Black Railway Employment Grows
Black men increasingly find employment as railway porters in Canada during an era when racial discrimination severely limits employment opportunities in many other industries.
History of the Sleeping Car Porters
A Story of Work, Resistance and Change
Sleeping car porters played an essential role in Canada’s railway system and an important role in the advancement of labour rights and human rights in Canada.
Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, railway companies employed Black men as sleeping car porters. At a time when racism severely restricted employment opportunities for Black Canadians, railway work offered relatively steady employment. However, the work came with discrimination, exhausting hours, low wages and limited opportunities for advancement.
The porters’ determination to challenge these conditions would eventually contribute to significant changes in Canada’s labour movement and the broader fight for racial equality.
Life as a Sleeping Car Porter
Sleeping car porters were responsible for much of the comfort and safety experienced by passengers travelling overnight by rail.
Their responsibilities included welcoming passengers, carrying and storing luggage, preparing sleeping berths, converting beds back into seats, cleaning railway cars, shining shoes, assisting children and passengers, and responding to travellers’ needs throughout long journeys.
Despite the importance of their work, porters frequently endured extremely long shifts and inadequate opportunities to sleep. They could spend days away from their families while travelling thousands of kilometres across the country.
Porters also experienced racism from passengers, railway management and within the broader employment system.
Their working conditions reflected a much larger reality: Black workers were often expected to perform demanding service work while being denied the respect, protections and opportunities available to white workers.
Winnipeg and the Order of Sleeping Car Porters
Winnipeg occupies an important place in this history.
In 1917, Black railway workers in Winnipeg organized the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, led by John Arthur Robinson and other porters.
Existing railway unions had excluded Black workers from membership. Rather than accepting that exclusion, the porters organized for themselves.
The Order of Sleeping Car Porters became one of the earliest major Black railway labour organizations in North America and an important example of Black workers collectively challenging workplace discrimination.
By 1919, the organization had local chapters in Winnipeg, Halifax, Montréal and Toronto.
Standing With Workers During the Winnipeg General Strike
The Order of Sleeping Car Porters also became part of Winnipeg’s broader labour history.
During the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, members of the Order of Sleeping Car Porters voted to support the strike. Ninety-nine porters participated, and the organization contributed $50 to the Strike Committee.
Their participation is particularly significant because Black railway workers were fighting discrimination within both their workplaces and the labour movement itself.
Their involvement demonstrated that Black workers were not simply participants in Canada’s railway industry. They were active participants in the struggle for workers’ rights.
The Fight for Better Working Conditions
Organizing was difficult and often dangerous for the porters.
Workers risked losing their jobs for supporting union activity. Nevertheless, Black railway workers continued organizing for better wages, reasonable working hours, job protections and greater dignity in the workplace.
The Order of Sleeping Car Porters successfully negotiated agreements with railway employers in its early years.
Later, Canadian porters organized through the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a union originally established in the United States.
In 1942, Brotherhood divisions were established in Canadian cities including Winnipeg, Montréal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
In May 1945, the Brotherhood reached a collective agreement with Canadian Pacific that brought improvements including higher wages, paid vacation, overtime provisions and improved working conditions.
These victories were achieved after decades of organizing against both workplace exploitation and racial discrimination.
Beyond Labour Rights
The impact of the sleeping car porters extended far beyond Canada’s railways.
Their organizations provided Black workers with opportunities to develop leadership, organize communities and challenge discriminatory employment practices.
Porters and their unions became part of the wider movement demanding equality for Black Canadians.
One major issue remained access to higher-ranking railway positions. Black porters were historically prevented from becoming sleeping car conductors, a more senior and better-paid position.
Black railway workers challenged this discrimination. Following a complaint under Canada’s Fair Employment Practices Act, George V. Garraway became the first Black Canadian appointed as a sleeping car conductor in Canada.
Their struggle demonstrated that employment rights and human rights were deeply connected.
A Nationally Recognized Legacy
In 1994, the Government of Canada designated Black Railway Porters and their Union Activity as a national historic event.
Their historical significance extends beyond railway history.
Through organization, persistence and collective action, Black railway workers challenged discriminatory employment practices, advanced the position of Black workers within Canada’s labour movement and contributed to the broader development of human rights in Canada.
Winnipeg's Place in the Story
The history of the sleeping car porters is also an important chapter of Winnipeg’s Black history.
The establishment of the Order of Sleeping Car Porters in Winnipeg in 1917 demonstrates the longstanding presence, leadership and activism of Black communities in Manitoba.
Their story connects Winnipeg to a national movement for dignity, equality and workers’ rights.
More than a century later, their contributions continue to be remembered as part of Canada’s Black history, labour history and human rights history.
Their Legacy Continues
The sleeping car porters were workers, organizers, community members, fathers, leaders and advocates.
They performed demanding work while confronting systems that attempted to restrict their opportunities because of the colour of their skin.
Rather than accepting those barriers, they organized.
Their efforts helped secure better conditions for railway workers and contributed to a larger movement toward equality in Canada.
Their history reminds us that many of the workplace and human rights protections recognized today were built through the determination of people who demanded to be treated with dignity.
Their work moved passengers across Canada. Their courage helped move Canada forward.
Order of Sleeping Car Porters established in Winnipeg
Black sleeping car porters
Black men employed as sleeping car porters in Canada from the late nineteenth century until the mid‐1950s experienced racial discrimination and exploitation on the job. To improve their situation, they turned to unions such as the Order of Sleeping Car Porters (OSCP) and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and fought for better wages and working conditions.
Black Railway Workers and the Winnipeg General Strike
The Winnipeg General Strike is central to Winnipeg’s collective consciousness; however, Black workers and union members are often overlooked in narratives of the strike. This blog post looks at John Arthur Robinson, a Black railwayman who is featured on the Winnipeg Personalities wall in the new Winnipeg Gallery.
Racialized Communities
The General Strike was not just about class. Race was also a significant and important factor. Those whose lineages fell outside the British Isles were considered “others” by the British elite who ruled Winnipeg, and were considered dangerous, inferior, or both.
Exploring Black History in the Museum Collections
To celebrate Black History Month, I wanted to share an important collection that helps to illuminate Black history in mid-20th century Manitoba and Western Canada.
From the 1980s until 2010, the Manitoba Museum was the recipient of donations related to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a Black union of railway workers. (For more information, click here to read History blog Black Railway Workers and the Winnipeg General Strike
Black railway porters and their union activity
On November 24, 1994, the Government of Canada recognized Black Railway Porters and their Union Activity as a national historic event. Between the 1880s and the 1960s, most railway porters in Canada were men of African descent. They were community leaders and founders of unions that helped advance the human rights and labour movements in Canada.
Memorial Garden
Watch The Ceremony of The Memorial Garden at 799 Main Street Winnipeg, MB
More From The Memorial Garden Ceremony
Meet the Porters
Stanley G. Grizzle
Stanley G. Grizzle worked as a Canadian Pacific Railway sleeping car porter from 1940 to 1960. He became deeply involved with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, serving in leadership positions in its Toronto division and advocating for improved working conditions and racial equality. He later worked for the Ontario Labour Relations Board and became a Canadian citizenship judge. His archival collection is now preserved by Library and Archives Canada.
Harry Gairey Sr.
Born in Jamaica, Harry Gairey moved to Toronto in 1914. In 1936, he became a sleeping car porter with Canadian Pacific Railway. He was a founding member of the Toronto division of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, held leadership roles in the union and later became an important advocate against racial discrimination in Canada.
Albert Budd
Albert Budd worked as a Canadian Pacific Railway sleeping car porter during the mid-20th century. His photographs are preserved in the Stanley G. Grizzle collection at Library and Archives Canada and have been used by Parks Canada to commemorate the history of Black railway porters in Canada.
Harold James Fowler
Harold James Fowler began working as a Canadian Pacific Railway sleeping car porter in June 1939. His first run took him from Toronto to Vancouver. Fowler became a founding member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and was remembered for supporting and advising other porters while working on the railway. He remained a porter until 1976.
John Arthur Robinson
John Arthur Robinson was a Winnipeg sleeping car porter and labour organizer. In 1917, after Black railway workers were excluded from existing unions, Robinson helped establish the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, one of the earliest Black railway unions in North America. He continued advocating for better wages, working conditions and fair treatment for Black railway workers.
George V. Garraway
George V. Garraway worked as a railway porter and was a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. After the union challenged racial discrimination that prevented Black employees from becoming conductors, Garraway became the first Black Canadian hired as a sleeping car conductor in the 1950s. His achievement marked an important breakthrough in the fight for equal employment opportunities on Canadian railways.
Discover More Stories
The history of Canada’s sleeping car porters extends far beyond the individuals featured above. Explore these collections to discover more of the porters, organizers and families who helped shape Canada’s railway, labour and civil rights history.
Canadian Museum for Human Rights
Stories, photographs and history of Black sleeping car porters and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Library and Archives Canada
Historical photographs, oral histories, interviews and archival records documenting Black railway porters across Canada.
Manitoba Museum
Learn more about Black railway workers in Winnipeg, the Order of Sleeping Car Porters and their involvement in the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike.
Parks Canada
Explore the nationally recognized history of Black railway porters and their union activity in Canada.
Their Fight Helped Change Canadian Workplaces
The sleeping car porters fought for dignity, fair wages, better working conditions and equal opportunities at a time when Black workers faced widespread discrimination.
Their organizing became part of a much larger movement for labour rights and racial equality in Canada. Their legacy continues in the workplace protections, human rights legislation and opportunities generations of workers have fought to strengthen.
LABOUR RIGHTS
Organizing for better wages, hours and working conditions.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Challenging racial discrimination in Canadian workplaces.
OPPORTUNITY
Breaking barriers that prevented Black workers from advancing into higher-paying railway positions.
Latest News
Women’s History Month: Recognizing Leadership, Building Opportunity
6 October 2026
No Comments
Read More »
Small Business Month: Celebrating Entrepreneurs and Strengthening Manitoba’s Business Community
2 October 2026
No Comments
Read More »
Gender Equality and the Strength of the Canadian Business Community
22 September 2026
No Comments
Read More »
Empowering businesses to grow.
Get the connections, tools, and support you need to succeed.
Phone: +1-888-973-8403
Email: info@bmbcc.ca
Subscribe
Be the first one to receive latest updates.
Copyright © 2026 Black-Manitobans Chamber of Commerce - All Rights Reserved
EN 
FR