Dr. Joyce Ross, an African Canadian and native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, has received numerous honorary awards for her visionary work in East Preston, a notoriously under-resourced black community. She has received the Order of Canada, honorary doctorates, and many other awards for her literally tireless work. At age eighty-one, she is an active pastor in a thriving African Canadian church and continues in her prison ministry. Despite having to deal with intolerance personally and professionally, her amazing humility and constant generosity of spirit is a true example of Christian determination rooted in love.
[Radix] What would you like us to know about you?
[DJR] Well, I was born and raised in the community of East Preston, Nova Scotia. I came from a large family of twenty siblings, and I am the second oldest. I was baptised at age fourteen in 1953 by a very good man and pastor. He, along with my parents, were very brave and courageous. My grandparents, too. My pastor always commented that I had talent, and he encouraged me. He told me I was capable of doing things that I never dreamed of. Sometimes I would look at him and say, “You must be crazy.” His early encouragement was important to my life.
Above all, though, I want to give all the credit to God. There are two scriptural principles that guide my life. The first is to love God with all my heart and strength and the second is to be strong and courageous. I have to have the love of God to be those things.
[Radix] Those verses are beautiful and have affected not only you, but your work in community. Getting the Order of Canada is no small thing! There is probably a good deal of history to that. What led up to you receiving it?
[DJR] That honor was given to me because of the work I did in community. Probably it started when I was sixteen and initiated a youth group in my church. It started with eight and grew to eighty. We went all over the place. But we didn’t have a public facility to do the activities with the youth. In 1967 we started a building campaign to have a place for the youth in the area to go; I wanted a recreation center. It is important for a community to be able to gather together in unity and fun. I was told I was too young to accomplish such a thing. I had a friend who worked in a law firm, and she told the lawyer she worked for about my ideas. He was supportive and suggested we get incorporated, because then such a center would be recognized and more difficult to stop by any who opposed it. I’ll tell you, we did a lot of praying. And it was through the power of prayer that it got done. It was tricky though. The board we put together, with the help of the lawyer, made the two motions to get incorporated literally just in time. We met at a set time and fifteen minutes later a group of people came in and told us that we were trying to do something that couldn’t be done. But it was too late. We were incorporated. I know God was with us. I know no matter what you try to do, if it’s God’s will, the enemy cannot stop you. We got it done.
[Radix] So timing was really important. What did you do after that?
[DJR] When I was fourteen years old I had to quit school at grade 8 because there was an opportunity to make money scrubbing floors. I wanted to go to school but my parents couldn’t afford to send me to school in Dartmouth because school cost money in those days. And we couldn’t afford it. My sister was able to go for one year though. And then my father got sick, so she had to stop. When I had to leave school, my teacher cried. She didn’t want me to leave because she said she saw a lot of potential in me. But we didn’t have the money and there wasn’t help back then for the black community. So I worked as a domestic for fourteen years. There just weren’t any good jobs for black folks. I didn’t pay too much attention, though some did. We just got manual labor work. After fourteen years there was a teacher from Jamaica who started pushing for blacks to be able to get better jobs in our area. He spoke to the Rotary Club and anywhere he could get an ear. After that, one girl got a job in a department store. When I saw that I said, “Okay, that’s it, I’m done scrubbing floors.”
So I came back to East Preston and organized an adult education program so that all the folks like me could go back to school and finish grade 12 and enter the university if we wanted to. So that’s the route I took. My first university courses were sociology and psychology.
During that time, the Black United Front was very active and they wanted somebody to work for the black communities, encouraging people to go and get more involved in getting better jobs. But they needed somebody with a car for the position. I fit the category and I got the job. And what a difference! When I started out working as a domestic worker, I was working for eighteen dollars a week, six days a week. I’ll tell you, I was never a wasteful person and I valued money. But I always ate right and bought quality clothing for my children; it lasts longer. Anyway, the new job they were offering me was one hundred dollars a week plus car allowance. I was thrilled.
While I was working in that new job I found out that in our elementary school of ninety-eight children, fifty-six of them needed auxiliary and remedial help. I told the teacher that of course they need help! Many of these children came from houses that didn’t have light switches or toilet seats. Some in the black area didn’t have electricity or even indoor facilities. I told them that for the children in the black community to be expected to do well in the school, something would have to change.
[Radix] My, my. So what did you do?
[DJR] I was bold and brave and went directly to the school board. I told them they had to change the IQ test, which they did. And then I went to all the homes in the region and explained that all these children needed to do better was to get some early childhood education. The community supported me a hundred percent, especially the seniors, because they were taking care of their grandchildren. After that, my next goal was to start a daycare center so that the parents could do other things, like finish school. That was the start of the East Preston Day Care Centre. That was what got me all the honorary degrees, actually. Anyway, that daycare center started with only one program, but we quickly started a number of others within it.
My first goal was to expose our children to outside surroundings as well as teach them the basic skills they’d need to succeed in the public schools. So we went to the public school and asked them, what are the problems you’re having with our children so that we can work with them? They gave us a list of what they would like to see done. Then we implemented those things in our program. But I will tell you, for that first three years all we got was nothing but fighting with the Department of Education. They just didn’t want to respond to our requests. So we did it on our own.
After three years with the daycare and children going from the daycare off to the elementary school, one morning I was sitting in the office and the secretary came and told me that there were three white gentlemen and one white lady who had just walked in, wanting to speak to me. They came totally unexpected. The first thing I said to myself was, “Okay, we have to wait three to four months to get a meeting with you guys and the nerve of you to walk into this building and expect me to accommodate you. With no notice!” But then I heard God say to me, “No, no, don’t say a word, and don’t show any anger. Entertain them.” So that’s what I did. We took them through the whole place. And they were amazed. Especially with the results in our children. They said it was like day and night. They were so impressed that they asked if we would work with other daycare centers and use the same program.
[Radix] Talk about having the discipline to hold your tongue when you would have been right to speak out! I just love what you felt from God: “Don’t show them anger, but entertain them.”
[DJR] It gets better though. Our children started doing so well in the public school system that some folks from the Department of Education asked us to pull back a little; they said that our children were too far advanced as compared to the other children. I told them I would not pull any of the children back. I told them, “Advance our children a grade. If they are too advanced that’s not my problem, that’s your problem. You told us that they were so far in the hole, so, so far down. Now you want to pull us back? I’m not doing that.” So I was always bold, because I know God gave me the strength to move forward. And that’s who I was basing everything on, God. It was one day at a time and doing the best I could. And we became the number one childcare facility in Canada.
[Radix] That is a story. A very good story on so many levels. So did you just stick with children from your community?
[DJR] We started with them, but we started getting requests from the non-black community. I remember the first white child we had. I said to my staff that I believed that part of the reason why our black people were having trouble was because there were no black role models to look up to. I didn’t want that white child to not see any white role models. So we hired a white teacher.
[Radix] you hired a white teacher? What a thing. And did you ever have a problem with … racial issues?
[DJR] We never had a problem once we had white children come into the school; never had a problem. They got along so well.
[Radix] You mentioned that the center actually started a number of programs?
[DJR] We did. We had a number of programs. We had the preschool program, an infant care program, and then a health program in cooperation with the Department of Health. Then we started a pre-and-postnatal program. We had a seniors program. We had a computer program. In fact, the East Preston Daycare Centre was the umbrella of all these programs, which was highly recognized by the government.
[Radix] And as you said earlier, it was for this that you got the Order of Canada?
[DJR] It was. But you know, when I got the notification in the mail, I didn’t think it was for me. And I only filled out the paperwork when my secretary insisted it was for me. The East Preston Daycare Centre did make a total change in the community though. And it wasn’t just me; there were other women who helped. We fought and fundraised and did everything. And when we first opened the center, we had nothing. No furniture or anything. In fact, getting the center was a fight. When we asked the Minister of Community Service for funding, he looked at me and said, “You must be crazy.” He said, “You won’t get any money to build a daycare center because certainly we don’t have to give it to you.” He didn’t expect us to get anywhere. But then he said, “You get the building, and if you get the building, then we will subsidize the children.” I just looked at him. I said, “Thank you very much, sir. We will, and we will be back.” I knew that what was in my heart was right and that God would make a way. That minister was some surprised! Later, he actually offered me a job. I didn’t take it, because I had my calling in the community. I’m saying that when we work together we can accomplish great things. I don’t let racism or discrimination bring me down because I trust God.
When we first started, we had thirty-two children. We didn’t have to advertise, either. We had so many people coming, from as far away as Sackville, eighteen miles away. So eventually we had to build two more buildings. Then, when we couldn’t add on any more, we opened up our Family Resource Centre in a mini-mall. By the time I retired in 2004, we had twenty-eight staff members.
I always kept that verse in my heart, “Be bold and courageous.” And also, the one that says, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He neither slumbers nor sleeps.” You know, I trust in him. We need to trust in the Lord, to lean not on our own understanding but in all our ways to acknowledge him to direct our paths. I never attempt to do anything without asking God for directions first. When he leads me, then he gives me the strength.
[Radix] “Be bold and courageous” has marked your life. How did that play into your getting an honorary doctorate from the University of Dalhousie?
[DJR] It was actually from the same university that wouldn’t let me take a course there in the Sixties because of my color. I even had a sponsor. What happened was that I was working in the community with two black nurses who had white husbands. And one of the men thought it would help my credibility to have a social work degree. But the university wasn’t ready for people of color in the program at that time. That’s what they told me. That man really tried to make a case for me though. He made a big write-up in the Dalhousie Gazette newspaper and everything. But I didn’t want to be angry and push and push. Being angry doesn’t get much. Shortly after, I was told that I didn’t need any title behind my name anyway. I knew it was certainly a discrimination issue, but I thought to let it go. And it worked out. I got an honorary doctorate from the same university that wouldn’t let me in. That’s irony! But that’s what happens when you wait on the Lord and be of good courage. Everything works into place.
[Radix] But you didn’t just retire, did you? You went more into the prison ministry, right?
[DJR] So what happened was that when I retired from the East Preston Day Care Centre, my husband passed shortly after. So I said to myself, okay, since my husband’s gone, I’m not going to be traveling like we thought we were. I will go and do more prison ministry. One of the prison chaplains I knew said I should get a diploma in that. At this point I was sixty-five years old, you know. But I couldn’t say no because I sure wouldn’t have accepted no from anybody else. Then I found out that to get the diploma I would have to enroll in a Master of Theology program. I said no at first. Then I said, I will go home and pray about it. So I decided that I would take the first three courses, but if I failed I would be off the hook. I got an A+ in the first course. I said, “Lord! I wanted to fail so I wouldn’t have to go!” But that didn’t work. So I drove over an hour back and forth to Acadia three days a week taking my courses. But when I heard I would have to do a second language as a requirement, I said no. So I just got a Bachelor of Theology.
[Radix] When you are doing prison ministry, what are some things that you pay special attention to? Like, what things do you get the best results from when you are talking to the inmates?
[DJR] I don’t judge them. They know why they are there. They don’t need me telling them or judging them. That’s not for me to do. And it doesn’t work to judge them. They need to be shown love and compassion. I have had so many “hard” cases. Cases where the person in prison is considered hopeless. They won’t respond to anyone. Then the prison people call me and say, “Do whatever you do.” They know I get results with people like that. And I just listen to those people. They just need somebody to talk to. We have to practice listening skills because it’s so easy to talk, but it’s hard to hear what others have to say. And if we can’t listen, how can we respond to what they need? But if they are shown love, these hopeless people can get better. God’s got a plan for their life the same as he has a plan for mine. We just need to show them the love of Christ. And we need to give them hope. And we don’t need to be pushy. Just plant a seed and let God do the rest. I have so many wonderful stories of people who, when they are shown love, turn around. I have such people in my life now.
[Radix] Speaking of listening, we share a common bond and similarity in Christ, but not in skin color. Because you are so much more aware than most – you have lived it! – of the issues of racism and bias, I would like to honestly ask you this: What can I, as a white Canadian, do?
[DJR] I would say, respect me for who I am. Okay? I’m not like you and you’re not like me. There’s a difference in our culture. Respect that. That’s all I’m asking, is for you to just respect me for who I am. If I do things differently, differently than you do, then respect the way I do it. Don’t try to change me to be you or do the things the way you do things. Try to understand where I come from and why I’m doing things differently.
What comes across from white folks too often is this assumption that they have the answer to what we need. But they are not us. They don’t always know what we need. So I think to myself, “Don’t tell me what I need. Instead, respect me enough to ask me how you can help. Ask me what you can do to help me and my community.” That is how you can come alongside and help our community. When you do that, we will respect you.
[Radix] I really appreciate your honesty. Can I ask, have things gotten a little better in that respect over the years? Are we getting a little better at asking instead of telling?
[DJR] In some cases, yes, but I find that people still need to be reminded. When they can get that in their heads, and recognize, okay, this is it, I got it, and I’ve got to work with you to bring you to where your needs can be met. That is really what we need. And also, this simple thing: treat other people the way you would want to be treated. We need to love and we need to respect each other better. We need to remember to actively live the life that Jesus taught us when he walked the earth. He taught us how to love, how to respect, how to be compassionate. He taught us all those things, you know, and if we would try to live more like Jesus, it would be okay. And if we could forget about all this anger and this animosity, frustration, and jealousy, we could have a much better world.