Frequently Asked Questions

In the fall of 2017.

The FBC is a non-partisan not-for-profit organization, which continues to maintain its apolitical status and independence.

Donald McLeod is the founder of the FBC. After founding the organization in 2017, in 2018 Donald stepped down from the Board as a voting member for some time before returning and serving as the Leadership Advisor to the Interim Board and the Executive Team, and sat with a non-voting capacity on both committees. Donald McLeod resigned from the FBC in 2019 for personal reasons and due to the growth of the corporation’s work which brought unique challenges due to his professional role.

However, believing in the full potential of Black Canadians, and honoring their positive contributions to all aspects of Canadian life, the Federation is proud to encourage and work with individual citizens, community organizations, public servants, and governments in advancing solutions to a range of challenges facing our communities. In this, we will continue to shed light on serious obstacles facing Canadians of African descent and strive to eradicate racism and related forms of intolerance.

The FBC has always been an independent entity since it was formally registered as a Non- for Profit in the fall of 2017. The organization was founded in Ontario with Justice Donald McCleod as the Founder and 5 original directors, but also highlighted Nova Scotia in its articles to pay tribute to the deep seed history of Black Canadian’s that is routed within the province of Nova Scotia.

Currently, the FBC operates in a purely virtual manner. Prior to COVID-19 FBC leaders would travel to various provinces to hold community and hub meetings and events and set up chapters. This was interrupted by COVID-19 but the FBC will look into having physical presence outside of events/meetings and initiatives in the future.

Click here to learn more about getting involved.

The FBC is a national non-profit organization, driven by organizations and individuals across the country that advances the social, economic, political, and cultural interests of Canadians of African descent. Our focus areas are: Criminal Justice Reform, Higher Education, Community Building, Total Health, Economic Security, and Addressing Anti-Black Racism. We host workshops, research and advocacy, community organizing through provincial hubs, a national youth council, and black-led groups (Partner in Principle database “PIP’s”), and support capacity building of community groups.

To be a formally registered member a person must register online through the FBC website. The person can review our mission, values, and membership details and opt into the options they prefer. People can register as an Individual Member (general status and or paid status). For organizations, they can also register as a Partner in Principle. People can also sign up to receive only our quarterly newsletter. Individuals can also sign up to be a formal member of FBC local hubs. The tool we use to register and manage members is called Nation Builder, a verified and reputable CRM platform.

The FBC consists of a Board of Directors, an Executive Director, Paid staff, and volunteers. The ED and staff handle operations and the day-to-day items, and the Board handle the strategic governance and oversight of the NFP.

The FBC Board has 4 main Board Standing Committees: Governance, Finance, Stakeholder Relations/ Communications, and Business Development (that can break down into further sub-committees as needed) which discuss items catered to their focus area. The committees can make recommendations to the Board and/or move forward on projects where the Board has provided discretionary oversight.

In addition, the FBC does create ad hoc committees from time to time for specific projects. At the Staff level, the organization is split into external and internal work, department, and roles (with some crossover in duties).

The FBC also has various stakeholder groups such as FBC Local Hubs, Partners in Principle (PIP), Youth Council, and Elders Council. It’s our continued goal to build capacity in all areas and we hope the community is patient with us as we work toward this enormous vision and task that has historically been a time-consuming challenge with rigorous work, full of ups and downs.

Current Policies to date have been created with input from past and present members, both formal and informal members of the Board, committees, stakeholder groups, and professional workers. The FBC has also engaged a 3 party organization (Canadian Labour Congress) in the past to review its policies to provide advice and or perspective. The Bylaws can be found here on our website.

The FBC is an incorporated NFP and entitled to register its own bank account which it has had since the fall of 2017. The FBC does not have a superior or partner body that is legally obligated to track or receive funds on its behalf.

The FBC can receive financial gifts from the community. Currently, it cannot issue tax receipts for donations but they are still welcomed. In its inception, the FBC was primarily funded by a few internal members who choose to donate their time and money to the cause. Over time the FBC was able to acquire a few micro-grants, larger grants, and gifts/donations from community and public and private entities.

In the beginning, the FBC was primarily funded by a few members of the internal FBC team both through direct donations and in-kind donations. The organization has also applied for and received both private and public grants along with some membership fees and/or donations from willing members of the community.

FBC registers its members and collects payments and donations through a CRM system entitled NationBuilder. NationBuilder uses PCI-compliant payment processors to process credit card transactions. NationBuilder’s integrated payment processing capabilities are powered by Stripe, which has the highest level of certification attainable in the payments industry: PCI Level 1 Service Provider.

NationBuilder does not store credit card numbers on our servers. All secure payment data resides within the Stripe interface.

Since its inception, FBC has been clear that it does not speak for all Black Canadians, but that it is adding its voice to a chorus of organizations and individuals working across the country to improve the lives of Canadians of African descent. Individuals or groups who formally register with the FBC through our various membership groups’ processes are counted as our formal members with various levels of status.

Email info@fbcfcn.ca, or dm us on any social media platform.

By visiting the FBC website (fbcfcn.ca) and signing up to become a member and/or to join our community newsletter. One may also follow the FBC on Social Media: Twitter @fbcfcn – Instagram @fbcfcn – FB @federationblackcanadians – LinkedIn @fbcfcn

The FBC first consulted and engaged the broader community at a high level in 2017 at the first National Canadian Black Summit held in Toronto with over 800 people in attendance from across Canada. The FBC introduced itself, its mission, and its goals and had an open question period. In 2018 the FBC returned to the National Canadian Black summit in Ottawa with over 1000 people from all across Canada and held an update and next steps sessions with members who opted in to attend the meeting. The team (then termed the Steering Committee) allowed for feedback, ideas, and direction. The FBC continues to engage its members and the broader community through, provincial and national meetings, initiatives, events, surveys, and annual AGM meetings. The FBC also uses its website, social media, and newsletters/emails to people its members engaged and provide opportunities for involvement.

Emails are received and engaged through various forms but the most frequent ways are individual submissions via our website and organizations that submit them to us for inclusion as part of the event and/or campaign partnerships. We abide by all CASL laws and will remove any email from our lists upon request.

All personal information you provide via (Nation Builder) is stored on their secure servers (or those of our service providers) behind firewalls. Any payment transactions will be performed using our third-party payment processors, which will use appropriate security procedures and do not store credit card information.

As the FBC structure and opportunities continue to evolve and change, we are prioritizing ensuring that we use an updates page on our website to ensure provincial and national updates are posted and updated regularly. This will allow members to interact and view on their own time. For those registered as hub members, we will continue with a monthly highlight update email which will give some information but point the individual to check the website for more information. There will be community updates, and ways to volunteer and get involved, and we are working on a job/opportunity board as well. We also hope to do virtual community engagement meetings 1 to every other month to bring members together, interact, get and share updates, and dialogue together