Stanley Grizzle, a man who’s life shaped Canadian history

Stanley George Sinclair Grizzle (1918–2016)
Train Porter • Union President • Civil Rights Activist • Author • Citizenship Judge

On my walk at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, with gavel in hand, I came upon the unmarked grave of Stanley Grizzle — a man whose life shaped Canadian history.

Stanley’s parents arrived in Canada from Jamaica in 1911. He was born in 1918 and raised as one of seven siblings near Bathurst and College Street, the same Toronto neighbourhood I now call home.

At 22, Grizzle began working as a porter on the Canadian Pacific Railway. For decades, railway porter work was one of the few jobs available to Black men in Canada’s major cities — Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax, and Vancouver. It was demanding, low-paid labour, and one of its most demeaning aspects was being called “George” by travellers, erasing each man’s name and identity. Years later, Grizzle would reclaim that identity powerfully through his memoir, My Name Is Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada.

Grizzle became a leading voice in the civil rights and labour movements, advocating for equality and dignity for Black workers across the country. In 1978, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed him as the first Black Citizenship Judge in Canada. He served until 1983, welcoming new Canadians into a nation he had helped transform. In 1995, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada for his outstanding contributions to justice, equality, and Canadian identity.

Stanley George Sinclair Grizzle passed away in Toronto on November 12, 2016, at the age of 97.

Where I placed the gavel is where Stanley Grizzle rests beside other members of his family.