Tara Jeffrey
A long-standing community tradition at Northern Collegiate returns Thursday.
An evening celebrating international culture, cuisine, and entertainment — known as MAC Night — will be held Thursday, May 11 beginning with food sales at 5 p.m., entertainment at 7 p.m.
“The last time we celebrated MAC Night was pre-COVID, so it’s been four years now,” said teacher Harminder Deol. “We’re so excited that we’re able to now invite our entire community back to experience food and entertainment from around the world.”
Northern’s Multicultural Awareness Committee dates back to the 1990s when a group of students got together to raise awareness about diversity while tackling discrimination.
In 1997, the group invited the entire community to a ‘Foods of the World’ fundraiser, which eventually became known as MAC night.
Notable MAC alumni include Canadian rapper and motivational speaker Duane Gibson, folk singer-songwriter Preetam Sengupta, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sami Khan, local entrepreneur Paresh Thakkar and Sumon Chakrabarti, one Canada’s leading infectious disease specialists.
Thursday’s event will boast plenty of food booths, along with singing, dancing and performers from organizations across the community.
“It's our way of welcoming people,” said Deol. “Food is something that brings people together; to get to know each other. And so is entertainment – it is universal.”
The event is free and open to the public; residents are encouraged to bring change for the food booths.
“It’s just a group of really hard-working students putting this together,” she said of about 20 Northern students involved in the committee. “We all live together in Canada, and we need to find strength in our differences, and in our talents.”