Achi news desk-
A new walking tour this summer will celebrate the legacy of a man who literally changed the face of Toronto politics, Canada’s first non-white elected politician: William Peyton Hubbard.
Elected mayor in 1894, Hubbard served until 1914, including serving as acting mayor of Toronto. But East End resident Lenrick Bennett was embarrassed to say he had never heard of him until the 2010s – when Hubbard’s name was put up in a Riverdale park naming contest.
In 2016, a park at Broadway Boulevard and E. Gerrard St. was officially named Hubbard Park. This summer, Bennett is organizing a historic walking tour from Hubbard’s former Broadway residence to the park, which will be led by Eastern Fellow Marie Wilson, who initiated the campaign to name the green space after him.
“As a parent, I want my kids to understand that there are people who look like them who were around, who were here, who came before,” Bennett said.
“They fought the good fight back then.”
The tour is part of a series of black history walking tours that Bennett will host this summer for Emancipation Day in August, called #HearThis. This week he was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Toronto Charity and Volunteer Toronto for the organization of the walks.
It will also digitize the routes so people can do them in their own time.
“This whole project is about amplification,” Bennett said. “I don’t know everything about all the history in this neighborhood and in this community, but I want people to start digging.”
Hubbard Park in 2016
In the contest to name the park nearly a decade ago, Wilson put up flyers and reached out to people in the neighborhood to tell them who Hubbard was and why they should vote for him. She learned about Hubbard from the plaque in front of his former home.
“I’m not only fascinated by history, but by forgotten history and forgotten people in history,” she said. “I think Hubbard falls into that category. I know there are some people who know him and knew him then, but by and large, I don’t think he was well known.”
At the unveiling of the park, Hubbard’s great-granddaughter, Lorraine Hubbard, said it was the first permanent public recognition of his contribution to the city.
Besides the fact that he was the first black politician in town, who always stood up for the underdog, she said her favorite fact about Hubbard was that he baked himself a birthday cake every year.
Hubbard was born near Bathurst and Bloor Streets, after his parents escaped slavery in America. But he didn’t start his political career until he was in his 50s, after working as a baker and a taxi driver.
He was elected on his second try in one of the wealthiest and whitest wards in Toronto, which stretched from University Avenue to Bathurst Street. He was re-elected 14 times.
Hubbard faced and fought racism
When others wanted to privatize them, Hubbard helped maintain the public utilities of Toronto Hydroelectricity and Water Systems, leading to the establishment of Toronto Hydro. He was also part of the city’s Board of Supervisors, a powerful four-member group at the city’s executive level that advised the mayor on city spending.
Wilson said he was also instrumental in the creation of High Park.
“He was the champion of the underdog and he just felt that the poor, disenfranchised people needed what we now call green space,” she said.
While breaking down barriers, Heritage Toronto’s website says Hubbard protected other marginalized groups, such as the city’s Chinese and Jewish communities, from discrimination and violence.
But being a black man at the turn of the century, he had his own experiences of racial abuse from city councilors from other cities, says Toronto Heritage. When he conducted business outside the city, he was sometimes required to carry character reference letters from the mayor.
Bennett hopes that through the tour he can provide context for the black history found in Toronto’s east end.
“It’s pretty cool to live where we do and know that history is all around you and it’s right outside your front door,” he said.
For more stories about the experiences of black Canadians—from anti-black racism to success stories within the black community—check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project that black Canadians can be proud of.You can read more stories here.
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The post Walking tour to celebrate Toronto’s first black politician – CBC.ca appeared first on Media Canada.
