Montreal Black youth use virtual reality to highlight realities of anti-Black racism

A new virtual reality project is putting audiences in the shoes of Black youth to highlight experiences of anti-Black racism.

The showcase event is set to take place between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on August 21, 2026 at Bâtiment 7 on Rue Le Ber in Montreal’s Pointe-Saint-Charles borough.

“It’s a free event,” said Ayana Monuma, project coordinator for the Black Community Resource Centre (BCRC).

“Everyone that comes will be able to try network and each try out a virtual experience — we’ll have headsets available and we’ll also have laptops available to go through the experiences,” she added.

The BCRC’s Through Our Eyes project is using six youth-created VR stories to explore racism in five areas: policing and racial profiling, education, employment, justice and healthcare.

Through Our Eyes includes projects from Iyore Edegbe, whose project entitled Sorry For Your Loss, explores workplace discrimination, anti-black racism and the impact of accent bias within professional environments. It also features Misogynoir, an immersive narrative experience by Dika Anne Marie Conté that retells the story of a black woman who died in 2016 from preventable complications after childbirth as well as the work of Kayla Lewis-Thelusmon who also chose to focus on obstetric racism in her work entitled Carried Forward.

Other projects include the work of Misha Bellerive, who created a VR experience that revolves around microaggressions in Canadian schools, Fahad Ben Aboubacar who created Contrôleurs, a virtual reality game designed as a surreal depiction of racial profiling in policing, while Daphné Ostiguy’s project follows the life of a biracial girl entering a predominantly white story where she faces anti-Black hostility and dehumanization.

“They each chose a sector that spoke to them directly,” Monuma began to explain. “Whether it be something that they experienced themselves or something that someone close to them experienced, or something that just spoke to them.”

Eniola Oyinloluwa, a film animation student at Concordia University and participant of the project tells CityNews he loved the idea of stepping out of his comfort zone and undertaking virtual reality. His project centers around justice and law enforcement, where ‘James’ his main character must tackle a difficult police interaction.

“With the discrimination and basically racial biases that we face every day, I wanted to take the people into a world where they get to see these particular issues through their eyes,” said Oyinloluwa. “Basically, you get to see what it’s like being a black person while just going on a normal day and you get approached by the cops.”

Oyinloluwa’s project even includes the possibility to make choices as a bystander witnessing the event and deciding whether to act on behalf of his character.

“Spoiler alert, both do get violent in the end,” he exclaimed.

A testament to what he and organizers say is the reality that many young black youth face daily in today’s society.

The immersive experiences are designed to give participants a firsthand perspective on situations involving racial bias, while encouraging empathy and challenging stereotypes.

“I just want to see social change, that one person does it and more people start to join in,” said Oyinloluwa.

“Even if it’s just one person that immerses themselves in these VRs and has a complete change of mindset, that will be a job well done,” echoed Monuma.