Naggo” Morris, Letna Allen-Rowe, Kayla McLaughlin, Sharonia Taylor and Jason Brown in October 2011 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
A portion of the proceeds from her plays goes back into funding scholarships administered by the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA).
“At some point when you are in this business and people know you are in the community, you have to show them you are here not only to take from them but also to give back,” said Brown who took a break from performing this year following the death of her older brother, Neil Cunningham, in Jamaica last January.
Storyteller and event host Sandra Whiting nominated her for the JDIA honour.
Sandra Whiting (r) nominated Marcia Brown for the JDIA honour (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“Marcia has made it her life’s work to ensure that Jamaican culture and the arts remain vibrant in our community,” said the former Black Business and Professional Association president. “I have a lot of respect for people who show stick-to-itiveness and consistency.”
The other JDIA winners were choreographer Kevin Ormsby, educators Inez Johnson and Rose Spencer Gibbs and performing artist David Smith.
Like Brown, Ormsby was happy that his parents – Evan and Hyacinth Ormsby -- were there to see him receive the award.
“While I’ve had support from many people throughout my journey, my parents remain my greatest supporters,” the KasheDance artistic director said.
Orsmby said the honour belongs to all those who, for the past 43 years, believed in him and nurtured the potential they saw.
Kevin Ormsby (Photo contributed)
“To arrive here with you my fellow awardees and nominees is beyond any award I could ever receive,” he added.
A former Guest Artist in Residence at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts at the University of the West Indies Mona campus, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University and the University of Texas-Austin, Ormsby is the Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario programming curator.
Fresh from a four-month teaching experience in Ghana, Johnson learned about the recognition upon her return home.
“I was pleasantly shocked when I opened my email box and saw the good news,” the former public school principal said. “I thank the selection committee for seeing merit in the work I have been doing over the years.”
Inez Johnson (Photo contributed)
Since her retirement 20 years ago from the Toronto District School Board, Johnson has focused on mentoring and preparing the next generation for success.
A University of the West Indies graduate, Spencer Gibbs taught in Jamaica and Guyana and was a school librarian in Jamaica and Montreal. The Markham resident recently published her first book, ‘Island of Plantations: A Jamaican Reflection’.
Rose Spencer Gibbs (Photo contributed)
York Region District School Board administrator Henrietta Akit was her nominee.
“Rose’s deep commitment to community service through her extensive work in Canada, Jamaica and beyond truly stands out,” she said. “She is an inspiring individual, a dedicated community leader and a mentor to Black youth and educators alike.”
Smith, a health and fitness expert, is a dancer and former Maroon Chief.
David Smith (Photo contributed)
“Sharing the stage with Grace Jones (the award-winning model/singer/actor) in Jamaica, I thought, was the highlight of my career until I received this honour,” he said. “So far, this is the highest of the highest.”
The nominations were so outstanding that the committee decided to create an Icon Award.
Sylvanus Thompson, who four days earlier was in Jamaica to receive the Order of Distinction in the rank of officer, was the recipient of the honour.
For decades, he has been sending household items, including rice, cooking oil and corned beef to make bully beef for Jamaican family and friends. Whenever there is a natural disaster on the island, he is at the forefront organizing effective care relief packages.
Sylvanus Thompson was the recipient of a JCA Outstanding Voluneter Award in 2011 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
The holder of a doctorate in Public Health Administration from the University of Berkley, Thompson spent 21 years with the City of Toronto Public Health, rising to the position of Associate Director.
The independent consultant is the president of Spelling Bee Canada North York chapter and a former JCA Vice-President,
Members of Provincial Parliament Charmaine Williams and Andrea Hazell presented citations to the winners.
The award show is the brainchild of Jamaica’s Consul General in Toronto Kurt Davis.
He explained that it was inspired by a simple but powerful belief that Jamaicans living in the diaspora are among the country’s most valuable assets.
“Your success, your service, your influence and your impact reflect the greatness of our nation and the potential of our people,” said Davis who was part of the pioneering team that established Jamaica’s High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa. “Too often, those who quietly serve or lead in the background are overlooked, and I wanted to change that. The JDIA was created to give them their rightful place of honour, to highlight their stories and to remind us all that the Jamaican spirit of excellence and service knows no borders.
“The heroes we honour this evening are not those of the past, but of the present. They are modern day heroes whose quiet strength, service and excellence continue to shape lives across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. They are mentors, innovators, cultural guardians, educators, entrepreneurs and community builders. They are Jamaicans who remind us that everywhere we are planted, we flourish and we give back. They remind us that not all heroes wear capes.”
Jamaica’s top diplomat in Toronto said the awards is more than just a celebratory event.
“It is the beginning of a movement to tell our stories, to celebrate our people and to remind the world that the Jamaican flag flies high not only in Kingston, but in every city where Jamaicans live, work and serve with excellence,” Davis pointed out.
Marsha Coore Lobban, Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Canada, said the event is a meaningful way to honour outstanding members of the Jamaican Diaspora in Canada whose dedication, creativity and service benefit others and strengthen the community.
“I am deeply proud to represent such an extraordinary diaspora,” the career diplomat said. “Your resilience, creativity and commitment to service are a source of inspiration. You are the embodiment of Jamaica’s spirit, and your legacy continues to uplift and empower generations.”
The Jamaican diaspora comprises almost 2.5 million, with over 250,000 residing in Canada.
Jamaica places great importance on its diaspora, recognizing their key role in national development and global influence. The government has created formal policies and programs to engage citizens abroad and integrate their skills and resources into the country’s development efforts.
As a McMaster University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts, Tom Tavares-Finson was once part of the Jamaican Diaspora in Canada.
“Our reach demonstrates resilience, influence and the range of those roots because no matter where life takes us, we continue to stand tall, grow and contribute to where we are and from whence we came,” the President of the Jamaican Senate said in the keynote speech. “You can plant a Jamaican anywhere and before long, that Jamaican is leading a team, organizing a community event, running a business or probably teaching someone how to make proper rice and peas. This is who we are, people of drive, tenacity, faith and resilience. We are people who believe in stepping into action and doing something that is right.”
Tom Tavares-Finson (Photo contributed)
Tavares-Finson noted that the legacies of the Maroons, the West Indian Domestic Scheme (WIDS) and the first wave of farmworkers have shaped the cultural values, resilience and community strategies that continue to help many Jamaicans thrive in Canada today.
At the end of the Second Maroon War in 1796, the British brought about 700 Maroons to Nova Scotia.
Canada’s demand for cheap and unskilled labour led to the introduction of the WIDS that paved the way for a quota of about 280 Caribbean women, many of them Jamaicans, to enter Canada annually in the early 1960s. They were subsequently granted landed immigrant status in return for their services.
Precipitated by a shortage of apple pickers, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) was established in 1966 to bring Jamaican farmworkers to Canada to fill the void.
“These pioneers faced a colder climate and limited opportunities, but they showed that Jamaicans are resilient,” said Tavares-Finson who was awarded the Order of Jamaica in 2020. “They did not cower or retrieve. Instead, they persevered and sacrificed. They worked hard and started organizing and advocating for the rights of other Jamaicans. Out of their work, we have many organizations that work to benefit Jamaicans, Caribbean and other immigrant communities because we don’t like to leave anybody behind.”
There were 41 nominations for the JDIA.
The judges were University of Guelph Chancellor, Mary Anne Chambers, Bishop James Robertson, former Jamaican Canadian Association President Audrey Campbell, Merl Grove Past Students Association (Canada chapter) President Simone Thomas and Black Opportunity Fund Chief Executive Officer Craig Wellington.
