Play inspired by Canadian civil rights leader to be performed in Elmira Saturday

A play inspired by the life of an Ontario civilrights leader is being performedin Elmira Saturday to raise money for the Hymn to Freedom project, an initiative that wants to develop teaching materials about black history in Canada.

My Place is Right Here: Hugh Burnett and the Fight for a Better Canadatells the story of Hugh Burnett, whowas born in Dresden, Ont., worked as a carpenter and fought for the province's anti-discriminationlegislation, including the Fair AccommodationsPractices Act.

University of Waterloo Professor James Walker, whose writings about Burnett inspired the play,will be in attendance after Saturday's performance as part of a question and answer session.

"We didn't get our our human rights legislation or race relations reforms from a benevolent government,'' said Walker. "We got them because ordinary people like Hugh Burnett struggled from the bottom."

Professor Walker said organizers from the Hymn to Freedom project are in the process of finessing and distributing a video along with a black history survey and bibliography.

The performance of My Place is Right Here: Hugh Burnett and the Fight for a Better Canada happens at the Elmira theatre starting at 3:00 p.m Saturday.