Meet the Board - Black Ice Hockey & Sports Hall of Fame Society

The Faces behind the Black Ice Society

On May 27, 2009, the Black Ice Hockey & Sports Hall of Fame Society (BIS) was incorporated in the Province of Nova Scotia. Get to know a little more about past and present members of the board…

Board of Directors

Wilfred Jackson, MS, BA

Founder & President of Black Ice Society (Retired Social Worker)

Wilfred A. Jackson, is the Founding President, Black Ice Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame Society (2009), and a promoter and builder of Black sports. He is a retired Registered Social Worker, and has received the NS Council for the Family Achievement of Excellence Award and the Hockey Nova Scotia Award of Merit. Wilfred is a Board Member of the Society of North American Hockey Historians and Researchers (SONAHHR). He has been the Conference Chair in 2007 and 2008. Wilfred has been Inducted into the Black Cultural Centre’s Rev. W.P. Oliver Wall of Honor. He appeared in a Black History Month supplement, “People Making a Difference”. He received the 2012 Special Service Award from the Maritime NHLers for Kids, in appreciation of his dedication and enthusiastic volunteerism for Hockey NS. He has a street in Dartmouth, NS renamed in his Honor - “WILFRED JACKSON WAY.”

Roger Beals

The Newest Board Member for the Black Ice Hockey Society and Sports Hall of Fame (BIS)

Before joining BIS, he served his country by spending 32 years in the Canadian Military. He is passionate about promoting and preserving the lost history of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes and continues the forward momentum and positive contribution the society has made to the diverse community here in Nova Scotia.

Roger has held many volunteer positions, including board and committee member of the Black Cultural Society in Cherry Brook, Military Co-Chair and board member of the Defence Visible Minority Advisory Group at CFB Halifax, and assistant hockey coach for the Downsview Hockey Club in Toronto, the Dartmouth Whalers in Dartmouth, and Cole Harbour Bel Ayr Minor Hockey Association in Cole Harbour. In addition, in 1992 he was the co-founder of the First Annual Willie O’Ree Black Hockey Tournament in Toronto.

IN MEMORIAM

Olive Jackson

Olive Jackson Memoriam Photo
We pay tribute to Black Ice Society co-founder the late OLIVE JACKSON. Olive was a direct descendent of the members of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes and showed true grit and passion during her tenure with the Black Ice Society. We are forever indebted to her.

Olive Jackson retired in 2006 as a Real Estate Advisor, having spent her last 25 working years with Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). Olive was an active advocate for change in her workplace and community environment – spending many hours on employment equity issues. She was a dedicated Public Service Alliance for Canada (PSAC) member where she was a member of the Anti-Racism Committee, the Regional Women’s Committee, and the National Equal Opportunities Committee. She was PWGSC’s Atlantic representative on their national Employment Equity Committee, as well as being a member of the National Council for Visible Minorities.

Olive was very active in her workplace charity committee, where she spent countless hours collecting money and Christmas shopping for needy families. She received the Realty Excellence Award. Olive has received several awards for her dedication to employment equity, such as PWGSC’s Minister and Deputy Minister Employment Equity Awards for exemplary services to EE initiatives. PWGSC also recommended Olive for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, which she received in 2003. Her father, James A. Clyke, and uncles George, Alexander, Edward, Ansel, and William were members of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, having played for the Truro Victorias and the Truro Sheiks Hockey teams. She was a Founder of the Black Ice Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame Society. Olive served on the Executive Board of SONAHHR CANADA since 2006.

From 2006-2008 she served on the Halifax Planning Committee for the Black Ice Hockey And Sports Hall Of Fame and Conference overseeing all aspects of the annual Black Ice Hockey And Sports Hall of Fame Conference. She received the 2010 Volunteer award from the city of Halifax, presented by Mayor Peter Kelly. Olive was awarded the Black Cultural Centre’s Rev. WP Oliver Award, posthumously, as recommended by her peers. May she rest in peace.