Here's why Canada doesn't have a Caribbean province
In the latest episode of The Secret Life of Canada, co-hosts Leah Simone-Bowen and Falen Johnson look at the historic connection between Canada and a number of islands and countries that make up the Caribbean.
Where in Canada can you spot dolphins, palm trees and beach parties in February?
In an alternate universe, the answer is Jamaica — one of a select few Caribbean islands that might have become Canadian provinces if history had unfolded a bit differently.
In the latest episode of The Secret Life of Canada, co-hosts Leah Simone-Bowen and Falen Johnson look at the historic connection between Canada and a number of islands and countries that make up the Caribbean.
In a wide-ranging episode, they revisit the early history of "West Indian" migration to Canada, explain why the Canadian railways relied on Caribbean manpower and connect the dots between a fleet of Sleeping Car Porters and a bustling black labour movement.
What you'll hear this episode
- When and why people from the Caribbean started coming to Canada.
- Canada's discriminatory policies toward black people from the region.
- How Jamaica, Barbados and The Bahamas almost became provinces of Canada, and who was for and against the idea.
- How Rihanna and Leah Simone-Bowen are related, or not. (Spoiler: Leah's working really hard to establish that link.)
- The story of Sleeping Car Porters, their history-chronicling spouses and their battle with CP Rail to form a union.
- How Winnipeg became a hub of the black labour movement
- How today's labour and immigration policies are still impacting people from the Caribbean.
References
- Interview with Sarah-Jane (Saje) Mathieu, assistant professor of history at the University of Minnesota.
- North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955. Book by Sarah-Jane Mathieu.
- Interview with Christopher Stuart Taylor, a historian and teacher at the Department of History at the University of Waterloo.
- Flying Fish in the Great White North: The Autonomous Migration of Black Barbadians. Book by Christopher Stuart Taylor.
- They Call Me George: The Untold Story of The Black Train Porters. Book by Cecil Foster.
- Passport to the Heart: Reflections on Canada Caribbean relations. Book by Trevor A. Carmichael.
- The West Indians in Canada. Book by James W. St. G. Walker.
- Caribbean Immigrants in Canada. Book by Julie Kentner.
- Tomorrow We're All Going to the Harvest: Temporary Foreign Worker Programs and Neoliberal Political Economy. Book by Leigh Binford.
- Caribbean immigrants: a socio-demographic profile by Wolseley W. Anderson
- Jamaica in the Canadian Experience: A Multiculturalizing Presence. A collection edited by Carl E. James and Andrea Davis.
- 'Only my hands are in Canada': A migrant worker's May Day wish. Essay by Gabriel Allahdua.