For the week of November 18, 2024.
On November 24, 1994, the Government of Canada recognized Black Railway Porters and their Union Activity as a national historic event. Between the 1880s and the 1960s, most railway porters in Canada were men of African descent. They were community leaders and founders of unions that helped advance the human rights and labour movements in Canada.
People of African descent faced racial discrimination and segregation within the Canadian workforce, which limited their job opportunities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many had few employment options and could only find low-waged work in dangerous industries. Canadian railways were expanding at the time and faced labour shortages. Men of African descent worked for the railways in construction, clearing land, and laying tracks. A few were switchmen, brakemen, and firemen. More often, they were segregated to poorly paid service jobs like portering, with few opportunities for advancement.
Many porters of African descent came to Canada from the United States and the Caribbean, often on a temporary basis. They lived alongside their Canadian counterparts in major railway hubs like Montréal, Winnipeg, Toronto, Halifax, Calgary, and Vancouver. By 1941, about 50 percent of all men of African descent in Montréal were porters. Many lived in the St. Antoine district (Little Burgundy), near the Windsor and Bonaventure train stations. The steady work and reliable income attracted some of the best-educated members of African Canadian communities. This helped build the prestige of railway porters, who became community leaders. The international origins of the porters and their travels across North America also facilitated the exchange of news and ideas that helped give rise to Black nationalism and Black consciousness movements.
Porters assisted travellers aboard sleeping and parlour cars. They kept passengers safe and took care of virtually all their needs. They greeted passengers, stowed baggage, prepared sleeping berths, cleaned the cars, cared for children, and provided tourist information. Working conditions were poor, the hours were very long, and porters were often away from home for days or weeks at a time. Canadian National Railway porters in 1927, for example, routinely travelled more than 10,000 kilometres a month.
Frustrated by these conditions and excluded from existing unions, porters of African descent started to organize. John A. Robinson of Winnipeg led the founding of the Order of Sleeping Car Porters in 1917–1918. By 1919, it had local chapters in Halifax, Montréal, Toronto, and Winnipeg. It was also a segregated auxiliary of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees, which then only accepted white members. By the 1940s, the U.S.-based Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters had more than 18,000 active members in Canada. Despite strong opposition from management, Black railway workers gradually secured better working conditions and wages, and helped end racial discrimination and segregation on Canadian railways.
