Hugh Burnett
Hugh Burnett was a prominent civil rights activist born on July 14, 1918, in Dresden, Ontario, a community with deep historical ties to the Underground Railroad. Raised in a predominantly Black community that faced systemic racism and segregation, Burnett's early experiences of discrimination, including a refusal of service despite wearing a military uniform during World War II, fueled his commitment to fight for racial equality. In 1948, he co-founded the National Unity Association (NUA) to combat local racism and advocate for anti-discrimination laws.
Burnett played a crucial role in campaigning for the 1951 Fair Employment Practices Act and the 1954 Fair Accommodation Practices Act, which prohibited discrimination in employment and public spaces in Ontario, respectively. Despite facing backlash and boycotts against his carpentry business, he persistently pushed for civil rights, leading successful sit-ins that ultimately integrated local restaurants. His activism contributed to broader changes, inspiring future civil rights efforts in Canada, which culminated in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. Burnett passed away in 1991, leaving a legacy recognized by a historical plaque in Dresden in 2010.
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Subject Terms
Hugh Burnett
Carpenter, activist
- Born: July 14, 1918
- Birthplace: Dresden, Ontario, Canada
- Died: September 29, 1991
- Place of death: London, Ontario, Canada
Significance: Hugh Burnett was a Black civil rights activist who was instrumental in bringing about anti-discrimination legislation in 1950s Ontario, Canada. He was a prime force in organizing the National Unity Association (NUA), a group of community members who worked for civil rights in Southern Ontario.
Background
Hugh Burnett was born on July 14, 1918, in Dresden, Canada, a rural area in southwestern Ontario. His parents, Robert and Myrtle, were descended from formerly enslaved people from the United States. Dresden was one of the key entry points into Canada along the Underground Railroad, a clandestine network of people who ferried escaped enslaved people from the Southern United States to freedom in Canada during the mid-nineteenth century. As more escaped enslaved people arrived in Canada, many settled near Dresden, which had a large Black community by the twentieth century.
As Burnett was growing up, Black and White people lived side-by-side in the Dresden area and attended the same schools. However, the Black population remained separated by a wall of racism within the community. Every business and public space in the community, except schools and the Catholic church, was segregated. When Burnett was sixteen, he stopped to help a White motorist who had run out of gas. The man was grateful and offered to buy Burnett lunch, but they were refused service at a local restaurant because of Burnett’s skin color. The incident stuck with him, and he resolved to do something to combat racism within the community.
Life’s Work
During World War II (1939–1945), Burnett enlisted in the Canadian Army before later being discharged for medical reasons. He had been living and working in Windsor, Ontario, and returned to Dresden in 1943 to visit family. Despite wearing his military uniform, Burnett was still refused service when he attempted to eat at a restaurant. Angered, he wrote a letter to Canada’s minister of justice, who bluntly replied that the nation did not have any law against racial discrimination.
In 1948, Burnett moved back to Dresden to join his uncles, William, Percy and Bernard Carter, who were trying to organize a community group to fight racism. Together with local Black farmers and tradespeople from the Dresden area, they formed the National Unity Association (NUA). Burnett established a carpentry business in the region and stepped up to become the NUA’s secretary and chief spokesperson.
The NUA petitioned the town’s council to pass an anti-discrimination law, but the council only reluctantly agreed to put the issue on the ballot. It marked the first time in Canada the issue of legal discrimination was left up to voters to decide and brought nationwide media attention to the NUA in Dresden. However, the measure failed at the polls by a five-to-one margin.
In the 1950s, Burnett and the NUA joined with other civil rights groups to push for an end to discrimination in the province of Ontario. The efforts succeeded with the 1951 Fair Employment Practices Act, which banned discriminatory hiring in the workplace. However, the measure did not address discrimination in public places, which remained a major problem in Dresden.
In 1954, Burnett spearheaded the NUA’s attempt to pass more comprehensive anti-discrimination laws in the province. That March, he spoke before Premier Leslie Frost and his cabinet on this. Media reports from the time say that Frost was impressed and emotionally moved by Burnett’s testimony. By June, Ontario’s legislature had passed the Fair Accommodation Practices Act, which banned discrimination in public places and housing.
Impact
Despite the new law, several restaurants in Dresden still refused to serve Black customers. Burnett and NUA members responded by staging sit-ins at the restaurants and reporting their violations to the government. Although the provincial movement was hesitant to prosecute the restaurant owners, Burnett and the NUA kept up their efforts to bring media attention to the problem. By 1956, after a landmark court victory against one restaurant owner, community reluctance to the new law had worn down, and Black customers were served at all the community’s restaurants for the first time.
Burnett’s battle for civil rights in Ontario inspired further efforts to bring about national anti-discrimination laws. The nation’s civil rights laws were codified in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms passed in 1982 when Canada overhauled its constitution to separate from the power of Great Britain.
After his success with the passage of the laws, Burnett’s carpentry business suffered as White customers boycotted him. In 1956, Burnett was forced to move to London, Ontario. There, he stayed out of the spotlight and continued to work as a carpenter and at other jobs. He died in 1991 at the age of seventy-three. In 2010, the province of Ontario placed a historical plaque in downtown Dresden noting Burnett’s role in forming the NUA and its quest for civil rights.
Personal Life
Burnett and his wife, Beatrice, had a daughter, Patricia. During the 1950s, in the wake of Burnett’s activism, the family often faced death threats. They were even against Patricia, who was a young girl at the time.
Bibliography
“Hugh Burnett: Shaping Civil Rights in Canada.” The Current. CBC Radio, 2 Apr. 2013, www.cbc.ca/player/play/2396782907. Accessed 27 June 2023.
Macnab, Maddy. “Hugh Burnett.” Canadian Encyclopedia, 19 Apr. 2018, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hugh-burnett. Accessed 27 June 2023.
“Hugh Burnett and the National Unity Association.” Ontario Heritage Trust, 2010, www.heritagetrust.on.ca/pages/programs/provincial-plaque-program/provincial-plaque-background-papers/hugh-burnett-and-the-nua. Accessed 27 June 2023.
“Hugh Burnett and the National Unity Association.” Ontario’s Historical Plaques, May 2011, www.ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque‗ChathamKent34.html. Accessed 27 June 2023.
Cooper, John. Season of Rage: Hugh Burnett and the Struggle for Civil Rights. Tundra Books, 2005.