It Started with a box of photographs...

In 2024, Judy Williams — a lifelong Winnipegger whose great-great-grandmother was among the first Black families to settle in Manitoba in 1905 — was sorting through her parents' home when she found something extraordinary. Historical documents. Photographs. Proof of a life, a community, a contribution to this province that had never been formally preserved.

She had a simple question: how do I protect this?

That question became a conversation. That conversation became a founding meeting of 27 people on February 1, 2025. And from that meeting, the Black Canadian Experience Centre was born.

Community-Led. Community-Owned. Community-Built.

In one year, the BCEC grew from 27 founding members to over 60 active community builders, nine working committees, and a volunteer leadership team driving this vision with discipline and urgency.

We are historians, archivists, educators, artists, grant writers, storytellers, and community leaders. We are Black Manitobans with roots in the Caribbean, across Africa, and going back to the Underground Railroad. We are the children and grandchildren of people who built the prairies — and we are building something that ensures that story is never erased again.