Bromley Armstrong
Bromley Armstrong | |
---|---|
Born | Bromley Lloyd Armstrong February 9, 1926 Civil rights leader |
Awards | Order of Canada Order of Ontario |
Bromley Lloyd Armstrong,
After local Dresden businesses refused to comply with the Fair Accommodation Practices Act the same year it was enacted, Armstrong and other activists from the Toronto-based Joint Labour Committee for Human Rights conducted sit-ins in Dresden restaurants, testing the owners' non-compliance with the law, and then using that information to urge Premier Frost to eventually press charges against the restaurant owners. The owners were taken to court and the law upheld; and was Canada's first successful test of a modern anti-discrimination law. Armstrong figured in the sit-ins, on one occasion calmly demanding service of a bigoted restaurant owner, who was angrily wielding a meat cleaver in his restaurant kitchen.[4]
In 1994, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.[5]
Armstrong's story is told in his autobiography: Bromley: Tireless Fighter for Just Causes.
References
- ^ Arbor Memorial (2018). "In Loving Memory".
- ^ Laura Tanna (2008). "Bromley Armstrong: Fighting for Human Rights (Part 3)". Jamaica Gleaner. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- JSTOR 25149113.
- ^ Kenneth Kidd (July 6, 2008). "Amid sweeping change, a pivotal anniversary goes unremarked". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Order of Canada citation
- Armstrong, Bromley and Taylor, Sheldon.(2000). Bromley: Tireless Fighter for Just Causes. Pickering: Vitabu Publishing.
- Cooper, John. (2005). Season of Rage. Toronto: Tundra Books.
- Human Rights in Canada: A Historical Perspective, https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010143/http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/en/timePortals/milestones/67mile.asp
- Kidd, Kenneth. Amid sweeping change, a pivotal anniversary goes unremarked. Toronto Star, July 6, 2008.