George Elliott Clarke, Canada’s poet laureate, on the importance of sports in the lives of black Canadians
A few years back I came upon one of those historical footnotes that gets you thinking: after Abraham Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865, as he lay dying in a boarding house across the street from the Ford Theater, one of the small group that watched over him was Dr. Anderson Abbott, Canada’s first black physician.
A special reception was held on the Hill to mark the beginning of Black History Month. This year marked the 150th anniversary of William Hall receiving the Victoria Cross. He was the first black person, first Nova Scotian, and first Canadian sailor to receive the award. A special stamp was unveiled to honour Hall.
In 1986, many Black Canadians reported that they struggled to assess how far they have come—and how much farther they have to go
Austin Clarke’s 1963 essay in Maclean’s reveals ‘how Canada looks from across the colour-line we like to say doesn’t exist’