Step 1: Watch the short video: Ice Breakers
Step 2: Carefully read the assignment question
Rationale:
Black Canadians have lived in Canada for 400 years and 20 generations — from the arrival of Mathieu Da Costa in the early 17th century and Black Empire Loyalists through the Underground Railroad, to the modern immigration waves from the global south.
But in a Canada where racial disparities, anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination are so entrenched, what does it mean to be Black in Canada today? What is the Black Canadian experience?
Canada is embarking on the first national research initiative on Blackness in Canada. At Canada’s third largest racialized group, Black people have made tremendous contributions to the growth, development and profess of this country.
The Blackness in Canada project will pioneer a research approach that centers Black voices by combining traditional survey techniques with new digital and social media tools. The survey will be driven by contributions from respondents. This approach positions Black community narratives at the Centre of public sector discussions to gain a better understanding of their unique experiences and ensure supports and services are relevant.
The project is also co-sponsored by the Multicultural History Society of Ontario (MHSO), Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and York’s faculty of liberal arts and professional studies.
Step 1: Watch 15 minute video: Ice Breakers
Josh Crooks is a promising teen hockey star in a sport where Black Canadian players like him are chronically underrepresented. Ice Breakers (2020) reveals the buried history of a pioneering Black hockey league in Atlantic Canada, as Crooks discovers that his unshakable passion is tied to a rich and remarkable heritage.
Ice Breakers from National Film Board of Canada on Vimeo.

Step 2: Online Activity #2 Question:
Make use of the sociological imagination and describe how 1 of the 4 major sociological perspectives view Josh Crooks’ experience as a Black Canadian hockey player in Canada.