Amah Harris leaves a lasting legacy

July 20, 2025

Community service was instilled in Amah Harris from a young age.

Her Jamaican-born mother advocated for people affected by tuberculosis, leprosy and mental disorders after joining her husband in Dominica.

They also lobbied for a school to be built in the village that her father financially supported.

Watching her parents actively engaged in the community inspired Harris to follow in their footsteps.

At an early stage in life, she also grasped that community work, when done with cultural sensitivity, can strengthen and revitalize a community’s cultural fabric.

The educator and cultural activist died on July 9.

Multi-arts practitioner Rhoma Spencer met Harris soon after arriving in the Greater Toronto Area in 1999.

“Amah was my source of reference on the contributions of Black theatre in the drama and theatre canon of Canada,” she said. “I will miss her wisdom and cultural insights into the Dominican carnival traditions. I will remember her as that theatre director who gave young Black actors a position at the table so they could see themselves as professionals and not as people indulging in a hobby.”

Amah Harris (l) & Rhoma Spencer (Photo contributed)

In her teenage years, Harris realized that community service and the arts are deeply intertwined, each enriching the other.

She was the co-founder & artistic director of the Secondary Schools Drama Society and Little Theatre Movement that presented a diverse range of theatrical shows, including Shakespearean plays and international musicals.

In 1964, Harris was the recipient of the British Council Award for Best Performance in the Commemorative Shakespeare Festival celebrating 400 years since the dramatist’s death.

She also facilitated workshops before leaving Dominica in 1970 to study theatre at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta.

After moving to the University of Windsor to complete her theatre studies and being on the Dean’s List, she returned to the Caribbean and joined People’s Action Theatre – formerly Little Theatre Movement – that Alwin Bully and Daniel Caudeiron transformed with a new socio-political focus.

A year later, Harris came back to Canada to pursue undergraduate and graduate teaching degrees.

The arts, however, remained at the heart of her personal and professional journey.

Harris directed Black Theatre Canada’s first show in 1973 and, four years later, started writing plays in the Kwakoo Anansi series, using the traditional African characters to educate and entertain.

The plays toured schools in Ontario and were performed across Canada, the United States and South Africa.

Amah Harris (l) with Althea Parsons, Russell Charter, Joan Alexander, Leslie Forbes, Monica Pollard, George Lowe, Martin Scott-Pascall, Dr. Maurice Bygrave and Henry Gomez were among Toronto Caribbean Carnival founding members honoured in October 2012 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

In 1985, Harris founded Theatre in the Rough.

“Amah could have gone the other way and stayed with the more formal type of theatre,” said entrepreneur and raconteur Itah Sadu. “But she went down the road with popular theatre which was the theatre of engagement and the community. She chose that style of theatre to bring messages of equity and race. Back in the day when educators were struggling with how to address the needs of Black children, she was able to get them, through popular theatre, to rethink their approach to teaching. She was also an incredible drum major about Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean.”

Last year, Harris was the conductor for the 10th annual Emancipation Underground Freedom Train Ride.

“I am so happy we got her to blow that whistle to start the ride,” said Sadu who is the principal organizer of the event. “When I asked her, I knew she was ill.”

Harris was a member of the Toronto Arts Against Apartheid Foundation that organized the Arts Against Apartheid Festival that brought late South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the city in 1986.

With the late Harry Belafonte as honourary chair, the eight-day festival marked a pivotal point in Canada’s stand against apartheid.

Harris co-founded the annual two-week mini-mas camp organized by the Caribbean Arts Group and Tropicana Community Services.

Amah Harris at the mini-mas camp parade in July 2022 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

Started five years ago, the program introduced young people to several aspects of carnival, including the history and costume making.

“Amah cared about young people and wanted them to have a better understanding of themselves and their place in this country so they could walk with their heads up proud,” said Dance Caribe founder Martin Scott-Pascall.

After witnessing Dance Caribe’s 35th anniversary production last year, Harris encouraged him to take it into high schools.

“She was a huge supporter of the performing group and volunteered to write a grant to get funding,” Scott-Pascall recounted. “She felt a wider audience should see the production. Amah was an amazing woman and we will miss her.”

For 15 years, Harris taught theatre and science at Gordon A. Brown Middle School.

As a trained teacher, she integrated elements of drama, education and culture into techniques for problem solving, teacher curriculum and building community within the classroom.

As an anti-racist education advocate, she led workshops aimed at overcoming the legacy of institutionalized racism in Canadian society.

Organization of Calypso Performing Artists president Henry ‘Cosmos” Gomez said Harris was an integral part of the city’s social and cultural fabric.

“She dedicated much of her time, energy and resources to serving the Black and Caribbean communities in Canada and the wider diaspora,” he pointed out. “She was a dear, dedicated and committed soul.”