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CM . . .
. Volume VIII Number 18 . . . . May 10, 2002
Ray Lewis,
Fred Christy, Stanley Grizzle, Viola Desmond, Hugh Burnett and Donald
Willard Moore are not known names to many Canadians. Yet, if the same
Canadians were asked about Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks or Malcolm
X, they would likely be able to expound on their contributions to the
civil rights cause in the United States.
Journey to Justice looks at the
battle for civil rights in Canada and the role of some key players who
helped remove discriminatory laws and practices. Through interviews
and film footage of the time, the film shows what it meant to be Black
in a Canada which was not nearly as tolerant as we would like to believe.
Ray Lewis, a third generation Black Canadian
and the first to win a medal at the 1932 Olympics, found that when he
returned to Canada, despite his success, he was not allowed to be a
coach and had to be satisfied working as a Pullman porter, the job he
held before the Olympics. Footage of a Ku Klux Klan meeting on Hamilton
Mountain shows that the only difference between the U.S. Klan and our
own was the Maple Leaf on the Canadian Klansman's robe. These gatherings
took place in Ray Lewis' home town.
Fred Christy, denied service at a bar
in Montreal, took his case for fairness to the Supreme Court which ruled
against him. This decision made it perfectly legal to deny service to
minorities in Canada.
While Black soldiers, in segregated units,
served the Canadian army with distinction in World War I, they were
not allowed to enlist at the outbreak of World War II. When conscription
finally opened the door, they found that they were treated with little
or no respect. Stanley Grizzle, who was married just before he was to
go overseas, was denied access to three hotels. The couple spent their
wedding night with relatives. In Europe, he was assigned to be a batman,
shining his officer's shoes, cleaning his clothes and tidying his tent.
When he refused this duty, he was assigned to clean latrines for two
weeks. At this point, he went on strike and took his complaint up the
chain of command. He won, and, while he was able to serve with distinction,
he found that little had changed upon his return to Canada.
Viola Desmond, a very successful businesswoman,
went to a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, to kill some time
while her car was being repaired. When she chose to sit downstairs,
the manager ordered her to sit in the balcony which was designated for
Black patrons. Her refusal resulted in a call to the police and the
officer and theatre manager physically dragging her from the theatre
and into jail. A campaign was mounted to fight her conviction, but she
lost.
In 1945, the Pullman Porters, after years
of clandestine work, managed to organize and form a union. While the
union gave the workers a voice for better wages and working conditions,
it also gave the Black society a voice with which to speak out against
many of the abuses of the day. They honed their political skills and
were able to work at challenging the colour barrier.
Hugh Burnette returned home to Dresden,
Ontario after the war. When he took two white American friends to a
local restaurant, he was denied service, but the Americans were not.
With some friends, he helped form the National Unity Association to
fight this kind of discrimination. In 1947, they pressured the Dresden
town council to enact an equality by-law. This by-law went to the voters
in a referendum where the people sided with the restaurant owner. Other
minorities joined in the fight and brought their case to the Ontario
legislature where Premier Leslie Frost took up their cause and cared
little that he did not have the support of his cabinet. Discrimination
in housing and employment became illegal in Ontario in the early 1950's.
However, to test the law, two Black patrons returned to the restaurant
in Dresden and again were refused service. The restaurant owner was
fined $50 but won it back on appeal. Two more similar tests finally
brought about a change in the restaurant's policy towards minorities.
While Burnette was vindicated, no one in town wanted to hire him as
a carpenter and his business failed.
Donald Willard Moore, a Black immigrant
to Canada, fought for 30 years for a change in the Canadian government's
policy towards accepting minorities. In 1954, he planned to challenge
the Immigration minister directly and was backed by the Negro Citizenship
Association, the Canadian Labour Congress, religious groups and twenty
other Canadian organizations. In 1962, Ottawa finally struck down the
immigration ruling which used racial origin as exclusionary, and, by
that action, changed the face of Canadian society.
Journey to Justice is a "must-see"
for all Canadians. These people and others featured in the film should
be celebrated for their contribution to the fight for racial equality.
While Canadians might be proud that much of this action was done well
before the American civil rights movement, the film makes it clear that
our own history regarding the treatment of minorities has been less
than noble.
Highly recommended. Frank
Loreto is the teacher-librarian at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School
in Brampton, ON.
To comment on this
title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal
use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other
reproduction is prohibited without permission.
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