African Inventors and Icons Exhibition comes to venues across Caledon

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

For Black History Month, the Town of Caledon has partnered with the Canadian Multicultural Inventors Museum (CMIM) to bring their African Inventors and Icons Exhibition to Caledon.

The exhibition ran on February 7 and 16, and will appear twice more on Feb. 21 at Southfields Community Centre and Feb. 28 at the Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness.

The African Inventors and Icons Exhibition is a mobile display that teaches about the contributions Africans have made throughout history, and features inventors from coast to coast here in Canada.

Francis Jeffers is the Head Curator and President of the CMIM, and curated the exhibit.

He shares that CMIM is a multicultural STEM organization that promotes the integration of science within cultures and meaningfully contributes to an existing multicultural society. 

They celebrate diversity within the Canadian mosaic/society, and hope to disrupt “the one-dimensional storytelling pattern in STEM, in relation to underrepresented groups in STEM.”

Their mission is to inspire, promote, and provide access to science for all Canadians through a diversity lens.

He explains they are truly a nationalist organization, “we celebrate our Canadian-ness, we wear it on our sleeve.”

Jeffers says, through their work, they want to show the younger generation that, both in the past and present, Canadians of all demographics are working in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and skilled trades.

Jeffers was born in Dominica, a Caribbean island, and moved to Canada when he was 16.

“It was a turning point in my life because I knew where I wanted to be when I was in the Caribbean, and coming to Canada, it was just new. I had to figure out, what am I going to do in Canada?” says Jeffers.

He chose to pursue a career in science and worked as a biochemist in the pharmaceutical industry.

His second love, he says, is community development and political science, and he wanted to blend the two.

“When I encountered other young Black Canadians who didn't see themselves in a lot of diverse fields, especially in the sciences, that was difficult to cope with and then figure out, what can I do about it?” says Jeffers. 

Besides his career in pharmaceuticals, Jeffers ran an organization that provided science clubs to the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. He says not only did many kids not know the history of science, but they didn't see themselves represented in the curriculum.

And so, he created an exhibit showcasing Black inventors from different backgrounds and their inventions, before going to schools to showcase it.

It grew from there, Jeffers explains, as students of different cultures and backgrounds would ask why they couldn't see an exhibit that represented them.

“Any child in Canada should be able to source content that looks at the contributions of their people, whatever that is, and whatever is the intersection of that, so that they can see themselves in that story,” he says. “Then they can go ahead and decide whatever story they want to contribute to.”

CMIM has held various exhibits, now featuring inventors and innovators from communities such as East Asian, Hispanic and Latin American, Indigenous, Islamic, Jewish, LGBTQ2+, Multicultural women, and many more.

Not only does CMIM share this content through their mobile exhibit at schools and in communities, but also through e-books, flashcards, and social media to reach a broader audience.

Jeffers says they aim to ensure every child can find something about themselves represented in history.

“If we can do that [in] as many communities as possible, in our own little ways, it means that it helps build a better society, and we take away the fear, and the stereotypes that are in social media and in media. Canadians across Canada, coast to coast, need to be able to have those experiences,” says Jeffers.

“How do we find nuggets where we can, people can be validated as in terms of their humanity, validated in terms of their consciousness, and their philosophies, and whatever they came with, and validated as a Canadian.”

Jeffers encourages the community to come out and learn something new.

“In the stories that they see, they realize that there's a million and one stories like these of Canadians of all different backgrounds, and let's do that for Black History Month,” he says. “Take your time and just look at other people, just look to your side, and you'll see the diversity around you.”