Stanley G. Grizzle

Judge, civil rights activist, porter, soldier

• Born: November 18, 1918
• Birthplace: Toronto, Canada
• Died: November 12, 2016
• Place of death: Toronto, Canada

Also known as: Stanley George Sinclair Grizzle

Significance: Stanley G. Grizzle was a Canadian porter, soldier, judge, and civil rights activist. He fought for better conditions for Black porters during his twenty-year career with the Canadian Pacific Railway. He went on to serve as the first Black Canadian in the Ontario Ministry of Labour as well as the first Black citizenship judge.

Background

Stanley Grizzle was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1918 to Theodore and Mary Sinclair Grizzle. He had three sisters and three brothers. Grizzle’s parents immigrated separately to Canada from Jamaica in 1911. His mother was a domestic worker while his father found work as a chef for the Grand Trunk Railway. The two met in Toronto and married. Grizzle’s father also established a successful taxi company but struggled during the Great Depression.

As a boy, Grizzle listened to jazz music, participated in church and community activities, and played sports at local clubs. He was also exposed to the realities of racism during his childhood. His parents had wanted him to continue his studies after high school, but did not have the money to send Grizzle or his siblings to university.

Life’s Work

In 1938, Grizzle began his fight for the rights of Black Canadians by helping to found the Young Men’s Negro Association of Toronto. In June 1940, he began working as a sleeping car porter for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in order to help support his family financially. This was one of the few jobs that was hiring Black men at that time. He started out as an “extra,” meaning he filled in for porters who were on sick leave. His duties included making beds, cleaning toilets, and shining shoes. Many White passengers would call Black porters “George” or “boy” instead of their real names. The name George was a nod to George Pullman, who was the inventor of the sleeping car. This was considered demeaning to many porters. In 1945, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) negotiated with the railroad to get every porter plastic name cards to encourage passengers to call them by their real names.

Grizzle began serving in the Canadian army in 1942 during World War II (1939–1945). He was bothered by the fact that Canada was fighting for democracy in Europe while Black Canadians still lacked equality at home. He served in England and was assigned to shine shoes and tidy officers’ quarters, but he found this work demeaning and refused to do it. He was punished with latrine duty and went on strike. After making his statement, he was reassigned and promoted to corporal. He also served in Holland as a medic. In February 1946, Grizzle returned to Canada and was discharged from the army.

He returned to working as a porter and was elected as president of the Toronto CPR division of the BSCP in 1946. Grizzle became a key spokesperson for the group, advocating on an array of social, political, and economic issues. He also enrolled at the University of Toronto, studying labor, economics, and public speaking.

Grizzle also became a member of the Joint Labour Committee to Combat Racial Intolerance in the early 1950s. He led groups to meet with provincial and federal leaders to discuss anti-discrimination legislation. On April 27, 1954, he was part of the first delegation of Black Canadians to meet with the federal Cabinet to discuss racist immigration policies. In 1959, Grizzle and Jack White were the first Black Canadians to run for the Ontario legislature. Although he did not win a spot, he secured 9,000 votes, finishing third. In the early 1960s, he worked as a clerk of the Ontario Labour Relations Board. This would make him the first Black Canadian to work at the Ontario Ministry of Labour. He would eventually be promoted to officer. He remained on the board until 1978 when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed him as a citizenship judge, another first for a Black Canadian.

In 1986 and 1987, Grizzle traveled across Canada to the CPR’s major junction points in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver. During his travels, he collected narratives of porters, which he used to write his 1998 memoir, My Name’s Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada, Personal Reminiscences of Stanley G. Grizzle. He was also associate editor and columnist for Contrast, a black community newspaper.

Impact

During his 20 years as a porter, Grizzle advocated for better working conditions for Black porters. As part of the 1954 delegation to testify to federal leaders about discriminatory immigration policies, he helped lay the foundation for immigration reform in the country. In 2007, he donated his personal papers to Library and Archives Canada.

For his years of service, Grizzle received a number of awards including the Order of Ontario (1990), Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002 and 2012), and Lifetime Achievement, Harry Jerome Awards (2010). He was also inducted into the Canadian Labour Hall of Fame in 1994. A Toronto park was named after him in 2007 and a laneway in the city was named in his honor in 2018.

Personal Life

While serving in the military, Grizzle met Kathleen (Kay) Victoria Oliver. They married in September 1942 while Grizzle was on a two-week leave. Kay was one of the founding members of the Canadian Negro Women’s Association. They had six children and one foster son.

Bibliography

“Derailed Stanley Grizzle.” Myseum of Toronto, 2023, www.myseumoftoronto.com/programming/notable-porters/stanley-grizzle/. Accessed 26 June 2023.

Fletcher, Bernie. “Reel Beach: Stanley Grizzle Was a Tireless Advocate for Labour and Civil Rights.” Beach Metro, 12 Feb. 2022, beachmetro.com/2022/02/12/reel-beach-stanley-grizzle-was-a-tirelesss-advocate-for-labour-and-civil-rights/. Accessed 26 June 2023.

Ito, Gail Arlene. “Stanley G. Grizzle (1918–).” BlackPast, 16 Apr. 2008, www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/grizzle-stanley-g-1918/. Accessed 26 June 2023.

“Judge Grizzle: Civil Rights Activist.” Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 7 Apr. 2022, torontofamilyhistory.org/event/judge-grizzle/. Accessed 26 June 2023.

Oyeniran, Channon. “Stanley G. Grizzle.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 26 Nov. 2018, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/stanley-g-grizzle. Accessed 26 June 2023.

Rieti, John. “Stanley Grizzle, Black WWII Veteran, Devoted Life to Fighting Racism.” CBC, 26 Nov. 2016, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/stan-grizzle-remembered-1.3868913. Accessed 26 June 2023.

“Stanley Grizzle: Dismantling the Colour Bar.” Heritage Toronto, 2020, www.heritagetoronto.org/explore-learn/black-heroes-toronto-history/stanley-grizzle-porter-history/. Accessed 26 June 2023.

Zembrzycki, Stacey. “Black Porters’ Voices and Stories: The Stanley Grizzle Interview Collection.” Library and Archives Canada Blog, 16 Feb. 2023, thediscoverblog.com/2023/02/16/black-porters-voices-and-stories-the-stanley-grizzle-interview-collection/. Accessed 26 June 2023.