In Montreal s Little Burgundy, hopes of reviving a hub of the city s Black community
by Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
Posted Feb 18, 2021 4:00 am EDT
Last Updated Feb 18, 2021 at 4:15 am EDT
MONTREAL In Montreal’s Little Burgundy neighbourhood, where the city’s English-speaking Black community is rooted, some locals are seeking to revive an institution that once served as a community hub.
A citizens’ group hopes to be able to rebuild on the former site of the Negro Community Centre, an institution in the Black community for nearly 70 years before it fell into financial trouble and was ultimately demolished in 2014.
“That spot was precious to our community, and so many of the elders we speak to speak with a fondness and love of that space, that what happened in its demise was very unfortunate,” said David Shelton, a battalion chief with Montreal’s fire department and a Little Burgundy resident seeking its restoration.
In Montreal s Little Burgundy, hopes of reviving a hub of the city s Black community
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In Montreal s Little Burgundy, hopes of reviving a hub of the city s Black community
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February is Black History Month and it seems an appropriate time to look at the civil rights struggles and Montreal particularly after a year when Black Lives Matter came to the fore and a greater focus on inequities relating to black, indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) have come into more acute focus. In the tangled urgency of the moment, the American civil rights movement is being harkened back to. Only a few are aware of Montrealâs major links with the civil rights movement.
There were occasions when Montreal played host to major figures in the American civil rights movement. By invitation of Rabbi Harry Joshua Stern, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Temple Emanu-El (renamed Temple Emanu-El â Beth Sholom) in March 1962. More than a thousand people attended the Templeâs sanctuary to hear King speak about a âdemocracy devoid of segregationâ. Eulogizing Reverend King, six years later, Rabbi Stern at a Temple Sabbath service, Rabbi Stern said