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Alberta lost a dedicated educator and leader in the multicultural community when Genevieve Balogun died in a traffic accident in April 2009.
Born in Belize, Balogun immigrated to Calgary in 1971. Like many, she felt the impact of racism first-hand. “There were times when it hit you in the face like a ton of bricks,” she told the Calgary Herald in 2004. In the March 2005 issue of Zephyr, the newsletter of the ATA’s Intercultural and Second Languages Council (ISLC), she wrote of “the horrors of racism, of its continuing foothold in our communities and of our personal responsibility to make a difference in eliminating racism.”
Balogun walked the talk. In a Zephyr tribute in December 2009, Delia McCrae wrote, “Genevieve was well known in Calgary and throughout the province as a person who gave generously of her time and her many talents through her involvement with numerous professional and community organizations.” These organizations included Immigrant Services Calgary, the Calgary Multicultural Centre, the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network (ASPNet) Intercultural Perspectives Subcommittee, and the Alberta Association for Multicultural Education.
She was also actively involved with the ATA, serving as an ATA workshop facilitator, ISLC vice-president and president (2003–05), and a regular Annual Representative Assembly (ARA) delegate.
Multicultural and antiracism education also infused her 35-year career as a teacher and guidance counsellor with the Calgary Board of Education. As community liaison for Terry Fox School, she advocated for immigrant families and helped them adapt to the Canadian culture. She encouraged her immigrant students to celebrate their differences while embracing their new home. Her hope was that all teachers in the increasingly diverse classrooms of Alberta would take up this work. As ISLC president, she sought to “convince most—if not all—teachers that they are teachers of intercultural skills and mentors and models for all students” (Zephyr, December 2003). Nearing the end of her term, she wrote, “Our students and their parents, staff and communities will need our leadership to develop the skills needed to live harmoniously in a multicultural, multilingual society” (Zephyr, June 2005).
Balogun garnered many awards and honours for her work. These included the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), Global Calgary’s Woman of Vision (July 2004), the Alberta Centennial Medal (2005), the ISLC’s Multicultural Award (2006), and a posthumous Hadassah Ksienski Distinguished Service Award from Immigrant Services Calgary (2010).
Her work lives on through the Genevieve Balogun Multicultural Award, awarded annually by the Second Languages and Intercultural Council (formerly the ISLC).
In her tribute, McCrae wrote, “Genevieve made a tremendous mark on the multicultural scene in Calgary.” We will, unfortunately, never know what more she would have accomplished. At the time of her death, she had recently retired from Terry Fox Junior High School and was excited about her continuing work as director of the Calgary Multicultural Centre. In her first ISLC president’s message (Zephyr, December 2003), Balogun wrote, “New directions mean challenges, opportunities and a great deal of work—all of which I love having in my world. I am ready and eager to contribute my best.”
And contribute her best she did. In McCrae’s words, “Genevieve’s bright light will live on in those she touched with her kindness and through her vision.”
