Bromley Armstrong Made it His Mission to Right the Wrongs

By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: Eddie Grant      Bromley Armstrong presents the Bromley L. Armstrong award, initiated by the Toronto &York Region Labour Council, to retired trade unionist, Herman Stewart, on May 30, 2014 in Toronto.

Bromley Lloyd Armstrong was fearless, outspoken and a strong fighter against injustice and racial discrimination.

The veteran civil rights and human rights leader, community organizer and trade unionist passed away peacefully at Centenary Hospital in Scarborough, Ontario on August 17, 2018 at the age of 92.

Growing up in Jamaica in the 1930s, he considered trade unionist, Alexander Bustamante, who later became Jamaica’s first prime minister in 1962 “a role model and hero of mine.”

“When I left school and went to work for R. Hanna and Sons, I did everything possible to emulate “Busta,” as he was called, by trying to effectively represent the interests of the thirty-five workers in my department,” says Armstrong in his autobiography “Bromley: Tireless Champion for Just Causes” written with Sheldon Taylor.

That concern for the working class would underpin his early involvement in the labour movement after he left Jamaica for Canada in December 1947, starting with his first job as a factory worker at Massey Harris (later named Massey Ferguson), a multinational corporation.

He was concerned about the poor working conditions there and became active in the United Auto Workers Union, Local 439 from 1948-1956, and was a member of the Toronto and District Labour Council from 1949-1956.

“Bromley Armstrong was a dedicated civil rights activist who fought not just for his fellow Jamaican-Canadians but for everybody who was discriminated against because of race,” says Ruth Lor Malloy whose work with Armstrong is documented in the National Film Board of Canada film, “Journey to Justice,” directed by Roger McTair and “Welcome to Dresden, a film directed by Esery Mondesir.

“I had the honour to work with him in 1954 on the Dresden restaurant discrimination cases, along with Hugh Burnett, and the Joint Labour Committee on Human Rights. He was very bitter about the racial slurs he experienced in Canada but instead of just feeling sorry for himself, he made it his mission to right the wrongs. He will be sorely missed,” she said.

Their efforts tested the effectiveness of the Fair Accommodations Practices Act passed by the Leslie Frost government in 1954. They were keenly interested in Chapter 28, section 2 and 6 which stated that: "No persons shall deny to any person or class of persons the accommodation, services, or facilities available in any place to which the public is customarily admitted because of the race, creed, colour, nationality, ancestry, or place of origin of such person or class of persons."

Speaking of their test of the law, Lor Malloy said: "Our group did some testing and as a result of our test and a later one we did, the restaurant owner was fined."

Photo contributed 

Alan Borovoy, Ruth Lor and Bromley Armstrong on June 15, 2012 at a meeting of the Ontario Human Rights Commission which marked the 50^th anniversary of the passage of the Ontario Human Rights Code. The Ontario Human Rights Commission was established in 1961 as the successor to the Ontario Anti-Discrimination Commission (established 1958). Borovoy was the Canadian lawyer and human rights activist best known as the longtime general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).

Armstrong was born in Kingston, Jamaica on February 9, 1926 – the fourth of seven children to Eric Vernon and Edith Miriam Armstrong (nee Heron).

He became the youngest member of the Negro Citizenship Committee in 1951 which organized a delegation, led by community stalwart, Donald Moore, to Ottawa in 1954 to urge the federal government to change Canada’s immigration policy which discriminated against people of colour.

June Veecock, a retired director of human rights at the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), says Armstrong made the greatest contribution in fighting racial injustice, starting at Massey Ferguson working with trade unionist, Dennis McDermott.

She said although Armstrong left the labour movement many years ago he maintained that spirit of activism fighting injustice.

“I would say that Bromley had my back while I was in that position because it wasn’t easy. We were trying to get our affiliates to come onboard with OFL policies against racial discrimination – discrimination of all forms.”

Veecock said she could always rely on Armstrong to give her a historical perspective in terms of the early efforts of the labour movement in fighting racism and discrimination.

She was honoured to be the first recipient of the Bromley L. Armstrong Award established by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council in 2004 to “commemorate

the courage, dedication and outstanding service of Bromley L. Armstrong to the

Labour and Human Rights Movement in Canada.”

Herman Stewart, a former president of the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) and a retired trade unionist, and Marie Clarke Walker, secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress, have also been recipients of the award.

“I got involved in the Black community in Canada because of Bromley,” says Stewart noting that his first encounter with Armstrong was back in 1981.

Stewart was appearing before the Ontario Labour Relations Board as a union organizer and Armstrong was a member of the tribunal hearing the case.

As soon as the meeting was adjourned for lunch, the elder trade unionist went over to talk with Stewart.

He did two things which typified the kind of man he was, said Stewart. “The first thing he said to me was, “It’s good to see you because there’s so few of you in leadership in union. I’m going to get you a list of the others and you guys must keep in touch, call them up, go meet for lunch because we need more of you in the labour movement.”

The second thing was that he needed people like Stewart to get involved in the community and the best way to do that was to join the JCA.

Armstrong, one of founders of the JCA in 1962, served as its third president from 1971-1972.

Stewart was a bit hesitant because he was involved in the New Democratic Party (NDP) and in the labour movement, but Armstrong pointed out to him that he was not doing anything directly with the community.

“He said we need that kind of voice that you have, meaning on the left, to balance things at the JCA and his argument was so powerful that I joined.”

Stewart said he quickly looked to Armstrong as his role model and mentor because he stood for things that he strongly believed in, such as social justice and “calling a spade a spade and not being afraid to rock the boat” thus becoming a “champion of the working class.”

He said Armstrong knew that his life might be in danger when he went to Dresden, “where they wouldn’t let black people sit in the restaurants” and he challenged them.

“When people could not rent apartments in Toronto, Bromley with the help of the Labour Council of Toronto went out and he challenged them. He exposed them and those are characteristics that showed me the type of person he was and I gravitated to him.”

Stewart continued: “Our community is richer for him because today we can go in any restaurant to eat, if we have the money. We can go and rent any apartment if we want. Back in 1947 when Bromley came here they had parks downtown that had signs that said ‘No Blacks Allowed.’ Today, we can go in any park and sit down and relax. We did not have any human rights when Bromley started on this journey and today we have human rights. Whether it was human rights, whether it was accommodation, whether it was immigration, he was always there.”

He said Armstrong’s legacy has to be cherished. “Every time we think about all the things that have changed for the better in Toronto we have to associate that with his name because he was a leading voice.”

Armstrong helped establish the umbrella organization, the National Council of Jamaicans in Ontario, which eventually expanded to the National Council of Jamaicans and Supportive Organizations to include other Caribbean nationals. He served as its first president in 1986.

“He pushed for the credit union that the JCA had because he thought that financial independence would empower our community. He was very disappointed when we lost that and that was one of his hopes – that we would some day get that credit union back up.”

Photo credit: Eddie Grant   Bromley Armstrong presents the Bromley L. Armstrong award to the 2014 recipient, Herman Stewart, accompanied by Marie Clarke Walker, left, and June Veecock -- both have been recipients of the annual award.

Clarke Walker describes this moment as bittersweet -- “It’s bitter, obviously, because we all want our mentors, our icons to be around forever.”

She says Armstrong was someone she would take advice from because he knew the movement and knew her from the time she came to Canada.

“He was somebody I trusted. Why I say bittersweet is because everything that’s happening right now with 45[Donald Trump], the rise of the alt-right, the rise of hate, the rise of discrimination…he worked so hard to combat all of that and to see it now rearing its ugly head in the way that it is, I don’t think that he would want to be around to see,” she notes, indicating that after the stroke he suffered a few years ago she thinks he’s in a better place.

She said Armstrong’s public persona was the same as he was personally – he was kind, gentle and thoughtful.

“He talked about racism, discrimination out in the public; he talked about those things at home as well.”

She said after the stroke she went to visit him with her mother, veteran trade unionist Beverley Johnson, and although it was difficult for him to talk at times “he spent the entire visit talking about politics, politics of the trade union movement, politics of the country – that was his joy, that was his love and that was his passion.”

Clarke Walker said Armstrong read the newspaper everyday and if anyone called and asked for advice he would give it to them.

She said he never stopped talking about how proud he was of members of the community that spoke out and spoke up and that continued to challenge around racism and discrimination.

The CLC secretary-treasurer said one of the reasons she was able to get through the issues she faced in the labour movement was because of Armstrong who alongside another trade union leader Fred Upshaw constantly told her that they were proud of her efforts. They also provided her with constructive criticism.

“I think in the last couple of years we’ve lost a number of people in the Black community who truly believe in justice and were not about themselves.”

Lascelles ‘Al Peabody’ Small, a longtime friend, describes Armstrong as a pioneer who fought to get black people employed as operators of Toronto Transit Commission vehicles, not just as cleaners of the lines.

“A lot of things he fought for, he was respected on Bathurst Street; he was respected on Eglinton Avenue. He was highly respected.”

Small noted that Armstrong, then a commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, played a leading role in the demonstration held outside city hall in August 1978 after Nova Scotia-born Buddy Evans was fatally shot by a police officer at the Flying Disco Tavern in Toronto.

“I arrived at the Toronto city hall at 9: 00 a.m. along with Contrast newspaper publisher, Al Hamilton, entrepreneur Denham Jolly, and a few others. We joined those who had assembled. They were mostly young people, and together we marched around city hall,” writes Armstrong in his autobiography.

Photo credit: Francine Buchner       Karen Richards of TD Canada Trust presents the Lifetime Achievement Award to Bromley Armstrong at the 29th BBPA Harry Jerome Awards on April 30, 2011.

The community stalwart was a founder or founding member of numerous organizations, including the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, Black Business and Professional Association, and the first Caribbean Soccer Club.

He also sat on many boards and committees, including the Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Race Relations, Canadian Centre for Ethics and Corporate Affairs, the Gleaner Company (NA) Inc. and JN Money Services (Canada).

Armstrong was also the publisher of the Islander newspaper from 1973-1977 which chronicled “events affecting the various solitudes making up Canada’s 1970s’ Black community.”

In 1994, he was invested with the Order of Canada; in 1992, the Order of Ontario; and in 1983, the Order of Distinction, Jamaica.

Photo contributed   R. Roy McMurtry, chancellor of York University and Rhonda Lenton,  president and vice-chancellor pose with Bromley Armstrong who was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws on June 11, 2013.

On June 11, 2013, Armstrong received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from York University for his demonstrated dedication, passion and lifelong commitment to the battle against racism.

The longtime resident of Pickering, Ontario is survived by his wife, Marlene, his best friend for forty-seven years.

He was father to children, Lana, Linda (predeceased), Everald (Ada), Malcolm, Kevin (Andrea), Bromley Jr. (Jay), Anita, Desmond (Alice), brother to Monica (Frankie), grandfather to eighteen grandchildren, great-grandfather to seventeen great grandchildren, uncle and great-uncle to many nieces and nephews and a great friend to many.

Visitation will be on Tuesday, August 28, 4:00-8:00 p.m. at McEachnie Funeral Home, 28 Old Kingston Road in Ajax, Ontario.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 796 Eyer Drive in Pickering, Ontario. Interment will follow from 12:30-12:45 p.m. at the Erskine Cemetery, North Corners of Fairport Road and Finch Avenue in Pickering.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to P.A.C.E. Canada (pacecanada.org/donate).

Photo credit: Francine Buchner 

Labour and human rights leader, Bromley Armstrong with then secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress, Yussuff Hassan, recipient of the Bromley Armstrong award.  

Photo contributed

Bromley Armstrong and Ruth Lor in Dresden, Ontario at Uncle Tom's Cabin Heritage Site. They are with Steven Cook of the Heritage  Trust there.

Photo credit: Francine Buchner

Paul Barnett, entrepreneur and Bromley Armstrong, human rights activist at the launch of the Jamaica 50th Anniversary coffee table book  “Jamaicans in Canada - When Ackee Meets Codfish” on April 12, 2012 at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said the efforts of Armstrong, Lor Malloy, Hugh Burnett and the Joint Labour Committee on Human Rights resulted in the passing of the Fair Accommodations Practices Act. The law was actually passed earlier in 1954 but had never been tested. They tested it and won in the courts.

[A special feature on Bromley Armstrong has been published in the North American Weekly Gleaner, Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 2018.]