Guelph

The City of Guelph has had a Black community since its early beginnings.

It reached its largest population, in proportion to the population of Guelph, in 1881. The Black community in 1881 was very distinct, with over two-thirds of Blacks listed in the City Directory living in the Nottingham/Essex Streets area.

The Black community prospered between 1861 and 1881. Blacks established a church, businesses and social institutions. According to the 1861 census, the occupations for Blacks in Guelph included gun smith, labourer, barber, servant, domestic and hair dresser. By 1871, the occupations expanded to include charwoman, whitewasher and minister. By 1881 the range of occupations for Blacks was much more extensive. In addition to those jobs already mentioned, the census listed Blacks who were clothing cutters, basket makers, butchers, charcoal burners, dressmakers, stone cutters and grocers.

More Recent History

In the 1960s, the Diefenbaker government adopted a Bill of Rights that banned discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex and national origin. This soon led to a change in immigration regulations. Canada's Black population quickly doubled, with most immigration coming from the Caribbean. A number of Caribbean immigrants who moved to Guelph or Wellington County had originally immigrated to larger cities in Canada. The University of Guelph has also attracted academics from the West Indies and Caribbean. For example, Dr. Richard Phidd from Jamaica is currently a political science professor and Dr. Adams from Trinidad is a retired language and music professor.

Leon Rodney, for example, came to Canada from the West Indies in the summer of 1964. He was a literature evangelist who traveled across Western Canada. He spent most of his summers from 1964-1968 in Alberta. From 1964 to 1968 he attended King's College in Oshawa and worked in Toronto. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1971 and was married the same year. Leon's family lived in different parts of Southern Ontario, eventually moving to Guelph in 1979 to go back to school at the University of Guelph. He has lived in Guelph ever since.