Kuujjuaq man hopes to bring Black History Month into community spotlight

Kuujjuaq’s Black population has grown in recent years, yet Black History Month has not been widely celebrated in the community.

Now a local man hopes to change that.

Jephthé Sylvestre, who is of Haitian descent and Montreal-born, has lived in Nunavik for 19 years. He first moved to Inukjuak to work as security guard, then came to Kuujjuaq in 2014.

“The Black community in Kuujjuaq increased tenfold. I remember when I came, it was five of us that were living here” and now there are about 50, he said in an interview Friday.

In 2021, around 85 people of African descent lived in communities across Nunavik, according to the census at the time, while there were close to 400 living in Nunavut.

As Canada celebrates 30 years of Black History Month in February, Sylvestre is looking to secure funding for a community feast to mark this special time in Kuujjuaq.

“I know it’s a big thing to eat together in Inuit culture, and Black culture too,” he said. “I’m trying to get people to try Black-people food” including Haitian cuisine.

But he said he’s concerned that organizations he has reached out to, including Makivvik and the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, won’t understand his goal.

“Some people might think it’s only for Black people,” Sylvestre said. “I don’t want the spirit of division.”

He said he already has volunteers committed to help organize and cook for the community feast. If he gets the funding, he said, it will be used to advertise the event to everyone and make sure they feel welcome.

In the meantime, he has found other ways to celebrate Black History Month.

Every Friday from 8 to 9 p.m., Sylvestre hosts an R&B and pop music show on CKUJ-FM, Kuujjuaq’s community radio station. Throughout the month, he plans to play snippets of speeches by Black leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. at the start of each show.

And there’s another show on Saturdays, also hosted by Sylvestre, called Trapper’s Lane that highlights hip-hop music.

“I’m going mostly with speeches which talk about equality and unity. I don’t want to speak only about how oppression affected my people,” he said.

“We’ve all been affected by oppression. I’m part of the community of Kuujjuaq now. I’m still a Black person, but I’m part of this community.”

Sylvestre is also part of the Turn-Up Crew, which the Friday show is named after. Formed in 2015, the group of four hosted parties and performed as DJs at festivals across Nunavik.

It has always been Sylvestre’s vision as a radio host and DJ to bring those two cultures together.

The year 2020 shook the world, with the killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, Minn., by a white police officer in May of that year. His death sparked protests across the United States and around the world.

A month later, in June 2020, a person called into Sylvestre’s radio show and said they didn’t want to listen to N-word music. When Sylvestre described the call in a post on Facebook addressing the incident, he said he received tons of support from members of the community.

“But after that comment, a lot of people called and said, ‘We love your show. Please don’t stop,’” he said.

“Those that tried to make noise didn’t succeed in putting us down.”