Casey Palmer has a list of Black Canadian Influencers

May 1, 2023 | Robert Campbell

Casey Palmer has co-compiled a list of more than five hundred Black Canadian bloggers, vloggers, and social media influencers. The Black Canadian Content Creator Directory is a veritable army of independent media makers that can be inspired into action, and their passion can be leveraged and directed toward educational projects or paid sponsorships. Just imagine how they could help your brand.

Casey Palmer is a content creator living in Toronto who shares his fatherhood stories and comments on his journey at Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad. Most readers agree, it’s different. Dad blogs are rare to begin with, and he’s a Black father who comes from a multiracial family. His wife and kids are urban dwellers who seek to thrive in the city rather than flee to the suburbs for bigger homes, quieter streets, and a more compartmentalized life. This means his content is written from the perspective of an inner-city Black dad and that’s pretty unique in the Canadian blog landscape!

Black Canadian Content Creator Directory is a list of Black creators across Canada jointly hosted by Casey Palmer of Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad, Kaya Marriott of Comfy Girl with Curls and Sherley Joseph of Chonilla Network who founded the Black Canadian Creators community. It offers the opportunity for Black creators to collaborate with their peers, get connected with brands, and give readers the chance to hear Black Canadian stories straight from the source.

Casey Palmer was courted by our national press and gave quotes and made TV appearances in June 2020 after the death of George Floyd. Meredith MacLeod at CTV News wrote a story with pictures of Casey with his boys and quoted his appearance on CTV’s Your Morning Friday.

The Black Canadian Content Creator Directory is Casey’s way of making Black voices more accessible throughout the year and not just during times of tragedy, or in February (for Black History Month). The collective is not about combating racism per se, it’s more about promoting Black voices, sharing opinions and creating a marketplace of ideas.

Most of Casey’s readers and our own blog readers don’t need to be reminded that anti-Black racism is still prevalent with indications that it’s on the rise. Despite all of our laws and policies promoting equality, persistent factors exist and continue to fuel systemic discrimination. This includes Canada’s education system and labour market, and we can see it manifesting in our justice system, immigration laws, and the property values of houses in majority black neighbourhoods. Unequal opportunities in education in particular have a serious impact on Black Canadians in negative and discriminatory ways. In comparison to other racialized groups, Black youth are less likely to attend post-secondary institutions and earn post-secondary qualifications. Although the socio-economic conditions of Black Canadians may vary according to their gender, region of origin or ancestry and generation status, discrimination and racism still exist and negatively impact Black people in Canada.

Another subtle way that racism and discrimination is perpetrated is through racial microaggressions. Microaggressions are everyday insults, indignities and demeaning messages directed toward Black, Indigenous or other racialized people by white people and they’re disguised as harmless jokes or poor word choices, but they cause stress and promote inequality. Black content creators can pinpoint the ploys and shed light on the perpetrators which is the best way of neutralizing them and forcing them to become more aware of their seemingly harmless words and actions.

In addition to Casey Palmer, The Black Canadian Creator Directory was co-compiled by Sherley Joseph and Kaya Marriott, creator of Comfy Girl with Curls. She has a large Instagram following and frequently travels across Canada to highlight culturally-relevant activities and brand endeavors. Sherley Joseph is the co-founder of The Chonilla Network, a podcast collective with a variety of categories to make listeners laugh, think and learn.

These three media makers have worked together to compile the names and URLs for over 500 Black Canadian bloggers, vloggers, social media influencers and podcasters. Their work not only showcases the sheer amount of Black talent that exists north of the border; it also helps dispel the myth that Black Canadian creators are more difficult to secure for culturally-specific messaging.