[00:00:10] Ellington Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown! 

[00:00:21] Rita Burke: As you know, on, SpeakUP! International, we traverse the world trying to find people we consider to be community builders and today's no exception, and we are right back home in warm, fuzzy cold Canada. We have with us at Mr. Cali Braithwaite-Walton, who is a real estate entrepreneur, mentor and a community builder.

Or community leader. He has over 15 years experience in strategic property acquisition management. Before real estate, Cali worked as a Red Seal Steam Fitter in the Alberta Oil Sands. He's currently the interim president of the Ontario Black History Society. I can tell you lots more about Cali Braithwaite-Walton today, but we prefer on SpeakUP! International than he tells his own story.

So we welcome you today to SpeakUP! International! 

[00:01:29] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Thank you. Thanks for having me! 

[00:01:32] Ellington Brown: It is, a pleasure to, have you here. I thought maybe you were just someone you know, figuratively speaking a person that really wasn't real. 

You have 15 years of experience. Tell me how has these years fine tuned your strategic approach to what you do. And by the way, can you tell our audience what you do? 

[00:02:02] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Yeah, so what pays the bills is the work that I do in real estate, so acquisitions, dispositions, basically buying and selling real estate, um, flipping homes.

I also have some rental properties that, uh, I, I, I hold as well. But majority of the work that keeps you busy is the flipping of real estate. Um. As you know, I'm also the interim president of the Ontario Black History Society, which is more of a give back to the community, you know, do good, um, role, but the 15 years, if you wanna talk about that.

I think that what I've learned from my experience in real estate is that no matter what you do, um, there's always gonna be a new situation. I mean, you can't control the economy, so you have to be adaptable. You have to be able to recognize when it's time to pivot, when it's time to double down, um, and when it's time to just hold your course.

Stay the course. Not make any changes. Thankfully, I have experience in several different areas of real estate investing. So when one is not, you know, excelling or going in the way that I, the way that I would like it to do, then I could focus my energy on another area or another market perhaps. Um, over the years I've diversified, you know, markets.

So instead of limiting myself to where I live in my own backyard, I've had the benefit of building relationships in other provinces, um, so that I can expand and take advantage of some of the nuances that are more favorable to the work that I do. Um, that's pretty much the real estate side in a nutshell.

[00:04:10] Rita Burke: Uh, I must say that. It kind of envy you in terms of your flipping and your real estate entrepreneurship. That is something that I always had in the back of my mind to do. I did a little bit of it, but I didn't immerse myself totally, i, but I want to, I want to touch on your experience in Alberta. It peaked my curiosity when I saw that in your bio.

Talk to us about that experience working as the Steam Fitter in Alberta, please. 

[00:04:48] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Sure. And let me just rewind one minute and, and let you know that this, you know, me getting into real estate full-time, flipping houses like I was, you know, I was buying a property. Uh, just on my own without any formal training or coaching.

You know, I read a few real estate books and it helped, but, but really what really took me over to go from working full-time as a Steam Fitter, Pipe Fitter in Alberta to working full-time as a Real Estate Investor was I invested in myself and I got involved with the right network of people that were doing the things that I wanted to do.

So I was able to borrow their confidence. I was able to learn from them, you know, get I, I, I had mentors, I had coaches, I had paid a lot of money, made a big investment into myself, and what really changed it for me was instead of having the mindset of this money that I'm spending is going to get me into a hole that I know I can get out of.

I switched it to this money that I'm investing into myself is going to make my old ceiling my new floor. And once I started looking at it from that perspective, um, it made it a lot easier for me to enjoy the journey and realize that it wasn't about the, the grind, the the, um. You know, there, there definitely was challenges, but it just, just changing the mindset.

Still the same function, but changing the mindset of how I looked at it was what really gave me the confidence to, um, make that, make that jump. Now back to Alberta. Um, prior to working in Alberta, I was doing mortgages for a bank here in Ontario and in 2008 when the housing crisis took place, it was extremely difficult for me in the role that I was in to make the same amount of, you know, to earn the same amount of wages that I was earning prior to.

So. I decided to, I had, you know, I had some friends who were in Alberta at the time and um, I was doing deals for clients who lived in across Canada. And anytime I did a deal for someone living in Alberta, I saw their T fours. And when I saw their T fours, I'm like, okay, well what do I need to do to get out there?

So one thing led to another, I went out. I started working there as a laborer, general laborer, and the first time I got there, you know, I'm in a training session 'cause there's all these different types of safety training courses that you have to take. You're around really hazardous chemicals and, and hazardous atmospheres.

And one of the instructors, you know, he, he, he pretty much grew up in that space. I always remember he said. Some people, the first time they get to one of these sites, when they breathe in the air, you know, they, it makes them just wanna, they get homesick, they want to vomit, they want, like, they just get sick to their stomach.

And I'm like, oh, geez, did I, did, did I make a mistake here? Is this, is, is this the right choice? And the first time I stepped on a site, thankfully I didn't have that, you know, I didn't have that reaction. But it was, you know, you breathe that air in and you're just smelling the chemicals and, and, uh, it, it's, it's a rude awakening to what you see on TV.

You know, it doesn't have that dimension of scent. So you see the smoke, you know, you see the, the flames, the, the, the, the, the plumes. You see the pipes, you see the, you know, the, the workers and, you know, getting dirty and. All that stuff, but being there is definitely a different, um, experience. Now, it's not all grim, right?

So thankfully, most of the time that I spent there was at a, uh, I would call it a world class facility. So when we weren't working, because it was a remote site, we didn't have the opportunity to come and go as we pleased. So. The company that I worked for made sure that they created an environment for, for the workers to have a home away from home.

It wasn't homely, but it was a home away from home. And the people that I met there, the relationships that I made, you know, there were obstacles, but um. A lot of these companies have come a long way in making sure that everybody feels, uh, respected. And that some of the mindset that we may think you would encounter in the Wild West.

Um, it, it, you know, I didn't experience it in my face. It was there for sure. There was a lot of, there was racism, a lot of it was ignorance. You know, some people that I worked with from other parts of Canada, you know, I was the first. Black person that they ever had dialogue with. And we're talking like, you know, this is 2000, between 2008 and 2020.

Um, so with my, um, the approach that I took was more of an opportunity to educate, uh, and, and share with them and show them an example different than what they see on the news. Because often, unfortunately, all they have. You know, as a benchmark of what we are and what we do is what they see on the news I agree with. It's not always 

[00:10:57] Ellington Brown: I agree with you that it, it's kind of a stereotype thing where they just, they just see this broad brush and they think, okay, we know what black people, who they are, what they do. And really they, they do not. So what strategies do you use when you find yourself in these types of situations and you're trying to sell and or either buy, uh, houses in Ontario and or New Brunswick?

[00:11:42] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: I think it starts with education. So the key is, is to educate people. 'cause often stereotypes, ignorance comes from the lack of, and if I can, you know, educate someone and find the value in the deal for them, then I lead with that. So it's always asking good questions, asking the right questions, listening well, and finding a solution that can solve.

The problem, whatever the problem is, whether it's in real estate, whether it's in the oil field. I think the value that we provide the world is how can we solve problems? What solutions can we provide? 

[00:12:27] Rita Burke: What kind of skill do you believe you gained or you honed or you sharpened from working in Alberta?

What did it do for you, Cali Braithwaite? 

[00:12:46] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: So, I would say the, um, being, being able to be patient, understanding, um, realizing that, again, someone's ignorance doesn't always come from a place of harm. It just comes from a place of lack of experience and that helped tremendously in working with people that were unfamiliar with people that look like me, but were not necessarily, did not have the intention to harm me.

The element of safety. Importance of safety. So trust but verify is, is a, is a huge, uh, rule, um, that I follow till today. So working in the Alberta oil sands there, you know, again, we're, we're exposed with high, highly, uh, volatile equipment. So my, my role for most of the time there was in a maintenance role, so often I would have to work on, um, you know.

Live equipment. Equipment, that equipment that was already up and running, high pressure, steam, very dangerous, you know, stored energy. So we would be told by a plant operator before we perform our maintenance work. Hey guys, this is all safe. Go ahead. You're good to work. But before we do that, we would have to.

We would trust them, but we would verify. We'd make sure, we'd tru check the vents, check the the drains, make sure there's no stored energy. Because during my time there, I did work with a gentleman that unfortunately, um, he was killed on the job because of, uh, you know, not taking the necessary steps in.

Proving that there was no stored energy in this live equipment prior to working on it. So I take that same mindset where if I'm, you know, talking to someone today and someone says, hey, you know what, Cali, um, this person that you may encounter this, you know, watch out for them. They're, they're going to steer you in the wrong way.

Okay? I trust you, but I'm gonna verify for myself. Because you may have your own biases, and, and that's fine, but I, I trust you, but I'm just gonna verif. So the whole trust, but Verif Verify approach has helped me tremendously in my endeavors as well.

[00:15:21] Ellington Brown: You know, trust is a, is a very, uh, sacred thing and it really takes time in order to build that trust. And so it's very, very important that it is nourished, uh, constantly so that the relationship between the parties, uh, remain whole. So in what way have you supported, mentored individuals that are coming into the, uh, real estate world?

[00:16:03] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: I have done that through sharing my journey with others who are, you know, interested in doing the things that I've been able to do. Um, being able to remember what it was like for me starting out, um, what mentors that I had. Help me, what kind of advice they gave me that helped me gain the confidence in order to, you know, put, to use the skills that I put to use today.

Um, understanding from the student's perspective or the mentee's perspective as to what is holding them back and identifying what's holding them back by trying to put myself in their shoes. And, and thinking of what advice I could give them that would help them overcome that fear. Because usually there's a fear and often, you know, the fear isn't the fear of failure.

It's the fear of what others think about us if this thing doesn't work out the way it's supposed to be. Right? So just often it's a confidence thing, like I think most people, have the knowledge. Um, the knowledge is out there. I mean, you can go on the Internet, you can, you can, you can Google it, you can, you know, you can see what it takes, what, what steps you need to take in order to do something.

But sometimes you just need someone else to say, Hey, you got this. Or, Hey, why didn't you try it this way? This is what worked for me. So those approaches really have, um, have worked.

[00:17:52] Rita Burke: You have, you are currently the interim president of the Ontario Black History Society on SpeakUP! International. We've been really blessed, fortunate, privileged to have interviewed three past, presidents? 

[00:18:12] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Wow! 

[00:18:14] Rita Burke: I need to find out. I want you to share with our listeners

what brought you into that organization and why? 

[00:18:25] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Great question! So I, I actually, um, when I joined the Ontario Black History Society, I did not have the intention of being interim president. But when I got involved. I felt like it was an obligation, and the people that I was on the board with, that I'm on the board with, they decided that I would be the one to fill the, that role.

So when I, when I took the role, I said, well, first of all, before I took the role, I said, hold on one second. Let me just read up and see what, uh, what my, what, what my responsibilities are here. And, uh, they said, okay, yeah, no problem. Take your time. And we had the meet we were still in, in, you know, in the meeting and they said, Hey, we, we got you.

We got you. I said, okay. Well, what do, what do you mean? They're like, uh, we got your back. I said, are you sure? They said, yeah, we got your back. And there was only one position left. And I said, you know what? I've been here. I've already been doing the work. I said, if my team has my back, I believe in my team.

I got this. Let's do it. And you know, I'm learning a lot. I'm I'm, I'm, I'm a student. Um, so far the journey has been interesting. Um, it's been good. It's forcing me to grow. Um, I don't mind the responsibility because I'm a responsible person, so I don't mind the taking on the challenge and getting comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

And, you know, my grandmother was one of the founders of the Ontario Black History Society, so I, I, I kind of grew up not in the, you know, not behind the scenes, not as a member. But I attended a few events growing up. She would always get a table for the grandchildren 'cause she saw the importance of having us exposed to that world.

And sometimes I was so young, I didn't even really understand what was going on, but I saw people that looked like us and they were distinguished, prominent. So I said, geez, that's, you know, when I thought of success, I thought of those people that I saw on stage and the people in the room. And it had an everlasting impact on, you know, say my identity.

So when the opportunity came to just join the board, um, it was an honour to, to be able to be in a position where I could give back and share some of the skills that I have with such a great organization. Um. So yeah, that's, uh, that's, that's how I got started with the, in, in, with this role as interim president.

[00:21:42] Ellington Brown: Okay. So to sum all that up, and you were voluntold, you were vol. 

[00:21:47] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: That's right!

[00:21:47] Ellington Brown: You were voluntold? 

[00:21:49] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Pretty much! Pretty much! 

[00:21:50] Ellington Brown: I remember the being in that same situation, but it was for, uh, uh, not-for-profit, um, called the Ulyssean Society , and. I, I came as just to, you know, check it out, you know, maybe participate a little bit.

Next thing I know, I was the, the secretary, and then seven months later I was the president. It was like, wait, you know, I just came here for a good time. I didn't come here anymore, so I understand your. This is why I was laughing while you were talking, because I'm like, yeah. Oh, here the words he's picking are so, you know, perfect.

Absolutely perfect. But 

[00:22:34] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: yeah, 

[00:22:35] Ellington Brown: I get that! So you used to, you used to do, uh, uh, something called a, a Red Seal Steam Fitter in Alberta. Alberta, 

[00:22:48] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: yes. 

[00:22:49] Ellington Brown: Oil sands. Tell us a little bit about that. 

[00:22:53] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Yeah. So, um, that was another opportunity that, you know, getting into the trades. So as again, I started out as a laborer and the job that I had was two weeks on, two weeks off.

So I fly to Alberta for two weeks, come back to Ontario for two weeks, fly to Alberta, two weeks, come back, and I worked the night shift because. At the time, I figured, you know what, if they're gonna pay me a premium while I'm out here, I might as well make as much as I can because I really don't want to be here, so I'm gonna make the best of it.

And what helped me while I was there is that I had a, I still had aspirations, so I was, I was still buying real estate and I was using the income that I had there to invest in real estate here so that the real estate here. Would get me out of there eventually. So when there was like minus 40, minus 50, you know, these really cold days when you're outside and you're doing work, uh, it, it sucked.

But, but I had a bigger goal. I had bigger aspirations. I knew why I was there, so it made it easier. Then maybe if I did not have those aspirations, if I did not have those goals. Um, so it was worthwhile. Now, the reason I mentioned I started out as laborer is that the company I worked for, they actually had an opportunity where they would hire laborers as apprentices, but they would keep their rate.

So typically, a, a first year apprentice generally makes about 50% of what a journeyman would make. And every year their wage would go up. Every year that they would go to school and, you know, get a certain amount of hours. Um, so first year, second year, third year, fourth year, your, your wages go up until you become that journeyman.

So at the time, the laborers were earning equivalent to like in between a third and second year apprentice. So for me it was a no brainer. Learn a skill that I'll have for life. Keep the schedule. So like I wouldn't have to, you know, um, stay out there permanently or whatever. So I'm there anyway, so I decided, hey, if I'm there anyway, why not make the best of it?

Right? And I, um. I tried challenging my first year because I said, well, geez, if I can, I can, maybe I can skip a year, right? I can study really hard and try to challenge, and I missed, I missed it by 1%. Uh, so anyhow, it was great because every year I met this wonderful family, uh, through my grandmother. She had some contacts out there.

And they actually let me stay at their home while I went to school. 'cause I had to go to school in Alberta and every time I went to school I would bring my family out for a portion of it. So they would stay with me for two of the weeks that I was there and we would get to explore Alberta. So there was really a lot of good that came out of my experience as a Steam Fitter, Pipe Fitter.

Um. In my time there and you know, if, if, if I was to, I would probably do it again. Uh, you know, life's a journey, right? So, um, that's, yeah. I, I, that No regrets. No regrets. 

[00:26:30] Rita Burke: We're talking today on SpeakUP! International. This Cali Braithwaite-Walton. And as you know on SpeakUP! International, we seek to inform, inspire and educate.

And his story is certainly doing that for us today really appreciate that. Now, Cali, could you think of a time in your life when you had to just say enough, either professionally or perhaps personally, and you have to say, enough. 

[00:27:01] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Outside of being a parent. I can think of many times, I mean this morning, right?

But, uh, I'll reflect on the transition that I made between, um, going from two weeks on, two weeks off work as a steam fitter, pipe fitter, working in Alberta, leaving my family every two weeks to going. Full-time as a real estate entrepreneur and, um, before I fully immersed into real estate while I was working out west.

I was able to apply some of the knowledge that I had gained in active models of real estate. So when I was doing it on my own, I was just, again, buying a property, fixing it up, renting it out. That's it. I wasn't flipping, I wasn't doing any active strategies. When I invested in myself, I got some coaching, some mentorship.

I started applying active models of real estate, which could like replace the income that I was making while Steam Fitted and through applying the knowledge I had gained proof of concept by earning, you know, enough through some of these examples of real estate, these transactions that I would make, you know, I would earn enough in let's say 10 hours of work to replace the two weeks.

And 68 hours. 'cause I was working 12 hours a day, 14 days straight. So 168 hours of work, I was able to replace that with 10 hours of a successful deal of real estate work. So one day I was talking to my mentor, um, and she said, hold on one second, say that again. And I said, yeah. She said, well, so what do you.

Whatcha still doing there? They said, you know what, you got a good point. So I went back for my last two weeks. I, um, I, I gave, so thankfully at the time we just had our third child. It was 2020, COVID and I was able to, um, apply for, you know, parental leave. Because my wife was a stay-at-home mom at the time, and I went back and I said, okay guys, I'm gonna be using this, this leave.

I'm gonna be going on leave. And in my mind the, you know, the plan was to continue to gain proof of concept through real estate transactions so that I would never have to go back. So after that two weeks or during that two weeks, it was the most difficult time. Because everything that I did while I was doing it, I was, I just, it was like, in my mind, it was a waste of time because I knew that I no longer needed to trade time for money.

I had gained a new skill that I was able to apply to give me some of the freedoms that I always wanted, but I didn't realize that I was there and I was there. So sometimes you don't see the picture when you're in the frame. And that was one of those moments where someone else had to point out to me like, Hey, you, you're actually, you actually don't need to do what you're doing anymore.

And that's when I said, enough is enough. And I decided to, fire my boss and, uh, and, and you know, not literally I didn't, I didn't say that to my boss, but that's how I look back at it, is that I just had to, you know, I had to invest in me and, and, and, and count on me. And, and that's what I've been doing ever since.

[00:31:10] Ellington Brown: Wow! 

Amazing story! You're doing so much. You're the, you know, Interim President of The, uh, ontario, uh, Black History Society. Uh, you're doing your thing in, in real estate, and then on top of it, you, you're the father of three. How are you balancing all of this, these responsibilities? How are you doing it?

[00:31:41] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: That's a great question! I'm still trying to figure that out. No! I think, I think, um, you know, I, none of it is done alone, right? So I'm a team player in everything that I do, whether it's in the house, I have my wife. We're a team if it's in real estate, I have the contractors, I have realtors, I have, you know, so that's, there's my team.

Um, and then when we're talking about the Ontario Black History Society, we have the board of directors, we have the staff, we have the members. So I think it's not so much a question of how, it's more a question of who and the people that I, I have around me, the who's that I have around me. Being able to understand how to work with others is what allows me to accomplish what I've accomplished till now.

[00:32:41] Rita Burke: I like that. The whos I have around me, that is nice because it's critical. If we are going to be leaders, the whos we have around us is critical. They're critical. Those ones are critical people. You talked a little bit several times. You mentioned your grandmother. Talk to us a little bit about someone or something who is responsible for the person that Cali Braithwaite, was and is today?

[00:33:22] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Y you know, there's a lot of tough questions here that that's one of them because it's so hard to narrow down one person. Um, there's so many people that have contributed to who I am, and I like to think of myself as a sponge and all of those people around me as the water. Um, there, there's not one person that I can point out because at different times of my life, different people have had different impacts.

Um, my grandmother, my grandfather, you know, are huge contributors to who I am today. The morals, the family values, um. You know, the, there's, there's, there's tremendous, uh, uh, I don't wanna say debt that I owe to them, but I mean that I, they, they've, they've just, they are who I am. I mean, genetically, you know what I mean?

The lessons they've taught me, uh, my parents. You know, for raising me to be the person that I am, keeping me in line when I was trying to get outta line or when I fell outta line, uh, to keep me accountable, my siblings letting me grow up a little faster than I should have to learn things, you know, quicker to be a little bit ahead, a little bit ahead of maybe some of my peers at times.

There's just so many. Uh. It's unfair for me to narrow down to one person because everyone has had a tremendous, I mean, you guys have an impact on, you know, maybe not the same amount as people that I've been around for length, lengthy periods of time. But I, I, I'm just grateful for everyone that I, everyone's path that I crossed that, you know, touches my life,

[00:35:31] Ellington Brown: Boy! Okay, so that's everybody. So it's like, you know that, that saying about, uh, you know, everyone in the village, you know, participates in one way to help their neighbor. You're doing a lot of things. As I said earlier, you, you're doing this, you know, you're flipping houses.

There's a lot of money going that's being passed from one person to another every time you go to make this, this move. So it's kind of like you're setting yourself up If you haven't already financial freedom, generational wealth, how would you, what would you say to individuals who are looking. For a way to create generational wealth?

[00:36:26] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: Hmm.

I think if you identify what your strengths are and get better at those things. Instead of spending too much energy on the things you're not good at and that for whatever reason, the author doesn't come to my mind right now, but there is an author who has a book, The Who, Not The How, and and he, he talks about that a lot.

He says, you know, focus on the things that you are good at. Get better at those things and hire or team up with the people who have the skills that you don't. And what I would say is you gotta stick with something. Um, if you are bouncing around one, you know, one job to another, uh, it's, it's a lot more difficult because the foundation isn't as firm or secure, um, by.

For me, it was investing in real estate, and I'm not, I'm not there yet. I'm still, there's still lots of building to do, but I think if you can, if someone can, you don't have to own the home that you live in, but if you can, I would recommend finding a way to own some property, and there's ways to do it without your own money.

So it's not a matter of, oh, I don't have the money or I don't have the resources. There are ways to do it with other people's money. I mean, that's what the bank does, right? The bank is a lender. Um, basically the bank will give anybody who has decent credit in a job, 80% of the value of a property if it's a property they don't live in.

So if you can find. A way to structure a deal by, you know, getting the 20% that, that 20% from someone else and giving them some equity in the property or something like that. Just historically real estate has, has gone up in value. Right? And they say that, you know, there's, there's no more land being built, but the population continues to grow so.

I've chosen real estate because that's what I believe in. So I would, I would, I would be an advocate of, of that model and, you know, someone to, for someone to learn and educate themselves on how to use real estate to generate wealth for them and their family would be what I would recommend. 

[00:39:32] Rita Burke: It is interesting.

You know, I don't know if Elton remembers this, but we interviewed somebody else from a completely different culture who talked about the importance of buying property of somebody else's money, it's a very interesting thing, very, very interesting thing. Uh, I just wonder, um, I'm just putting this out there. If the younger people in our community.

Know about that strategy, but we'll talk a little bit more about that. But Cali, I want to know what a typical day in the life of the interior of the Black Society looks like. Somebody phones up and says, tell me about back. What does a typical day feeling like? 

[00:40:19] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: So what a day looks like for me? In the Ontario Black Society and what a day looks for the staff is different.

So my role, I'm not in the office ever. Very rarely am I in the office today currently how we, how we're running the organization. Um, but we do have, you know, on average, I would say about a meeting a week. Uh, um, with board members and sometimes with staff, depending on what the meetings are for. So the staff are taking calls, doing tours, that kind of stuff.

What myself and the board have been focusing on in our day-to-day is raising awareness, um, raising capital, um. You know, last month, or this month, actually February 1st, it being Black History Month, we had our annual, our 38th annual, uh, Black History Month kickoff. So that, that took a lot of energy and time and resources, uh, 'cause that that's months of planning.

So now that, that's out of the way. And it was a great success and, uh, it was nice to see you there, Rita. Um. Now that that's outta the way, we're, we're focusing on, you know, other relevant ventures for the year to provide value to the members, to provide value to, you know, the, to society. There's a, there's a really interesting, um, youth interviewer toolkit that we're working on right now, which we'd love to see in.

All of the schools in Ontario and and beyond, and this year's theme for us is history starts at home. So we created a youth interviewer toolkit that would go home with children between a certain age, um, that, that would have some questions, some icebreakers that they could, you know, have conversations with their, family members, their parents, their grandparents, to hear about their journey because, you know, last year, and the reason why we had, we had the theme this year is History Starts At Home is last year here in Ontario, um, it was announced that Black History was gonna be rolled out as part of the curriculum in, you know, uh, in, in Ontario schools public.

The school system, and for whatever reason, you know, out of my control, it didn't happen. So instead of waiting for the government just to, to roll it out and to, you know, to, to have curriculum in the schools, we decided that, why don't we highlight the fact. It is a fact that history doesn't necessarily need to start in the classroom.

It starts at home. And all of us have amazing, um, you know, our parents, our, our grandparents, our aunties, our uncles have amazing stories. You know, especially those, not only those that immigrated here, first generation, second generation, but some of those that have, you know, like some, like in my family, we've been here for four or five generations and there's some.

Magnifi magnificent stories, um, inspirational stories that, that, uh, I've heard and, and learned and, and, and, uh, you know, hearing those stories of, of, of the, the path, the journey that people have had to take to get here for freedom, in pursuit of freedom, and then what they encountered after they were here and still able to persevere it.

It gives me a sense of confidence of, hey, those are my, you know, those are my ancestors, that, that broke barriers, those are my ancestors, that, that made things easier for me today. Those are my people and I think everybody has those people for them, and it's important to learn about those people at home.

Um, so. So it's, it's a, it's a really exciting theme and an exciting topic and exciting toolkit that we're actively working on, looking for funding to support us so that we can get it in the schools and, uh, continue to, to, to promote this message.

[00:45:04] Rita Burke: So you said that, um, history begins at home and we tell stories to our children and we got toolkit. What did you learn at home about your history? I, 

[00:45:23] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: I learned, um, first thing that comes to mind is my grandfather. Um, so with my, so my, my great, great, great, great grandfather is Albert Jackson. Uh, first black letter carrier in Canada.

My great aunt, Reverend Addie Ailstock first, uh, female ordained minister, black ordained minister here in Canada. Um. You know, my grandmother Ella Braithwaite, as I mentioned earlier, one of the founders, first members of the Ontario Black History Society. So, so history and like my family's history was always, uh, always around.

We were always exposed to kinda who we are, where we came from, things like that. But I always remember hearing a story of my grandfather when, um. He used to work at a asbestos plant and, you know, again, hazardous environment, you know, they didn't have the same safety precautions that we have today. So the exposure to hazardous chemicals and toxins that definitely had a life impacting, uh, that, you know, impacted people for their, their, their, their overall health.

Um. He used to, I remember hearing a story how, you know, every now and then he would see this man, white man walk around with white gloves. They were always, you know, he was like the foreman, right? Clean white gloves. And, uh, he wondered, he's like, you know what, what do I need to do? So the same way that I, when I was working in my job as a, as a lender for a bank thinking what, when I saw these, these T Fours and I said, what do I need to do?

You know, there was that opportunity for me. But with him, he said, you know, what do I need to do to be the guy that wears the white gloves and do the, to have that job? And he was told flat out, he said, they told him, you're black, you'll never have this job. So he decided to go and educate himself. So he went to Ryerson University, now TMU, and I don't.

I remember the course that he took. It was night school, so he's, he had a family, you know, um, don't remember how many children at this time, but this is a, uh, a World War II veteran, right, who had served for his country and still not given the same opportunities as others, just based off the color of his skin.

So he said, okay, well if they're not gonna give me an opportunity here, I'm gonna go get some education so that I can have other opportunities and make my own opportunities. And when he was in school, I remember hearing the story that the professor said to him, I don't know why you're here, sir. I said, well, what, what do you mean?

He said, well, no one's gonna hire you. You're black. So he continued with the course, um, didn't end up. You know, working in a related field. But what he did was he realized other opportunities. So he created his own opportunities. He got on a bike and he started, uh, collecting scrap metal. And he turned that little entrepreneurial business that he had on his bicycle collecting scrap metal to a well established scrap metal business that was able to feed the family, family of six.

Right? Um, so that story for me was, is, is, is one that comes to mind when you ask, like, how did history start at home? I think that story for me was extremely inspirational and I never until today made the, the correlation between him saying, Hey, what do I need to do? To me saying, what do I need to do? So it shows how far we've come.

We have come a very, very far away, we're not over, but. It is, it is. It's a proud moment to be able to use that experience and that comparison to see like, hey, we have come a long way. 

[00:49:47] Ellington Brown: I agree with you! We have come a long way and we still have a long way to go. I want to thank you so much for. Uh, dropping in and having a conversation with, Rita and I, uh, thank you Rita for, inviting, Cali to, SpeakUP! International.

He has been a wonderful, conversationalist. We got to learn a little bit about, uh, him and his job switching, it appears that he made sure as he moved forward, he had the education that he needed in order to make that next move, and he took what we would call, uh, lemons and turned it into lemonade.

So we should always be looking for a way to be positive. Our mindset should be positive in order so that we're able to reach our goals. And I think through the examples that we heard today through Cali, definitely an inspiration. Thank you so much, Cali, for being with us! 

[00:50:58] Cali Braithwaite-Walton: It's a, it is a pleasure. It's an honor.

Thank you for the invitation and uh, hopefully I provided some value to you and your listeners! 

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