Estimated reading time: 15 minutes

Volunteerism has taken many forms in our history, and continues to evolve. For many Black people in Canada, volunteering has taken the form of fighting for human rights, advocating for equity, forging networks for mutual aid, and filling gaps in social services for Black communities, to highlight just a few.  Their stories are a part of Canada’s diverse history, as are the contributions of so many Black individuals that have been unjustly wiped from our historical records.

Read about 10 notable Black volunteers, advocates and community organizers who have helped shape Ontario and Toronto’s heritage below (Source: Government of Canada):

The Honourable Jean Augustine

Jean Augustine is a trailblazing politician, social activist, and educator. She was the first African-Canadian woman to be elected to the House of Commons, the first African-Canadian woman to be appointed to the federal Cabinet, and the first Fairness Commissioner of the Government of Ontario.

Born in 1937 in Happy Hill, Grenada, Augustine overcame personal and economic adversity from an early age to excel academically, and began her career as a teacher. After arriving in Canada in 1960, she advanced her education and career prospects, participated in grassroots organizations to strengthen minority and women’s rights, and served her community and the City of Toronto with great passion and charisma. Augustine carried her roots and convictions in community service, education, and advocacy as she entered politics in 1993 as a Member of Parliament. In 1995, her proposed motion before Parliament to recognize February as Black History Month passed unanimously, thereby establishing a lasting tradition of celebrating the important contributions of Black Canadians to Canada’s history, culture, development, and heritage.

Mary Bibb

Born a free person in Rhode Island, Mary Bibb became an abolitionist, teacher, dressmaker, activist and co-editor of the Voice of the Fugitive. In 1854, Mary Bibb also founded the Windsor Ladies Club, also referred to as the Mutual Improvement Society. Mary, along with her husband Henry, was also instrumental in managing the Refugee Home Society and distributing aid to incoming Underground Railroad travelers. They provided newcomers with food, clothing, housing, but also job training and protection from slave hunters. This was in addition to establishing a school for young people who were excluded from the local public school due to discrimination. It was in 2002 that Mary, along with her husband Henry, was recognized as a Person of National Historic Significance in Canada.

Lucie and Thornton Blackburn

Lucie and Thorton Blackburn, like many of the Underground Railroad refugees, headed for the towns and cities where they could find work and where they would help mould the character of their new homes.

The Blackburns were fugitives from Kentucky who escaped slavery and settled in Detroit. However, their former owner tracked them down there and tried to return them to slavery. In a highly publicized escape that left Detroit engulfed in riots, the Blackburns were able to make it to Canada. The Canadian Courts defended them against the threat of extradition. This was seen nationally and internationally as a symbol of Upper Canada’s role as a safe haven for Black refugees.

The Blackburns settled in Toronto and, in 1834, built their home on what are now the grounds of the old Sackville Street School. Thornton operated the first cab in the young city of Toronto. The Blackburns worked tirelessly in their new community for the abolition of slavery and to help other Underground Railroad refugees settle in Canada.

Dionne Brand

Dionne Brand is an accomplished poet, writer, filmmaker, educator and social activist. Born in Trinidad, Brand immigrated to Canada in 1970 and earned her BA in English and Philosophy at the University of Toronto and MA in the Philosophy of Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Brand has published poetry, fiction, essays, and other writings exploring themes of gender, race, sexuality and feminism, white male domination, injustices, and the “moral hypocrisies of Canada.” She has also taught and continues to teach literature, creative writing, and women’s studies at various universities across North America.

Brand’s political and social work includes chairing the Women’s Issues Committee of the Ontario Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, helping to organize the Black and Native Women’s Caucus of the International Women’s Day Coalition, working for Toronto’s Black Education Project, and serving on the board of the Shirley Samaroo House, a Toronto shelter for battered immigrant women. She has also worked as a counselor at the Immigrant Women’s Center and an Information Officer for the Caribbean Peoples’ Development Agencies.

Rosemary Brown

Rosemary Brown came to Canada from her native Jamaica in 1950 to attend McGill University in Montreal. First elected to the British Columbia legislature in 1972, she served until her retirement in 1986. She also ran for the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party in 1974.

A feminist and public advocate, Rosemary Brown dedicated her life to helping others. Over the years, she served her fellow citizens as the Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (from 1993 to 1996), and was a founding member of the Vancouver Status of Women Council and the Canadian Women’s Foundation. 

Senator Anne Clare Cools

Senator Anne Clare Cools was born in 1943 in Barbados, West Indies. She was educated at Queen’s College Girls School, Barbados, Montreal’s Thomas D’Arcy McGee High School, and McGill University, from which she holds a Bachelor of Arts.

Senator Cools is a Senator from Ontario. Recommended by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, she was summoned to the Senate in January 1984, becoming the first Black person in the Senate of Canada. Senator Cools was a social worker in innovative social services in Toronto. A pioneer in addressing domestic and family violence, in 1974 she founded one of Canada’s first women’s shelters, Women in Transition Inc., and was its Executive Director.

Afua Cooper

Afua Cooper is a distinguished and internationally recognized educator, historian, performance artist, and poet. In her poetry, she incorporates African rhythms and vibes of the Black diaspora which carry a strong sense of history and place, as well as an underlining feminist sensibility. Cooper is a founding member of the Toronto Dub Poets’ Collective, founder of the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA), and the third James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Dalhousie University.

Born in Jamaica to a family of nine children, Cooper immigrated to Canada in 1980 during a period of great political unrest in Jamaica. She proceeded to become one of the most influential and pioneering voices in the Canadian dub poetry and spoken word movement. She currently resides in Toronto, and teaches sociology at Ryerson University.

Kathleen “Kay” Livingstone

Kathleen “Kay” Livingstone (1918-1975) was born in London, Ontario, in 1918. During the Second World War, Kay Livingston worked at the Dominion Bureau of Statistics in Ottawa. It was in Ottawa that she began a career as a radio host with "The Kathleen Livingstone Show." In 1942, she married George Livingstone, and they moved to Toronto where they raised their children.

Livingstone worked to break down prejudice and promote equality of individuals of all origins and contributed to the development of a more tolerant society. She was deeply involved in expanding a collective awareness and pride in the Toronto Black community in the post-Second World War period. As well, she worked with the United Nations Association – Toronto Branch Women’s Auxiliary, the local YWCA Foreign Affairs Committee, the National Black Coalition of Canada, the Canadian Council of Churches, the Legal Aid Society, and Heritage Ontario.

Livingstone was a founder of the Canadian Negro Women’s Association (1951). An early Canadian Negro Women's Association (CANEWA) undertaking, and one which would continue throughout the group's existence, was the provision of scholarships to deserving Black students. Later activities included the organization of the Calypso Carnival (forerunner of the Caribana Festival) as a fundraiser for other service projects.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Born free in Delaware, Mary Ann Shadd became the first Black woman to publish a newspaper in North America when she established the Provincial Freeman. She was also a teacher, who established a racially integrated school for Black children in Windsor, in addition to writing educational pamphlets promoting settlement in Canada, including A Plea for Emigration; or Notes of Canada West which was written in 1852. Mary was also an activist for numerous causes including the abolition of slavery, temperance and education. She also became increasingly vocal about women’s rights, becoming a women's suffragist. Not only did she promote these issues in the Provincial Freeman, she also spoke about them on lecture tours.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman, a formerly enslaved individual from Maryland, became known as the “Moses” of her people and the “conductor” who led hundreds of enslaved Blacks to freedom along the Underground Railroad. In 1850, when the far-reaching United States Fugitive Law was passed, she guided runaway enslaved people further north into Canada. When angry slave owners posted rewards for her capture, she continued her work despite great personal risk.

St. Catharines, Ontario (a town close to the border with the United States) was on the route and offered employment opportunities, making it a common destination for the former fugitives, including Harriet Tubman, who lived there from 1851 to 1857. Many of the people she rescued were relatives of those already in St. Catharines including her own parents, brothers and sisters and their families.

Later, Harriet Tubman became a leader in the Abolitionist movement. During the Civil war she worked as a nurse and served as a spy for the Union forces in South Carolina.   

Read the biographies of more notable Black individuals who have helped shape Canadian heritage and identity here.