Poncana, Mzwandile
On a frigid Saturday afternoon at the beginning of February, community members gathered at Malton Youth Hub to voice concerns about the number of missing Black boys in the Greater Toronto Area.
The town hall aimed to raise awareness and provide resources for those seeking to support affected families. It was part of a series of events hosted by the Find Ontario Missing Boys committee, a grassroots initiative advocating for action and accountability.
“We gather today not just in grief, not just in frustration, but in defiance of the silence that has plagued our community for far too long. We’re here because a battle for justice, a fight for truth, is far from over,” said Shana McCalla, the committee’s founder and a leading advocate for the families of the missing boys.
McCalla first became aware of the issue when a close friend in Durham Region, a single father of a 15-year-old boy, alerted her that teenage boys in his area had gone missing. Her concern deepened after watching a video from the African Diasporic Channel discussing six missing Black boys.
“I was shocked to see there was limited coverage of it in the media,” said McCalla to Mississauga News...