A trade delegation from Sierra Leone is meeting this week with government officials in Vaughan, Ont., and McMaster University leaders in Hamilton, in a first-of-its-kind summit that has origins in the Hammer.

The summit is organized in large part by May-Marie Duwai-Sowa, Sierra Leone's only special envoy in Canada, whose office is in downtown Hamilton.

Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio appointed Duwai-Sowa in 2023. Duwai-Sowa said the country has sent a delegation of about 50 people, including the first lady and chief minister of foreign affairs. The size and seriousness of the delegation "really solidifies what we've been saying, which is that [Sierra Leone] is very much interested in deepening its relationship with Canada," Duwai-Sowa told CBC Hamilton.

She was born in Sierr

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