Josiah Henson
Josiah Henson, spiritual leader and author, was born into enslavement in Maryland, USA. He escaped to Dresden, Upper Canada and founded The Dawn Settlement – a place for enslavement refugees to obtain self-sufficiency. In 1842, he purchased 200 acres of land and opened the British-American Institute, one of Canada’s first trade-labour schools.
Sleeping Car Porters | Africville Genealogical Society
Labour unions originally barred Black workers from taking membership, therefore they created their own. In 1917, John A. Robinson, J.W. Barber, B.F. Jones and P. White, Black porters based in Winnipeg, formed the Order of Sleeping Car Porters (OSCP), the first Black railway union in North America.
Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees
In 1919, the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, Canada’s first Black labour union, joined the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees (CBRE), forcing them to remove the “Whites-only” clause from its constitution
Carrie Best
Carrie Best was co-founder of The Clarion, one of the first newspapers in Canada to be owned and published by Black Canadians. She was an avid human rights activist and used her newspaper to speak out about Black rights. In 1941, her and son James Calbert Best (who would later help found PSAC) purchased a ticket at the Roseland Theatre and would sit in the “whites only” section in protest. When they were asked to leave and refused, police were called and she was charged with disturbing the peace. She would take legal action against the theatre and later on would use The Clarion to help publicize the same treatment given to Viola Desmond 5 years later.
Stanley Grizzle
In the 1940s, labour activist Stanley Grizzle, a local president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, fought for the right for porters to have name cards so white passengers would stop calling the mainly Black porters “George” or “boy”. He also pushed the Canadian Pacific Railway to open management ranks to Black workers. Grizzle went on to become a public service worker, politician, citizenship judge, and recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, who fought against anti-Black racism
Violet King Henry
In 1953, Violet King Henry became the first Black woman to become a lawyer in Canada and the first Black Canadian to obtain a law degree in Alberta. She was treasurer for a local labour union, the Calgary Brotherhood Council and was honoured by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (the first Black labour union to be recognized by the American Federation of Labour) for her achievements
James Calbert Best
James Calbert Best began work with the federal Department of Labour, specializing in the field of collective bargaining. In 1958, he was elected president of the Civil Service Association of Canada (CSAC). He remained president until CSAC merged with the Civil Service Federation. The union later evolved into the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), making him one of the founders of the largest federal public sector union in Canada. He was later appointed as Canada’s first Black ambassador.
Hugh Burnett
Hugh Burnett helped found the National Unity Association (NUA), made up of Black farmers and tradespeople who were tired of the racial discrimination they experienced in Dresden, Ontario. Burnett and the NUA lobbied the Ontario government to create anti-discrimination legislation which led to the enactment of the Fair Employment Practices Act in 1951 which forbid discrimination in employment.
Bromley Lloyd Armstrong
Bromley Lloyd Armstrong, a Canadian civil rights leader and labour activist, was best known for his part in the 1954 National Unity Association sit-ins in Dresden, Ontario. Activists like Bromley sat in Dresden restaurants while angry owners violently denied Black and other racialized patrons service. The sit-ins led to the racist restaurant owners being charged and convicted of discrimination, marking Canada’s first successful test of laws making discrimination illegal.
Leonard Braithwaite
In 1963, Leonard Braithwaite was the first Black Canadian elected to a provincial legislature. He served as the Liberal party critic for labour and welfare and often spoke out against the racial segregation of Ontario schools.
Janice Gairey
Janice Gairey, is the daughter of Desmond Davis, a pivotal member of the Black Sleeping Car Porters. In 1985, Janice Gairey became acting president of CUPE 1874. In 1995, Black Canadian labour activists founded the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists – Ontario chapter. In 2006, she became the first Canadian to be elected to Coalition of Black Trade Unionists international board. She was elected as president of CBTU-Ontario, and would become its longest serving president. Janice earned a reputation within CBTU International for bringing the largest delegations in the chapter’s history to their national conventions and for bringing forward some of the hardest-hitting resolutions.
Jan Simpson
Jan Simpson is the first Black woman to lead a national union in Canada. She became the national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in 2019, nearly 30 years after becoming a shop steward in her workplace. She fights for the rights of more than 50,000 CUPW members and mobilizes the membership to fight for equality and justice for all workers. Her involvement in the community has earned her the Urban Alliance on Race Relations 2019 Labour Award, and in 2020, she was selected as one of the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women by 100ABCWomen. Jan is also a member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
In Solidarity,
Allan Dobbs, Grievance Officer