Canada History Week: Hymn to Freedom Project

Helping all Canadians learn about Black History in Canada is important.

Canadian Black History Month, celebrated since 1995, does not have either a Canadian anthem or a Canadian video. The anthem most commonly used, Lift Every Voice and Sing, is American.

In 2019, a group of volunteers from our community, working with the Peterson family and Sony Music, created a new arrangement of Hymn to Freedom, a Canadian anthem by jazz icon, Oscar Peterson. Peterson wrote the music in 1962 during a time when the fight for civil rights was being waged in America. This video will be the first to feature only Canadian Black History.

Canadians now have their very own made-in-Canada video with highlights of Canadian history which showcases glimpses of the integral, extensive influence and part that Black Canadians have played in the building of our country, Canada.

It is our hope that you will help spread the work of teaching the next generation about Canadian Black History by sharing this video on your own social media accounts, in your own community, and by encouraging people to visit us at www.hymntofreedom.ca.

Thank you,

Lauris DaCosta
Founder
The Hymn To Freedom Project

Lucia Harrison
Chief Executive Officer
Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre