By A.Fedeski (FSWC Educator)

The Dresden Story and the fight against racism and antisemitism in Canada

In the years following World War II, Dresden, Ontario — a small town near the U.S. border — became the unlikely front line in the struggle for racial equality in Canada. Some 20% of Dresden’s 1,700 residents were Black, a legacy of the town’s key role in the Underground Railroad which brought enslaved African Americans to Canada in the years before the American Civil War. Yet despite their deep roots in the community, many Black residents were routinely denied service in local restaurants and businesses, making Dresden a segregated town.

Hugh Burnett, a Black carpenter and WWII veteran, was one of many who experienced this discrimination firsthand when he was refused service at a local restaurant in 1943. After the federal government refused to act on his initial complaint, Burnett helped form the National Unity Association (NUA) to challenge local racism.

The NUA found critical allies in Jewish activists from the Jewish Labour Committee (JLC), including national director Kalmen Kaplansky, who had long worked to fight antisemitism and other forms of prejudice in Canada. After Burnett spoke at a JLC-sponsored race relations institute, the JLC and other minority groups rallied behind the NUA. With support from Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Black and women’s organizations, they brought the issue directly to Ontario Premier Leslie Frost in 1949. Meanwhile, Jewish Canadian journalist Sidney Katz’s article in Maclean’s magazine turned the story into a national scandal.

Ontario soon passed the Fair Employment Practices Act, followed by the Fair Accommodation Practices Act in 1954. Still, discrimination persisted in Dresden. Jewish activist Sid Blum of the Toronto Labour Committee organized strategic visits by Black and Chinese patrons to gather evidence. After sustained advocacy and legal pressure, one of the key offenders was fined and forced to end discriminatory practices in 1956.

The Dresden campaign, driven by the courage of Black residents and supported by the solidarity of Jewish allies, marked a defining moment in Canada’s struggle for racial and religious equality — and proved the power of communities coming together to demand justice.

More information: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dresden

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