Statecraft & Independence
Landmark
Stanley Grizzle
1918 – 2016
Sleeping car porter, union organiser, and Canada's first Black citizenship judge
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Canada Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
He worked the trains as a sleeping car porter — one of the few jobs open to a Black man in Canada — organised the porters into a union that could fight, and was later made a citizenship judge, the first Black Canadian appointed.
Stanley George Grizzle was born in Toronto in 1918 to Jamaican parents and worked as a sleeping car porter on the Canadian Pacific Railway, then one of the very few occupations open to Black men in Canada regardless of their education.
He served in the Second World War, and on returning became a leading organiser in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, campaigning against the colour bar in employment and immigration. Pierre Trudeau appointed him a judge of the Court of Canadian Citizenship — the first Black Canadian to hold the office. He was made a member of the Order of Canada and received the Order of Ontario in 1990 from Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander.
He served in the Second World War, and on returning became a leading organiser in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, campaigning against the colour bar in employment and immigration. Pierre Trudeau appointed him a judge of the Court of Canadian Citizenship — the first Black Canadian to hold the office. He was made a member of the Order of Canada and received the Order of Ontario in 1990 from Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander.
- The Canadian Encyclopedia — Stanley G. Grizzle
- BlackPast — Stanley G. Grizzle (1918– )
- CBC News — Stanley Grizzle, Black WWII veteran, devoted life to fighting racism
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