 |
| Samuel Getachew at Rendez Vous, the Ethiopian restaurant at Danforth and Monarch Park Aves., in what he hopes will become Little Ethiopia. |
Samuel Getachew is a man with many plans, and 2014 is the year they could bear fruit.
For the Toronto community organizer, journalist, translator, campaigner and activist, the most ambitious is to see the designation of a Little Ethiopia in Toronto, the first official African neighbourhood in a city where Little Italy and Greektown are destinations.
There is also his plan to host a World Cup-like tournament among soccer teams from Toronto’s diverse ethnic communities, which he says he hopes will kick off in August.
But first on the 37-year-old owner of Sterling Janitorial’s schedule is Feb. 6, when he will vie to be elected president of the Black Business and Professional Association.
All that’s not to mention his scholarly plans — he is applying to study law at Osgoode Hall this year.
It is a crowded list for one man, sure. But Getachew has always been busy. A journalist and columnist for the Huffington Post, he also writes features for Indo-Canadian newspaper Generation Next and is a contributor to Ethiopian-Canadian monthly TZTA. He is on the board of Africans in Partnership Against HIV/AIDS.
Getachew has dabbled in politics, running unsuccessfully against Paul Ainslie for city councillor in 2010 in Scarborough East. His introduction to political campaigning was a big one: in 2008, he hopped a plane to the U.S., where he volunteered for Barack Obama’s presidential run.
In December, he won the city of Toronto’s William P. Hubbard Award for equity and human rights. It was the latest of several distinctions. In 2011, Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley presented him with a National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada award for community journalism.
There has been a warm connection between Ethiopia and Canada for decades, says Getachew. Canada’s aid to Ethiopia during its famine crisis in the 1980s forged a bond between the nations. Indeed, there is a restaurant called Oh Canada in Addis Ababa run by an Ethiopian who lived in Ottawa.
“They serve poutine,” he says.
So why not have a corresponding nod to the Ethiopians who call Toronto home — about 50,000, according to the GTA’s Ethiopian Association? Getachew envisions Little Ethiopia as a two-block stretch on the Danforth between Greenwood and Monarch Park Aves.
“They have a Little Ethiopia in California,” he says. “We don’t even have a section of anything named after an African country. I think that reality should change.”
Some argue that a Little Ethiopia wouldn’t make sense in the area, which is a relatively new neighbourhood in Toronto for Ethiopians. Many Ethiopians and Eritreans also live in the Bloorcourt and Victoria Park areas.
But Getachew argues that although Ethiopians live and work in many parts of the GTA, they own more businesses on the Danforth.
He hopes to get the measure voted on in city council this year, and says several councillors have told him off the record that they would support it. But he has yet to convince councillors of the wards in which the large Danforth Mosaic BIA is located.
Ward 31 Councillor Janet Davis says it’s important that any change has the support of a majority of local businesses, which come from a variety of backgrounds.
“There are also other North Africans, Italians, Greeks,” she says. “I think as more and more businesses become Ethiopian, it’ll transform over time.”
She says the issue must be decided within the BIA framework, according to municipal rules. She has suggested that Ethiopian business owners meet as a committee within the BIA to discuss it.
If Getachew fails to get a Little Ethiopia motion passed by council this year, he says he will try again with a new set of councillors in 2015.
Getachew drops names easily, praising anyone who has given him a leg up along his way. He seems to be friendly with everyone, from Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who he says encouraged him in politics when he was young, to the owner of the Ethiopian restaurant, Rendez Vous, at Monarch Park and Danforth Aves., where he chatted with the Star over cups of strong, rich coffee in late December.
Born in Addis Ababa, Getachew spent some of his childhood in Zambia, where his father worked for the Lutheran World Federation.
After immigrating to Canada with his family at 14, he settled in Ottawa and studied political science and history at Carleton University. Though he didn’t graduate, he developed an uncommon passion for Canadian history, something few Canadian-born kids would admit.
“My dream was to travel every province and territory and write a blog on it,” he says. He would visit sites where important moments in the country’s history had taken place, like the place in Saskatchewan where prime minister Wilfrid Laurier met future prime minister John Diefenbaker when he was a young boy delivering newspapers.
“Laurier asked him his name,” recounts Getachew. “He asked him a second question and Diefenbaker said, ‘Sir, I need to get back to work.’ There’s a monument where that happened.”
The unofficial ambassador of Ethiopia to Toronto isn’t satisfied merely bringing us a little bit of his birth country, however. He has another dream: naming a bus station in his grandparents’ Ethiopian village after Brian Mulroney, who was prime minister when Canada sent famine aid to Ethiopia.
Getting that done is also among Getachew’s plans for this year, because 2014 is the 30th anniversary of the famine. Just add it to his list.
http://www.thestar.com
For the Toronto community organizer, journalist, translator, campaigner and activist, the most ambitious is to see the designation of a Little Ethiopia in Toronto, the first official African neighbourhood in a city where Little Italy and Greektown are destinations.
There is also his plan to host a World Cup-like tournament among soccer teams from Toronto’s diverse ethnic communities, which he says he hopes will kick off in August.
But first on the 37-year-old owner of Sterling Janitorial’s schedule is Feb. 6, when he will vie to be elected president of the Black Business and Professional Association.
All that’s not to mention his scholarly plans — he is applying to study law at Osgoode Hall this year.
It is a crowded list for one man, sure. But Getachew has always been busy. A journalist and columnist for the Huffington Post, he also writes features for Indo-Canadian newspaper Generation Next and is a contributor to Ethiopian-Canadian monthly TZTA. He is on the board of Africans in Partnership Against HIV/AIDS.
Getachew has dabbled in politics, running unsuccessfully against Paul Ainslie for city councillor in 2010 in Scarborough East. His introduction to political campaigning was a big one: in 2008, he hopped a plane to the U.S., where he volunteered for Barack Obama’s presidential run.
In December, he won the city of Toronto’s William P. Hubbard Award for equity and human rights. It was the latest of several distinctions. In 2011, Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley presented him with a National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada award for community journalism.
There has been a warm connection between Ethiopia and Canada for decades, says Getachew. Canada’s aid to Ethiopia during its famine crisis in the 1980s forged a bond between the nations. Indeed, there is a restaurant called Oh Canada in Addis Ababa run by an Ethiopian who lived in Ottawa.
“They serve poutine,” he says.
So why not have a corresponding nod to the Ethiopians who call Toronto home — about 50,000, according to the GTA’s Ethiopian Association? Getachew envisions Little Ethiopia as a two-block stretch on the Danforth between Greenwood and Monarch Park Aves.
“They have a Little Ethiopia in California,” he says. “We don’t even have a section of anything named after an African country. I think that reality should change.”
Some argue that a Little Ethiopia wouldn’t make sense in the area, which is a relatively new neighbourhood in Toronto for Ethiopians. Many Ethiopians and Eritreans also live in the Bloorcourt and Victoria Park areas.
But Getachew argues that although Ethiopians live and work in many parts of the GTA, they own more businesses on the Danforth.
He hopes to get the measure voted on in city council this year, and says several councillors have told him off the record that they would support it. But he has yet to convince councillors of the wards in which the large Danforth Mosaic BIA is located.
Ward 31 Councillor Janet Davis says it’s important that any change has the support of a majority of local businesses, which come from a variety of backgrounds.
“There are also other North Africans, Italians, Greeks,” she says. “I think as more and more businesses become Ethiopian, it’ll transform over time.”
She says the issue must be decided within the BIA framework, according to municipal rules. She has suggested that Ethiopian business owners meet as a committee within the BIA to discuss it.
If Getachew fails to get a Little Ethiopia motion passed by council this year, he says he will try again with a new set of councillors in 2015.
Getachew drops names easily, praising anyone who has given him a leg up along his way. He seems to be friendly with everyone, from Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who he says encouraged him in politics when he was young, to the owner of the Ethiopian restaurant, Rendez Vous, at Monarch Park and Danforth Aves., where he chatted with the Star over cups of strong, rich coffee in late December.
Born in Addis Ababa, Getachew spent some of his childhood in Zambia, where his father worked for the Lutheran World Federation.
After immigrating to Canada with his family at 14, he settled in Ottawa and studied political science and history at Carleton University. Though he didn’t graduate, he developed an uncommon passion for Canadian history, something few Canadian-born kids would admit.
“My dream was to travel every province and territory and write a blog on it,” he says. He would visit sites where important moments in the country’s history had taken place, like the place in Saskatchewan where prime minister Wilfrid Laurier met future prime minister John Diefenbaker when he was a young boy delivering newspapers.
“Laurier asked him his name,” recounts Getachew. “He asked him a second question and Diefenbaker said, ‘Sir, I need to get back to work.’ There’s a monument where that happened.”
The unofficial ambassador of Ethiopia to Toronto isn’t satisfied merely bringing us a little bit of his birth country, however. He has another dream: naming a bus station in his grandparents’ Ethiopian village after Brian Mulroney, who was prime minister when Canada sent famine aid to Ethiopia.
Getting that done is also among Getachew’s plans for this year, because 2014 is the 30th anniversary of the famine. Just add it to his list.
http://www.thestar.com
No comments:
Post a Comment