February 1969. There are forty-two years, a singular event shook the academic world in Montreal. Six students from the Caribbean were preparing for a protest against a professor of biology at the University Sir George Williams, now Concordia. Perry Paterson, they said, made them always fail because of the color black of their skin.
The protest, which began as a letter, had quickly taken on enormous proportions. Students, both black and white, stormed the ninth floor, the computer lab at Sir George Williams; computers are thrown out the window, the police conducts aggressive interventions. A fire broke out on the floor busy.
The story goes that someone in the crowd had yelled, "Let Negroes burn! [Let the niggers burn!]. Several protesters, mostly blacks, according to historian Dorothy Williams, who recently gave a lecture on the subject, were then sentenced to prison. Even today, this event is considered a milestone in the history of blacks in Montreal.
At the time of crisis, the black community was both divided and mobilized around the issue. "Some agreed with the protesters, others were against. People were not all agree, "said Dorothy Williams. Most importantly, this event has been designated as "Sir George Williams Case," led to the creation of ombudsman positions [mediator] in universities.
For Dorothy Williams, author of several books on the black community of Montreal, racial issues are not addressed directly in Quebec or Canada in general. "It teaches not even slavery to school in the course of history!" She said. Yet slavery was already underway here in New France [French colony in North America from 1534 to 1763].
For Dorothy Williams, Quebecers persist in perceiving blacks as foreigners in Quebec, while they are here since the earliest days of the colony, and a Black named Mathieu da Costa has set foot in New France along with Samuel de Champlain [founder of Quebec City]! Similarly, if blacks have not lived in Quebec segregation itself, like the one we found in the U.S., they have long been kept out of certain neighborhoods through gentlemen's agreements, under which owners agreed not to sell land or houses to blacks, "says Williams.
Statistically, says Dorothy Williams, a Black Bachelor earns less money than a white man who did not graduate from high school. "These are government reports that prove it," she assures. Overall, it is calculated that black Canadians earn 30% less than the white population. "In the Commission on Human Rights and Youth in Quebec (CDPDJ), we noted that racial discrimination was the first ground of complaint last year, taking the lead on discrimination because of disability.
A diploma equal, Quebecers blacks also suffer more unemployment than whites, confirming Gaétan Cousineau, the president of the CDPDJ. We know young people are more often arrested by police, and blacks are the target of a greater number of reports to child welfare than whites in similar circumstances.
"Blacks suffer more frequent arrests, if they stand in groups, if they spit or write graffiti, for example," he says. "At age 16, a young Black man has been arrested on average by the police four or five times, said Dorothy Williams. It does not happen to white children. And it's very stressful to raise children in an environment that identifies them as enemies.
"At the CDPDJ, it was confirmed that some police interventions with Black Quebecois are not always justified by the circumstances. Since the 1960s, when Sir George Williams rumbled, some aspects of black life in Quebec and Montreal, however, have improved. In housing, for example, there is less discrimination than before, recognize Dorothy Williams and Gaétan Cousineau.
"But because there were laws to prevent discrimination," said Ms. Williams. A small step on the long road still to go. 
The protest, which began as a letter, had quickly taken on enormous proportions. Students, both black and white, stormed the ninth floor, the computer lab at Sir George Williams; computers are thrown out the window, the police conducts aggressive interventions. A fire broke out on the floor busy.
The story goes that someone in the crowd had yelled, "Let Negroes burn! [Let the niggers burn!]. Several protesters, mostly blacks, according to historian Dorothy Williams, who recently gave a lecture on the subject, were then sentenced to prison. Even today, this event is considered a milestone in the history of blacks in Montreal.
At the time of crisis, the black community was both divided and mobilized around the issue. "Some agreed with the protesters, others were against. People were not all agree, "said Dorothy Williams. Most importantly, this event has been designated as "Sir George Williams Case," led to the creation of ombudsman positions [mediator] in universities.
For Dorothy Williams, author of several books on the black community of Montreal, racial issues are not addressed directly in Quebec or Canada in general. "It teaches not even slavery to school in the course of history!" She said. Yet slavery was already underway here in New France [French colony in North America from 1534 to 1763].
For Dorothy Williams, Quebecers persist in perceiving blacks as foreigners in Quebec, while they are here since the earliest days of the colony, and a Black named Mathieu da Costa has set foot in New France along with Samuel de Champlain [founder of Quebec City]! Similarly, if blacks have not lived in Quebec segregation itself, like the one we found in the U.S., they have long been kept out of certain neighborhoods through gentlemen's agreements, under which owners agreed not to sell land or houses to blacks, "says Williams.
Statistically, says Dorothy Williams, a Black Bachelor earns less money than a white man who did not graduate from high school. "These are government reports that prove it," she assures. Overall, it is calculated that black Canadians earn 30% less than the white population. "In the Commission on Human Rights and Youth in Quebec (CDPDJ), we noted that racial discrimination was the first ground of complaint last year, taking the lead on discrimination because of disability.
A diploma equal, Quebecers blacks also suffer more unemployment than whites, confirming Gaétan Cousineau, the president of the CDPDJ. We know young people are more often arrested by police, and blacks are the target of a greater number of reports to child welfare than whites in similar circumstances.
"Blacks suffer more frequent arrests, if they stand in groups, if they spit or write graffiti, for example," he says. "At age 16, a young Black man has been arrested on average by the police four or five times, said Dorothy Williams. It does not happen to white children. And it's very stressful to raise children in an environment that identifies them as enemies.
"At the CDPDJ, it was confirmed that some police interventions with Black Quebecois are not always justified by the circumstances. Since the 1960s, when Sir George Williams rumbled, some aspects of black life in Quebec and Montreal, however, have improved. In housing, for example, there is less discrimination than before, recognize Dorothy Williams and Gaétan Cousineau.
"But because there were laws to prevent discrimination," said Ms. Williams. A small step on the long road still to go.
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