Johise Namwira: Bringing the National Black Canadian Summit to the Prairies

Johise Namwira joins Stuart to talk about what it means to bring the National Black Canadian Summit to Winnipeg, and why she sees it as a movement rather than a moment. Namwira came to Winnipeg as a child after her family fled the Congo War, and later studied African studies at Oxford, a path that shapes how she talks about displacement, memory, and who gets left out of Canadian history.This is the furthest west the summit has ever travelled, and Namwira is direct about why: Winnipeg has a rich, historically underrepresented Black community, one with its own layered history most residents don't know. She points to a Manitoba mayor who once told Black migrants moving west that they had to leave, part of a longer story that includes the Underground Railroad and Africville, and one she says has to be reckoned with before "solutions" mean anything. That history runs alongside a present she's proud of: organizations like Black History Manitoba and the Congress of Black Women of Manitoba, which was founded in Winnipeg and went on to spark a national movement.The third summit, held in Halifax, produced a founding document for this whole movement: over 100 calls to action for governments, institutions, and communities, built on three pillars: recognition, justice, and development. It opens with the Sankofa bird from Ghana, a symbol for looking back while still moving forward. Namira calls it required reading before this summit, and this year's panel lineup is built directly on those pillars:Systemic justice and community-based reformHousing barriers facing Black communitiesAI and technology, and the push for anti-bias systemsA session pairing Indigenous and Black leaders in direct conversationNamwira closes with a message aimed squarely at young people: they're not the leaders of tomorrow, they're the leaders of today, and Winnipeg is already proving it, from the African Cup of Nations to local choirs, artist collectives, and creative networks she names one after another.Tickets are free for anyone under 30. There are 150 volunteer spots open across the weekend, and table sponsorships available for the opening ceremony. Whatever your age, check out the summit September 18-20, 2026, at the RBC Convention Centre.Register for the summit here.