At Samail Image clothing store in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges district Monday morning, there was shock and sadness over the sudden death of a community leader and friend.
“Because we were together just last week,” store owner Sylvan Innis told Global News.
Egbert Gaye, 67, founder and managing editor of the Montreal Community Contact newspaper, passed away suddenly on Sunday. He founded the bi-monthly newspaper three decades ago to serve the city’s English-speaking Black and Caribbean communities.
Long-time friend and columnist Yvonne Sam says Gaye was the voice of the anglophone and Black communities, and whether it was on issues of employment equity, racial profiling or other problems, the paper’s existence helped make governments listen and accountable.
“Doors were opened for us, decisions were altered” she explained.
Gemma Raeburn-Baynes, another longtime friend, agrees.
“It is such a great loss,” she said, fighting back tears. She said the Community Contact wasn’t just about serious issues, but also a publication of uplifting stories.
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“We relied on (the paper) every two weeks,” she said. “We relied on that Community Contact to find out what’s going on, find out where the dances and the parties are in the Black community. There was such good content and such good writers.”
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Many of those writers went on to successful careers in journalism elsewhere, like former Global News journalist Elysia Bryan-Baynes, who says Gaye was a mentor to so many.
“He never doubted our talent,” she stressed. “He never doubted our possibilities, he just made a space for young, Black reporters to ply their craft and to learn to be reporters and journalists. He did so with such joy and with such a sense of responsibility.”
Beyond journalism, Raeburn-Baynes says he loved to laugh.
“Egbert was such a fun-loving free person,” she recalled. “He seemed never to have any hang-ups.”
Others like Innis remember his kindness, generosity and dedication to his friends.
“He was very good to everybody who he came across,” he said, “and he helped me out a lot in many different ways.”
The hope now is that despite his absence, his legacy will live on.
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