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Black Canadians, numbering 147,100, make up 9.1% of Montreal's population and are the largest visible minority group in the city. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though the population also consists of African American immigrants and their descendants (including Black Nova Scotians), as well as many African immigrants.
Contents
Demographics
List of census subdivisions in the Montreal area with Black populations higher than the national average Source: Canada 2011 Census
One of the most famous Black-dominated urban neighbourhoods in Montreal is Little Burgundy, regarded as the spiritual home of Canadian jazz due to its association with many of Canada's most influential early jazz musicians. In present-day Montreal, Little Burgundy and the boroughs of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, LaSalle, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, and Montréal-Nord have large Black populations, the latter of which has a large Haitian population.
History
The first recorded black person to set foot on land now known as Canada was a free man named Mathieu de Costa. Travelling with navigator Samuel de Champlain, de Costa arrived in Nova Scotia some time between 1603 and 1608 as a translator for the French explorer Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts. The first known black person to live in what would become Canada was a slave from Madagascar named Olivier Le Jeune, who may have been of partial Malay ancestry. As a group, black people arrived in Canada in several waves. The first of these came as free persons serving in the French Army and Navy, though some were enslaved or indentured servants.
An enslaved woman, Marie-Joseph Angélique was tried and convicted of setting fire to her owner's home, burning much of what is now referred to as Old Montreal in 1734.
Many of Canada's railway porters were recruited from the U.S., with many coming from the South, New York City, and Washington, D.C. They settled mainly in the major cities of Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, which had major rail connections. In Montreal, they settled primarily in the Little Burgundy neighbourhood. The railroads were considered to have good positions, with steady work and a chance to travel.
To combat poverty and social exclusion, the nascent black community of Little Burgundy founded numerous social organizations: the Women’s Coloured Club of Montreal in 1902, the Union United Congregational Church in 1907, and the Negro Community Center in 1927.
The neighbourhood became famous for producing several talented jazz musicians. During Prohibition and the later pre-Jean Drapeau years as an 'open city,' Little Burgundy was home to many lively nightclubs featuring homegrown and international performers; one of them was Rockhead's Paradise, owned by Rufus Rockhead, after whom a street is named. Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones are the two best-known musicians who emerged from the bebop and post-bop era.
In 1968 the Sir George Williams affair occurred as a result of racist policies at Sir George Williams University.
West Indian women, from both the Francophone and Anglophone Caribbean, came to Montreal after the Domestic Immigration Program of 1955 was established. Most settled in Little Burgundy.
Canada maintained its restrictions of immigration until 1962, when racial rules were eliminated from the immigration laws. This coincided with the dissolution of the British Empire in the Caribbean. Over the next decades, several hundred thousand Afro-Caribbeans came from that region, becoming the predominant black population in Canada. Since then, an increasing number of new immigrants from Africa have been coming to Canada; they have also immigrated to the United States and Europe. This includes large numbers of refugees, but also many skilled and professional workers pursuing better economic conditions. Today's Black Canadians are largely of Caribbean origin, with some of recent African origin, and smaller numbers from the United States, Europe and Latin America.
Montreal's Haitian community of 100,000 people is the largest in Canada. Large percentages of Haitians live in Montréal-Nord, Saint-Michel and R.D.P. Today, Haitian Creole is the sixth most spoken language in Montreal and the seventh most spoken language in the province of Quebec.
Culture
Carifiesta (French: Carifête) is an annual Caribbean Carnival held in Montreal. The festival incorporates the diversities that exist among the Canadians of African and Caribbean descent.
The Montreal Black Film Festival is held annually.
Black Canadians have had a major influence on Canadian music, helping pioneer many genres including Canadian hip hop, Canadian blues, Canadian jazz, R&B, Caribbean music, pop music and classical music. Some of the earliest musical influences include Oliver Jones, Oscar Peterson and Charlie Biddle.
Because the visibility of distinctively Black Canadian cultural output is still a relatively recent phenomenon, academic, critical and sociological analysis of Black Canadian literature, music, television and film tends to focus on the ways in which cultural creators are actively engaging the process of creating a cultural space for themselves which is distinct from both mainstream Canadian culture and African American culture. For example, most of the Black-themed television series which have been produced in Canada to date have been ensemble cast comedy or drama series centred around the creation and/or expansion of a Black-oriented cultural or community institution.
Institutions
Media
The Community Contact is a newspaper serving Montreal’s Black and Caribbean Community. Black Wealth Matters is a web series addressing issues in the community.