Canadian Railway porters were drawn from every segment of Black communities in Canada and abroad. As a result, porters reflected the characteristics of the breadth of Black life in their personal lives.
Porters had their individual ambitions, tastes, values, and ways of thinking. What united these diverse individuals was their job as porters and that for Black men, working as porters was the only employment readily available to them. They were united in the fight to change these circumstances. Out of the wide array of characters that worked on the “roads,” there were many notable porters that stand out for leading the fight for change and for citizenship rights for Black and other peoples of colour.
Keep scrolling to meet some of the porters who played crucial roles in this movement.
Today, the porters’ advocacy and activism continues to influence Canadian society and our city. Their impact on our labour, immigration, and multiculturalism policies has shifted our country, and set the stage for a Toronto that is now recognised as one of the most multicultural and multiracial cities in the world. This is a part of Musem of Toronto’s award-winning digital exhibition, Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada.