He had grown up seeing her “on TV and hearing about her on the radio and the media all her life — as a princess and as the Queen of England,” the 90-year-old recalled in Toronto on Friday. Bailey, a past president of the Jamaica Canadian Association of Ontario, said he was not surprised to hear of the monarch’s death this week. “As a queen I think she has done well. She has represented herself well,” he said. “He has represented the Commonwealth of Nations well.” For Gillian Sunderland, the Queen’s death has stirred up complex emotions. “It’s very sad that he died,” said Ph.D. student, who holds dual citizenship of Canada and Barbados. “But as a physiognomy – what it represents as an institution – a lot of people from former colonized countries and … have lived under very difficult conditions because of that heritage, they have a different relationship with the monarchy and the Queen.” WATCHES | The Queen’s death provokes complex reactions from Caribbean-Canadians:
Caribbean Canadians share mixed feelings about Queen Elizabeth’s legacy
Caribbean Canadians have a range of complex feelings about the Queen herself and the legacy of British colonial rule. As the world ponders the legacy of long-reigning Elizabeth, there has been a wide range of reactions to her death, including among the Caribbean diaspora, where talk of cutting ties with the monarchy has been more frequent of late. While some mourn the queen and share warm memories, others highlight the continuing effects of the colonialism she represented.
Admiration for the Queen herself
Sunderland noted her own conflicted feelings. She grew up in Canada with a positive image of the royal family in her childhood. She remembers, for example, her mother’s turmoil after Princess Diana’s death. However, as she began to learn more about her Bajan heritage as she grew older, this rosy portrait became complicated. Toronto student Gillian Sunderland, a citizen of Canada and Barbados, says she differentiates between the queen “as a mother, a grandmother … a beloved great-grandmother” and the monarch as a symbol of colonialism. (Submitted by Jillian Sunderland) Sunderland says she draws a distinction between the queen “as mother, grandmother … beloved great-grandmother” and the monarch as a symbol of colonialism. Donnovan Simon, past president of the Jamaican Canadian Association of Alberta, acknowledges that people will undoubtedly react to the queen’s death in many different ways. “For Queen Elizabeth in particular, there is some admiration,” he noted in Calgary, saying the monarch’s death marks the end of an era. “The crown prince will by no means earn the same level of admiration and respect. And who knows if the monarchy will ever return to the level of admiration and respect that Queen Elizabeth had.” Donovan Simon, former president of the Jamaica Canadian Association of Alberta, wonders “if the monarchy will ever return to the level of admiration and respect that Queen Elizabeth had.” (Submitted by Donnovan Simon) At the same time, the continuing legacy of colonialism and imperialism has not been lost on Jamaicans, he added. In March, during Prince William and Kate’s visit to Jamaica as part of a tour to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Elizabeth’s coronation, Prime Minister Andrew Holness unexpectedly announced that the Commonwealth nation intended to become a republic — as the Barbados in 2021. demonstrations demanding an apology and reparations for slavery from Britain. “I think we’re getting along [discussions] aside today,” Simon said. “People took the time to deliberately stop to acknowledge [the Queen] and how they saw her. Tomorrow, they may return to the issues of reparations and the impact of the monarchy as a whole.”
“Dressing” vs. True Reconciliation
While Karen Richards doesn’t think people are “hitting the streets and celebrating the Queen’s passing,” she also doesn’t think there’s “the same feeling of sadness” among Canadians of African and Caribbean descent, given the complex relationship those communities have had. with the monarchy.
Instead, the board chairwoman of the Council of Canadians of African and Caribbean Heritage says she believes many are likely thinking about what Elizabeth’s death might mean for black communities and the royal family’s path toward reconciliation with them.
“The magnificence and the occasion [of] the monarchy over generations and generations has often been at the expense of black people,” said Karen Richards, board chair of the Council of Canadians of African and Caribbean Heritage. (Submitted by Karen Richards)
“If we really want to be on a path of reconciliation, I think we need to have a conversation: how can we level the playing fields in terms of power? Because the pomp and circumstance [of] the monarchy for generations and generations has often been at the expense of Black people,” Richards, a Canadian of Ghanaian descent, said in Edmonton.
While Richards says the royal family has taken some steps over the years to improve its relations with the nations of the Black Commonwealth, “Is it just a costume, or have there been real and genuine measures of reconciliation?”
“I hope that these are the things that even the royal family themselves are thinking about — not necessarily in this time of grief, but they also have to look at themselves and think about what’s going to happen with moving their relationship with their countries Commonwealth forward.”
Challenging the ‘remnants of colonialism’
Upon hearing of Elizabeth’s death, History Professor Isaac Saney’s thoughts turned to how the news would be received and affect the Caribbean nations. “The Caribbean has been kind of at the center of questioning the monarchy, questioning what we would say are vestiges of colonialism,” said the Dalhousie University historian, who is also chair of the development committee for Canada’s first university major in Black studies and of the African Diaspora. . As people struggle through life, it’s hard to connect with “this fabled family” of Royals, says Halifax historian Isaac Saney. (Dalhousie University) Saney believes that the royal family has not really recognized that “the life of luxury that they live, this wealth that they can basically have at their disposal, comes from what happened in the Caribbean through the transatlantic slave trade, through colonialism and domination other countries of the Global South”. With people struggling with so many hardships on both a personal and global scale—from the challenges of paying rent and buying food to coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, ecological disasters, and international conflict—it’s no surprise that some don’t express traditional sympathetic responses to death of Elizabeth. “People really struggle with these difficult things and I think it’s very difficult for them to make a connection between themselves and this mythic family, this fantasy family,” he said from Halifax. Saney, who grew up in Trinidad and Tobago, believes the queen’s death will mark a period of uncertainty for the monarchy and the British political system. For Commonwealth nations, however, it “creates this space for the Commonwealth to rethink what it is… What does it mean to exist in the 21st century? Is it now time for Commonwealth countries to break free from these colonial institutions?”
