Editor’s Note: As we celebrate African Heritage Month in February, we’re proud to spotlight some of our own people, Black culture, contributions and history.
Here, we meet StFX public policy and governance student Marcel Desmond of Antigonish, NS. Mr. Desmond is a recipient of the prestigious Right Honorable Brian Mulroney Scholarship, a Deveau Scholar, and is actively involved in the campus and greater community, serving as a Black Student Peer Mentor, working with the Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership, and in advocacy work with Students Nova Scotia.
Giving back, moving forward and helping propel human rights, meet StFX student Marcel Desmond
Giving back was always on the agenda when Marcel Desmond decided to enrol at StFX. And already, in only his third year at StFX, in the Public Policy and Governance program, the Antigonish, NS native is having impact.
Mr. Desmond, who holds the prestigious Right Honorable Brian Mulroney Scholarship, the Jeannine Deveau Scholarship, and the Joyce Family Bursary for Public Policy and Governance, has been active in external advocacy work with the StFX Students’ Union as a delegate at Students Nova Scotia. Through this work, he’s involved with the entrepreneurial and integrated learning group for the province, and most recently, he has been appointed to the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission.
Additionally, Mr. Desmond works as a grant supervisor with StFX’s Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership and he serves as a Black Student Peer Mentor on campus. He is also a member of the African Drumming Group.
Mr. Desmond says he likes to keep busy. In fact, he plans to take an extra year to finish his degree to accommodate extracurricular involvements, which he says has been terrific to inform his academic studies, especially in regard to policy work. “I can speak from experience. It (his studies) just makes so much more sense.”
Mr. Desmond says attending StFX was an easy choice for him. Growing up in Antigonish, he says he was introduced to and influenced by many StFX Black student leaders, who were involved in programs from X-Project to Boys to Men mentorship. These relationships had a tremendous impact, he says, not the least of which was becoming familiar with campus.
“You can see yourself here before you’re here.
“Black student leaders being my mentors, 10 out of 10, it’s why I’m here. They really had an impact.”
His mom and aunts also have X-Rings, and they’ve had a tremendous impact on him.
“I wanted to give back the same things that were given to me. StFX had so many opportunities to do that,” he says. “And there was a new program called Public Policy and Governance, which was really cool.”
He says the interdisciplinary aspect of the program appealed to him as he felt it offered many options that would allow him to have an impact in numerous areas, perhaps effecting education, justice and health policies.
“Justice is a big passion of mine,” says Mr. Desmond, who is interested in a career as a lobbyist, bureaucrat or a lawyer. He’s particularly interested in human rights.
Attending university, he says, has been a challenging and a rewarding experience. “You work very hard, you have a lot taken out of you, and you get a lot back.”
When asked about African Heritage Month, Mr. Desmond says it’s important to shine a spotlight on Black history and culture, now and through the year, as education is the pathway to the future.
Mr. Desmond says the Sankofa, a symbol from Ghana of a bird looking back while also looking forward, is a driving force in his beliefs: in that it’s important to look back and remember the past when you’re going forward and nurturing the future.
African Heritage Month is a time to feel liberated in a way, he says, to imagine what things could be like.
Through education, we can shift the way we interact in general, he says, and look to see how we can actually dismantle barriers and see a different future for ourselves, imagining a whole different world where we don’t have fear or racism.
What can people do?
Mr. Desmond says it starts with deep rooted unlearning and relearning and with trying not to be scared when things don’t make sense.
If we’re going to look at how we can change, he says we must be fully authentic and that starts with being reflective about yourself. He also encourages people to educate themselves, to get involved with community activities on campus or in the local area, and to always carry that lens of experience with them. Be ready to have your notions challenged, and not be offended by that, he says, and push that extra step forward to be anti-racist at a fundamental level to help empower these groups.
Mr. Desmond says he is feeling hopeful for change, especially with the introduction of the President’s Action Committee on Anti-Racism (PACAR) at StFX in 2020, his first year on campus. It was 2020 and he says everyone was hurting. When PACAR was established, he was hesitant to believe it could have impact, but he says he has started to see tangible things happening.
Last year, things came a little full circle for Mr. Desmond personally where he received a Black Student Leader Award from StFX. It was a surreal moment, he says, after witnessing so many of his childhood mentors receive the same honour.
Mr. Desmond also recalled the legacy of the late Dr. Agnes Calliste, a former StFX sociology professor and first Black Student Advisor on campus who pioneered and tirelessly championed early anti-racism work on campus. He says actions today are living out her legacy on campus. “While she would be happy and proud, she’d also say not to rest.”
