THE Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA), one of the oldest black organisations in Canada, will be celebrating 50 years of community service Saturday with a grand anniversary gala.

Keynote speaker will be politician and attorney KD Knight.

The gala will be held under the patronage of Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Canada, Sheila Sealy Monteith.

“The association is a beacon in the community and is proud to celebrate its milestone of 50 years of community service,” President of the JCA Audrey Campbell said. “It has been at the forefront in the fight for equality and justice for people of Jamaican, Caribbean and African/Canadian heritage since its inception in 1962.  It is fitting that the golden anniversary of this Jamaican institution be tied to the 50th anniversary of Independence in the land in which the association has its roots.”

Noting that this is one of the most important and proudest years that the Jamaican community in Canada will ever celebrate, the president said she is inviting all to join, “as we pay homage to the past and celebrate the future”.

The gala will be held under the theme, ‘The JCA at 50: the Legacy Continues’, and will be a time to not only reflect on the bridges crossed and the mountains climbed, but also to look at those experiences that have made Jamaicans who they are as a people, a nation, a community,” the president said.