FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Between January and the end of May 2024, the BBPA has been actively engaged in delivering a range of impactful programs and services to the Black professional community in Canada. Here are some of our key achievements during this period:

Youth Employment and Support: The BBPA successfully placed nearly 80 Black youth in employment positions, providing them with valuable work experience and opportunities for professional growth. Additionally, through the ADaPTProgram, we have facilitated subsidies for approximately 30 Black small business owners to pay their staff, helping to support and sustain these businesses.

Black History Month Panel: In February, we hosted an insightful Black History Month panel at the Globe and Mail, focusing on “Enduring and Thriving Despite Adversity – Race in Canada.” This event brought together thought leaders and community members to discuss important issues and celebrate the resilience and achievements of the Black community in Canada.

Ask A Professional Series: We have educated 541 participants on various entrepreneurial and professional topics through our ongoing “Ask A Professional” series. This weekly event continues to attract new attendees seeking advice from industry experts in a wide range of fields.

Financial Literacy Education: Through our Community Space initiative, 336 people have received essential financial literacy education, equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to manage their finances effectively and make informed financial decisions.

BAIDS Thursday: Our Business Advisory Implementation Development Services (BAIDS) program has provided expert advice to 297 entrepreneurs, helping them navigate the challenges of running a business and achieve their professional goals.

Rise Up Women’s+: We have trained over 200 Black women entrepreneurs on topics ranging from financial management to digital marketing through the Rise Up Women’s+ program. Additionally, we awarded nearly $100,000 in grants to support their business ventures, fostering economic growth and empowerment within this vital community segment.

Mentorship Sessions: Our mentorship sessions have been instrumental in supporting the professional development of young Black individuals. Fifty youth attended sessions focused on communication skills and dealing with microaggressions, helping them navigate and succeed in various professional environments.

BBPA Black Excellence Awards: Formerly known as the Harry Jerome Awards, the BBPA Black Excellence Awards celebrated 13 distinguished awardees this year. The event saw nearly 1,000 people in attendance, including dignitaries from various political parties, highlighting the significance and recognition of Black excellence in Canada.

Little Jamaica: The Retail Strategy Project, headed by Divercities Advisory, aims to identify actions that can preserve and expand the 89 existing Black businesses and attract new Black businesses to the area. This year, about $400,000 in commercial rehabilitation and façade grants have been enabled by the BBPA to improve the streetscape and support the revitalization of Little Jamaica.

These initiatives demonstrate the BBPA’s continued commitment to empowering the Black community through education, mentorship, financial support, and professional development. We look forward to building on these successes and achieving even greater impact in the coming months.

On April 21, 2024, the BBPA received an anonymous request for the BBPA Membership List via Miller Thompson. Protecting and safeguarding the privacy of our members is very important to the BBPA Board, and as such, we deemed it irresponsible to share the members’ list with anonymous individuals. More recently, we received requests from two new BBPA members (who have been members for less than 60 days) for the BBPA Membership List. In full compliance with the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA), we have invited these members, Mr. Fernando and Mr. Oraka, to meet our team at the BBPA head office during business hours, providing specific dates within the next two weeks. As stipulated by ONCA, both BBPA members have signed a statutory declaration affirming that they will ONLY USE the BBPA Membership List as permitted by ONCA. Once a date is confirmed and these members attend the meeting at our offices, the BBPA Board will provide access to an extract of the BBPA Membership List, as prescribed by ONCA (for a nominal administrative fee allowed under ONCA regulations), and we will be happy to answer any questions they may have. For your additional information and ease of reference, here is a link to ONCA. Section 95 and 96 of the Act specifically addresses access to extracts from the records.https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/10n15#BK108

Since being appointed, the current Board has worked diligently to create and strengthen Board policies and procedures to ensure strong governance of the organization.
Examples of the BBPA Board in action include:

• Enhancing the BBPA procurement policies and procedures, particularly around third-party engagements.
• The Board created a new volunteer finance and audit committee in January 2023 made up of the BBPA treasurer, a BBPA director, and three external people including two Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA), and one senior finance professional.
• Strengthened bank reconciliation, budget, disbursement, and income handling policies and procedures which all went into effect June 1, 2023.
• Strengthened governance around signing authorities and increased financial controls.
• Engaged a forensic auditor and a law firm with expertise in charity and non-profit law and governance to conduct a review, examine the claims and provide recommendations
• Each Board member contributed volunteer hours in support of various BBPA programs including the Rise Up pitch competition, Awards event, Ask a Professional, and many others.

The Board is dedicated to steering the BBPA through this process, and to come out as a stronger institution. We are dedicated to our mission to celebrate and support Black excellence in Canada and will continue to act in the best interest of the organization.

We strongly believe in the need for accountability, transparency, and governance. Once concerns were raised, the BBPA Board took the following decisive action:

• Retained outside expertise and launched a review and forensic audit in upholding our responsibilities in ensuring good governance of the organization.
• Any Board members with a possible conflict of interest stepped down and put the interests of the BBPA first, while the review and forensic audit takes place. This decision was voted on unanimously by the Board.
• Engaging with members through ongoing communications and one-on-one discussions to listen to member concerns, commit to addressing them and provide ongoing details of the work underway. This includes the creation of this Frequently Asked Questions section which will be updated regularly through the process.

The BBPA Board remains committed to working with any members to address their concerns and we invite you to reach out to info@bbpa.org.

To protect the integrity of the review and forensic audit, the Board will be limited in what specifics it can comment on while these processes are underway.

The Board went through a selection process that began in March of this year, to find the right forensic accounting firm. As of May 15, 2024, the review and forensic audit are underway. The Board hopes to provide an update on timelines in the coming weeks.

The Board is committed to providing ongoing updates and to ensure transparency at the conclusion of the review and forensic audit. The Board is committed to implementing all recommendations made in the best interest of the BBPA.

The current BBPA Board is made up of six elected volunteer, senior-level professionals, from across Canada with expertise and experience that contribute to, and add value to the BBPA.

All current Board members have not been contracted or engaged by the BBPA to provide services or receive fees or compensation for their voluntary role on the Board.

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No. BBPA’s response to the question on C8 Line 3200 is accurate. This question is specifically about being compensated in one’s capacity as directors/trustees or like officials or persons not at arms length. In other words, were directors compensated for carrying out their duties as directors of the organization. Related party transactions are disclosed in accordance with general accounting standards in an organization’s financial statements, which are required to be provided to CRA alongside the T3010 return in order for the return to be considered complete. The BBPA has consistently followed the above in its reporting to CRA.

At the 2024 Annual General Meeting, a member requested the organization provide more details in its reporting around related party transactions, particularly in the notes section. The Board and organization were responsive to these requests. The related party transaction disclosure in the final audited financial statements, is now more robust and remains in accordance with the accounting standards.

The BBPA has raised concerns to CBC over the lack of journalistic rigor in its reporting of these claims. To our knowledge, Kate Bahen has had to apologize in recent years for false and misleading statements about charities in Canada.
We have expressed our concerns to CBC about their reliance on Ms. Bahen’s opinions.

The BBPA Board recognizes the immense legacy of Harry Jerome.

It’s why the Association has been honoured to have his name attached to our annual awards event, celebrating excellence in the Black community, for decades.

The BBPA was notified of this demand ten days prior to the awards ceremony. To respect the wishes of the estate, the BBPA took all reasonable measures to remove the name and likeness from the event.

The annual awards event is a storied tradition that honours the excellence of members of the Black community across Canada.

The BBPA Board has committed to the Estate that we will establish a committee to thoroughly examine the use of the name and likeness and its implications for the BBPA moving forward.

This year’s awards event was a resounding success with nearly 900 attendees and the support of key corporate sponsors. We awarded 13 deserving Black professionals, and key dignitaries such as Mayor Olivia Chow, NDP Leader and MP Jagmeet Singh, Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown and Aislinn Clancy, Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Ontario among many others, attended and addressed the sold-out room.

On March 27, 2024, two anonymous individuals sent a legal communication to the Board, outlining concerns and requesting private and confidential member information, within 48 hours of receipt, which fell on Good Friday. Given that the BBPA is a small non-profit with six full-time employees and a complete volunteer Board, this was both unreasonable regarding the timeline for a response and of course, the BBPA Board unanimously agreed that it would be irresponsible to acquiesce to such a request by anonymous parties.

The Board took decisive action and began the process of identifying outside expertise for a review and forensic audit.

This process was delayed due to the anonymous complainants. Once the identity of one of the complaints was made public by CBC on April 26, 2024, it was discovered that there was a conflict of interest with the law firm that the BBPA had retained to conduct the review and the complainant Chandran Fernando.

This led to the BBPA having to re-start a procurement process in seeking new counsel to conduct the review, while incurring additional costs as a result of Mr. Fernando’s decision to initially stay anonymous.

The BBPA feels it’s important to flag some key details around Mr. Fernando’s relationship to the BBPA, given how CBC and others have portrayed it. Mr. Fernando joined the BBPA on March 25, 2024, two days before his counsel at Miller Thomson sent the first communication to the Board. At no point did Mr. Fernando contact the BBPA Board, or the independent finance committee about any concerns.

Miller Thomson is also representing the estate of Harry Jerome.

Despite claims in the media of being a ‘long-time donor’, the only record of any transaction with the BBPA from Mr. Fernando, was from 2019, when he purchased a table and advertisement for the BBPA awards.

Regardless, the BBPA Board takes our role as stewards and trustees of this vital organization seriously. It is why we have and will continue to take all claims seriously and ensure they are investigated.

The BBPA receives funding from a variety of sources including businesses, individuals, governments, and agencies to fuel a multitude of community-based programs that support Black professionals, and entrepreneurs across Canada.

The BBPA has been the fortunate recipient of funding from the Government of Canada’s Ecosystem Fund – Black Entrepreneur Program. To date, we have received over $3M to deliver programs to strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem for Black entrepreneurs across Canada.

With the review and forensic audit now underway, it would be irresponsible for the Board to step down at this critical juncture. We have a duty of care as stewards of the BBPA. This is something each and every Board member takes seriously. We recognize the critical importance of the BBPA to Black community in Canada.

The Board has taken decisive action and ensured there is no conflict of interest as this process is taking place. This is why directors who were on the Board at the time in question have stepped down from the Board while the external review and forensic audit take place.

Current Board members have no connections to the claims brought forward, and are volunteers who are committed to seeing the BBPA through this process, and continuing on our track record of strengthening governance and procedures to ensure the BBPA is delivering for the Black community.

The BBPA is an organization with small but dedicated staff, who are committed to delivering the services Black professionals rely on. The Board of Directors has received requests and is working on it, in good faith, without jeopardizing the work of the BBPA and will resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

The Board has also taken steps to ensure it is on track to transition to the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) prior to the deadline of October 18, 2024.