CANADALAND13 Okt 2025

Black Rights in Canada Took This Fight

The Civil Rights Movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s in the United States gave the world iconic, inspiring, and sometimes horrific moments, burned by repetition into the public imagination. Even as a Canadian, you know the sights and sounds of that civil rights fight. You can picture MLK preaching his dream.

But what did the civil rights struggle look and sound like in Canada? Does anything come to mind? Perhaps Viola Desmond, challenging segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, recently memorialized on the ten dollar bill.

Why so few images in the collective conscience? Where are the Canadian sights and sounds of the era?

Today’s guest has the answer, and the footage to back it up. Filmmaker Michèle Stephenson has just premiered her new film True North.

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor & Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

Featured Guest: Michèle Stephenson

Fact checking by Julian Abraham

More information:

TRUE NORTH Trailer — YouTube
50 years later: How racism allegations against a Montreal professor turned into the greatest student riot in Canadian history — National Post

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