homenewsnewsletter
Newsletter #2 - January 2006
President's Message
On behalf of the NCC Board of Directors, I will begin by wishing everyone a most prosperous and happy 2006! It is also my pleasure to introduce you to our newest Board member, Shane Laptiste. A graduate of McGill University, Shane has a Master's Degree in Architecture. We are very proud and fortunate to have this young man volunteer his time to help us.
Much has happened since our last Newsletter. In September, we held our General Annual Meeting and also in that month, a group of students from Université Laval in Quebec City was assigned to study the NCC building as a course project (see "An Architectural Perspective" at the bottom of this page).
In October, members from the NCC Board and the community met with Convercité for a number of weeks to discuss strategy for drafting a formal proposal to reinstate the NCC. That think-tank was funded and supported by Mayor Gérald Tremblay, his office and the City of Montreal. The NCC/Convercité final report was personally delivered to the Mayor and his team at City Hall.
In November, a gracious donation from the Mayor, Mme Jacqueline Montpetit, of Montreal's Southwest Borough, paid for a tarp to cover the roof of our building so as to stop further water infiltration. That same month, the NCC held its second Annual Pasta Extravaganza, a highly successful event at which we honoured three women who came to Montreal under the Canada-Barbados domestic scheme (see "NCC Honours Pioneering Women" on page two).
It was a most enjoyable evening as the three women told the audience, of about 200 strong, of their life experiences in Montreal. Overall, 2005 was an eventful and promising year for the NCC, and we are most excited as we look forward to 2006, Black History Month being our first focus for the year.
- Shirley A. Gyles
Rev. Charles H. Este
The NCC/Charles H. Este Cultural Centre is named after one of Montreal's revered community leaders. The adage "Some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them" certainly holds true for the Rev. Dr. Charles Humphrey Este, a man of humble birth, who rose to great heights through the leadership he exemplified. Indeed, he became known as the man who almost single-handedly brought hope and vision to Montreal's Black community.
Rev., as he was affectionately called, had no such career in mind when he immigrated to Montreal in the spring of 1913. His mother's greatest wish, however, was for him to become a minister - an impossible dream in Antigua, in the West Indies, where he was born.
Charles Este became a steel mill worker, a shoe-shine boy and a porter on the International Railroad. On his very first trip to Halifax, he caught pneumonia and spent six weeks in hospital. Upon his return to Montreal, he continued working as a shoe-shine boy at La Corona Hotel, the site of the present-day Corona Theatre on Notre Dame Street. During that time, a customer encouraged him to enrol in a six-month course at Macdonald College. From there, he continued his studies at Montreal's Congregational College of Canada, then earned a Ph.D. in Literature from Light-house Bible College in Chicago.
In 1925, Rev. Este was ordained into the newly established United Church of Canada, which emerged through consummation of the Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches.
Because of blatant racism and discrimination against Blacks, Rev. Este found himself involved beyond his pastoral duties. He lobbied on behalf of the Black unemployed and underemploy-ed, as well as the Black under-paid railway workers. He spearheaded many successful campaigns to get Black people into the workforce and business and marshalled media support. His greatest feat of all was securing training and jobs for Black women, as nurses in the Montreal area hospitals.
It was through his leadership in such outreach initiatives that he became known and respected throughout the country as the minister of Union United, the only Black congregation within the United Church of Canada. It was also back then, in February 1927, that he and a close friend, Golden Darby, collaborated with the Bahai group to obtain the Negro Community Centre (NCC) on Coursol Street.
That community centre hosted numerous programs and activ-ities, including a nursery school, basketball court, and piano and dance lessons. It was where newly arrived immigrants came to socialize with other Montreal Blacks. The NCC became a home away from home to many, including the lovely Mrs. Gladys Hawes, a school teacher from Detroit whom Rev. took as his bride in 1928.
Our community, the bearer of a rich history, now cries out for the economic resurgence so vital to restoring the prosperity and vibrant social life enjoyed under the Rev.'s masterful leadership. No, the Rev. Este was not born great. He achieved greatness and gathered laurels through his ability to step up and speak up on our behalf. He was more than the pastor at Union; he was the voice of Montreal's Black community, and we are extremely proud to have had a leader of his stature. For these many reasons, the NCC has taken on the honoured name of Charles H. Este.
- Cynthia Thomas
The Coloured Women's Club, Family and Friends Celebrate Ms. Hélène Wavroch
Last October 23, the Coloured Women's Club of Montreal honoured Ms. Hélène Wavroch with a special tribute for her many outstanding contributions to the community.
Over 150 guests, including family, friends and dignitaries, from the three levels of government, dined on jerk-seasoned Cornish hens and were entertained by sultry Blues songstress Dawn Tyler Watson. Live music was provided by the multi-talented Bertram Boldon, who, along with his band, played both piano and steel pans. A great time was had by all. It was truly an evening to remember.
An Architectural Perspective
Interest in the NCC recently spread to Quebec City when architecture professor Jean D'Aragon assigned his Université Laval students a project focused on our building. The students are taking a course on the re-habilitation and reuse of historic buildings. Over the years, that course has provided Quebec with a wealth of building conservation knowledge and experience. This past fall, Professor D'Aragon's students learned the value of transforming, restoring and conserving older buildings, visiting examples in the Quebec City area and exploring theoretical and practical issues with great interest.
At one point, the students studied the architecture and history of the NCC building, taking detailed mea-surements in order to draft plans and a 3D computer model. Upon consulting the NCC, they were given an idea of the types of facilities and activities the renovated building would house. Residences, a library and banquet halls, among other developed spaces, were mentioned, and the students proposed designs to acc-ommodate them. The finished designs were submitted this past December, and Professor D'Aragon will be providing us with the project results. We look forward to the new ideas they will bring to the table.
- Shane Laptiste
Memories
Born in Montreal and baptized at Union United Church, my first memory of the NCC was attending Sunday school and receiving moral instruction there in the early '60s while the church was being renovated.
We lived some distance away in LaSalle, but my parents felt it important for their children to have contact with other Black children and sent us to the NCC. When we stopped attending Union United, I left the Centre as well. I returned to the NCC in the '70s as a young teen. In the '80s, some of us looked for ways to support the NCC, even trying to set up business courses.
Flash forward to the present, and here I am back again. The tug on my heart came in August 2004 when I helped clean up the building and saw the sad state of disarray it was in. My heart told me to give the revitalization project my all.
For everyone who remembers the NCC's history and loves this institution as I do, it's time to come and help.
- Lawrence Fraser
Second Home
My memories of the Negro Community Centre have always been very warm and comforting. Growing up in the east end of Montreal (Pointe-aux-Trembles, Bout de l'Ile) was sometimes very lonely, especially as my family was one of the only two Black families living in that area.
Like many other Blacks born in Montreal at that time, I was born at the Reddy Memorial Hospital and was baptized by Rev. Este, at Union United Church.
For the first six months of my life, my mother, father and I lived on Green Avenue in Westmount until our war-time house in Montreal-East was completed.
Like many Montreal Black children, as soon as I was old enough, I frequented the NCC where I spent my entire Saturday taking tap and ballet lessons with Auntie Olga and piano lessons with Mrs. Sweeney. The one difference for me was that I had to travel two hours, both ways by bus and streetcar from the east-end. For my sisters and I, it was an opportunity to meet, play and interact with other children who looked like and accepted us. In other words, we felt welcomed.
Now, almost 50 years later, I still remember those wonderful times when Auntie Olga, who encouraged me to be the Sugar Plum Fairy (my first solo) in The Nutcracker and Mrs. Sweeney, who made sure that I took my piano exams every year at the McGill Conservatory of Music. This is why the NCC for all these years has been my second home.
- S. Gyles
Alumni
Dr. Sandra Wills Hannon grew up in Ville D'Anjou and attended the NCC, where she studied ballet with Miss Olga Spencer and was a day camp monitor. Sandra now lives in Fort Washington, Maryland, where she is founding head of a public relations and market research company. She was recently elected President of the Public Relations Society of America, becoming the first Black President of that 12,000-member group. Her company, the Hannon Group, has received the Thoth Award for its research and evaluation techniques, and the State of Maryland has certified it as a Minority Business Enterprise - Our youth do grow up, and we like to think the NCC was instrumental in forming their character. We wish Sandra continued success. You can visit her website at www.thehannongroup.com.
NCC Honours Pioneering Women
On November 12,2005 the NCC honoured three special women at its Annual Pasta Dinner. Here is Part I of their story. Look for Part II in our next issue.
Paradise! is how Loleta Johnson describes Barbados where she, Lyndall Hunte and Eda Tyrrell were born. All three of these ladies arrived in Canada on a snowy November 3, 1955, and stepped into the pages of local Black history by being the first of a contingent of West Indian women who paved the way for others. Loleta and Lyndall were 23 years old; Eda was 31. Up until that time, all domestic workers immigrating to Canada had come from Europe, but the governments of Barbados and Jamaica succeeded in having the Government of Canada give Caribbean women the same opportunity.
Loleta and Lyndall had already been interviewed for domestic jobs in England when they heard on the radio that Canada was offering similar positions. Friends told them they would have more opportunity in Canada, so they applied. They were interviewed and then chosen as landed immigrants on the condition that they spend one year working for the families in which they were placed. Before leaving home, they had to take a course in domestic service that covered cooking and serving meals, house-cleaning, laundry, family care and simple accounting.
Arriving in Montreal, these three pioneers were met at the airport by Prime Minister, Louis St. Laurent, who hosted an official reception for them right on the spot. Lyndall and Loleta knew no one in Montreal, and Eda knew only one person; so once the Canadian government had placed them with families, their employers took them to the NCC to meet Owen Rowe.
Heaven! was their first impression of Montreal. Lyndall, Eda and Loleta experienced true adventure that first winter in Canada. Since Lyndall had no winter coat, someone stuffed her jacket with newspaper to keep her warm; then her employer took her downtown to buy boots and a proper coat. Meanwhile, Eda went bare-legged for a time, and her legs and feet became frostbitten. The salaries of the three ranged from $65 to $100 a month, out of which they had to pay for their room and board, refund the cost of their winter clothes and repay the Government of Barbados the $155 airfare to Canada.
Lyndall spent the entire first year in the same Westmount home. "They were a nice family," she reminisces, "but they got rid of the nanny when they realized I could also take care of the baby!" Next, she worked at the Toilet Laundry at the corner of St. Antoine and Guy, and then at the Herbert Reddy Memorial Hospital. She later had jobs at Eaton's and Simpson's, but not as a salesclerk: serving customers was for Whites only! She worked in the President's office and was told she must never be there when he was, but one day he came in unexpectedly because he wanted to meet the person who was taking such good care of things.
Eda spent her first year with a Westmount family. After several more jobs, some better than others, came the most adventurous (and financially rewarding) work of all: the Seafield International Union hired Eda as third cook on its ships plying the Great Lakes. After three years of doing work she loved, Eda left to get married. After her last child was born, she went back to school and worked part-time at the NCC, supervising Royal Arthur schoolchildren for two hours a day.
Loleta worked in two homes that first year. One was an Outremont family, where the mother had to chastise the son for racial slurs. Given the home atmosphere and excessive workload, Loleta was transferred to another household. At one point when she developed a bad cold, the doctor in that family took her to hospital for an X ray, then charged her for it; her supervisor had the bill cancelled. Loleta worked next at the YWCA on Dorchester and then at the Montreal Children's Hospital. She subsequently worked at the Montreal General Hospital for 30 years until retiring.