Black History Month in our Parish and Diocese
Throughout the month of February we will be incorporating music and liturgy from Black communities and cultures around the world.
February 1: The Rev. Wilson Akinwale will be presiding and preaching. Fr. Wilson is the National President and Chair of Black Anglicans of Canada. He is also the Anglican Representative on the Anti-Racism Task Force with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), and the incumbent at St George’s Transcona and St. Bartholomew.
February 15: Guest speaker Zilla Jones. Zilla Jones, J.D., B.M.A., is of Afro-Caribbean and multiracial descent. She received her Bachelor of Musical Arts from Canadian Mennonite University in 2003 and graduated from Robson Hall Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba in 2011 with fourth highest standing in the class. She was called to the Manitoba Bar in 2012. She practices criminal defence and human rights law with her own firm, Jones Law Office, and has appeared at every level of court in Manitoba and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Zilla is also a sessional lecturer at Robson Hall. She has presented on Black history, anti-Black racism and criminal law topics to numerous organizations, including the University of Manitoba, Red River College, Law Society of Manitoba, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Commission, Islamic Social Services Agency of Manitoba, and many others.
She is Chair of the Board of Directors of the John Howard Society of Manitoba and sits on the Board of the John Howard Society of Canada. Zilla is also an award-winning fiction writer with two books being published in 2025 and 2026.
February 22: Guest speaker Dr. Melissa Morgan. Dr. Morgan is a choral conductor, educator, and writer from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. An Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities in the faculty of Media, Arts, and Performance at the University of Regina, she conducts the auditioned, Chamber Singers, and the non-auditioned Concert Choir in addition to teaching courses in choral conducting.
An active conductor, her choirs have performed and toured in Halls such as Lincoln Centre, New York and Cadogan Hall, London England, at Choral Canada Podium Conferences, as well as with other professional musicians including Canadian Tenors and the Regina Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Morgan enjoys travelling to be a clinician and guest conductor with choirs across North America and globally. Her most recent engagements have taken her to Manitoba, Michigan, and Thailand.
Dead of Winter presents This Is Who I Am, curated by Dr. Melissa Morgan.
Sunday, February 22nd at the Crescent Arts Centre
Curated by Dr. Melissa Morgan, This is Who I am features a wide-ranging selection of music, including works by West Indies composers, Caribbean folk songs, gospel music, spirituals, and traditional and contemporary choral art song. The result is a celebratory concert that traces the history of Dr, Melissa Morgan's West Indian ancestry through music.
Black History Month Book Club
Tuesdays at 7:00 pm for all of February
Zoom
In collaboration with the Rupert’s Land chapter of the Black Anglicans Network, we are pleased to be presenting a Zoom book club featuring the new novel by Zilla Jones. Jones is a warden at Holy Trinity and her novel has been generating a lot of great attention since its launch in April of 2025. You can read a synopsis and reviews of the book here. Click here to register.
