Egbert Gaye, founder of Montreal's only Black newspaper, remembered as 'glue' that held community together

Egbert Gaye, the founder andmanaging editor of a community newspaper that gave a voice and a platform to Montreal's English-speaking Black community for more than three decades, has died.

Gaye died Sundaynight.

News of his passing prompted an outpouring of tributes on social media.Gayehad run Montreal Community Contact since its launch in 1992.

The publication is known for promoting positive news stories about the city's Black communities. He also gaveopportunitiesto many Black writers to get their start in journalism and provided a space for columnists to write opinion pieces that shed light on the Black experience in Quebec.

In a statement posted to Facebook on Monday afternoon,Montreal Community Contact said Gaye's death "leaves a void that will be felt by the entire community, especially his beloved wife, son and daughter-in-law."

"He was a pillar for the Black and Caribbean community across Quebec, passionate and devoted to amplifying the voices of the voiceless and empowering his community," the statement said.

Gaye was also a regular columnist on local radio station CJAD.

Many Black entrepreneurs depended on the newspaper to advertise their services. Last year, Montreal Community Contact was nominated as part of CBC's Black Changemakers series.

At the time, Yvonne Sam, a board member and columnist with the paper was askedwhat the paper had done for the Black community. She replied: "What has itnotdone?"

"Without it, we would be adrift," she said.

Gaye was 67.

'A big hole left in the community'

Rodrick Rodney remembers Gaye as both a pioneer and a friend someone who always made time to help people close to him, whether it was giving advice or showing up to community events, no matter how big or small.

"He was always there, always, always there. It was never a 'no' situation with him," said Rodney, owner ofthe Kustom Kutz barbershop in Montreal's Cte-des-Neiges neighbourhood,who knew Gaye for 30 years.

Gemma Raeburn-Baynes, whoorganizes the annual Spice Island Cultural Festival and has been a writer with Montreal Community Contact for at least 25 years, said she was shockedand devastated to hear ofGaye's death.

"Egbert is the last person I expected to die. He was just so full of life,"Raeburn-Baynestold CBC News."There is a big hole left in the community."

She described him as a "confidante" and a person who "kept the community together."

"He was like the glue," she said, adding that whenever someone needed to know anything about what happened in the Black community, "we called Egbert."

'He never doubted our potential'

Elysia Bryan-Baynes, Raeburn-Baynes'sstepdaughter,also worked for the newspaper before embarking on a 17-year-career as a television reporter and anchor.

She recalls just how hands on Gaye was with every facet of the publication.

"He ran the paperfrom top to bottom," she said. "He found the writers. He put it together. He's the one who delivered it. He did everything before everybody was doing everything in this industry."

According to the retired journalist, Montreal Community Contact is a "living history of the English, Black community in Montreal."

She also said he was a mentor whoprovided a lot of guidance and positive reinforcement for young journalists who were under his wing.

"He never doubted our potential and just always told us over and over again that there was a space for us,"Bryan-Baynes said.

"He really instilled in us the idea that our stories matter. Good stories matter. Positive stories matter and that there was so much more happening thatwe might not see in other places and it was our responsibility to make sure those stories were told."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.