09/07/2026
Black Labour in Canada: Building, Organizing and Breaking Barriers
When we talk about the people who built Canada, the contributions of Black workers must be part of the story.
Black labour has a long and often overlooked history in Canada that predates this country’s founding. Enslaved Black persons were forced to work in homes, businesses, farms and other institutions. After slavery was abolished in 1834 across most of the British Empire, Black workers continued to face limited opportunities, low wages and discrimination.
Yet Black workers refused to simply endure these barriers. They organized, challenged discrimination and helped change the Canadian labour movement for the benefit of all workers.
In 1917, Black railway porters in Winnipeg formed the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, creating their own union when established unions would not accept them. Two years later, their organization joined the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees and helped force the removal of its “Whites-only” clause.
Black workers continued to push for change in the decades that followed. Stanley Grizzle fought for the dignity and advancement of railway porters. Hugh Burnett and the National Unity Association challenged racial discrimination in employment, contributing to Ontario’s Fair Employment Practices Act in 1951. Trade unionist Bromley Lloyd Armstrong, who participated in these campaigns, helped transform human rights protections in Canada.
Black women also played an important role in Canada’s labour history. In the 1950s, thousands of women from the Caribbean came to Canada through the West Indian Domestic Scheme. Despite having professional qualifications prior to their arrival in this country, these women faced racial discrimination and were paid less than white domestic workers. After completing their contracts, many became leaders in various fields and contributed to the growth of Caribbean communities and culture in Canada.
In the decades that followed, Black Canadians continued to break barriers and take leadership roles in unions and the broader labour movement, including James Calbert Best, Violet King Henry, Janice Gairey, Marie Clarke Walker, Lynn Jones, Larry Rousseau and Jan Simpson.
Their stories remind us that Black labour history is about much more than the jobs Black people held. It is about the dignity they demanded, the barriers they challenged and the workplaces they helped transform.
And that work continues to this day.
Suggested reading:
https://psacunion.ca/moments-canadian-history-black-labour
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sleeping-car-porters-in-canada
https://blackhistoryottawa.org/domestic-projects/
