Working against racism

By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express

When Shailene Panylo was teased and made fun of for the colour of her skin when she was younger, she knew there was something she could do to change the community around her.

Now, Panylo’s years of hard work have paid off.

The Oshawa teen was recently named as one of three winners of the province’s Lincoln M. Alexander Award, an annual award recognizing youth in the province who strive to make the province a more inclusive and open place.

It was a huge shock. Huge shock. I didn’t believe it for the first couple of days, actually,” Panylo tells The Oshawa Express of learning she had won the award. “There’s just a lot of weight to the name. Lincoln is a huge role model for a lot of the people that I worked with, to make a lot of the events that we did happen. So it was unbelievable.”

Now a student at the University of Toronto, Panylo was honoured for years working to make the Oshawa community more multicultural and inclusive. The push to start that work came when she was younger and she was the victim of taunts over the colour of her skin.

“Growing up in a place that was not as multicultural 15 years ago as it is now, it was really hard. It was a struggle, and you’re teased and you’re bullied a lot for the things that make you different. And stereotypes play a huge role in what people think about you and your culture before they even know you,” she says. “So I had a hard time growing up for a while in the sense that I was victim to a lot, but I was always very forward and opinionated. So there were always times when I felt there wasn’t enough support for people like myself or others who face the same sort of harassment, really, in school or in the community. So when I got to a certain age where I understood that there were clubs and organizations dedicated to addressing the issues and things like that, I got involved because I lived the experience.”

That work started early, with Panylo working for Students and Teachers Against Racism before she even started high school. There, she worked as a counselor, helping run a three-day camp for students.

When Panylo entered high school at Maxwell Heights Secondary, she started working with Students Ally for Equity, helping put on events that promoted multiculturalism and honouring other people’s heritage. Panylo also got involved with Fiesta, even being crowned as Miss Fiesta in 2014 while sitting as Miss Club Carib.

Panylo also worked with the Durham Black Educators Network, acting in many different roles.

“So last year, the Durham Black Educators Network had me as an ambassador and organizer, as well as a workshop presenter, for their And Still We Rise annual conference,” she says. “So it invites all the high schools in the Durham District School Board to attend this full-day conference where we would have multiple workshops, activities, we had guest speakers…it’s really an incredible day. We put on a huge workshop and it went over extremely well. I ended up networking with a few other schools and ended up doing a grade school version of the conference.”

After years of hard work, Panylo says it wouldn’t have happened had it not been for her first experience with racism and bullying when she was younger, and she hopes to improve that situation for others like her across the region.

“I couldn’t advocate for something that I haven’t lived myself. I can try my best. I can be an ally, I can get involved, be educated and inform myself, but it’s not the same passion when it has directly affected you and affects those that are immediately close to you,” she says. “So it was important of me because I needed to feel like I was making a change, and Oshawa is growing and it’s expanding and it’s becoming a more multicultural place, as the rest of the GTA and Durham Region is a little ahead of us, but there is change coming, and if you don’t have programs and organizations and people out there trying to make it more inclusive, then you lose the potential power and the dynamic community that you could have created.”

Now moving on to the next stage in her education, working towards a degree in molecular biology, immunology and chemistry from the University of Toronto, Panylo hasn’t stopped working to stop racism.

“Right now, I am planning out a couple workshops that I hope to do in a few locations next month during Black History Month, as well as in March and April,” she says. “Also, I’ll be working again at my high school, doing some more speeches and things like that for students that are looking for scholarships and things like the Lincoln Alexander Award. There’s so much out there.”

Panylo adds that with her degree, she hopes to eventually work

The award that Panylo won was named for Lincoln Alexander, Canada’s first black MP, first black cabinet minister and first black Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Alexander was first elected to Parliament Hill in 1968, sitting as the Progressive Conservative MP for Hamilton West for four terms, resigning from federal politics in 1980. During that time, he served as the Minister of Labour during Joe Clark’s short tenure as Prime Minister.

In September 1985, Alexander was appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario by Governor General Jeanne Sauvé – a position he held for more than six years, leaving the post at the end of 1991.

Before his death in 2012, Alexander was named as a companion to the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario, bestowed with the medals such as the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee, Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee medals and honourary degrees and doctorates from six universities and colleges.

Created in 1993, the Lincoln M. Alexander Award is given every year to youth who work to end racial discrimination and promote positive social change.

The two other winners this year were Darian Baskatawang of Whitesand First Nation for his efforts to improve the quality of life for aboriginal youth across Ontario and Najma Malaq of Mississauga for promoting African culture and history at her school, as well as for her educational presentations to elementary school students about famous African Canadians and members of the African diaspora.