The Story Behind Leonard Braithwaite

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The history of Black Canadians goes back centuries. From enslavement to fights for rights and freedoms, there is a lot that Black Canadians have been through. Black leaders emerged and did what they could to make sure their community had the same access to resources as others (specifically white ones).

One leader that emerged was Leonard Braithwaite. He was born in Toronto to Caribbean parents in October 1923. He was raised in the Kensington Market neighbourhood. According to Stanley C. Lartey’s documented visit with Braithwaite (for Ontario Black History Society), he had two brothers and two sisters. Lartey goes on to say that Braithwaite and his siblings attended Ryerson Public School (only a minority of people of colour attended the school). He says that Braithwaite “attended Harbord Collegiate from Grade 9 and graduated with his Senior Matriculation (Grade 13).”

Lartey shares how Braithwaite was able to sell newspapers on Spadina Avenue while he was in Grade 10. By the end of high school, Braithwaite “bought the newspaper selling rights for Spadina Avenue (from College to Queen Streets) from Abie Steinberg [his boss].”

After high school, Braithwaite became very eager to enlist in the Canadian Army. World War 2 (1939-1945) was ongoing, and Braithwaite strongly felt that he should be an airman. He would attempt to enlist almost every month of 1942 and early 1943. The recruiter constantly rejected him and said “No, sorry, we don’t take you people.” Once that recruiter was replaced with a Ukranian from western Canada, Braithwaite was finally able to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, though not as an airman since he was short-sighted. Braithwaite served in both Canada and overseas as an engine mechanic then safety equipment worker—he rarely saw other people of colour.

In June 1946, Braithwaite was discharged from the army and worked until he went to attend the University of Toronto (UofT) in September. Braithwaite graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce and Finance degree in 1950. Right after, he went to Harvard Business School in the U.S. and graduated in 1952. Lartey shares that while in the U.S., Braithwaite was able to obtain employment. Braithwaite recalled a time where his white colleagues left a cafeteria table after he sat with them. He endured that workplace for a year before returning to Toronto.

Braithwaite, according to Lartey, taught at UofT when he returned from the U.S. He only worked there for a year (1953-54). He went on to work for Phillips Canada as a Management Systems Analyst for the summer of 1954. He attended Osgoode Hall Law School that year and graduated in 1958.

Braithwaite founded his own law firm in Etobicoke. He would begin his political career in 1960 when he became a school trustee and later “sat on the Etobicoke municipal council.” According to Lartey, Braithwaite was able to use his position as a trustee to get a high school built that parents had longed for. In 1963, Braithwaite ran, and won, for the provincial Liberal party. He became “Ontario’s first Black Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP).” Lartey asserts that Braithwaite was the first Black Parliamentarian in Canada.

This new role put Braithwaite in a position where he could speak up for Black people like himself. As mentioned earlier, Braithwaite and his family were some of the few people of colour to attend their elementary school. This was something that was common for many Black Canadians. Racist laws and rules barred them from attending school with their white counterparts. Black parents would constantly lobby for these rules to change so that their children could attend schools close by.

The Canadian Encyclopedia states that Ontario and Nova Scotia had laws that enforced racial segregation. Provinces like Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island practiced racial segregation even without laws. There was also community involvement that would hinder Black children from attending school. White residents would intimidate Black families in order to stop them from sending their children to the local public school.

Many “schools” were just one-room spaces. One school, School Section #11 (S.S. #11), had extremely poor conditions. These restrictions went right up to post-secondary school. People like Bernice Redmon, the first Black nurse in Canada, were not able to study in Canada because colleges did not accept Black people.

Leonard Braithwaite rose in the house on Feb. 4th, 1964 and gave his first speech. In it, he spoke against the segregation of Black students. As TVO puts it, “he raised the issue of language in the Separate Schools Act that continued to permit the existence of segregated Black schools.” Braithwaite said, “There has not been a need for such schools since before the beginning of this century, […] Those days have passed.” TVO says that he received applause from his colleagues and, the following month, “Minister of Education William Davis eliminated the provisions, and within a year the last de facto segregated school closed.”

The last de facto segregated school was S.S. #11. It closed, but not without a fight. The local Black community had to make sure that the Black students were able to integrate into white schools.

Leonard Braithwaite passed away in 2012 at age 88; he left a great legacy behind. The Canadian Encyclopedia lists these as his honours: Queen’s (now King’s) Counsel appointment in 1971, Member of the Order of Canada investment in 1998, becoming the first Black bencher in the history of The Law Society of Upper Canada in 1999, and Order of Ontario appointment in 2004.

In 2012, a park in Etobicoke was renamed from Melody Park to Len Braithwaite Park. Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute in Scarborough began an Africentric (also Afrocentric) program under Braithwaite’s name (Leonard Braithwaite Program). It aims to help Black students learn through an Africentric lens instead of the Eurocentric one that dominates many high school courses. The site also states what the program isn’t, so check it out.

It’s important to learn about the history of Black Canadians and the struggles and victories they had in Canada. They paved the way for younger Black Canadians to obtain many of the rights they have today.