York University applauds positive changemakers at this year’s convocation ceremonies, awarding outstanding individuals for their significant contributions to society.
The following four most recent awardees were presented with honorary doctor of laws degrees for their exemplary work in their respective fields and for creating positive change for their communities.
Itah Sadu, an international, award-winning storyteller and bestselling children’s author whose work has been translated into various languages, is dynamic entrepreneur and community builder. With her husband, she co-owns the independent bookstore A Different Booklist, a Toronto destination specializing in African and Caribbean-Canadian literature and diverse resources from around the world.
She is also a founder of the Blackhurst Cultural Centre, formerly known as A Different Booklist Cultural Centre. Her innovation has brought Toronto the annual Walk With Excellence and the Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride in collaboration with the Toronto Transit Commission.
Wes Hall is the Chair and founder of WeShall Investments, a private equity firm with a diverse portfolio of companies predominantly supporting Black, Indigenous and people of colour entrepreneurs. Hall comes from humble beginnings having grown up in a plantation worker’s shack in Jamaica, one of several children supported by his grandmother.
A staunch philanthropist, Hall is deeply committed to creating positive community change. He founded the ambitious and highly successful BlackNorth Initiative to help end systemic anti-Black racism in Canada and was named the Canadian Business Leader of 2022 by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Hall is also the author of the bestselling memoir, No Bootstraps When You’re Barefoot, launched a podcast with the Toronto Star, “Between Us with Wes Hall,” and is on the hit CBC series “Dragons’ Den.”
Andromache Karakatsanis, an alumna of York’s Osgoode Hall School, is the longest serving justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She was appointed a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 2002 and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2010, before her current appointment in 2011.
Previous roles include Chair and chief executive officer of the Liquor Licence Board of Ontario, assistant deputy attorney general and secretary for native affairs, and as deputy attorney general. Throughout her career, Karakatsanis has volunteered extensively and served on the boards of many community and professional associations. She has been recognized with numerous medals and awards in her profession and community.
Nnimmo Bassey, architect, poet and environmental activist, is one of Africa’s leading advocates and campaigners for the environment and human rights. He founded Nigeria’s first environmental rights organization which inspired activists to stand up against the malpractices of multinational corporations and led to the formation of Oilwatch International, a network resisting fossil fuel expansion in the Global South. He is also director of the ecological think tank Health of Mother Earth Foundation based in Nigeria.
He is a co-recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “alternative Nobel Prize” and in 2012, he received the Rafto Human Rights Award. In addition, Bassey was awarded with Nigeria’s national honour, Member of the Federal Republic, in 2014 and became a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects the same year. His books include To Cook a Continent – Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa, Oil Politics – Echoes of Ecological War and I will Not Dance to Your Beat (poetry).