On June 24, 2026, community members, advocates, leaders, and youth came together through the Ubuntu Community Hub for a dialogue focused on an important question: How can Black communities make the Second International Decade for People of African Descent matter?
Organized by the Jamaican Canadian Association in partnership with the Network for the Advancement of Black Communities (NABC) and the African Canadian Collective (ACC), the dialogue created an opportunity to reflect on the priorities of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent, which runs from 2025 to 2034.
The conversation emphasized that meaningful progress will require more than international commitments. It will require stronger collaboration, community leadership, youth participation, and concrete action across Canada’s Black community ecosystem.
Turning Recognition Into Action
The Second International Decade for People of African Descent builds on the themes of recognition, justice, and development, while placing greater emphasis on accelerating action to address racial inequality and systemic racism.
Participants discussed the importance of moving beyond recognition of historical and ongoing challenges toward measurable change. Priorities include advancing human rights, strengthening participation in decision-making, improving access to economic and educational opportunities, preserving cultural heritage, and ensuring greater accountability.
The dialogue also explored developments at the United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, including discussions around reparatory justice, the lasting effects of slavery and colonialism, and continuing structural inequalities affecting people of African descent.
Collaboration Across the Black Community Ecosystem
A central message from the dialogue was the need for greater collaboration among Black-led organizations, community groups, institutions, and partners.
Participants recognized that organizations can sometimes operate in isolation or compete for limited resources and opportunities. Moving from transactional relationships toward transformational partnerships was identified as an important step in creating stronger collective solutions.
Collaboration does not mean that every organization must have the same priorities or approach. Instead, it means identifying shared goals and finding ways to combine knowledge, resources, relationships, and expertise to address challenges that affect Black communities more broadly.
The discussion highlighted examples of partnerships between community organizations, institutions, and governments, while also recognizing that building meaningful collaboration remains an ongoing challenge.
Strengthening Black-Led Organizations
Strong community organizations are essential to advancing equity and addressing systemic barriers.
The dialogue emphasized the importance of recognizing the assets already present within Black communities and strengthening the broader Black ecosystem. This includes investing in Black-led organizations and creating conditions that allow them to build sustainable capacity and participate meaningfully in policy and decision-making processes.
Strengthening organizations also means creating stronger connections between community groups, governments, businesses, academia, and other institutions. When these relationships are built around shared objectives rather than short-term transactions, they can create more sustainable pathways for change.
Youth Leadership Must Be Part of the Present
Youth leadership emerged as another important theme during the dialogue.
Participants emphasized that young people should not be viewed only as future leaders. They are leaders today, and their voices, experiences, and perspectives need to be part of decision-making processes now.
Creating meaningful pathways for youth participation remains an important gap. Addressing that gap will require more intentional opportunities for young people to contribute to community organizations, policy discussions, advocacy initiatives, and other platforms where decisions affecting their futures are made.
Intergenerational leadership can also help ensure that the knowledge and experiences of established community leaders are connected with the ideas and perspectives of younger generations.
Building a Shared Vision for the Decade
The Second International Decade for People of African Descent provides an important framework, but its success will ultimately depend on what happens at the community, national, and institutional levels.
For Black Canadians, this means translating broad commitments into practical action on issues such as anti-racism, education, employment, healthcare, entrepreneurship, cultural preservation, and representation in decision-making.
It also means supporting research and data collection that can help communities understand disparities, measure progress, and hold institutions accountable.
The Ubuntu Community Hub dialogue highlighted the role Black Canadian leaders and organizations can play in this work by strengthening advocacy, building partnerships, supporting youth leadership, and connecting local initiatives to broader national and international efforts.
Making the Second Decade Matter
The question at the centre of the dialogue is ultimately a question of collective responsibility.
The Second International Decade for People of African Descent offers an opportunity to build on the lessons of the past while creating stronger foundations for future generations. But meaningful progress will require communities and institutions to move from discussion to coordinated action.
For Black-led organizations across Canada, collaboration can help transform individual efforts into collective impact. For governments and other institutions, meaningful engagement requires listening to communities and supporting the organizations already doing this work.
And for young people, the decade provides an opportunity to take an active role in shaping the future rather than waiting for that future to arrive.
Making the Second Decade matter means turning recognition into action, building stronger relationships across the Black community ecosystem, investing in Black-led organizations, and ensuring that every generation has a meaningful role in creating a more equitable Canada.