Community leader Miah Bailey leaves legacy of service
Published:Tuesday | April 22, 2025 | 12:13 AMNeil Armstrong/Gleaner Writer
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The leadership, compassion, and commitment to service of community advocate Nehemiah ‘Miah’ Bailey, 92, will be remembered for many years to come. The beloved Jamaican-Canadian was born on October 7, 1932, in Ipswich, St Elizabeth in Jamaica, and...
The leadership, compassion, and commitment to service of community advocate Nehemiah ‘Miah’ Bailey, 92, will be remembered for many years to come.
The beloved Jamaican-Canadian was born on October 7, 1932, in Ipswich, St Elizabeth in Jamaica, and died on April 13, 2025, in Toronto, Canada.
A member of the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) since 1963, he served as its president from 1989 to 1992.
“Miah’s dedication to family, friends and the community left an indelible mark on all who had the privilege of knowing and working alongside him. Miah showed ‘grit and determination’ when faced with having a leg amputated and fitted with prosthesis at the age of 92,” notes his obituary.
It stated that his legacy lives on through the lives he touched and the faith he passed on. In memory of him, his family is inviting people to consider a tax-deductible donation to the JCA.
“I met Miah in the late ‘70s when I joined JCA; I worked with him on the board of JCA. He was a reliable member who could be counted on to follow through on his responsibilities and assignments. He was thoughtful and often brought varying perspectives to issues being considered at the board,” said Kamala-Jean Gopie, who was the president of the JCA from 1978 to 1980.
‘Always supportive’
Adaoma Patterson, who considered Bailey her “JCA dad”, met him approximately 35 years ago through the National Council of Jamaicans and Supportive Organizations in Canada. She became its national youth representative and eventually met leaders of the JCA.
“Miah and I worked closely together when he became president of the National Council. He fought hard to ensure the organisation stayed the course. I led a national youth conference and he was always supportive of my work,” said Patterson, who later served as president of the JCA from 2016 to 2022.
Herman Stewart, president of the JCA from 1996-2001 and 2008-2009, served on the board of the JCA with Bailey from 1983 to 2012.
“We had some similarities because, when he came to Canada, he came to Toronto in 1963 and, on the second day he was here, he was picked up on the street for what I would term ‘for being black’. The same thing happened to me in 1969. Two weeks after I came, I was picked up on Yonge Street for no reason other than being black.”
Stewart said Bailey was committed to what the board wanted to do and, when he relinquished his position there, he became involved in the National Council.
Since Stewart’s retirement, Bailey was among a few of his friends who would meet every Friday in the summer in Stewart’s backyard to play dominoes.
Bailey attended Kingston Technical High School and began his professional life in Jamaica, first as a filtration plant operator at the National Water Commission, then a laboratory technician with The University of the West Indies, before becoming an engineering technician with Alcan Jamaica Limited. He is featured in the directory Who’s Who in Black Canada: Black Success and Black Excellence in Canada by Dawn P. Williams, published in 2002.
He taught technical and industrial arts education in elementary and secondary schools from 1958 to 1963 in Jamaica. After a few years of teaching, a Canadian scholarship brought him to Canada.
Upon completing the industrial arts and technical education programme between Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and Toronto, Ontario, he returned to Jamaica and taught at Kingston College and Mico Teachers’ College. However, there were limited job opportunities in Jamaica, so he returned to Canada in 1966 and finished his degree at the University of Toronto before working for 17 years in the field of aviation technology with Litton Systems Canada Limited in Toronto.
Bailey then taught technical and vocational education with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) until his retirement in 1998. Since then, he had worked as a realtor.
Community involvement
His community involvement also included the Toronto Police Community Liaison, national consultations for the World Congress against Racism (WCAR) in 2001, Political Affairs and Government Relations Committee, Toronto Real Estate Board, and as director of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council. Bailey was also a member of the committee that developed the Police Community Race Relations Policy of Ontario.
Over the years, he was the recipient of many awards such as the Voluntary Service Award from the Ontario Ministry of Culture, for 30 years, and an award from the Jamaican Canadian Association, for 25 years.
Who’s Who in Black Canada notes Bailey’s motto as ‘Mankind cannot improve itself without improving others; selfishness is a road to destruction’.
Bailey is survived by his daughter Arleen, son Newton, two granddaughters, a grandson, four great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.
A visitation will be held on May 16, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and on May 17, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Highland Funeral Home-Scarborough in Scarborough, Ontario. A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. at that venue on May 17, with burial at Resthaven Memorial Gardens in Toronto from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.