The Caribbean Diaspora in Toronto: Learning to Live with Racism 9781442680630

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Definitions of Terms
Map of the West Indies
Introduction
Part One: Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline of the Book
1. Theoretical Framework
2. Immigration and the Immigration Process
3. After Immigration: Identity and Culture Shock
Part Two: Life in Canada
4. Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization
5. The Impact of Racism on Employment
6. The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth
7. Religion
8. Leisure and Social Life
9. The Illegal Subculture
10. Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts
11. Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation to Canadian Society
12. Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level
13. Summary and Conclusions
Appendix A: Description of the Interview Sample
Appendix B: Caribbean Community Institutions in Toronto
References
Index

Citation preview

THE CARIBBEANDIASPORA IN TORONTO: L E A R N I N G TO LIVE WITH RACISM

The Afro-Caribbean community of Toronto has grown dramatically over the past few decades. Increasingly active as a political and cultural force in the life of the city, the group remains unknown to many of Toronto's other communities and institutions. Frances Henry offers the first intensive ethnographic examination of the community. Based on in-depth interviews and extensive observation, her study provides a richly detailed overview of the major cultural institutions in the lives of Afro-Caribbean residents of Toronto. Henry begins with an introduction to the Caribbean region, and the cultural and historical origins of its peoples. She focuses on the cultural practices that shape the community in Toronto, and the extent to which they facilitate or impede incorporation in Canadian society. Henry looks closely at such things as male-female relationships, forms of family organization, and patterns of religious practice, and shows that some cultural patterns have been maintained by members of the community whereas others have changed during the migration process. Two factors emerge as the key to the Afro-Caribbean experience in Toronto. One is the class differences within the community, which play a crucial role in re-creating stratification patterns similar to those in the Caribbean. The other is systemic racism against people of AfroCaribbean origin, which impacts in all areas of the community's life in Canada. FRANCES HENRY is Professor of Anthropology, York University.

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FRANCES HENRY

The Caribbean

Diaspora in Toronto: Learning to Live with Racism

U N I V E R S I T Y OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London

University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1994 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-2972-8 (cloth) ISBN 0-8020-7742-0 (paper)

Printed on acid-free paper

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Henry, Frances, 1931The Caribbean diaspora in Toronto : learning to live with racism Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8020-2972-8 (bound) ISBN 0-8020-7742-0 (pbk.) i. Blacks - Ontario - Toronto Metropolitan Area. 2. Blacks - Caribbean Area. 3. Immigrants - Ontario - Toronto Metropolitan Area. 4. Racism Ontario - Toronto Metropolitan Area. 5. Toronto Metropolitan Area (Ont.) - Race relations. I. Title. FC30979.B6H45 1994 F1059.5.T689N35 1994

305.896'97290713541

€94-931290-8

The map of the West Indies is reprinted from David Lowenthal, West Indian Societies (Oxford University Press, 1972), by permission of Oxford University Press. The lyrics to 'Culture Shock' by Lord Cosmos are quoted with the permission of the composer. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council.

To my husband, Jeff Henry, who has, over the course of our many years together, always encouraged my work. This book could not have been written without his help, support, and love. This book is also dedicated to all the people of Caribbean origin whose energy and determination are making Canada a better place to live.

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Contents

PREFACE ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xii DEFINITIONS OF TERMS xiv MAP OF THE WEST INDIES xvi

Introduction 3 Part One: Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline of the Book 9

i

Theoretical Framework 11 2 Immigration and the Immigration Process 27 3 After Immigration: Identity and Culture Shock 43

Part Two: Life in Canada 55 4 Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 57

viii Contents 5 The Impact of Racism on Employment 102 6 The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth 120

7 Religion 148 8 Leisure and Social Life 167 9 The Illegal Subculture 182

10 Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 201 11 Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation to Canadian Society 226 12 Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 248 13 Summary and Conclusions 268

APPENDIX A: Description of the Interview Sample 279 APPENDIX B: Caribbean Community Institutions in Toronto 281 REFERENCES 285 INDEX 294

Preface

My relationship with the Caribbean and its people spans nearly thirtyfive years. I first came to Trinidad in 1956 to begin research for my doctoral dissertation on the Shango people - an Afro-American religious movement. Since then, I have been back in the Caribbean frequently to carry out research on many different issues. My interests over the years moved to broader concerns with political and economic development, but I undertook a brief restudy of the Shango people in the early eighties (Henry 1983). More recently, my interest in Caribbean studies has focused on the movement of Caribbean people to other countries. They now form a sizeable proportion of the immigrant population in Canada. Precise figures are difficult to assess, but the best estimate is about 400,000 (see chapter 2). Their migration to this country, motivated by the desire for economic and educational improvement, has not, however, been without difficulty. They encounter racism, which adds to the stresses and strains of the immigration process. People of Caribbean origin, who are mostly Black or of African heritage, are increasingly becoming the targets of racism in Canada (Henry 1984; Bolaria and Li 1991). The so-called 'Black problem' in reality concerns the special needs and concerns of an immigrant group and its children who come mostly from the Caribbean. Some of the racism directed towards this community is no doubt triggered by the host society's lack of understanding of their cultural background. This book describes and explains some of that background, and will be useful for understanding the complex integration of Caribbean people into Canadian society. The decision to undertake research on this community, and to write this book, was also strongly motivated by the relative lack of prior studies of Caribbean people in Canada.

x

Preface

This book's thesis is that differential incorporation - the inequitable treatment of members of this community by Canadian society - is the result of several forces. First, Caribbean people bring with them some cultural patterns that to some extent inhibit their integration into Canadian society. The most significant of these patterns are related to marriage, relationship patterns, and methods of family organization. In addition, Caribbean people are confronted with racism, which shapes and forms much of their life in Canada. Cultural retention and racism together create a situation in which Caribbean people are differentially incorporated in Canadian society. I wish to state unequivocally that, by demonstrating that some Caribbean cultural traits create barriers to incorporation in Canadian society, I am not using a 'blame the victim' approach, nor should the data presented be interpreted in such a manner. Both the empirical data collected in this study and my own personal convictions, which stem from many years of studying and monitoring racism in Canadian society, convince me that racism is the most important factor inhibiting incorporation. However, some transplanted Caribbean cultural patterns not only inhibit the immigrants' mobility but also feed and reinforce racism. There is, I believe, a mutually interactive dynamic that, to a large extent, serves to explain the differential incorporation of Caribbean people in Canadian society. Another important issue relates to the definition of Caribbean people. There is a substantial and very active Indo-Caribbean community in Canada, especially in Toronto. Unfortunately, budget constraints placed limitations on this research project, and therefore members of the Indo-Caribbean community could not be included in this study. The focus had to be on the numerically larger Afro-Caribbean migrant community. I would like to end this preface on a personal note. I feel it is appropriate to state some of my own credentials in researching and writing a book about Caribbean people when I am not directly a member of that group. My own involvement with Caribbean studies provides me with an understanding of the cultural background of Caribbean immigrants in Canada and stood me in good stead to embark on this study. In addition to research projects undertaken in the Caribbean, I have had a very close attachment to the region and its people. From the moment of my arrival in Trinidad over thirty years ago, I felt I had come 'home.'

Preface xi That sense of belonging in the Caribbean, despite my own origins as a White refugee from Hitler's Germany who was socialized in the United States and Canada, has never left me. The Caribbean to me is therefore more than the research laboratory of a field anthropologist. It is a region to which I am deeply committed by ties of emotion, kinship, and profession. These ties were strengthened by my marriage many years ago to a Caribbean person and my relationships to my many affinal relatives. I am no stranger to racism. I have felt it personally as a Jewish refugee from Hitler's Germany where much of my family was wiped out. I have since experienced it as the mother of two Black children growing up and going to school in Canada. Perhaps one of my worst moments of parenthood came when my nine-year-old daughter returned from school in tears after having been called a 'Black bitch' by fellow schoolmates! Over the years, I have witnessed my husband's struggles to maintain dignity and decency in the face of sometimes outrageous provocation. I hope these and many other experiences have sensitized me to the pain and anguish of people who must cope with the daily slights and assaults that peoples of colour face in this and in other societies.

Acknowledgments

I am deeply grateful for the help of the many people who worked on this project. Jacqueline Griffith, Judith James, and Lawrence Arno did the initial interviews. Ian Browne and Yonette Dey coded some of the interviews. Eleanor Sam, Carol Duncan, and Lindelwa NtutelaMourangi helped in the later stages of the data gathering. Carol Duncan did more than interview; she contributed many insights gained from her own background and experiences and her profound understanding of the dynamics of Caribbean culture. After doing some fieldwork for the chapter on Caribbean religion in Toronto, she has now gone on to a doctoral dissertation on this subject. Dan Yon, a PhD candidate in anthropology, did his MA thesis on issues of identity among Caribbean high school youth and contributed to the chapter on identity. He also wrote the chapter on education. He is now continuing research on education and identity for his doctoral dissertation. David Trotman, professor of history and a specialist in Caribbean history at York University, read a draft of this book and made many helpful suggestions. Don Williams, professor of sociology at Ryerson, contributed his in-depth knowledge of Caribbean society. I am grateful to both readers. I am also indebted to two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript whose many helpful suggestions have improved the work. My colleagues in this project, Alan Simmons and Anthony Richmond, were ever helpful and supportive. I want to thank especially my daughter Miriam and my son Terrence. Miriam helped with compiling and organizing the bibliography, and Terrence conducted some interviews on some of the very sensitive issues touched on in this book. He also spent many hours in participant observation in segments of the community.

Acknowledgments xiii A research grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council to me, A.H. Richmond, and Alan Simmons made this project possible. The Canadian Ethnic Studies Program, Multiculturalism and Citizenship (Heritage Canada), awarded me a senior fellowship to write a first draft of this book. I am grateful to both agencies for their support.

Definitions of Terms

Afro-Caribbean: This book is primarily concerned with AfroCaribbean rather than Indo-Caribbean migration. The reason for this is that in Toronto, as in the Caribbean, many cultural patterns of peoples of Indian origin are different from those of the Afro-Caribbean population, particularly with regard to family organization, kinship, and religion. It would have required a separate study and more resources to include Indo-Caribbean migrants. Moreover, their ethnicity is inadequately recorded in census and immigration data. Black, Caribbean origin, and West Indian: The terms used to denote the respondents in this study. The use of labelling terms is always somewhat problematic as they are given to change. Many younger members of the community now prefer the term 'African-Canadian/ while older members still use 'West Indian' to describe themselves. Some also use the term 'Black/ I have generally tried to use the term 'people of Caribbean origin/ but as this is sometimes awkward to use, Black and (more rarely) West Indian are also used. Caribbean origin: Of former British Caribbean. Excludes Haitians, who are a small group in Toronto, and persons from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, or Central American countries. Includes the people of Guyana since that country on the South American mainland is culturally similar to the islands of the Caribbean and shares a comparable history. Migrants from Belize (formerly British Honduras) would also be included, but they are relatively few and none were interviewed in this project.

Definitions of Terms

xv

Social class: The traditional criteria of social class will be used, that is, economic, social, and educational indicators. Underclass: 'A permanently entrapped population of poor persons, unused and unwanted/ They live in highly segregated districts, separated from Whites and middle-class Blacks, are unemployed, and may be engaged in petty criminal behaviour (Franklin 1991, 91; Glasgow 1980).

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T H E C A R I B B E A N D I A S P O R A I N TORONTO: L E A R N I N G T O L I V E WITH R A C I S M

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Introduction

Caribbean migrants come from one of the most complex areas of the world. Despite its relatively small size, the Caribbean region played a crucial role in earlier centuries in the struggles of European countries to gain a foothold in the New World. Columbus 'discovered' most of the islands in his three voyages in the sixteenth century. Many of them were, however, already inhabited by native Caribs and Arawaks, whose contact with the discoverers proved to be their undoing. Succumbing to both disease and enforced servitude, the aboriginal population was soon decimated. Meanwhile, the Caribbean became a battleground for the political struggles that occurred in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. England, France, and the Netherlands envied Spain's domination in the New World and started settlements of their own in the eastern Caribbean. The subsequent political struggles between England, France, and other countries in Europe during the eighteenth century turned the islands into pawns in the shifting fortunes of European wars and treaties. Spain lost interest in the area when it did not provide the mineral wealth expected. Other European powers began to see the advantage in turning the region into a producer of desirable agricultural commodities. The demand for sugar in the eighteenth century led to the production and export of sugar. It is a labour-intensive industry that required substantial numbers of labourers, which led to the importation of millions of people from the African continent. Without doubt, the two forces of sugar and slavery shaped the history of the Caribbean region and left indelible marks on all aspects of its socio-economic and cultural development (Williams 1961).

4 Introduction During the period of colonialism, the Caribbean was inhabited by Europeans of many nationalities. In fact, when a territory changed hands (as in the English conquest of Dominica, St Lucia, and Trinidad in the eighteenth century), most of the former French planters and officials remained. Since European planters were in short supply and the plantation economy was growing rapidly, Europeans of any nationality were welcomed to the region. In addition to the plantocracy, European indentured servants, yeoman farmers, and a variety of other poor Europeans also settled in the region. Because many of the planters eventually returned home and some were, in fact, absentee landlords, a true locally born elite class did not develop in the region. Exceptions to this were Barbados and Martinique where a local elite was sustained. Elsewhere, the elite were Europeans. Those who remained and those who were born in the region became known as 'Creoles/ as were the successive generations of slaves. Conditions for slaves were harsh in the West Indies. Brutal work conditions, malnourishment, and frequent punishment took their toll. Allthough there was some variation in the laws regulating the life of slaves, generally speaking, they were not allowed to speak their own languages, practise their religion, or legally marry. Relationships between men and women were encouraged, however, because their offspring assured a new generation of workers. As the European plantocracy were increasingly outnumbered, methods of social control became stronger. The fear of rebellion - and many took place over the years - led to ever more stringent forms of repression. Nearly 4 million slaves were imported into the region; yet when slavery was abolished, the total number of peoples of African origin was only 1.5 million (Lowenthal 1972, 43). Sexual liaisons between White European planters and managers and Black slave women produced a growing number of mixed race 'mulattos/ Children of such unions were sometimes manumitted on the death of their European White fathers. Increasingly, therefore, brownskinned, largely free persons of colour became a buffer group between Whites and their Black slaves. (However, hard-working and productive slaves could occasionally purchase their freedom, and this group included both Blacks and lighter-skinned persons.) By the eighteenth century, a social structure consisting of Whites (mainly Europeans), brown-skinned 'mulattos/ and Black African slaves was created by the mercantalist expansion into the Caribbean. This stratification pattern has continued to influence the social structure of the region.

Introduction

5

The Europeans brought their social and political institutions with them. The economy was dominated by the theory and practice of capitalism, various forms of democratic political institutions were created (excluding the participation of slaves, however), Christianity became the dominant religion, and a variety of European social and cultural features determined social interaction. Africans and their slave descendants lost their own cultural, linguistic, and political traditions, but nevertheless aspects of Africaness merged with European customs and institutions to produce a culture that was neither European, African, nor New World but a unique combination of all three influences (Smith 1956). (Some geniune African cultural retentions in language, religion, food, and other areas can also still be found in the Caribbean today.) As sugar declined in profitability, the region increasingly became an economic drain on European colonizers and the movement towards abolition gained momentum in Europe. Between 1791 and 1863, all West Indian slaves were freed; abolition in the British West Indies took place in 1834. Although some former slaves continued to work the plantations, the labour shortage that resulted led to the importation of indentured workers from India and other parts of Asia. The substantial numbers of Indians in the populations of Trinidad and Guyana today are the descendants of these indentured labourers. Most of the islands (and the mainland territories of British Honduras - now Belize and British; Dutch and French Guiana - now Guyana and Surinam) remained as colonies in the empires of Britain, France, and Holland. Political independence was achieved throughout the region beginning in the early 19605. Political independence has not, however, brought economic independence. The economies of the region are weak, dependent on a mixture of agriculture and tourism; increasing attempts at modernization have brought some industry and manufacture into the area. On the whole, however, there is considerable poverty in the region, and unemployment and underemployment rates are high. The rigidity of the stratification system varies from country to country, but it basically consists of three class levels that are based on economic and social factors and still heavily influenced by skin colour. As a result of a largely dependent neocolonial economy, opportunities for employment in the working and peasant class levels are few. Even countries with some mineral wealth - such as Jamaica, Trinidad

6 Introduction and Tobago, and Guyana - are faced with severe economic constraints. Unemployment among the younger people is as high as 35 per cent in some areas. Thus, economic push factors have resulted in largescale out-migrations from the region. For many, educational and economic advancement could only be attained by migrating to the former European mother countries, the United States, and Canada. THE RESEARCH PROJECT METHODOLOGY Methodology

Interviews The typical methodology of social anthropology was used in this study. Participant observation and in-depth intensive interviewing were the main data-gathering tools. Initially, three field researchers conducted interviews. Later, two others were added. All interviewers were Black and of Caribbean origin, since it was felt that White researchers could not establish the sense of trust that a study of this kind required. Additionally, interviewers who were themselves migrants from the Caribbean but who had meanwhile been trained in the social sciences, had not only the necessary interviewing skills but also knowledge of the culture of the area. The sample was selected using a snowball technique. Initially, the interviewers selected people whom they knew, but who were not close friends or relatives. The interviewees were asked for names of their friends and kin, and in this manner the sample was constructed. After about fifty interviews, it was evident that there was a bias towards the middle class and interviewers were instructed to find more working-class persons. Apparently the sample was too highly concentrated in terms of origins from the larger countries, particularly Jamaica. Although this reflected the actual demographic patterns of Caribbean migrants in the Toronto area, it was felt that a more representative sample was required. Accordingly, a concerted effort was made to find interviewees from the Leeward and Windward islands. One other attempt was made to influence the sample selection. When it became obvious that there were many young teenaged single mothers in the community, a special effort was made to interview twelve young women, all of whom were enrolled in a special program at a school. All persons interviewed for this project lived in and around the Toronto area. Most came from the Eglinton strip and Scarborough. A total of 134 persons were included in the

Introduction 7 sample. (See Appendix A for a description of the sample. All names of respondents have been changed and, in a few cases, minor alterations have been made to the accounts of their experiences in order to provide anonymity.) Participant Observation Many hundreds of hours were spent in participant observation at Caribbean functions and events and in areas of Caribbean residential concentration. One of the researchers spent nearly four months interviewing and observing along the Eglinton strip area. She spent many hours with families in homes, with customers in shops, with patrons in restaurants, and simply walking along the streets in the area. Participant observation was also made with migrants who were engaged in immigration processes. The researcher accompanied several persons as they went through immigration interviews. Another researcher went along with several families on their shopping trips. She also attended several churches catering to Caribbean migrants. Of special interest was the annual street carnival, Caribana, whose many events were observed over two summers. Much of the material included in the discussion of education came from interviews and participant observation undertaken at a high school in Toronto where the researcher spent six months talking to Caribbean students and participating in many of their events. My role in the data-gathering process was to supervise the fieldwork. Initially, I developed the unstructured informal set of questions that were to guide the interviews. I also selected and trained the interviewers and helped in the sample selection. As the interviews mounted, I began to code them loosely and prepare them for analysis. I also undertook all the data analysis and the final write-up of the results. Quantitative Data Quantitative data from the special census tabulations done for this project and supervised by professors Simmons and Richmond were also used in this study. Simmons has done an analysis of family composition, income, and labour force participation data. A report is currently in progress. Richmond undertook an analysis of the educational attainment of Caribbean people. The results of that project have been published (Richmond 1993). Some of their data are incorporated into the chapters on immigration, employment, and education.

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PART O N E : B A C K G R O U N D , T H E O R E T I C A L F O C U S , AND O U T L I N E OF THE BOOK

In this section, the book's theoretical framework and contents will be discussed. Chapter i presents the theoretical framework and briefly reviews literature relevant to Caribbean migration to the United States and Britain. Chapter 2 describes the immigration process and presents an overview of immigration statistics. It also describes some of the problems Caribbean immigrants have had with the immigration process. Part One concludes with a discussion of Caribbean immigrants' views on and perceptions of Canada.

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1

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework of this book is derived from two streams of literature on stratification, ethnicity, and majority-minority relations spanning the disciplines of social anthropology and sociology. It includes the literature on plural societies and pluralism on the one hand and some significant work undertaken on ethnicity and stratification on the other. The main theoretical issue to be addressed in this book is the differential incorporation of Caribbean people into Canadian society. 'Differential incorporation/ a concept developed by noted anthropologist M.G. Smith, referred to the status of ethnic groups in society and recognized that some are more incorporated or integrated into mainstream society than others (Kuper and Smith 1969). 'Differential incorporation' is used by Smith as a major explanatory concept and is based on the experiences of native people in relation to their colonizers. The term has, however, been used and applied to a number of contexts by other social scientists to generally refer to the inability of some groups, notably racial minorities, to access economic, social, and cultural rewards of society. I do not apply the concept in its orthodox Smithian formulation, but use it here in a general sense to provide a framework for the understanding of the position of Caribbean people in Canadian society. DIFFERENTIAL INCORPORATION AND THE THEORY OF PLURALISM

To a certain degree, Canada can be characterized as a plural society composed of several different ethnic population segments. The idea of the differential incorporation of some of these groups based on

12 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline ethnicity or, more particularly, race therefore can be applied to the position of Caribbean people in Canadian society. The concept of differential incorporation stems from the theoretical literature on plural societies and the development of a body of theory on such societies (Furnivall 1939; Rubin 1960; Kuper and Smith 1969; Smith 1965; Dew 1978; AES 1984; Cruse 1987). Plural societies contain more than one population segment. Such segments can be formed because of differences in ethnicity, regionality, religion, and race. The concept of pluralism was first discussed by Furnivall. While working as a colonial administrator in the tropical Far East, Furnivall noted that pluralism arose under colonial conditions in which the colonizing power maintains political domination and imposes a Westernized style of business and administration on the 'native world, and a forced union on the different sections of the population' (Kuper and Smith 1969, 10). Pluralism referred generally to societies characterized by distinctly different population groups who live under one form of political domination. The plural structure, according to this early formulation, evolved under the colonial administrations of the European empire. Such societies are characterized by descensus rather than consensus, and there is often sharp conflict between the differing segments. In sum, as Kuper notes, plural societies are those 'characterized by certain conditions of cultural diversity and social cleavage, in whatever way these conditions of social and cultural pluralism arise from the contact of different peoples and cultures within a single society' (Kuper and Smith 1969, 7). This is the view of pluralism taken by its chief proponents in more recent times, M.G. Smith and L. Despres. Some plural societies are thought to be characterized by consensus rather than conflict. The equilibrium model of pluralism is one in which the political structure is associated with liberal democracy and in which population sections of society, despite ethnic and/or other differences, live harmoniously with each other (Kornhouser 1960; Shils 1956). All are bound together by common values and allegiance to one polity. This model of political pluralism is said to characterize countries such as the United States (and some have included Canada) in which immigrants from many different sources are welcomed and assimilated. This form of pluralism does not, however, describe the social and structural relations between Whites and Blacks in the United States. For that and other divided societies, the conflict model of pluralism as articulated by Smith and others is more appropriate.1 Both models have been criticized; Kuper has attempted to form a

Theoretical Framework 13 synthesis of the two. Smith emphasizes the use of political control or force necessary to keep the conflicting factions of society under control. For present purposes, however, it is not necessary to accept Smith's total model but only note that it forms the background or perspective to our theoretical concept of differential incorporation. According to Smith, 'Structural pluralism consists in the differential incorporation of social aggregates into a common political society7 (Smith in Kuper and Smith 1969, 430). Furthermore, it can be formal or explicit and carried out through law, or it may 'prevail substantively despite them as, for example, among the American Negroes' (Kuper and Smith 1969, 430). Differential incorporation can be applied to the Caribbean people in Canada because as people of colour, they do not readily fit into this basically White society. Moreover, since a proportion of the population, especially second-generation youth, is increasingly becoming marginalized social class is also becoming a differentiating factor. Because of colour, and to some extent, class, Caribbean people occupy a marginal position. Their marginality in Canada and especially in Toronto will be demonstrated by such indicators as income data, the findings of employment discrimination research, and allegations of institutional and individual racism directed at this community. THE LITERATURE ON DIFFERENTIAL INCORPORATION IN CANADA

The concept of incorporation has been extensively applied in studies on ethnicity and ethnic relations in Canada. Perhaps among the most significant is the work of Breton et al. who, in their study of seven major ethnic groups in Toronto, noted that their first objective was to 'describe and analyze the variations among several ethnic groups in the degree and pattern of incorporation in the larger society' (Breton et al. 1990, 9). Moreover, they isolated two major 'but distinct lines of variations in the situation of ethnic groups: in the extent to which ethnic heritage forms a basis of individual life and social organization, and in the degree of incorporation in the larger society' and furi The most extensive recent study of the incorporation of immigrant groups in the United States has been undertaken by Sowell (1981). Incorporation into the socioeconomic structure is most important and this will depend upon a number of variables. Examples are the group's time of arrival, their special skills and training, and the attitude of the majority towards them.

14 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline thermore 'that one cannot be taken as the obverse of the other. Incorporation does not necessarily mean that ethnicity is disappearing as a basis of social organization and individual identity' (Breton et al. 1990, 9). Incorporation is measured primarily in terms of economic indicators such as job access, income differentials, ethnic concentrations in the labour market, promotional possibilities, and general economic prosperity measures. There is substantial literature on these indicators (Henry and Ginzberg 1984; Jain 1989; Reitz 1990; Reitz et al. 1981). In addition, however, 'identity and culture, residence and politics are also important domains of incorporation' (Breton et al. 1990, 7). A considerable amount of attention has been paid to these aspects of incorporation, as well in studying ethnic groups in Canada. Breton et al. conclude that 'Incorporation in the larger society entails involvement in institutions, the construction of social ties, participation in socio-cultural activities, and, most important, equal access to the rewards that the economic and political systems generate and distribute' (Breton et al. 1990, 7). 'Differential incorporation,' as identified by Smith and others, refers to the latter dimension of the general concept of incorporation. In a study of a single group, particularly one that is racially different from the mainstream society, it is more useful to analyse incorporation from the perspective of differential access to rewards and resources and the forces of racism that create these differentials. Racism is the single most important issue that members of this group encounter. It was a common theme throughout many interviews and one that many respondents would invariably return to again and again. In a pioneering work on ethnicity, Gordon (1964) observed that incorporation is a two-way process. On the one hand, it involves the thoughts, feelings, perceptions, allegations, and activities of the ethnic group members. As well, the thoughts, feelings, and attitudes of the host or mainstream society and their social, cultural, political, and economic institutions are also of importance. Incorporation therefore involves processes both internal and external to the group. Moreover, it can be extended to include internal and external processes affecting the larger society. Two sets of ethnic boundaries are involved: those of the established groups in society and those of the groups seeking full membership and equal participation in it' (Gordon 1964, 8). Incorporation therefore includes the boundaries created by the dominant group(s) as well as those of the specific ethnic group.

Theoretical Framework 15 Ethnic social formations, as well as their cultural institutions and values, play an important role in creating barriers to the incorporation of the group. 'Particular ethnic identities may not be as respected and accepted as others' (Gordon 1964, 8). This can be illustrated in the present study in that some West Indian cultural behaviours and values hinder integration in the Canadian context and are so perceived and treated by Canadians and Canadian institutions. Therefore, some aspects of West Indian culture create barriers to total incorporation. At the same time, however, the boundaries established by the dominant group in Canadian society also prevent successful incorporation of West Indians because they deny equal access to the goods and resources of society. Thus, people of Caribbean origin face employment, housing, and other forms of racial discrimination. This study will describe and analyse some aspects of West Indian culture that have been maintained by the migrant generation and that appear to impede their incorporation into Canadian society. In summary, the differential incorporation of Caribbean people in Canada can be explained in terms of two major forces that affect this community: (i) the maintenance of cultural patterns that impede mobility in Canada, such as some family patterns, relations with education, social and leisure patterns, etc.; and (2) racial discrimination. As stressed earlier, we are not employing a 'blame the victim' approach in identifying the various cultural retentions that create barriers to integration and mobility in the Canadian setting.2 We are not suggesting that Caribbean working class and underclass people are disadvantaged only because certain family patterns, such as single motherhood, have been retained. Nor are we saying that it is only because Caribbean parents leave the education of their children to the schools 2 The situation of Caribbean Blacks in the U.K. has been described in terms of this approach, particularly with respect to the 'problem' of the second generation. (The Caribbean migration to the U.K. began much earlier than the one to Canada, and has already produced a full cohort of second-generation, British-born Blacks of Caribbean origin.) The question of Black youth, therefore, has been of central concern to British authorities for many years. As Solomos notes, two dominant themes about the status of Black youth have emerged. First, there was the notion of the second generation as a 'social time bomb/ an image that was reinforced following the race riots of the early 19805. Black youth were considered volatile and ready to explode into rioting and revolution as widespread unemployment in their ranks continued. Second, there was the social construction that Black youth suffered from a 'complex of disabilities7 from their own backgrounds and could not integrate into mainstream society. The social deprivation thesis has been central to official thinking and is articulated in reports, parliamentary committees, and race relations agencies.

16 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline that problems of failing school and dropping out occur. If educators blame Black students' lack of success on cultural patterns instead of on the school's inability to meet the needs of such students, then elements of social racism rather than retention of cultural patterns are largely to blame for school failures. If harassment in the workplace frustrates and angers employees to the point of leaving their jobs, then their lack of training, skills, or inadequate work habits derived from an allegedly laid-back 'laissez faire' culture cannot be blamed for lowered incomes. The findings of this project and their interpretation are not used to explain the growing 'problem' of Black Caribbean youth as solely related to their cultural difference. With Solomos and others in Britain, we subscribe to the view that discrimination and racism in mainstream society and its resistance to change to meet the needs of new citizens is at the core of the 'problem.' Therefore, we argue that an equal, if not more powerful, force to explain the differential incorporation of the Caribbean community in Toronto is that societal racism affects all aspects of the lives of Caribbean people in Canada. Together these forces create the marginal status of Caribbean people and result in their differential incorporation into Canadian society.3 The theoretical framework that informs this book, therefore, is derived from several sources including the work of Smith, Gordon, and Earth. As mentioned earlier, the Caribbean community in Canada will be analysed in terms of its differential incorporation. The term refers to their unBlacks are disadvantaged because of unrealistic aspirations, psychological maladjustment, cultural conflict, language disabilities, weak family units, and the dynamics associated with a general cycle of deprivation. Disadvantage comes from substandard housing and living conditions, unemployment, and educational underachievement, as well as problems associated with their inability to integrate into British society. One result of these views is that official policy initiatives have tended to focus on the weaknesses of the Black community and to blame them for their own disadvantage. These assumptions have in turn been buttressed by research and reports which make a number of interlocking claims about the nature of black culture, community structures, networks and family relations. At the same time, the emphasis on these characteristics has tended to structure debate in such a way that racism as a structural phenomenon becomes only one small part of the overall race relations landscape, and by no means the central one' (Solomos, 1986). It is noted, however, that a group such as the Commission for Racial Equality does not subscribe to this point of view. 'It is sometimes easy for those in authority to regard young people as "the problem". To do so is to confuse cause and effect. The real "problem" lies in the inadequacies of society and the inability to respond to the needs and challenges of new generations of young people - especially those with different ethnic backgrounds, colour and/or culture'-(cited in Solomos 1986, 210).

Theoretical Framework 17 equal treatment and differential access to the economic, social, political, and cultural rewards offered in a plural society. Their differential or unequal position is the result of the interplay of two dynamic factors. First, the cultural values and institutions that Caribbean people bring with them that do not work to their advantage in the new society and two, the forces of individual, everyday and institutional racism that they encounter in their interactions with mainstream society. The last section of this book will describe how the community responds and reacts to its position. It will be shown that the community's attempt to develop its own institutions to become as institutionally complete or self-sufficient as possible is one mechanism used to create boundaries between themselves and mainstream society. THE COMMUNITY'S RESPONSE TO DIFFERENTIAL INCORPORATION

Caribbean people have developed several coping mechanisms to manage their relations with mainstream Canadian society. These include responses at the individual level such as networking, reliance on religion, new identity formation and the 'Roots' subculture among the youth, and the politics of race. At the institutional level, there is an attempt to increase entrepreneurism, create support groups and associations, maintain island associations, etc. These positive coping strategies are used to provide support to their constituents. Simultaneously, other coping mechanisms have evolved, such as the development of a culture of poverty (increasing marginalization of segments of the lower classes), youth alienation, the growth of smalltime drug culture, and participation in social disorders such as 'race riots/ These tactics dissent from the more commonly held values and behaviours of the majority, but are nevertheless extremely important for some segments of the Caribbean community who do not feel that they can subscribe to the perceived values of mainstream Canadian

3 It should be noted that the role that racism plays in affecting the life chances of

members of the Caribbean community in Canada as described in this book is based on the perceptions that members of the community themselves have articulated. It is their experiences of racism that inform this book. These experiences have not been validated by empirical data except in a few instances, such as in the area of employment, where such data are available.

i8 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline society nor participate in it. Moreover, they feel equally alienated from the middle-class values and behaviour of their own ethnic community. COMPARISONS WITH THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN MIGRATIONS 4

Caribbean people have migrated to several major metropolitan countries. They include the United States where the migration started in the twenties and continues to the present (Palmer 1990). Although all class levels are represented in this migration, substantial numbers were lower middle to middle class and social and economic achievement was relatively easy to attain because of their superior educational background (Foner 1989; Sutton 1987). The presence of African-Americans in American society has meant, however, that people of Caribbean origin needed to differentiate themselves from them in order to establish their own ethnicity. For White Americans, who define race and ethnicity primarily in terms of skin colour, all Blacks were the same. Caribbean migrants, however, did not want to be identified as Black Americans whom they considered inferior to themselves. Moreover, because of their superior class and educational levels as compared to African-Americans, people of Caribbean origin were able to find an economic niche in the major seaboard cities of the Northeast (Foner 1989; Sutton 1987). These early conditions have changed somewhat and some members of the younger generations of Caribbean descent are now in economic and social circumstances similar to those of African-Americans. But, on the whole, when compared to them, West Indian migrants and their descendants have prospered. The American comparison therefore presents similarities to the Canadian in some respects, but differs from it in others. The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom required labour after the Second World War primarily to fill jobs that the British did not want to do. Moreover, the expansion of the service sector in Britain meant that local workers achieved social and economic mobility quickly. The gap was filled by immigrant workers from the colonial and former colonial empire,

4 Comparison with the Netherlands is also possible since substantial numbers of people from the Dutch Antilles and Surinam have migrated there (Brock 1986; Cross 1986).

Theoretical Framework 19 namely the Caribbean and South Asia. This labour force was used to perform unskilled and semiskilled work. Continued migration created a substantial pool of labour that could also be used as a reserve pool and let go in times of economic restraint. The pool could also be contained by immigration restrictions that began in the early sixties (Cross 1986). In an important work, Cross relates the process of labour exploitation and changes in the industrial economy of the country to the changing nature of the dynamics of racism in the U.K.: The Caribbean experience suggests that a critical variable in the transformation of racism as an ideological form, from a device to explain and legitimate forced labour extraction to a process of separation containment and control, is the balance between the shortage and surplus of labour. That is precisely the transformation that has occurred in post-war Britain' (Cross 1986, 87). He categorizes the process into three stages, including the early 'precompetitive' stage from 1948 to 1962 - the colonial racism phase in which Caribbean people are thought to be cheerful, happy-go-lucky people eager to become unskilled workers in the motherland. From 1963 to 1976, the 'competitive' period was when the 'driving force for exclusion was pressure from the working class ...'.- that is, the threatened White working class. The state, at this point, was not threatened and reacted in a 'half-hearted' way by enacting the Race Relations Act in 1976 'to control the excesses of discrimination' (Cross 1986, 88-9). As of 1977, the 'post-competitive' period began in which 'labour markets are becoming increasingly separated spatially with Blacks remaining in one and skilled White workers in the other.' The result was that during the 19605 and 19703, there was a possibility of some mobility into the skilled working class, but this is no longer possible 'not because Blacks have failed to acquire skills' (Cross 1986, 88-9) but because skilled jobs have left the areas in which Blacks have settled. This brings with it a deterioration in the ability of the local authorities and the state to supply and maintain housing in the primarily Black inner-city areas in cities such as Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, etc. It was also difficult to provide adequate health and social services. West Indian migrants in Canada differed in some significant ways from those who migrated to England in response to labour demands. By and large, most of the migrants to this country were more highly educated and skilled than the earlier migrants to Britain. During the high point of immigration from the Caribbean - that is, during the

2O Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline seventies - independent migrants who had to pass the immigration points tests were in the majority. The theory of labour exploitation and changes in the patterns of available industrial employment does not apply as closely to the Canadian case, although the effects of the recession have been strongly felt in immigrant communities such as the West Indian one. Stuart Hall and his colleagues, however, have emphasized a slightly different theoretical model to explain the differential incorporation of West Indians in the U.K. (Hall 1978). Hall notes that by the end of the 19505, the strategy of 'Black assimilation' had already been cast aside as a mode for survival since it was apparent that Blacks could never become 'White men and women in looks, style, culture, even if they wanted to - and few did' (1978, 350). Next came the strategy of 'acceptance' which meant that Blacks took on and accepted the role of second-class citizens - the only one offered to them. Hall writes that 'what was primarily at issue here was the differential incorporation of the Black community into the White respectable working class. Its outcome would have been, not fusion with, but "informal segregation" within, the culture of a subordinate class. Many West Indian families settled, with more or less degrees of success, for this negotiated solution, in the first generation' (Hall 197S, 35o). The migrant generation therefore resigned itself with 'unending Black patience' in the hope that conditions for the next generation would improve. Another strategy was to separate West Indians even further from mainstream society. In order to do this, West Indians had to form an enclave community, or what Hall calls 'a colony society': formation of the ghetto 'colony' was a defensive and corporate response. It involved the Black community turning in upon itself ... in the face of public racism that rapidly developed ... through the 19605. In another sense, the foundation of colony society meant the growth of internal cultural cohesiveness and solidarity within the ranks of the Black population. (Hall 1978, 351)

The internal colony stimulated a cultural revival and a 'West Indian consciousness' characterized by the 'colonisation of certain streets, neighbourhoods, cafes and pubs, the growth of revivalist churches ...' (Hall 1978, 351). Furthermore, a new range of survival strategies became available to the Black community. 'The wages of a respectable Black labour now tended more and more to circulate back through

Theoretical Framework 21 the Black "colony" itself, and thus to provide the economic basis for a distinctive Black social world/ Among the new survival strategies were the various activities associated with 'hustling' (see chapter 9 on subculture). This model of a community living as a colony within a larger society is similar to the 'internal colonial model' as it applies to ghettoized African-Americans (Blauner 1972). Its applicability to the Canadian context is evident in the growth of a Black underclass in Toronto. Caused by similar conditions of institutional rejection and marginalization, and fuelled by cultural retentions that impede social and economic mobility, members of the Caribbean underclass, still small in number, nevertheless are beginning to show similar patterns. The development of a stigmatized underclass or 'colony7 further divides the Caribbean community, the majority of whom are among the 'respectable working class' and the middle class. While these theoretical models of the differential incorporation of Caribbean people in the U.K. are applicable to a segment of the community in Canada, it should be emphasized that there are differences between these two migrations. The one to Britain began earlier, included more of the less educated and skilled, and was initially encouraged by the state to meet labour needs. Although Canada encouraged women to emigrate to fill domestic service vacancies, the number never reached significant proportions (Calliste 1993; Henry 1968). Caribbean migrants to Britain tended to settle in and around London and the Midlands, the industrial area of the country. They are ghettoized in specific areas of cities. In Canada the Caribbean population is located mainly in Ontario, particularly Toronto. However, the pattern of industrial decline, particularly with respect to skilled jobs, has not happened to the same extent as in Britain. In both Canada and Britain, a pattern of class differentiation, cultural identity problems, separation from Whites, racial unrest and conflict, and atypical behaviour among the underclass has taken place. Caribbean people in Canada and the U.K. have also been systematically victimized by institutional and systemic racism. In all three countries, the interrelationships of race and class have been particularly significant. In the U.S., for example, the Caribbean community is internally stratified, but is as well positioned within the general stratification system that separates Blacks and Whites. In the U.K., and increasingly in Canada, the Caribbean communities are strongly class differentiated.

22

Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline

THE EFFECTS OF RACE AND CLASS

Social class is one of the major segmenting variables in the Caribbean community in Toronto. Differences in status and lifestyles distinguish the underclass, or lumpenproletariat or subproletariat in Marxian terms, and the middle class. One of our major findings, in fact, is that the Caribbean community cannot be considered homogeneous because of its strong class stratification that, to a significant extent, continues the pattern of social stratification in the Caribbean. Class stratification raises the question of the relationship of class to race and most of the theoretical writings in the field of 'race relations' have been concerned with that relationship. For example, Franklin writes exclusively about the Shadows of Race and Class in the United States (1991). In the U.K., the race-class controversy has been central to the theoretical writings of both the so called 'Weberians' such as Rex and his associates, the neo-Marxians such as Miles, Sivanandan, and others (Miles 1982; Rex 1983; Sivanandan 1982). As well, others, such as Gabriel and Ben-Tovim (1986), stress the primacy of race over class, and then there are some scholars who try to synthesize the two by categorizing race as an ideological construction influenced strongly by economic variables (Hall 1978). Criticisms of all these approaches have been made by Gilroy, Lawrence, and others at the Birmingham Centre who emphasize a more political approach (Gilroy 1987; Lawrence 1982). The primary focus in this book is on presenting an ethnographic description of the Caribbean communities in Toronto. The strong effects of class are clearly shown in the data. As well, race and the construction of racism play a powerful role in the differential incorporation of the community in Canada. Race and class are therefore considered mutually interactive phenomena that determine the position of this group within society. In addition to presenting the ethnographic data on institutional life and the cultural patterns of West Indians in Canada, a considerable amount of attention is paid to racism and its impact on the lives of the migrants. Racism is experienced by this community in many different ways. Social scientists have identified the many components of racism and there is extensive literature on the explication and analysis of racism. Some of these components include the following. The Meanings of Racism

In the following pages, experiences of racism are recounted by individual members of the Caribbean community. Many different ex-

Theoretical Framework 23 periences are described about systemic discrimination in the workplace, individual attitudes of prejudice, and the general forms of everyday racism. Individuals' attitudes and ideas must be distinguished from institutional or organizational discriminatory actions and behaviour. Similarly, ideas and values about people who are racially and culturally different from the mainstream circulate in any society. Racism includes these components: (i) individual (attitudinal, everyday); (2) institutional; (3) systemic; (4) cultural/ideological. At each of these levels, distinctions must be made as to whether the racism is overt or covert. Individual Racism

Individual racism involves both the attitudes held by an individual and the overt behavioural expressions of that attitude. Individual racism is the attitude, belief, or opinion that one's own racial group is superior in terms of values, customs, and norms, and, conversely, that members of other racial groups possess inferior traits and attributes. Individual beliefs provide a lens through which one sees, interprets, and interacts with the world. Because it is rooted in a person's belief system, it corresponds to the concept of prejudice. It can be argued that the racist ideology of individuals, like sexist attitudes, is only a symptom of the more serious malaise in the relationships between racial groups. Social and psychological considerations should be examined within the sociocultural context that produces and reproduces inequality and injustice. It has been noted that 'Personal attitudes far from exhaust the catalogue of discriminatory behaviour ... Discrimination remains so pervasive and entrenched because it is not solely personal ... it permeates both power and private relationships ... ' (Howitt and Owusu-Bempah 1990). Everyday Racism

Everyday racism involves the many and sometimes small racist incidents experienced by peoples of colour in their interactions with the dominant White group, such as looks, gestures, forms of speech, physical movements, and so on. Everyday racism includes small and subtle forms of behaviour that its perpetrators are sometimes not even conscious of but that are immediately and painfully felt by its victims. As Essed notes: It is very difficult to determine 'objectively' the nature of everyday interaction between Whites and Blacks ... A variety of studies have shown that those

24 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline who are discriminated against appear to have more insight into discrimination mechanisms than those who discriminate ... Blacks have a certain amount of expertise about racism through extensive experience with Whites. The latter, conversely are often hardly aware of the racism in their own attitudes and behaviour. (Essed 1990, 39)

And, although peoples of colour are, in general, particularly sensitive to everyday racism, it can sometimes be so subtle that they themselves may be unaware of it. Institutional Racism

This form of racism is manifested in the policies, practices, processes, and procedures in different institutions. These may directly or indirectly, consciously or unwittingly, promote, sustain, or entrench differential advantage or privilege to people of different races. An example of institutional racism is the common practice of word-of-mouth recruitment, which generally leads to racial minorities being excluded from the process. Definitions of institutional racism generally acknowledge that it encompasses overt manifestations of individual acts of racism to which there is no serious organizational response, such as an employer or manager's discriminatory hiring decisions. (Several such examples are described in the chapter on employment.) Institutional racism also includes those organizational policies and practices that, regardless of intent or motivation, are directly or indirectly disadvantageous to racial minorities, such as non-recognition of foreign credentials or inflated educational requirements for a position. The educational experiences of young migrants, for example, provide many examples of how assessment practices, curriculum guidelines, teacher staffing, etc., work against Caribbean students. Systemic Racism

This form of racism is similar to institutional racism, but refers to the laws, rules, and norms in the social system that result in an unequal distribution of economic, political, and social resources and rewards among various racial groups. Systemic racism is the denial of access to, participation in, and equity of racial minorities within a multiplicity of systems, including education, employment, housing, human ser-

Theoretical Framework 25 vices, etc. Caribbean migrants7 lives in Toronto provide many examples of how systemic racism prevents people from attaining their objectives, often without regard to their credentials. Cultural /Ideological Racism This form of racism is sometimes more difficult to isolate as it is embedded in the cultural systems of a group or society and is expressed through language, religion, art, and literature. Cultural racism refers to the collective belief system of the dominant culture. It represents the tacit network of beliefs and values that encourages and justifies discriminatory actions, behaviours, and practices. Writers such as Lawrence (1982) cite the lack of understanding of some group's cultural patterns as a basis for cultural racism. He writes specifically about the perception of the Black (particularly Caribbean) family, which differs from the type of family prescribed by the dominant culture. If the family does not include a male breadwinner, a financially dependent wife, and their offspring, it is pathological or deviant. Politicians and others in the U.K., for example, routinely subscribe to this brand of cultural racism when they claim that the problem in race relations is caused by pathological cultural patterns (Lawrence 1982). Some writers prefer the use of the term 'ideological racism' (Reeves 1983), but both terms refer essentially to racism formulated as a set of values and ideas. Essed argues that cultural racism precedes other forms of racism in society. It is reflected, for example, in our everyday language (e.g., being White is associated with overwhelmingly positive connotations, whereas being Black almost always refers to something negative). It is reflected in the images that the mass media generates (racial minorities are often portrayed as problems), as well as those produced by the arts (literature, poetry, and art). It is also manifested in religious doctrines, ideologies, and practices where racial exclusiveness of a most subtle kind makes Caribbean migrants feel unwelcome. This ubiquitous tendency to view all peoples and cultures from the central vantage point of one's own particular cultural standards and values is known as ethnocentrism and forms a central role in the development of racism.

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2

Immigration and the Immigration Process

HISTORY AND DEMOGRAPHICS OF CARIBBEAN MIGRATION TO CANADA1

The year 1962 was an important one for Caribbean migration. In that year, Canada began changing its immigration laws that five years later established the point system of immigration. Unlike the earlier laws that were discriminatory against peoples of colour (Calliste 1993; Satzewich 1991), the point system changed the inequalities of the prior legislation by requiring immigrants to pass a points test. Fifty out of 100 points based on a number of educational, employment, linguistic, and other criteria have to be earned to qualify for entry into the country. Coincidentally, Great Britain, which had until the early 19605 a very liberal process for the migration of people from the Commonwealth, began to impose more stringent immigration requirements. As Britain began and continued to tighten its immigration laws, Canada's system became more liberal. As a result, migrants whose first choice would normally have been Britain began immigrating to Canada. Moreover, from 1968 to 1973, persons who had been admitted as visitors could apply for landed-immigrant status during their stay in Canada. Immigration to Canada from the Caribbean reached its peak during the mid-1970s. Before 1966, very few persons of Caribbean birth migrated to Canada, but between 1973 and 1978, landed immigrants from the region, including Guyana, represented more than 10 per cent of i There is a substantial literature on Caribbean immigration to the United States and the United Kingdom. See, for example, E. Thomas-Hope (1992), Diaz-Briquets and Weintraub (1991), Sutton and Chaney (1987), Brana-Shute (1983). A Canadian bibliography was prepared by Anderson (1985). The same author recently published a socio-demographic profile of Caribbean immigrants (Anderson 1993).

28 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline TABLE 2.1 Caribbean-born population in Canada, by main countries of origin

Jamaica Guyana Trinidad & Tobago Barbados All others Haiti

tt

%

102,440 66,055 49,385 14,820 37,005 269,705 39,880 309,585

37.9 24.4 18.3 5.4 13.7 100* 12.8t

* % less than 100 due to rounding f % of total population including Haitians Source: Immigration and Citizenship, Catalogue 93-316, Statistics Canada, 1992

the total number of landed immigrants to Canada. According to the most recent census (1991) there are 269,705 persons of Caribbean birth living in Canada. They are from the former British and present French and Dutch Caribbean. There are also 39,880 persons born in Haiti, most of whom live in Quebec. (There are also 4,780 persons from the Spanish Caribbean, which includes Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.) The largest contingent - just under 38 per cent - of the Caribbean population in Canada are of Jamaican origin.2 Only four countries Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti - contribute more than 90 per cent to the population. Persons of colour who have migrated from the U.K. but are usually of Caribbean origin are often counted as 'British'. Additionally, Caribbean people who are here illegally add to the uncounted numbers. There is good reason to believe, therefore, that the census undercounts the Caribbean population (Boxhill 1990). A better estimate is that there are approximately 455,000 persons of Caribbean birth in the country. This substantially higher estimate of 455,000 is constructed by Simmons and Plaza (1991). They note that immigration statistics show that 450,000 Caribbean migrants arrived in Canada from 1960 to 2 Our interview sample in this study therefore accurately reflects the immigration demographics. For the purposes of presenting broad range patterns, however, we have made an attempt to diversify our sample to include persons from other regions of the Caribbean.

Immigration and the Immigration Process 29 the end of 1989. Since some of these have since migrated to the United States or returned home, this figure must be somewhat reduced. Since the exact number of those who returned to the Caribbean or migrated to the United States is not known, it may be assumed to be one-fifth, since this is the typical migration loss of other immigrant groups, leaving 364,000. If the number of Canadian-born children of Caribbean mothers is added, however, the total number substantially increases. Using a formula to measure fertility, Simmons and Plaza conclude that about 91,000 children were born to Caribbean mothers in Canada during this period, resulting in an overall population of 455,000. They note that this is a conservative estimate that does not, of course, include illegal immigrants, nor those from Haiti and the Hispanic Caribbean. As of the 1986 census, 135,055 Caribbean-born persons lived in the Toronto area (Statistics Canada, Special Tabulations, 1986). Although 1991 figures are not yet available, this figure has undoubtedly increased. Most Caribbean migrants reside in Ontario which as of 1991 had 74 per cent migrants, Quebec had 9.1 per cent, and 15.9 per cent of Caribbean migrants lived in other provinces (Canada Employment and Immigration Statistics, Tjio, 1991). Ontario - particularly the 'Golden Horseshoe' area comprising London, Toronto, and Kingston - contains the largest numbers. Two major areas of concentration are metropolitan Toronto and the areas surrounding it, particularly Mississauga and Brampton. In Toronto itself, Caribbean migrants are increasingly residentially concentrated. The Vaughan Road, Bathurst, and Bloor areas are almost entirely populated by people of Caribbean origin, and while the Jane-Finch area is ethnically mixed, most of its residents are of Caribbean origin. The city of Scarborough also has a large contingent of Caribbean peopled Age and gender significantly influence Caribbean immigration to Canada. There is a common practice among Caribbean parents of leav3 It is worth noting, however, that as of 1981, the Caribbean population was less residentially segrated than other ethnic groups such as Jews and Portuguese. The Gini index in 1981 based on census tracts was 0.46 in Toronto and 0.57 in Montreal. The index of dissimilarity for the Black population in Toronto was 38.5 compared with 45.2 for Chinese, 50.5 for Italians and 74.1 for the Jewish group7 (Richmond 1987). If these data are still relevant today, it would mean that there is less residential segregation among the Caribbean or Black population than in other ethnic groups. In all probability, however, the substantial numbers of Black, meaning mainly people of Caribbean origin, in subsidized public housing has increased the levels of residential segregation.

30 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline ing their young children behind in the care of grandmothers and other relatives when they migrate. A smaller than average proportion of migrants are therefore under the age of five. In fact, it is probably true that many children arrive here when they are already of school age. The relatively 'late' age of arrival of children has an important impact on the integration of Caribbean children into Canadian schools. The negative effects of this on the children's ability to adapt as well as the educational system's ability to meet their special needs will be further discussed in the chapter on education. Another noteworthy feature of Caribbean migration has been the pattern of women immigrating alone. This differs significantly from most migratory movements in which more men than women migrate to a new country. In 1981, the ratio of men to women was 0.83, but if only those from Jamaica are counted, the sex ratio was 0.71 (0.71 men to every woman migrated). This imbalance, particularly in the early years of the Caribbean migration to Canada, reflected, in part, the government-run domestic labour schemes in which women were allowed entry into the country if they agreed to work as domestics for one year. For many earlier immigrants to Canada, the process of applying to come to the country was considerably easier than it is today. For women who came on the domestic labour scheme in particular, applications, letters of reference, school documents, etc., were processed in the country of origin and replies would be sent out relatively quickly.4 4 An example of a respondent who came on the scheme is Shari, a woman now fortyeight years of age who came from Guyana in the mid-sixties. She notes: 'At the time, Guyana was a British colony, no universities, no nothing! After leaving school, it was either the civil service or teaching and I didn't want to do either. The next best thing was to get married and my father didn't like my boyfriend. One day, they came around looking for people to do domestic work and some friends of mine went, but I did not apply as a domestic. I didn't want to look after anybody's children. I asked about applying to come to Canada independent of the domestic scheme and the man gave me a form. When the immigration officer from Canada came, I had an interview and applied to be an immigrant. It was easy in those days.' Shari's story makes several telling points. First, it shows that the Canadian domestic labour scheme, in large part, recruited women who were actually of middle-class status and who used the scheme primarily to gain entrance to Canada. Moreover, Shari's class status is almost immediately recognizable since she had the equivalent of more than high school graduation. She had taken the GCE exams, had passed some subjects at A-level, and was therefore qualified for civil service jobs, which she mentions as a possibility for her. Shari applied for citizenship as soon as she was eligible and, ironically, has for more than twenty years worked for the Ontario Civil Service.

Immigration and the Immigration Process

31

Caribbean migrants also tend to be in the twenty-five to forty-five year age range. They also have a lower than average number of young dependants and are markedly underrepresented in the retirement age groups. The median age of the Caribbean-born population was thirtytwo as compared with forty-two for the total of all immigrants to Canada. As of 1981, the number of Canadians born of Caribbean origin was only 50,000 (living in households headed by a Caribbeanborn person). As of more recent figures, however, the numbers of Canadian-born have significantly risen and these demographic patterns are rapidly changing as fewer migrants come to Canada and as more children of Caribbean origin parents are born in Canada. The second generation of Canadian-born or those who arrived during early childhood have greater difficulty integrating into Canadian society and the inequities of differential incorporation take on greater significance. (This will be discussed in later chapters.) THE PUSH FACTORS OF IMMIGRATION Reasons for Leaving the Caribbean

For most Caribbean immigrants, the move to Canada is made for economic reasons. The economic constraints facing Caribbean countries are so extreme that migration provides a possibility for improvement in jobs and education. It is their sole source of economic and social mobility. In addition, family reunification is increasingly a decisive factor in the migration to Canada. As the movement of peoples continues, with children and sometimes other close relatives left behind, the need to reunite family members is a strong impetus to migrate. Millie, an older woman of fifty-six, is a case in point. Millie and her husband decided to come to Canada from Jamaica ten years ago primarily to be with their two children who had migrated to Canada many years earlier. Two other children migrated to the United States and one is still in Jamaica but visits her parents in Canada every year. Millie's husband arrived first, and she followed about one month later. The two children sponsored them to Canada and the immigration process proceeded without any difficulty. Millie had sometime earlier spent a year in Canada without her husband and then returned to Jamaica. She says, 'I love Jamaica and I didn't want to leave ... my children behind me. They say come to Canada or the states and I didn't want to leave my children. We stick together. Then my husband, he wanted

32 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline to come, he didn't want to come alone, he wanted me to come with him, so I had to come up. I don't regret it, you know. I love Canada ... it's okay ... only the winter ... ' Double-Lap Migration

The composition of the Caribbean population in Canada would not be complete without discussing the role of what has been called by some in the community a double-lap migration. Such migrants are people of Caribbean origin who initially went to England and then they or their children migrate again to Canada. Such persons are listed as British in a census that asks for the last country of origin. It has been estimated that as many as 10,000 to 15,000 people are doublelap migrants. The continuing and, it is alleged, increasing racism in the United Kingdom is largely responsible for this movement. For some, the economics of the Thatcher regime that forced many plant closings and the privatization of state-run enterprises meant a loss of jobs. For others who had a reasonably successful time of it economically before the downturn, the feeling that British society would not allow any further mobility was a decisive factor in migrating again. Katherine, now a mid-level civil servant in Ontario, tells her story: Many young people left Jamaica at that time in the 19505. Sometimes, their parents would sell some of their land to pay the passage. Because Jamaica was a British colony, there was an open-door policy on immigration. The British government actively encouraged immigration in the '505 because they needed an increased workforce to do the menial work and rebuild postwar England. We did not know what to expect. It was the land of milk and honey to us. We wanted to work hard, save, and return home to Jamaica. I left Jamaica to better myself, save, and return to Jamaica and help my country. I joined my fiance in Finsbury, London. It was a working-class area in London's north end. There were not many Blacks in the area. The first thing that surprised me was that the English did not have many baths in their houses. I could not believe it, these big houses of usually four floors and tenants did not have one bath between them. I thought this was rather nasty. Luckily, my husband was an athlete and he would shower and use the track facilities and I would go with him. I did not want to go to the public baths. [Katherine had her first child in Jamaica. Her fiance left for England shortly after and sent for her one year later. The child was left with his mother to be sent for later.]

Immigration and the Immigration Process 33 We got married in England in 1959 and a second child was born some months later. Things were not easy - the climate, the people were so different, also there was a lot of prejudice, a colour bar. Many people did not want coloured people to live near them. I was disappointed in what I saw in England. A couple of years later we were able to go for a holiday in France and if we could speak French, we would have stayed there. Next year we went to Canada on a holiday. I thought it was a beautiful place. I was surprised to see it was so cosmopolitan. It was clean, big, spacious. It also reminded me of Jamaica. It had such nice summers, not like England. Canada gave me that 'back home' feeling. The family applied for immigration as soon as we got back to England. It was a good experience to have been in England, but I should have left sooner. The system there discourages progression. You can only go so far in England.

{Catherine's experience is one example of why people migrate twice. She and her family left apparently not because of economic discontent in England, but because they felt that they had gone as far as the constraints in that country would allow. She has been in Canada for about six years and is well established. Her two children are at university and she and her husband are well employed. Denzil tells a different story. He believes that there were a number of positive aspects about living in England and he is not sure about Canadian attitudes towards migrants. Now in his early thirties, he says that he found England to be a much fairer country. There was racism in England, but there were also class distinctions. There are more progressive-thinking people in England. There are more progressive Black people there because Black people have been going to England longer. I left because I mistakenly believed that there was more opportunity in Canada. When I first came to Canada, I found having a strong British accent a detriment. Canadians would say, 'I thought there were only AngloSaxons in England/ They also always ask you where you are from and I think this is silly.

Denzil's cousin, a man in his mid-forties, also has mixed feelings about Canada. He was born in England, went to school in Birmingham, and did an apprenticeship as a machinist. Many of his friends were moving to London so when he completed his apprenticeship, he too went to London. He had many good things to say about life in England, but he is not yet sure about life in Canada:

34 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline London was a swinging place in those days. There were some very good Black clubs and lots of house parties. Jobs were easy to get. One problem in working in England was they were slow to modernize. I was working on machinery that had been converted during the war to help in the war effort and had been reconverted for factory use after the war. I found that English people were selfish, prejudiced, and stubborn. Some can be friendly. I find the English more sociable than the Canadians and more polite. I respect the English more than Canadians. Look at the way they go school, you can see many have no respect for themselves. In England you can tell a kid is coming from school.

Arnold originally went from Grenada to England shortly after the war. He comes from a poor agricultural background and found that while he could learn a craft in England, other aspects of life in Canada were easier for him. My parents were farmers in Grenada and I didn't have much schooling. I have seven brothers and sisters from my mother's side and I don't know how many on my father's side. I just finished elementary school. In England I learned carpentry and got work as a carpenter's assistant. After a while, my brother in Canada sent me an invitation. He sponsored me, but I was turned down twice for landed-immigrant status. I went back to England and seven months later applied again, this time with my carpenter's papers. I like Canada. It is giving me a chance to do what I want to do. In England, I was looked down on because I had no schooling.

Arnold has a good job in a factory manufacturing kitchen cabinetry. He has been able to use his carpentry skills to advantage in this country and feels that he has made more progress here than he would have if he had spent another twenty years in England. These experiences indicate that, for the most part, West Indians who have remigrated from England are more satisfied with their lives in Canada. They were, or have become, lower middle to middle class. They were able to learn trades and skills in England, but thought that their long-term opportunities in Canada were greater. These migrants were, to a certain extent, at an advantage because they were already trained or skilled and have already been through the harrowing strains of the immigration process. Remigration therefore seems to come somewhat easier.

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35

CONTINUING EXPERIENCES WITH IMMIGRATION

The immigration process does not end with a migrant's arrival in Canada. Caribbean migrants have continued contact with immigration authorities. A number of respondents continued to deal with the authorities for years after their own arrival because they sponsored relatives. Charges of racism and racial harassment by immigration officials were frequently discussed. Once in Canada, Caribbean migrants experience enormous difficulty in their interactions with the official immigration infrastructure. The problems are the result of several factors. Those on visitor's or student visas and who wish to stay in Canada must apply for landed-immigrant status from outside the country. While in Canada, however, they consult with immigration officials and 'immigration counsellors' who have sprung up in significant numbers to service the needs of the community. Some fraudulent schemes have been uncovered over the years, in some instances implicating lawyers and immigration counsellors. People are allegedly paying as much as $15,000 to 'purchase' landedimmigrant status or passports. Several of our respondents claimed they were harassed by immigration officials. The stories of alleged racial harassment are legion within the community. Immigration officers are frequently accused of racist behaviour towards Black migrants. Despite the liberalization of Canadian immigration laws, migrants accuse the system of being racist (Satzewich 1989). Of more direct relevance to this study, however, are the ways in which those already in Canada interact with the immigration system. Those who are in Canada illegally are always concerned about immigration officials and prefer to avoid contact with immigration authorities at all times. Generally speaking, many respondents have fairly negative views of Canadian immigration as a system and, to some extent, these feelings are often related to the generally negative attitudes many have towards Canada. These will be discussed later in this chapter. Many West Indians regard the immigration system as a symbol of the Canadian government, which seems primarily interested in helping potential migrants who have money to invest in the country, immigrants such as the Chinese investors who came here easily because of qualifying for the special investment immigration program sponsored by

36 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline Canada Employment and Immigration. Although it is acknowledged that these Chinese may also be treated in a racist manner, the feeling is that they are nevertheless treated better because they have money. Black people are treated less well, not only because they are Black but also because they are poor. As one young man said, They come to this country, they come to make something of themselves, therefore the Canadian government doesn't care/ Several people feel that struggling to come to Canada is no longer worth it. A middle-aged woman from Jamaica said, 'If you can't make it, take as much as you can with you and leave.' She came to Canada originally as a visitor and decided to stay. She worked illegally in a large retail store using a social insurance number 'appropriated' from someone else. Her experience tells her that 'West Indians are not wanted in this country and there's no point in staying.' These negative feelings are expressed especially by people who have entered the country illegally or who have had a particularly difficult experience with immigration. Often the first encounter with immigration officials at the airport conveys negative messages about Canada to the would-be immigrant. A case in point is the experience of Janell, who arrived in Canada from Trinidad four years ago. Although she did not have any particular problems with immigration, she related the story of her cousin who was on a British West Indian Airways flight from Trinidad that had stopped at several other islands, arriving in Toronto on a Monday. She was not allowed to leave by immigration until Wednesday. Many people from the same plane were detained at a hotel on Jar vis Street downtown. Immigration said the process was slow because they did not have enough officials to process people quickly. The immigration officer phoned me the next morning, minutes after nine, asking me if I knew this person - my cousin - asked me a lot of questions ... [Meanwhile,] she has been at that hotel for so long, the place doesn't even have hot water, they don't have any clothes and they have to stay in the same underwear. They told the people they would notify their families, but I was waiting at the airport until two o'clock in the morning and I was not notified until next morning.

While the official reason for the delay may have been legitimate, one of the main reasons for unreasonably long delays are either drug searches or the need to 'search through every little bit of paper like it was gold,' according to one respondent. It is quite clear that many

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37

migrants feel that Canadian immigration officials take extra care in processing their papers because of their racist feelings against them. 'A lot of [immigration officers] really want to see our backsides/ as one woman graphically put it. Immigration officials sometimes have difficulty in understanding people of Caribbean origin. Language problems tend to slow down the procedures and I have personally seen an immigration official asking for a 'Jamaican interpreter' because he felt unable to communicate with the family he was attempting to process. The people were detained for a long period of time while the 'interpreter' was sent for. In any event, unpleasant initial encounters are told and retold and soon become known as how immigration usually treats Caribbean migrants. The following case history of Sheila, a woman of Guyanese origin, illustrates some of the frustrating aspects of interacting with Canadian officialdom. The story, told here at some length, also reveals the dynamics of a family in conflict and therefore sheds some light on family stresses as they relate to the immigration processes. Sheila was born and raised in a rural area of Guyana. She is about twenty-nine years old, a small-framed, fragile-looking woman, who speaks in a quiet, subdued manner. She has been in Canada for nearly three years and is about to claim her rights of citizenship. She is here with her four children, who range in age from eight to thirteen. Sheila was married when she was fifteen to Johnny, who was selected for her by her parents. Soon after marriage and moving to the capital city of Georgetown, Johnny began to beat Sheila. She had two children in rapid succession. She stayed in her marriage because she was embarrassed to let anyone know that she was being physically abused. Since she had some secondary education, she could work as a secretary in a bank while also attending courses to upgrade her skills. She saved as much money as she could without her husband's knowledge. Johnny began dealing in cocaine and became even more abusive. By this time, she had two more children. Somewhere during this period, Sheila sought the help of her church minister. He advised her to leave the country and she began making plans to do so. Her husband discovered her plans and made an effort at reconciliation. In a short time, however, he again became abusive and reverted to drug use and trafficking. By now her youngest child was four years of age. Sheila again contacted her minister who mobilized quite quickly to get her out of the country. He got her a plane ticket and custody papers for her children. Sheila fled Guyana and on arrival in Canada was met by her two

38 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline older sisters who agreed to help her.* Meanwhile, she discovered that the custody papers she had brought with her were not legal in Canada and a friend at home wrote to say that her husband was going to Canada to locate her and the children. At this point, Sheila's interaction with immigration authorities began. The following is a somewhat edited but almost verbatim account of the field notes written by the researcher who accompanied Sheila to her first immigration session. We proposed to meet at 4 a.m. I was a little bit concerned and asked why so early. She said people sometimes lined up there and slept from the very early hours of the morning, sometimes from the night previous. We drove down to Bloor and Islington. It was still dark outside, and quite chilly. Sheila was dressed in a navy blue skirt, softly gathered, a blouse, and a matching navy blue sweater. She had also done something to her hair, cut it and curled it. She mentioned to me that she took time in dressing because she's often heard that you are judged by the way you look. And she didn't want anybody to think that she wasn't dressed accordingly or appropriately. We arrived at the building and there was a long line of about 150 people that went right around the side of the building. Most of the people there were Visible minorities'; there were a few White-skinned people in the line. There were also some children. As we got in the line, somebody in front said we should go and put our name on the sheet of paper on the front of the building. I walked up and saw that the paper contained a listing of the names of all the people present. It was now about 5 a.m. There were people lying down on the ground with blankets. There was one person who had a mattress of sorts. There were people just sitting down on the concrete and others were just standing up. Sheila and I went back to my car and sat in it in full view of the line. During this time, Sheila talked of herself, her background, and her expectations of 5

Sheila moved in with her elder sister, who lived in a rented four-bedroom town house. One bedroom was allocated to Sheila and her children. She was expected to help with domestic duties in the house. Shortly afterwards, her sister's mother-inlaw came to Canada on a visit and the house became somewhat overcrowded. She also began to argue with her sister. Sheila then moved her family and herself into the home of her other sister. Not only was she expected to help in the house, she was forced to perform as a domestic. Moreover, at some point her sister's husband began requesting a sexual relationship and a number of physical confrontations took place. As a result, the police were called on one occasion and Sheila was taken to a shelter for abused women. Since Sheila was legally in Canada and entitled to work, she began searching for a job.

Immigration and the Immigration Process 39 Canada. She expressed disappointment in this country because she expected more help in establishing herself, help in finding housing and a job.6 She also misses the extended family, finding the experience of attempting to create a life on her own extremely difficult. By now it was nearly 6:30 and a man in uniform came from inside the building. We got out of the car as he began to call out numbers. The first fifty were called and soon after the next fifty. There was a lot of anticipation among the crowd and an air of apprehension. Although this man appeared to be only some sort of security officer for the building, he had an air of superiority, pushing the people and telling them to 'hurry along, hurry along/ We were number 125 and some time later we were allowed into the building. We were all instructed to wait and I noticed that there was no talking. It was completely silent, everybody was quiet. I asked Sheila how she felt and she said that she was nervous and wished that she didn't have to go through with this because it was quite humiliating. (I myself, although not part of this immigration process, shared her humiliation. We were being herded like in a cattle call.) It was now 7 a.m. and again the same officer handed out pieces of paper and everybody was asked to write their name and address and hand it back to him. People asked each other questions but no one addressed the officer, who exuded an air of authority. There were three elevators available and everybody just got in ... We stepped 'into the box not knowing what was going to happen upstairs. I knew of course that there had to be some sort of office upstairs, but there was no instruction, just that silence and an air of mystery that really made you feel almost defeated before you actually got to have your interview. The people in the elevator stood there, many with hands clenched together. I noticed a woman ... going through her rosary beads. It was really quite unsettling just to stand there and feel and watch, and also quite sad.

Sheila finally received documentation to show that her children are hers legally, but this took more than two years and as many as eight sessions with immigration officials. She was made to return repeatedly, spending up to twelve hours per visit. 6 She had no knowledge of any of the public sector agencies designed to help immigrants. This lack of knowledge of available government and immigrant-aid groups was not confined to Sheila. We found that other migrants, especially women, knew little of what help was available to them. Women got to know more about the sources of help available to them from church association or self-help groups at the 'Y' and other facilities. Otherwise, information was shared within the family or the network, but women like Sheila are not well connected to the networks and consequently lack access to information.

4o Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline Another significant problem with immigration officials who actually meet the public is that they know very little, if anything, about Caribbean family patterns. This lack of knowledge is especially relevant to the many cases involving the sponsorship of children. Since some women who sponsor their children were not married to their children's father or fathers, they must often prove that the children are theirs, especially when the children carry the father's name, though no legal marriage of the parents took place. Men attempting to sponsor their children run into the same difficulties, since some of their children carry not their surnames but the names of their unmarried mothers. A man must therefore prove with legal documentation that he is indeed the father of the child or children he wishes to sponsor. (This may sometimes be difficult as the father is not always noted on a child's birth certificate.) Since some men have children by several different women, their children may have more than one surname. Immigration officials are often unaware of these complexities and put sponsors through a series of rude questions in which their morality is questioned. Another respondent told us that when he sponsored his two children by different mothers, immigration officials asked him why only one child carried his name. 'You're not too sure about the other one, eh?' was the unnecessary and unwarranted comment made by the officer. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

For many other Caribbean people, entry into Canada is now almost impossible. Those with no immediate relatives to sponsor them or those who do not qualify as independent applicants through the point system have no recourse other than to enter the country as visitors and then go underground. The number of illegal immigrants from the Caribbean has been estimated at 10,000 to 30,000. Respondents themselves estimate that one in nine West Indians is an illegal immigrant. The Caribbean community's attitude towards them is ambivalent. On the one hand, one of the most important functions of networking (described more fully in the chapter on strategies) is to help illegal immigrants access jobs within the community infrastructure so that they can earn some money while being protected from immigration authorities. On the other hand, the threat of exposure is often used against them by members of their own communities. The stories of immigration being 'tipped off by 'one of our own' are legion within

Immigration and the Immigration Process 41 the Caribbean community. Ilegal immigrants working for Caribbean proprietors or employers have, it is alleged, been paid low wages and denied other job benefits under threat of exposure. Exploiting illegal immigrant workers is a means of hiring cheap labour for some business establishments. Illegal immigrants sometimes have personal conflicts with other members of the community. In one case reported by one of our respondents, a woman was arguing bitterly with another female member of her family while both women were at a hairdresser's shop. The argument raged bitterly even as one woman left. The following week, the hairdresser was told that one of the women had been turned in by the other - her cousin - and was being sent back to Jamaica. In addition to personal harassment and employment exploitation, illegal immigrants live in a state of anxiety. They can be discovered by immigration authorities and deported at any time. Those who are here illegally feel embarrassed by their situation. They feel isolated because they cannot get help or protection from the system. They have no recourse from employment discrimination because they cannot grieve against their employers, nor can they claim unemployment insurance benefits, welfare, or any other forms of government assistance. Basic services such as health care are denied to them because they cannot use the OHIP card without exposing their lack of status. One result is that there are serious concerns about the health needs of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are also very much afraid of the law because they feel that they can be apprehended and treated like criminals. Being in Canada without papers is not a criminal offence, but the law, especially as portrayed by the media, suggests to many people that they can or will be apprehended by the police. Many illegal immigrants also feel humiliated and helpless because they are unable to change their situation. A young man, a clerk in a retail store, said that he came to Canada alone and has, as he puts it, 'left one hell to come to another.' He has no way of returning home to Jamaica because he can't save enough money to purchase a plane ticket. At the same time, he cannot earn enough money to provide himself with a better life in Canada or even to afford the services of an immigration consultant. He is unable to change his situation. The only recourse for people trapped in this situation is to hope for an immigration amnesty, which occurred earlier, but many illegal immigrants did not avail themselves of it because they did not trust the government's intentions. Some

42 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline of our respondents came to Canada and stayed illegally, but they were reluctant to discuss it. Eda, a thirty-six-year-old woman from Guyana, is a case in point. She came to Canada as a visitor and then went underground. She was eventually granted landed-immigrant status, but refused to discuss how her immigration status was changed. She merely repeated over and over that the experience as an illegal immigrant was 'horrible, it was horrible, horrible/ Eda's sister in Guyana is in a difficult situation, as her partner left her and her two children. She recently lost her job because of the very severe economic problems facing Guyana. Eda very much wants her sister to come to Canada, but she must go through the official procedures to avoid repeating Eda's experience. (Under present immigration law, siblings are not among the relatives eligible for sponsorship.) SUMMARY

While some immigrants such as Sheila and Eda had unpleasant encounters with immigration officials, others have not had any difficulties in dealing with the system. The key variable appears to be the time of entry into Canada - for example, controls and procedures were not so stringent in an earlier period. The immigration process is relatively free of humiliating incidents, it would appear, if the case is straightforward. However, substantial numbers of Caribbean migrants come to Canada and are processed by an immigration system that many consider oppressive and discourteous. After the decision to migrate has been made and the procedures involved in migrating have been completed, what happens to migrants when they arrive in Canada and begin the long process of adapting to a new host society? The next chapter will deal with the issues of cultural and identity shock in which ambivalent feelings about Canada, as well as the Caribbean country that has been left behind, figure prominently.

3

After Immigration: Identity and Culture Shock

How do migrants react and feel after they arrive in Canada? They often believe that they will one day return home. As migrants begin to achieve (however modestly) their goals and realize their ambitions, they begin to feel ambivalent about their cultural identity. On the one hand, they feel that they have made the right move in migrating since Canada is, despite the many problems it presents to these newcomers, a land of opportunity, whereas 'home' is a Third World, underdeveloped country. Nevertheless there is continuing nostalgia about 'home/ Underlying both feelings are comparisons between Canada and their home country. RETURN MIGRATION

As often happens in the immigrant experience, many first-generation migrants maintain that they are not here permanently and will return 'home' after they make enough money and acquire other resources. This is the 'sojourner' mentality. In actuality, few realize that ambition since the rates of return migration from Canada are apparently relatively low.1 The relative recency of the migration from the Caribbean might also affect these low rates of return. People emigrating during the seventies and early eighties have not been here long enough to amass goods and resources or achieve their aspirations. On the other hand, evidence from other migratory groups suggests that the wish to return home some day and the lack of commitment to Canada by first-generation migrants represents a particular aspect of the mii Personal communication, immigration official, Jamaica.

44 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline gration experience. Going home is often maintained as a hope, wish, or fantasy that becomes a form of coping. The many stresses and tensions associated with migration are borne somewhat more easily if the beacon of returning home can be maintained. There are several other significant signs that show that migrants do not want to cut their ties to home. They maintain contact with family members, they remain interested in island events and politics, and they send goods and messages home with travelling friends and relatives. In addition, they send remittances to relatives, especially for the care of young children. The working classes of many Caribbean countries, many of whose members are often unemployed or underemployed, are heavily dependent upon these remittances, which enable them to maintain a standard of living that is equal to and sometimes higher than lower middle-class wage-earners in Caribbean societies. (As a visitor to Canada who works as a civil servant for the government of St Kitts told me recently, 'You should see them down there ... the clothes and dresses they wear ... What I wear to church, they put on their backs to go to town with!') Another important economic link with the home country is that a significant number of middle-class migrants make investments in their countries of origin. The investments are either in businesses or land. 'Some of them come here, learn business ... No matter how old you are, you can go to school and learn something/ said Millie, an older Jamaican woman. She also thinks that the people who return to Jamaica do so primarily because they have learned and earned enough to begin their own businesses there. Some respondents estimate that as many as 80 per cent of Jamaicans, Antiguans, and others leave some real estate behind when they migrate to Canada. From money earned in Canada, taxes on properties can be paid, properties can be maintained, and more land can be purchased. Many respondents said that what they would most like to do is to earn money in Canada and eventually return home to start or expand a business. The reality for most, however, is that there are a number of constraints. Many do not achieve the finances or resources that would make the return possible. Moreover, given the relatively young ages of first-generation migrants, some marry or form relationships in which Canadian-born children are produced. In addition, for migrants whose Caribbean-born children become increasingly socialized into Canadian society and its values, and whose educational, career, and/or employment aspirations are centred in Canada, the move back home becomes unlikely.

After Immigration: Identity and Culture Shock

45

CULTURE SHOCK Most Caribbean immigrants, like those from other areas of the world, are affected by culture shock. This sense of dislocation is dramatically described by Calypsonian Lord Cosmos in his popular song 'Culture Shock': It was a Trini who come up here to this country, He was searching for opportunity, but too much pressure, he wanted to give it all up. He was leaving because of Culture Shock! He said, man, it faceless; man, it voiceless; it colourless Man, it even odourless, I just come here to get up and run Man, it all around me, Mr Culture Shock No oxtail, cow tongue, chicken foot I can't even get my old time parang for Christmas The police stop me without a purpose People don't like me because I cook curry People kiss dog and don't want to kiss me People say I 'av a accent? CHORUS: Man, that is Culture Shock! Well, Mr Trini make me feel so uneasy with his stories of hardship and misery He was ambitious but he could not get past all dem roadblocks He was grieving because of Culture Shock! He say, 'Some winter have me freezing all over in the bus shelter, man, this coldness is murder' and he have a neighbour who winter in the islands, man, you crazy to leave the West Indies People don't see me in the elevator Vacant apartment and don't want to rent me When I can't say gay to mean that I'm happy, That is Culture Shock! ... They make a man suffer, People using knife and fork to eat roti, They say I'm overqualified with one degree,

46 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline On a crowded bus, the seat next to me empty They say all Black people look just like me, I switch on the radio and can't hear my soca, When they say all West Indians come from Jamaica, That is Culture Shock! ...

Despite some feelings of culture shock, the results of our fieldwork suggest that the vast majority of Caribbean migrants are content to be in Canada. Surveys undertaken by the Toronto Star showed that Caribbean people were on the whole satisfied in Canada. Their level of satisfaction has gone down, however, and they showed the least level of satisfaction compared to other ethnic groups in Canada (Toronto Star 1992). They feel that, in large part, they have made the correct decision. Motivated largely by economic needs and the superior education that Canada can offer their children, most first-generation migrants feel satisfied with their lives in Canada. Notwithstanding the racism many of them experience, their difficulties in finding employment and other services, and the hardships of the Canadian winter, most migrants have genuinely positive feelings about the country. In fact, survey findings reveal that while 41 per cent of West Indians in London, England, regret their decision to migrate, only 26 per cent in Toronto do. Although the Canadian figure is far lower, it is more than twice as high as that in the United States where only 12 per cent of migrants regretted their decision to migrate (Thomas-Hope 1975). It should also be noted that 26 per cent is slightly more than one-quarter of all migrants. This result compares favourably to the recent survey undertaken in Toronto with respect to level of satisfaction (Thomas-Hope 1975; Toronto Star 1992). On the other hand, feelings of nostalgia about their home countries figure prominently in their day-to-day experiences and emotions. This ambivalence is largely summed up in a phrase used by a number of respondents: 'Canada is where you live. "Home" is where you come from' - and where many of them would like to return to. Glen, a thirty-year-old Jamaican, has been in Canada for twenty years. He has completed high school and is presently employed as a manager of a record store. Glen is typical of the immigrant who is reasonably content with what Canada has to offer, but still yearns for his home. Glen is a Canadian citizen who maintains dual citizenship. When asked if he still has Jamaican citizenship, Glen loudly and assertively said, Til never give that up!'; and should he ever have to

After Immigration: Identity and Culture Shock 47 make a choice, he would definitely give up the Canadian citizenship in order to retain his Jamaican status. Glen says that there are things about Canada that he dislikes, such as the weather. On the other hand, he describes Canada as a 'First World nation/ There are opportunities here, but you have to know how to survive. You have to work, but things are easier to get here than in a Third World nation/ Glen still maintains friendships with Jamaicans whom he knew in Jamaica as a young boy. He says that he would not marry a Canadian woman, saying, 'No, no, that's just the Jamaican thing in me ... I gotta be Jamaican, you know/ Moments later in the interview, Glen reverts to a discussion of Canada: 'Canada has not been harsh to me, but like I said in order to make it here, you gotta know the system. I'm frustrated right now, but I had the experience of knowing the system, going to college, learning how the system is run. You gotta know the setup and you gotta cheat/ Glen feels that people who live on welfare, which he would never do, are kept down because 'welfare is just another institution to keep people down/ Canadians know what they are going to be in life, he asserts, because 'many of them will be what their fathers are/ but the 'Black man never knows. He has to fight for a little something. He doesn't know what he can be ... he's been in three, four jobs and still doesn't know/ Glen attributes these difficulties to being marginal and outside of the system. His sense is that Black people in this country are clearly not equally incorporated into what he calls the 'system' and this is largely due to racism. He also expresses extreme pessimism about Canada making changes for the benefit of migrants. He speaks lightly of the process of change in Canada: 'First, there is the research period that takes about twenty years and costs $50,000. It takes another twenty years to get the information together, so it takes about forty years to get any changes made, by which time there are new problems/ While Glen acknowledges that he has progressed in Canada, he nevertheless wants to be buried in Jamaica. 'I've got my own property there, you know. You could dump me on that, but don't dump me here. The least you could do is send me back there/ Bert, another young Jamaican, has been here for about seven years, and while a landed immigrant, he has not yet applied for Canadian citizenship. He too expresses the ambivalence characteristic of many of our respondents. Bert said that he thought it would be necessary for him in the near future to apply for Canadian citizenship because

48 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline it might improve his chances, but he wants to maintain his Jamaican citizenship. (At the time of the interview, Bert was not aware that he could have dual citizenship. When so informed, he confessed that it was the fear of losing his Jamaican status that had prevented him from applying for Canadian citizenship.) Bert says that he loves Canada and feels that he has a real chance to get ahead in this country. He echoes Glen's view that one needs to be knowledgeable and smart to succeed in this society. I feel positive about myself living in Canada because you have to be very, very smart. You have to think above society. It's very tough, but if you like something, you can achieve it. You make your mind up. There is a great deal of good opportunity in Canada if you are smart, sensible. I mean, some people make such fools of themselves. It's too bad because the opportunity is in Canada - schooling, education, good jobs.

Despite these positive feelings, Bert ended the interview by saying that he too wished to return to Jamaica after he makes some money in Canada. Expressing the typical ambivalence, Bert said plaintively, 'It's home, you know.' Richard became a Canadian citizen in 1984 and he is now twentyone years old. He said that he liked living in Canada 'in a manner of speaking.' He explained that 'Canada is more difficult. Everything is harder here - jobs, people don't seem to get along like they do in Jamaica. There they show more respect towards each other. Here is too much competition, everybody fighting each other ... In Jamaica everything is more relaxed. It's like a carefree thing. It's like if you don't have it, you'll do without it kind of thing.' Richard was only nine years old when he came to Canada to join his mother. As winter started, Richard remembered that he hardly wanted to leave his apartment: 'I didn't want to go to school ... it was too cold. In Jamaica, I'm outside all the time.' And when asked if the discomfort made him want to go back home, Richard replied that he had never wanted to come to Canada in the first place. Richard lived in the Martingrove area before other Caribbean people moved into the neighbourhood. He describes how his mother used to take him to the Eglinton strip. It's the first place my mom brought me to cut my hair. It's like a little Jamaica. It reminds me of Jamaica. It's a Black community down there ... you hear

After Immigration: Identity and Culture Shock 49 their music, you can actually see the Jamaica in the people there ... I would have liked to live down there instead of up at Martingrove. It was just all Whites then, it was all Whites I went to school with. It seems like there were only five Blacks in that area at the time.

Richard's emphasis on the feelings associated with the Eglinton strip raised another point of some importance and that is the place in which the newly arrived migrant settles. For example, a number of people noted that at first they lived in areas with few Blacks. They therefore felt isolated and marginal. After moving to neighbourhoods with large Black populations, they felt better. The need to be with their compatriots is related to the culture and identity shock experienced in Canada. In a few cases, migrants settled out of Toronto and Burt, an older Jamaican, says of that experience, 'I came to Canada in 1979 and got a job in a plant in London, Ontario. I found London to be boring. Every weekend, I would head for Toronto. I stuck it out and it got better. I spent six months in London and couldn't take it anymore. The few Blacks in London were one of two types, either newly wed or nearly dead!' Burt maintains that the only good thing about London was its proximity to Detroit: 'I was always going across to Detroit, at least there were a lot of Black people and Black things there.' Again, Burt expresses the need felt by the majority of migrants to be among their own. Millie, an older Jamaican woman, came to Canada primarily to be with her children. She is quite content to live in Brampton, where she has settled: 'I love it here. I love to see the green grass and the trees and the birds. I like to see the leaves change colours.' Millie is also sustained by the presence of her family and the very active role she plays in the church. Given her religious convictions, Millie is of the view that problems are made by people and must be solved by people. This can take place anywhere and, as she says, 'Problems follow you anywhere. You can't run away from problems.' For many migrants, their feelings about Canada are very much influenced by the ease with which they are able to begin to achieve their goals. For most, that means adequate employment. Wilton, a Jamaican in his mid-fifties, has been in Canada since 1968. He arrived on a visitor's visa, but achieved his landed status fairly quickly. Wilton came because there were very few job opportunities in Jamaica. Since he had little training, Wilt survived by taking whatever jobs he could get and he held many jobs at the beginning. After many part-time

50 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline jobs, he became established in an electronics firm. Wilt has recently started his own electronics business. He has very positive feelings about Canada and they are tied to the modest financial success that has enabled him to sponsor his family: 'I brought six brothers and sisters and my mother; my last brother came here in 1978 when he was fifteen/ Wilton was the sole financial support of his young siblings, most of whom came to Canada when they were still of school age. Wilt says, 'I must like it here. Canada has been good to me/ Gordon, an older migrant from Guyana who is married with four daughters, migrated in 1964. He had difficulty in finding the right kind of job, but eventually began working for an insurance company where he is now employed in a supervisory capacity. Of his move to Canada he says: I was told the opportunities were very good, especially as far as the children's education was concerned, and that was one of the main reasons why we came here. The children were at that age where they should start taking their education seriously and their education would suffer if they kept moving around. I think it was a good time to come here and I still think it was a good idea. The children progressed rather well, but as they got into the Canadian thing, they eased up!

The value placed on education is taken even further by a mid-thirties Guyanese who said that he was glad that his children were born in Canada: T feel that Canadian children are brighter than West Indian children/ It is important to note that degree of satisfaction with Canada seems to be related to the time of arrival and the degree of success and achievements. Therefore, older migrants like Millie, Wilton, and Gordon express relative satisfaction because they have had the time to achieve. Younger migrants, however, are newer to the country and are still learning to cope with the difficulties of life in Canada. They are more apt to compare the laid-back ambience of Caribbean countries with the quicker, achievement-oriented ethos of Canada. Both older and younger migrants agree, however, that despite how hard everything is in Canada, mobility is achievable. As one migrant said, 'I know that I can accomplish whatever I set out to accomplish. It is not easy here, but I can do it/ This kind of positive attitude pervades many of the interviews. It is based on the feeling that as long as people have the will and the drive they can achieve their goals in Canada, despite the

After Immigration: Identity and Culture Shock 51 barriers of culture and racism. The ability to become independent and develop one's abilities is very much admired in Canada. The need for self-development and the ability to perform is one of the strongest reasons reinforcing the decision to migrate. Generally speaking, those who have been here longer and who have reached some (if not all) of their goals express the most satisfaction with being in Canada. We have had a few respondents who, despite their age and length of residence in Canada, have not achieved their goals for various reasons. These people tend to blame the system and the 'racism' in Canada rather than themselves for their lack of success. There are three indicators of success for migrants. One is a job that meets their intellectual and financial needs. The second is their own educational advancement or, particularly for older persons, that of their children. The third is owning a home. For people of Caribbean origin, home ownership is extremely important. Other signs of success include owning a car, appliances, furniture, and other material items. SUMMARY

The wish to return to the home country is tempered by satisfaction when goals in Canada have been reached. Social class plays an important role in determining the level of satisfaction with living in Canada as opposed to returning home. For the most part, those who seemed most content and who have or are close to achieving their objectives are of the lower middle to middle class. However, a number of middle-class respondents who had not achieved their stated goals expressed regret at having come to Canada and feared that they might never be able to reach their objectives here because of racial discrimination. Those who were the most dissatisfied and the most concerned about racism were members of the working class who, because they are less educated and skilled, are more subject to the pressures of racism. The result of the Toronto Star poll, although conducted on an aggregated sample that did not distinguish class level nor age of migration, nevertheless reinforces the findings of this study. In response to the Toronto Star's question about overall satisfaction with Canada as a place to live, slightly more than one-third said they were Very satisfied,' but another 49 per cent said 'somewhat satisfied/ and only 16 per cent said they were 'somewhat or very dissatisfied.' The Black population is, on the whole, somewhat satisfied to be here, but a sig-

52 Background, Theoretical Focus, and Outline TABLE 3.1 Those who have experienced discrimination Blacks*

Fellow workers By employer By police At school In stores In restaurants Public transit Neighbourhood Moving to a new neighbourhood Canada Customs Buying home Going to theatre Buying car On street Government office Number of responses

All minorities!

1992

1985

41 30 25 31 45 23 29 27

25 26 13 15 17 12 17 16

26 16 10 22 19 9 13 12

24 19 9 19 11 7 9 11

27 19 3 9 5 43 22 150

14 12 2 2 2 24 10 205

12 12 2 2 2 22 8

10 11 2 2 2 17 10 902

1992

1,204

1985

* Blacks include Canadian-born, Caribbean, and African. t All minorities include Italian, Portuguese, South Asian, Jews, and Blacks. It should be noted that the findings for 'all minorities7 would probably be even lower than those of Blacks were Black respondents removed from the total sample.

nificant minority state otherwise. The latter category probably includes both second-generation persons as well as older migrants who have not achieved their goals. Most of this group is likely made up of working-class or underclass people. The Star poll found that the level of satisfaction in the Black population has decreased significantly since the last poll taken in 1985. At that time, an overwhelming 68 per cent expressed high satisfaction, 27 per cent were somewhat satisfied, and only 5 per cent expressed any level of dissatisfaction. This is a clear indication that the general level of race relations in Toronto has greatly deteriorated. The perceived increase in racial discrimination is one factor in the growing dissatisfaction. Table 3.1 shows the findings about discrimination. More than a third of the Black sample felt that prejudice towards them was increasing whereas 16 per cent felt it was decreasing. Forty-

After Immigration: Identity and Culture Shock 53 three per cent thought it had remained the same. The media, politicians, and spokespersons for minority groups, as well as some academics, think that race relations are deteriorating and discrimination and prejudice are increasing in Toronto (Lewis 1992). A sizeable minority of Black respondents agree with this perception, although many also feel, as one of our respondents put it, that 'it's always been so/ When asked if they have ever personally experienced any prejudice or discrimination, a substantial 58 per cent said yes, and this is only 4 per cent higher than in 1985. Fifty-one per cent also feel that their culture and way of life is poorly understood by other Canadians, while another 24 per cent felt that other Canadians' understanding was fair. Most of the surveys, polls, and studies that have been conducted over the years in Canada regarding multiculturalism and multiracialism generally come to similar conclusions. Racial minorities express more dissatisfaction with life in Canada than do other ethnic groups.2 Moreover, their perceptions of prejudice and discrimination, as well as the majority group's perception of racial minorities, tend to be somewhat similar. For example, in their study of ethnic retentions and equality, Breton et al. concluded that the non-European groups (Chinese and West Indians) and Jews are those who are most likely to experience problems of social acceptance and job discrimination ... It is noteworthy that the perceptions of Majority Canadian respondents tend to be the same as those of the respondents from the groups themselves. For instance, West Indians and Chinese are the most likely to report problems of social acceptance and job discrimination; it is also these groups that are most likely to be perceived as experiencing problems by Majority Canadians and other English respondents. (Breton et al. 1990, 247)

Caribbean people are, on the whole, satisfied with their decision to migrate to Canada. At the same time, however, they are very aware of prejudice and discrimination in their attempts to integrate into Canadian society. How do Caribbean people live in Toronto? Have they merely transplanted their Caribbean habits, patterns, and behaviours to the new country? How have their institutions changed? The patterns of cultural continuity will be explored in succeeding chapters. 2 Angus Reid poll (May 1992) found that most Canadians feel racism is increasing and is a serious problem. Nearly 60 per cent related this to immigration policies that bring in more people than the country can adjust to (Toronto Star, 2 June 1992).

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PART TWO: L I F E IN C A N A D A

In Part Two, some basic questions about the institutional life of Caribbean migrants in Canada will be explored. Some of the chapters present data from a variety of sources. However, in keeping with the ethnographic approach of this book, the day-to-day experiences of Caribbean people in Canada, as revealed by in-depth interviews, will be the focus of each chapter. In chapter 4, the most basic form of social organization, the family, will be discussed. This institution is of particular relevance in the study of Caribbean people because of the variability in their marriage and relationship systems and consequent forms of family organization. To what extent have traditional methods of family organization been maintained? What elements, if any, have changed and why? What role, if any, do social class differences in family organization play? Do some elements of family life help or hinder the integration of Caribbean people into Canadian society? Chapter 5 moves away from social organization and into the economic sphere. It concentrates on the relation of Caribbean people to the workforce. It presents statistics on labour force participation rates, industries and sectors of employment, income levels, etc. Its main focus, however, is on the day-to-day experiences migrants have had in the labour force. The denial of access to jobs, racial barriers to promotion, and racial harassment were commonplace. Unequal access to the workforce is the most important barrier to the integration of Caribbean people into Canadian society. In chapter 6, the educational experiences of Caribbean migrants are discussed. The educational background of adults in the Caribbean will be only briefly touched on since the thrust of this chapter is to exam-

56 Life in Canada ine the role that education and educational institutions play in the lives of the children of migrants. The structural features of educational institutions and their effect on the achievement or nonachievement of Caribbean students will be briefly reviewed. Again, the ethnographic approach will highlight the day-to-day experiences of young adults who have been (or still are) in educational institutions. The vibrant religious life and the important role that religion plays in providing networking support for the community is discussed in chapter 7. Leisure and social patterns are discussed in chapter 8. The importance of a number of social/leisure features of Caribbean life are emphasized because they are poorly understood in Canada. Moreover, the traditional social forms of leisure, such as house parties and nightclubs enjoyed by all class levels in the Caribbean (and in Canada), have been significantly changed in the new society. It is especially important to note that 'innocent' forms of leisure, such as house parties, have been transformed in the new society into an arena for illegal activities practised by a minority of the Caribbean population. This aspect of Caribbean life is described in chapter 9 and is identified or labelled by some as, the 'subculture/ Part Two concludes with a discussion of the Caribbean communities and the institutions of law enforcement. It is included here because experiences with law enforcement agencies in Canada, primarily the police, was one of the most important themes to emerge from the interviews. When asked about life in Canada in general, male respondents would spontaneously talk about the police and the problems they and their friends have had with the law. It is one of the areas of greatest dissatisfaction and one in which allegations and experiences of racism were most often recounted.

4

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization

CARIBBEAN FAMILY PATTERNS

Marriage, relationships, family organization, gender relations, and systems of kinship as practised in the Caribbean are extremely varied and complex. Indeed, the institutional patterns of family dynamics are among the most complicated of all the basic institutions in Caribbean society. In West Indian life, family organization is characterized by legal marriage, common-law 'marriages/ visiting unions, and 'illegitimate7 births resulting from casual unions.1 All these forms of relationship are practised by Caribbean people of all class levels, although the exact frequencies of each type may vary by class and other variables. In recent studies (Smith 1988), common-law and visiting unions were greater in the lower class than in the middle class. On the other hand, however, legal marriage is the most common form of relationship, even in the lower class. Relationships between men and women are not necessarily determined by westernized views of romantic love. Although even lowerclass men and particularly women discuss romantic love, more often than not it does not influence the motivation to form a relationship and especially not a legal one. Relationships are seen in a much more instrumental fashion. For men, legal marriage is equated with being Christian, moral, and leading a good life. These feelings emerge only later in a man's life when he has had a chance to 'sow his oats' and -L The legal term 'illegitimate7 is no longer recognized in many Caribbean countries since such a birth designation is now considered pejorative and unnecessary.

58 Life in Canada generally experience life as fully as possible. This often means that men have had many relationships of many different types and have fathered children, often with more than one woman. Several observers of Caribbean life have pointed to the important distinctions made particularly by men between 'outside' and 'inside/ The former delineates the 'world of men, their drinking, having outside women, outside children and failing to live a straight life' (Smith 1988, 117). 'Inside' refers to the domestic side of a stable home life, the importance of religion, morality, legal marriage, and responsibility for home and child care. For women, on the other hand, marriage is equated with economic and social security. They also look to a husband for help in raising their children. Women tend to accept the outside world of men, even of their husbands, in the interests of economic security and maintaining a proper home. As Smith notes, the theme of male irresponsibility in marriage and fatherhood is a recurrent one in Caribbean social life. Although the focus is mostly on men of lower-class status, more detailed research finds that similar behaviour is characteristic of middle-class men. Middle-class Caribbean husbands also maintain outside liaisons and produce children. 'Outside' children are found even in the best middle-class families. Middle-class persons are strongly influenced by class status and position, both of which determine marital selection. Marrying one's own kind, and someone of good family - usually someone who is also middle class - is important to both men and women. By far the most important determinant of marital choice within the middle class, however, is colour. The middle class in countries such as Jamaica is largely brownskinned. While stratification patterns have changed with the region's political independence, and although mobility is, in large part, determined by education and economic achievement, colour still plays a significant role. Smith notes that among middle-class respondents in his study, marrying a Black decreases social status. On the other hand, marrying a White or near-White is thought to confirm status. Upwardly mobile Black-skinned men, who are often of lower-class origin, tend to marry women who are lighter than themselves. Upwardly mobile, professional men who have been trained abroad sometimes also tend to marry White women. This trend towards hypergamous marriages appears to be a result of the many social, economic, and political changes within the region. While co-residential, non-legal unions and legal marriages are common forms of family organization, another type of relationship is a

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 59 casual union based on a man Visiting' a woman. In such cases, a woman may already be living on her own and is visited by a male friend. Such relationships often result in offspring. It is not uncommon for a woman to have several 'friends' during her reproductive years and, as a result, have children who have different fathers. In some instances, women may prefer to maintain their independence and, in other cases, the opportunity for a more stable union does not readily present itself. A few women in this position receive financial help from some of the fathers. The friends in these visiting relationships are usually involved with other women at the same time and may even be in a co-residential, non-legal (or sometimes legal) union with another woman. An even more casual form of relationship is a 'casual' union in which a young woman who is still living at home or with relatives establishes a sexual union with a man. Such casual unions may also result in children. These various relationships result in several different types of family organization. Although nuclear family organization in which the unit shares a common household is normative for all class levels, many members of the working class cannot achieve this family status. Nuclear families predominate in the middle and upper classes, but this does not preclude the presence of outside relationships for men. Married men in outside relationships normally reside with their legal wives. Among the working class, single-parent families (usually headed by a woman) and matrifocal families are common occurrences. A matrifocal family includes as many as three generations of women. It normally includes a woman and her children (possibly by different fathers), as well as her own mother. The woman's unmarried daughter^) and grandchildren may also be included. The matrifocal family is a singular adaptive response by women who have children without legal marriage or common-law wife status. In the matrifocal family, the adult woman is the breadwinner while her children and possibly grandchildren are cared for by her elderly mother. The family income might also be supplemented by whatever financial help the woman receives from the father(s) of her children. THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN CARIBBEAN SOCIETIES

For many analysts of Caribbean people and societies, women occupy a particularly central place in the ordering of social and economic re-

60 Life in Canada lations, although they lack the resources to be as effective in politics. Recent studies of women in Caribbean societies (WICP 1986) show that women play a multiplicity of roles. Five main issues related to the role of women include: (i) social reproduction and women's dual roles; (2) women as domestic brokers; (3) female leadership and decision making; (4) sex-role identity and self-perception; (5) relationships with males. With respect to the first issue, studies indicate that women play a dual role because they produce children, but they also produce, provide, control, and manage the resources necessary to meet the daily needs of themselves, their children, and possibly other members of their households. This is especially characteristic of poor lower-class and peasant women who work in and outside of the home, often with little or limited assistance from partners and, in their absence, they work alone. While 'development' has allegedly brought more opportunities for paid employment, jobs available to women are usually the most menial, paying low wages for long, hard hours. Moreover, in carrying out their many reproductive roles, women serve as domestic brokers by organizing and pooling a wide variety of resources, including men, children, and other members of their families in order to maintain themselves and their families. With regard to authority and decision making, it has been assumed that women have little voice since they accord power and authority to men. This conventional view is based on the traditional sex-role division in which men are the main wage-earners. In Caribbean societies, however, where a long history of slavery, colonialism, and neocolonial economic patterns have undermined the male's ability to be the major earner (Clarke 1957; Smith 1956, 1988), women have had to assume social and economic responsiblity for their families. Thus women have considerable power from their own income-generating activities, as well as from the many important roles they play within the family and household. Despite their varied roles and often substantial economic power, women have been socialized into conforming to a patriarchal ideology. In terms of sex-role identity and perception, Caribbean women place a high value on mothering and nurturing. They believe that having children is extremely important and see children as a source of identity. Children are also seen as a source of fulfilment: 'A woman may forego becoming a wife, but she ought to become a mother' (Anderson 1985, 305). At the same time, however, they also regard themselves as work-

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization

61

ers and see no particular dichotomy between these roles. The studies in the Women in Caribbean Project conclude that 'while Caribbean women may identify strongly with a sex role which is biologically linked, and may readily accept male leadership in certain spheres, ... this does not necessarily correlate with feelings of inferiority or inequality on their part' (WICP 1986, 307). With respect to their relationships with men, Caribbean women feel that they are equal to men, but they recognize that they live under male domination. Their most ardent desire is for greater independence. Women recognize that their own economic independence gives them greater independence from male domination. For many, however, total independence is not possible and 'dependence and independence should be viewed as alternative and complementary strategies for obtaining economic support, and that the relative emphasis on either strategy depends on the woman's particular socio-economic circumstances and the stage in her lifecycle' (WICP 1986, 310). The results of some of these studies challenge earlier perceptions of Caribbean family life by suggesting that women throughout Caribbean society not only play many roles but have also developed many alternative and complementary strategies to maintain themselves and their families. Given these many variations in relationships, marriage, and family patterns, it is not surprising that 'family' in the Caribbean has become a complex institution. Mating and familial relationships in the Caribbean are strongly influenced by the interplay of race/colour, gender, and particularly class. As well, the history of the region in which European countries began a plantation economy required large numbers of labourers. The importation of slaves from Africa met the labour need, but also produced a new society in which many different strands were reflected. Legal marriages were not allowed under conditions of slavery, and both family organization and behaviour were subject to the many constraints associated with slavery, such as the removal of men's authority from maintaining their families and from decisionmaking roles. Moreover, women were subjected to the sexual whims of their masters. The later period of colonialism brought family values and behaviours typically associated with middle- and upper-class European life (Lowenthal 1972). Taken together, these many historical factors have brought about a system of family life in which i Legal marriage is desired especially by women primarily for its economic

62 Life in Canada and social status, but since it can be achieved only when men have reached a position of economic or fianancial security, it is unattainable for many in the lower-class population. Marriage is desired primarily for financial security; sanctifying or legalizing a union has taken on secondary importance. 2 In this traditionally patriarchical society, which is probably influenced by middle-class Victorian standards of family life, men are expected to be the major decision makers and the main breadwinners. 3 'Illegitimacy' and single motherhood has become an inevitable outgrowth of a variety of historical, economic, and social factors. The onus of child raising generally falls on the mother who relies on the help of her own mother and other relatives in the extended family, with occasional help from the father.

With migration, some of these patterns are continued in the host society while others change. THE ROLE OF MEN IN CARIBBEAN SOCIETY

There is relatively little literature on the role of men in Caribbean societies. However, a recent work on men in Barbadian society revealed findings that are probably quite characteristic of the region as a whole (Dann 1987). Reporting on interviews conducted with 185 men in Barbados, Dann found a number of persistent attitudes and behaviours associated with masculinity in this society. Young boys are socialized primarily by their mothers and neither home, church, nor school adequately prepares the young boy for modern society. Sex typing in which male and female roles and activities are clearly demarcated is strong, and a young boy grows up with the expectation that sex discrimination is natural. The quality of sex education given to young boys is inadequate. A macho attitude prevails among young men, especially in the activities identified as being male: breadwinner, disciplinarian, and drinker. Young boys and young men are not taught to take responsibility in their relations with women. Male-female relationships are sometimes shallow and the single quality men value in women is trust. The author concludes that greater education is needed for young males in this society because 'it is the inadequately socialised Barbadian male, raised without the benefit of a father figure, obtaining a sex typed view of reality from the cradle, who has to fend for himself and relate to

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 63 members of the opposite sex under a prevailing ethic of machismo7 (Dann 1987, 171). CHANGES WITH MIGRATION

Since social class plays such an important role in shaping and defining familial and gender relationships in the Caribbean, it is not surprising that class continues to play that role among migrants. One of the strongest areas of cultural continuity is the retention of class-based forms of family organization and gender relations. As the subsequent analysis will show, the maintenance of class-based patterns - such as common-law relationships, single women having children often when they themselves are still teenagers or very young adults, and the absence of fathers and other common features of family life - become problematic under conditions of migration to countries such as Canada. Such patterns frequently constrain the social and economic mobility of migrants, particularly young women. Moreover, while patterns such as single-female parenthood are not intrinsically inferior to two-parent families, they are related to low income and poverty for mothers and their children. Other important variables in influencing family dynamics are the duration of residence in Canada and/or generation. The first generation of migrants, and the ways in which they continue and/or change features of their family relationships, must be differentiated from those of the second generation. Some of the latter group may have been born in the Caribbean, but migrated at a very early age. Young adults between eighteen and twenty-five fall into this category. (At this time, approximately 20 per cent of the Caribbean population in the greater Toronto area would fall into this category. Of the approximately 455,000 Caribbean people in Canada, about 300,000 of these live in southern Ontario.) Our data reveal distinct differences between the generations, not only in behaviour but also in attitude towards the opposite sex, interracial relationships, the role of marriage, and related features of family organization. In this chapter, the major patterns, features, behaviours, and attitudes with respect to family organization will be presented. Since most of the interviews on which these observations are based were loosely structured, respondents talked freely of their experiences, problems, and tensions about the organization and dynamics of family life in Canada. What follows therefore may not include all possible issues

64 Life in Canada of family life but only those themes that were discussed by our respondents. Relevant examples, including actual quotes from the interviews, will be presented for each theme. The chapter will conclude by analysing some of the themes. FAMILY COMPOSITION

General Family Patterns As in the Caribbean, several patterns of family composition are present among migrants in Toronto. In this study, we found examples of singlepatent families, common-law families, and those who were legally married. There was no evidence of the matrifocal type and this is probably because the social and economic conditions that produce matrifocality are not yet fully present in the working-class migrant communities. Additionally, that group may not have reached a critical numerical mass where such patterns would be noticeable. (Matrifocality, both in the Caribbean and in other areas where it has been studied, is related to social class and poverty. It has been found in the working class of East London (Young 1986). The census data on Caribbean family organization is quite revealing because it confirms that Caribbean people as a whole do less well on a number of economic indicators than others do. For example, with respect to income, Caribbean families earn less than other foreignborn residents or Canadians do. The average annual income of a Caribbean family was $34,750 as compared to $45,163 and $49,857 for other foreign-born residents and Canadians respectively. Part of this difference is explained by the higher proportion of families headed by single females who earn far less than any other type of family. Fewer Caribbean families own their residences as compared to others. Fifty-one per cent of Caribbean families rent as opposed to 24.5 per cent of others and 33.9 per cent of Canadians. Far fewer childless couples of Caribbean origin own their homes as compared to others (only 58.5 per cent of such couples compared to 70 per cent and 76.9 per cent of other foreign-born residents and Canadians). Even these limited data provide some evidence that Caribbean migrants in Toronto do not do as well economically as other foreignborn residents. In addition to the higher proportion of single-parent families who live below the poverty line, the effects of racial discrimination must also be considered in explaining these differences.

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization

65

TABLE 4.1 Family structure by origin Caribbean Couples without children (%) Couples with children (%) Male single parent (%) Female single parent (%) All families (%) Number of families

Other foreign

17.1 55.7

30.2 60.9

2.7

1.8 7.1

24.5 100 53,910

100 460,500

Canadian 36

48.8 2.5

12.7 100 391,830

The Female Single Parent One of the most striking cultural continuities in family life is single motherhood. Despite the differences in lifestyle that accompany migration, men and women of the working class maintain intimate relationships that often produce children but do not necessarily lead to marriage. Table 4.1 gives an indication of the incidence of single parenthood among families of Caribbean origin as compared to other foreign-born families. Both are contrasted with 'Canadian7 families.2 There are twice the number of female single-parent families within the Caribbean population as compared to all others currently living in Canada. This is a clear indication that this pattern of family organization, as well as the dynamics of male-female relationships that underlie it, are still continued under conditions of migration. The majority of these are undoubtedly of working-class or lower-class origin. A similar pattern of female single-parent families was found among West Indian migrants in the United States where households headed by single women comprised approximately 22 per cent of all house2 These data are derived from a special tabulation of the 1986 census and are taken from the work of Alan Simmons who undertook the quantitative analysis of family patterns. Caribbean-origin families are those in which at least one partner of a couple or the single parent was born in the Caribbean. 'Other foreign' indicates that at least one partner of the couple or the single parent was born outside of Canada and 'Canadian' refers to families of all other combinations. According to the census, 'family7 is defined as a husband and wife, common-law partners, or a single parent of any marital status with one or more children who have never married regardless of age living in the same dwelling. All other tables cited in this chapter have the same source.

66 Life in Canada holds (Gordon 1991). In the U.K., 32 per cent of all West Indian households are female-headed (Williams 1989). The following case-studies derived from the interview data will demonstrate some of the motivating factors underlying the decision to become single parents. Candice is a twenty-five-year-old woman of Guyanese origin. She was born in Winnipeg and moved to Toronto a few years ago because Winnipeg is very White and conservative. Once I had a child, I felt that ... I always wanted to leave, right? I never had the man before, I never had the contacts, and I found that while I was pregnant, I would travel quite a bit to Toronto. Met people here, decided I really liked it, and the major reason I loved it was because the racial mix was greater. I felt more comfortable being here. I used to come for Caribana all the time, you know. It was really important to me. I am a single mother. I had two previous common-law relationships since I moved to Toronto. Now he lives in Winnipeg and we are not in contact. We lived together for a year in Winnipeg. After we separated, he saw my son on and off for another year. In fact, we became separated while I was pregnant with my son and we kept in touch during the pregnancy. He was there for the birth of the child, which, incidently, happened at my home. My son's father knows we are here in Toronto.

Candice lives on mother's allowance in a small basement apartment. She cannot go to university because she cannot afford child care. Although Candice says she is satisfied with her life at the moment, she is concerned about financial worries and her inability to move her life forward. Hyacinth, a twenty-three-year-old woman, was born in Jamaica and came here at the age of eight. Her mother migrated to Canada, but her father moved to Florida. Her mother and common-law husband live here, as well as a few siblings and an aunt. Hyacinth lives with her ten-month-old child in the basement of her aunt's home. Before her pregnancy, Hyacinth held a number of secretarial jobs. While pregnant, she upgraded her skills by taking a computer course. Now she finds that she cannot work because she is unable to find child care: 'Day care is hard to find for children under two years old, and the rates they charge are too high. I have my name in for a subsidy for day care. I get a phone call once a month - "Nothing yet, okay, bye/" Paying rent and daycare rates is more than Hyacinth can manage on mother's allowance.

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 67 Women in this position are unable to go to school, nor can they gain work experience and seniority. For younger mothers, the problems are even more severe. In most instances, a pregnant girl leaves school because she cannot cope with stares, comments, and mockery of her peers. Pauline, now nineteen, dropped out of high school when she became pregnant. She describes the experience: 'I couldn't stand it anymore. Every teacher stared, all the kids looked and laughed. One girl, supposed to be a friend of mine, said I was so stupid to get caught. The guys were rude. One guy told me, "Hey, why you didn't tell me you like to do it?" and things like that. It just got too rough. I finally left and never went back/ Pauline has one year of high school to complete. Meanwhile, she still lives at home with her working mother and takes care of her child. Of the eight teenaged single mothers interviewed for this project, seven had left school and none planned to return. Only one, Loraine, had completed high school before giving birth to her child. The father of Loraine's child is attending university and she said that she hopes to do so at a later point. In the meantime, she works as a clerk in a department store and says, 'I don't intend to stay on there forever. I can't do much now, but maybe later ... ' A significant drawback of single motherhood is the loss of schooling and the inability to work (or being able to work only at low-level jobs). This is largely the result of not having the supportive family network found in the Caribbean where a young mother's own mother or grandmother is usually available to provide child care. One respondent spoke about a friend of hers who is also living in Toronto, but whose grandmother was able to provide child care: 'One of my friends had a baby like me and still went on to university ... She moved in with her grandmother and her child had an instant babysitter. If I were that lucky to have a grandmother to help out in that way I am sure I would be further ahead ... in education, that is. That would at least improve my life and lifestyle.' The lack of such support within the family is a serious drawback for migrant women. In four cases, the women had more than one child. Three of these women lived in Ontario housing; one maintains an apartment with two other women. All live on welfare and mother's allowance. One has two children, and another has one child and is pregnant with another. The fourth woman is pregnant with her first child, but had an abortion at age fourteen. The children have different fathers. Single motherhood has become a pattern for these women. They may be

68 Life in Canada permanently out of the work force, living with their children in subsidized housing, and enduring a life of chronic poverty. In the following case-study, a young woman of seventeen is expecting her second child. She is about to drop out of school and relies on her mother and grandmother for help: The father of my first son ran out on us when he found out I was pregnant. I was kinda upset because he said he would always stand by me through everything. My child father is eight years older than me, and I never thought he would do this to me. I used to sneak out to meet him and he would tell me that if I got caught, he would talk to my mother. I really loved this guy. I would do anything for him/ Kyle did not intentionally become pregnant; she did not think it would happen, but if it did, she was convinced that Bob would take care of her. After discovering that she was pregnant, she left home and now shares an apartment with her cousin and another girlfriend, who also has two children. The cousin babysits all the children. Kyle left home because of her mother's attitude. As she described it, 'I had enough of her bitching ... My mother bitched from morning to night - how I should not have gotten pregnant, how I ruin my chances by having this baby, how I'm going to regret having him so young. No matter how I try to ignore her, she never let up, so I got tired and left/ Ironically - following a common Caribbean pattern - Kyle's mother was sixteen when she gave birth to her. She married Kyle's father shortly afterwards, but the marriage ended in divorce two years later when the father migrated to the United States. At this point, Kyle's relationship with her mother and grandmother was good and she was invited to return home to live until her mother discovered that she was pregnant again. Kyle still sees the father of her unborn child who, she says, intends to 'hang around/ He is also a drop-out from high school and has not held a job for nearly three years. Kyle will not return to school, but she hopes to find 'a job, doing anything' as soon as the baby is about six months old. The relative poverty of female single parent families is indicated by income data from the 1986 census. Table 4.2 provides data on income. Female single-parent families of Caribbean origin earn far less than any other family type. They are among the poorest in society. One of the main reasons for their low-income levels is related to the number of wage-earning workers in the family. For example, in female singleparent families in which no one works, the annual income is only $5,143 as compared to couples with children, neither of whom work

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 69 TABLE 4.2 Annual income by family origin and structure Family origin Caribbean

Other foreign

Canadian

Couples without children Couples with children Male single parent Female single parent

$32,824 $43,267 $26,939 $17,604

$39,559 $50,434 $35,948 $26,054

$47,515 $58,758 $41,065 $24,117

All families

$30,195

$38,008

$42,863

TABLE 4.3 Percentage of families who own residence by origin and structure Family origin Caribbean

Other

Canadian

Couples without children Couples with children Male single parent Female single parent

58.5 42.9 36.9 22.0

70.0 67.7 65.3 55.2

76.9 60.4 57.3 42.5

All families

49.0

75.2

66.1

but who earn nearly three times as much money from social assistance. The income of families of unemployed single parents consists entirely of government subsidies. If a mother has found a day care for her child and works, the family income jumps to $14,996. This is still a small income, but it is considerably better than having to subsist on mother's allowance and other subsidies. As mentioned earlier, Caribbean families of all types earn less money than other foreign-born groups. A similar pattern can be found in the United States, where the median income of Caribbean household/families was below that of the national median in 1980 (Gordon 1991). Another indicator of the poverty of female single-parent families is reflected in the statistics on home ownership. Far fewer families of Caribbean origin, whether couples or single parents, own homes as compared to other foreign and Canadian families, as indicated in Table 4.3 above.

7O Life in Canada Despite the stresses of single parenthood, there are also some young single mothers in the Caribbean community who have managed to achieve a degree of mobility. Theresa was able to avoid the entrapment that often accompanies single motherhood. With the help of her mother, she was able to return to university to complete a degree. Her son is in a day care and she is now successfully employed as a guidance counsellor. What distinguishes Theresa from some of her peers was her determination to earn a university degree. She was also extremely bright and had already spent a successful year at university. Interestingly enough, Theresa also comes from a working-class background. Her own mother migrated to Canada from Jamaica and began sending for her three children as soon as she was able. She successfully upgraded her working skills so that she has a fairly good white-collar job in an insurance company. She was thus able to provide some support to Theresa and demonstrated a strong sense of independence and determination to move ahead. The key factor in this 'success' story was the support that Theresa was able to draw on.3 In this case, it was provided by her own mother who had also experienced single motherhood, but also was able to migrate and upgrade her own job skills. Family support remains a crucial variable in determining the mobility chances of female single mothers. While single motherhood appears, for the most part, to impede the mobility of young migrant women attempting to integrate into Canadian society, the women's view of their situation is somewhat different. In all cases, the single mothers themselves came from workingclass backgrounds. They were born in the Caribbean, but migrated at fairly young ages. They became pregnant during their mid-teens. To a certain extent, they are continuing the cultural pattern of having children out of wedlock, since all eight single mothers interviewed for this project were themselves born to single women. One apparent result of this form of cultural continuity is that the young women were not seriously upset at becoming pregnant. It was almost as if this were an expected event. While several are concerned about their lack of money and their inability to work or go to school, they are 3 Research among African-Americans, where a pattern of single motherhood is also evident, shows that family support (particularly that provided by mothers and grandmothers) and a wide kinship network compensates to some extent for the strains of single parenthood (Stack 1974). Such supports are, of course, also available in the Caribbean.

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization

71

not unduly worried. It is quite clear in talking to them that pregnancy and motherhood seems to be perceived as a routine matter. These views are particularly common among the lower class where single motherhood is an expected event. Kyle, the seventeen-year-old expecting her second child, demonstrates this attitude. Single motherhood is an expected part of life, and even becoming pregnant at a young age is not a major life crisis as it might be for some young North American women. For most people, abortion is not considered a viable option. Only one of our respondents mentioned wanting to have an abortion. It is apparent that the ease with which pregnancy and single motherhood is accepted by young women reflects Caribbean cultural values in which motherhood is a strongly desired status. When Kyle was asked if having children so young has hampered her chances of achieving a better life, she replied, 'Yes ... but I don't want to be negative. I can't do a lot of things like some of my friends or some of my cousins, but I can't change things now. I already have a child and will soon have another. I can't give them away or, like my mother would say, "You can't send them back. It here to stay," so I guess I have to make the best of the situation.' On the other hand, she recognizes the difficulty of her position: 'It is hard, real hard ... It is a real fight everyday, trying to figure out the cash, things so expensive. I don't know how I will make it. I hope the baby father gets something to do, then maybe it would get a little better.' Gloria is now seventeen and expecting her first child. She had an abortion at age fourteen. She wanted the abortion, but the father of her child did not. When Gloria became ill, he reconciled himself to the abortion. Of her experiences, she says, 'I am sorry now ... Well, it would have been three years now, and this one would have a brother or sister. Now my kid will grow up with me, so I hope to share more with it than my mother did with me. I hope having my kid this early will help me to share a lot more with him or her ... ' Gloria is in a particularly difficult situation because the father of her child refuses to recognize it as his and she does not expect help from him. While her mother has been relatively supportive, her mother's boyfriend has been extremely negative. Gloria reports that he told her and her mother, 'What do you expect? They go to school to take man, not to take education. I always knew she was no good ... I always warn you she going to let you down, bring picknee [baby] on you early.' The pattern of single motherhood as practised in the Caribbean and to a certain extent carried over into the new society is indirectly the

72 Life in Canada result of the imposition of British family values in the Caribbean colonies. The British middle-class nuclear family, influenced by aspects of Victorian morality, became normative in the 'colonies/ Children were taught that 'proper' families consisted of a father, mother, and their children. This established a norm that, in reality, could rarely be met in the working class. The constraints of a dependent economy prevented the realization of this middle-class family pattern. As a result, there has always been a strong dichotomy between norms and behaviour with respect to family organization in the Caribbean. The ideal and that which many people (especially women) long for is legal marriage, but, in fact, non-legal unions and single-parent families meet the realities of the colonial and postcolonial condition. One major evidence for this dichotomy occurs when a form of symbolic punishment is levied against the young woman who becomes pregnant, sometimes by her own mother who earlier had the same experience. A woman may be chastised, even physically punished or occasionally ordered to leave the home, but in a short period of time the family of the young offender (and especially her own mother) forgive her and accept the pregnancy and the child. Even under conditions of migration, this pattern of symbolic punishment is retained. Kyle, for example, was subjected to such severe 'bitching/ as she puts it, that she was forced to leave her mother's home. Other young women have reported that their mothers were upset and even punitive, but this lasted only for a short while. Loraine, a twenty-three-year-old woman who had a child when she was eighteen, actually said that when she became pregnant, she was very afraid of her mother. Her mother had said to her earlier, 'Anybody come into my house with a belly better know where they going to live/ This meant that her mother would kick her out if she were to become pregnant. Although this did not happen, Loraine managed to find a subsidized apartment. In order to make ends meet, however, they eat at her mother's frequently. The old traditional patterns from Victorian England clashed severely with the realities of Caribbean life and produced a dichotomous and dual system where normative expectations are rarely met and a pattern of single motherhood becomes so established that it is continued under conditions of migration. For migrants, however, it becomes problematic and hampers educational, social, and economic mobility for women. On the other hand, many women in this position accept their pregnancies and motherhood without feeling that they are being cheated

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 73 out of a brighter future, at least for the moment. They do hope, however, that in the future they will be able to access rewards and resources to a greater extent.4 The Absent Father

One of the recurring themes in many discussions of family relationships were the ones respondents had with their own parents. In view of the recency of Caribbean migration to Canada, the respondents' parents were often in the home country, although in some cases their mothers had also migrated. At least two-thirds of our sample of respondents did not grow up with their fathers. In approximately half the cases, this was because their birth status was 'illegitimate/ but in the remainder, the father was absent because the parents' marriage or relationship broke up. The pattern of the absent father appears to be another example of cultural continuity, particularly among the working class and underclass segments of the population. Among our sample of young, unmarried mothers, some of the fathers of their children had already left and others were not in a stable relationship. Like the pattern of single motherhood in Canada, it is likely that the absent father pattern will continue for a substantial proportion of the Caribbean population. The majority of young adults interviewed had grown up without their fathers, as the following case-studies demonstrate. Nita's legally married parents separated shortly after the family migrated from England. They had originally migrated from Antigua. Nita and her sister were raised almost solely by her mother. Of her father, she says, 'We didn't get along when I was younger. He can't get along with anybody. He's unable to relate to anybody. I grew up badly for years with him; he can't relate to children.' Her sister, when asked how her father had figured in her socialization, replied, 'Very little. He was the father figure, that was the way it was. He came, he visited, and he left. Especially later into my teens, he came for two weeks per year. Hello, bye, and that was it.' Their father went back to Antigua when the sisters were very young and, in a somewhat damning account of the way men lead their lives in the Caribbean, Nita speculates about 4 The data from the U.K. on Caribbean family patterns reveal similar findings, but there has been a greater emphasis on interpreting these patterns in the light of deviant or pathological family organization (see Lawrence 1982).

74 Life in Canada the cultural reasons that account for his happiness there: 'It's a patriarchical society and the men can womanize and socialize with the guys and drink their rum - it's that kind of atmosphere - ease, lack of pressure.' Mark, a twenty-one-year-old man originally from Jamaica, has lived in Toronto for ten years. He migrated with his mother and younger brother while his father remained in Jamaica. His parents are married. Mark assumes that his father, who came to Canada for a very short time, 'doesn't like it up here that much.' He sees his father occasionally when he is able to visit Jamaica, but says that his absence now no longer bothers him: ' ... so much time has passed - about nine years - and my position nine years ago was different than it is now, so it doesn't matter if he comes up now or not because I'm going into my own statement of life. It doesn't matter to me any more; maybe as a kid, as a supporting role, you want somebody to be around.' Mark clearly missed the presence of his father and while he notes that his father, unlike many others, has contributed to the support of the family, he also condemns him for leaving the family: 'I've disagreed with him on many standards. And, then being male, I think it's a bad representation against two sons, and your showing that lack of responsibility is not very good.' Glen, a twenty-nine-year-old originally from Jamaica, expresses strong hostility towards his absent father. His mother died when he was seven years old, leaving him and his older sister in the care of her mother, Glen's maternal grandmother: 'My father, he was a sonof-a-bitch. I was just a kid. I probably didn't realize what he should have done. I can see all the errors he made, but I loved my sister who took care of me and my grandmother.' Glen reported that he missed his father's moral and emotional support when he was a child: 'He wasn't there when I needed him. One time I remember I was talking to this guy. He was a big guy talking to me and I wished it was my father - give me advice. I had to get it from somebody else. That's why I say he is a son-of-a-bitch.' Glen's father is still in Jamaica and they do not appear to have any sort of relationship with each other. Glen says he went home two years ago and searched for but didn't find him. Despite Glen's negative feelings for his absent father, he has repeated his father's pattern. Glen has an eleven-year-old daughter who lives in Jamaica with her mother and is the product of 'some early fooling

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 75 around/ He hopes that he will be able to sponsor his daughter to come to Canada because, as he said, 'you want your family with you. There is love in your heart for your family/ Richard, a twenty-one-year-old young man, has lived in Toronto for about ten years, having spent six years being cared for by his grandmother in Jamaica. His mother migrated without him and sent for him and his brother when she had established herself in Canada. His parents terminated their relationship when his mother decided to migrate to Canada. Richard was thus separated from both his parents for a crucial period of his life. Of his absent father, he says: 'He hasn't really been like a father figure to me at all. You can say I grew up without a father because he came and showed up when he felt like showing up, not when we needed him. We never did father-son things, you know. The only father I knew was my cousins. They would show me things, do things with us. I never really grew up with him/ Although Richard lived with his grandmother for many years, he did not have a working relationship with his grandfather, who was an alcoholic, frequently absent from home, and did not appear to have been an integral part of the household. In a very few instances, male respondents reported that they grew up with a father present. A few also indicated that they have had or would like to have a role in socializing their own children. Winston, a man in his late forties who had migrated to Canada from Trinidad with his family over twenty-five years ago, is a case in point: 'I emphasize in this society a case of not disappearing when they are young. They have problems, especially in this society, especially in their teens. So I teach them love, respect, and to be obedient. And I give them instruction - if anything happens at school, don't let somebody else come and tell me/ The parenting of the children was shared equally by Winston and his wife. He says that he 'cleaned, cooked, washed, did my clothes, did her clothes/ He also assumed major responsibility for their education. He attended the parent/teacher evenings at school and even did some volunteer work for the school. His job consisted of calling parents of children who were absent from school to find out if they were 'sick or on the street/ A somewhat similar perspective on family life and male parenting is expressed by a Jamaican man in his early forties, who has had several relationship breakdowns. Of a family he left in Jamaica, he says, 'I left two daughters and a common-law wife in Jamaica. They are now

76 Life in Canada living in the U.S. I am sorry I did not have more of a role in their upbringing, but I have helped them financially and they have spent time with me in Canada/ A forty-year-old Vincentian separated from his six-year-old son's mother nevertheless maintains a strong relationship with his son. He also says that he would like at least another child and parenthetically notes: 'If the mother of my child took that child to another country, I would have to follow. I wouldn't like the idea of my child growing up without me. I don't agree with those guys who go around having five or six children and not supporting any of them.' The absent father pattern is present among all class groups, although it is more pronounced within the working class. Among the working class and underclass, the absent father is often associated with casual unions and the resulting single motherhood. At upper-class levels, absent fathers are associated with marriage and relationship breakdown, which occur frequently under conditions of migration. The majority of respondents in this study therefore grew up without their fathers. For people who have migrated at early ages and have essentially grown up in Canada, the absent father is particularly resented. Many of the respondents talked about their fathers with great hostility and the younger people resented the extra stresses and strains endured by their mothers as a result of their fathers' absence. Such resentment of fathers is not as evident in the Caribbean. Perhaps the absent father and the strains put on the mother under conditions of migration may in large part be responsible for many of the marginalized and alienated Caribbean youth in Toronto today. The absent father figures more prominently in the migration experience because the mother does not have the network of extended kin to depend on for support, nor does she have the grandmother for child care. It can be speculated that when mother is lower middle class and has some support, the children are socialized to achieve, especially with respect to education. The values associated with social, economic, and educational mobility are more likely to be taught by mothers at this class level. Some of the interview data support this view. Middle-class mothers who raise their children alone as a result of divorce usually emphasize social mobility. When the mother is originally working class and remains so in Toronto (often becoming part of the welfare underclass), mobility values are not as strongly emphasized and such mothers tend to raise marginalized and alienated teenagers. The absent

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 77 father pattern is more problematic here than in the Caribbean. In a very few cases, men express the need to socialize their children. Only about one-third of the fathers interviewed said they helped support children, and those that do made a special point of stressing that in the interview. It is also apparent that for men, providing financial support is more important than providing emotional support to their children. Some of the interviewees felt that they had discharged their responsibility to their children by providing some financial support. The few men in our sample who played a strong role in the family were in their mid-forties or older, and they had come to Canada at an earlier period of migration. They were also by this time middle class, as defined by their occupations and incomes. The Role of the Mother

If there is ambivalence or outright hostility towards absent fathers, there is nothing but admiration and praise for mothers. Migrants interviewed for this study demonstrate that the mother's role in the Caribbean family structure is of critical importance. Mothers are esteemed for their strength, bravery, and courage in bringing up children without the father's help, while at the same time providing the sole financial support for themselves and their children. The double role of women as socializer and wage-earner was admired by all respondents who were raised by single mothers. It appears to make little difference if children were conceived in a casual, commonlaw, or marital parental relationship; the mother is universally praised. While people were particularly impressed with the efforts and determination of their mothers if they were single parents, respondents who were raised by a legally married pair were also unstinting in their praise of their mothers. This strong emotional bonding with the mother has to do with several factors. In the first instance, the bond is based on the blood tie to one's mother, the 'one who made you, the one who bore you.' The critical belief in the female as the parent who 'makes' the child for a man is well known in Caribbean societies, and is evidenced by such common expressions as 'she makin baby for he,' 'she breeding/ and others. This bond is still evident in both the male and female migrant population. Mothers are also esteemed for their important social and economic roles within the migrant family. As heads of single-parent

78 Life in Canada households, mothers automatically assume the function of decision making. Their ability to assume this important responsibility and make the right decisions is much admired. Nita describes her mother as a strong woman who made all the decisions: 'I would say that the onus of everything was on her head, financially and everything/ She and her sister Lara still maintain a close relationship with their mother: She relates personally. We've never had problems in our relationship. I admire my mother very much - she's been wonderful, excellent mother to me ... When I was young, growing up, she was very nurturing, always there for us, very loving. I exalted my mother when I was a child; everywhere she went, I went too. As I grew older, she was a friend and companion. We talked, I could share everything with her, so that's major in our relationship. We're good friends. I can tell her anything - sex, anything.

Her sister Lara makes the interesting point that she always considered growing up in a single-parent household as the norm: I saw other people [nuclear families] live together, but we were happy in our lifestyles. Our mother talked to us and she took us around. She cared for us because she was there all the time. I grew up with my mother working since I was a child, and I never thought twice about coming home to an empty house. That was just the way it was. Since I first came to Canada when I was six, my mother was working all that time. So when I hear people talking about latchkey kids, I was one. It just seemed normal because even though my parents were married, my father was never around.

While Nita and Lara have had an especially close relationship with her mother (even by Caribbean standards) similar feelings and experiences were related by many respondents. Mark's mother, who is a single parent, makes all the major decisions, especially with respect to finances. She tries to include her children, who are young adults, in the decision-making process. Like Nita and Lara, Mark maintains that his mother encourages a group effort in decision making. Paul, a thirty-year-old Jamaican migrant, began his business with some of the start-up capital contributed by his mother. In discussing potential wives and mates, Paul and some of his male friends feel that such women should have many of their mothers' traits. An ideal

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partner, said Paul, should 'have personality traits like my mother, very strong. I like someone who can make their own life and someone who disagrees with me and can back it up. Someone who can have separate views and argue with me. I respect that. Someone who takes care of themselves physically, mentally, and spiritually. My mother did all of those things/ It is interesting to speculate that Paul admires the strength and determination that his mother possesses, but it is these very characteristics that women have had to develop as the result of necessity in the absence of men. The traits associated with independence and the ability to make decisions that are so much admired in mothers frequently exacerbate the conflict between men and women. Richard, a young man of Jamaican origin, has had a particularly stressful set of circumstances with respect to his family background. Of his mother, however, Richard has nothing but praise: 'My mom worked, she worked very hard. She worked in a full-time job; sometimes she does overtime every opportunity she gets. I mean, sometimes she has to take a chance to leave us alone. She knew that we could take care of ourselves. She'd call constantly, tell us what to do. Tell us to go to bed when we're up late.' In a very similar vein, Ian discusses how hard his mother worked in Canada to raise six children by herself. lan's parents and five other siblings, who arrived in 1965, were among the early wave of Caribbean migrants to Canada. Ian is nearly fifty now and the owner of a prosperous record store. Within two years of their arrival in Canada, his parents had separated and his father apparently returned to Jamaica where he lived for a few years before migrating to the United States. Ian describes his mother: She is a strong woman. She raised six kids by herself in Canada. There is no way I can see anyone else doing that. I mean, you have a lot of people come to this country, raise two or three children, and I know they are battling. My mother raised six. She went out, she worked, she provided shelter. None of the six of us are in prison, none of us are on drugs. We are all pretty successful. Three of us own half-million-dollar houses, a couple of us have assets of over a million dollars. The other three are coming along. My mother is pretty happy with what she has produced.

Ian credits his mother with the success of himself and his siblings. He said that at one time, his mother moved to Florida, but missed

8o Life in Canada her family so much that she had to return to Canada. In any event, she was also needed since 'we're all helping the next one [the second youngest sibling] to get into a house/ Len, another Jamaican man in his mid-thirties, has completed university and was nearly halfway through law school when he decided that the law would not satisfy his career ambitions. His resignation from law school caused some friction between his mother and himself, but he says that it is the first serious disagreement they have had in an otherwise harmonious relationship: 'My relationship with my mother is very congenial. We don't have any, we never had any fights, only the occasional disagreements. However, we don't see the world the same. Our value systems are different. She's more simple, is oriented towards survival here. I can certainly understand that, but for me, there is more to life than just survival.' Len is reflecting the differences between himself and his mother with respect to views of the world as a result of his upward social and educational mobility. Although he left law school, Len has been moderately successful in his career. His mother still reflects her working-class Jamaican origins, which emphasize economic and social survival. Her son, with a completed university degree, is able to indulge in the luxury of speculating about what life can offer while experimenting with several career alternatives. Thus far, we have been considering the attitudes and feelings of adults towards their own parents, especially mothers. At this point, we examine the behaviour of mothers who raise their children alone.5 THE DYNAMICS OF FAMILY SEPARATIONS

Relationships within the family are also greatly influenced by the geographical mobility of many Caribbean migrants. The frequency of movement, cross-nationally and even internally within a city or province, deeply affects the relationships between family members and particularly the socialization of children. Family members are frequently separated, some for long periods. There is a pattern of women, usually unmarried mothers, who migrate 5 The role of the women and mothers in the Caribbean population of the United States has been intensively studied. Similar patterns and experiences, particularly with respect to raising children alone, have been explored (Castro, Gearing, and Gill 1984; Mortimer and Bryce-Laporte 1981; Palmer 1990).

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 81 to Canada and attempt to establish themselves economically and socially. They then send for children who were left behind with a female relative. In a very few instances, husbands and wives migrate together, sometimes also leaving their children behind in the care of others. Kurt is a typical example of this pattern, except that both grandparents and parents in this family were legally married. When he was four, both of his parents moved to Toronto. He was raised by his grandparents in St Vincent until he was twelve. His 'second mother' was his grandmother. Kurt encountered severe adjustment problems in Canada and had frequent fights with his parents. They were unable to understand that he felt alienated in school: 'I was always an outsider and being from St Vincent was worse. Most of them [other students] were from Jamaica/ Kurt had also grown accustomed to his grandmother and found his parents, especially his mother, a virtual stranger. Gary's mother migrated in 1964 under the sponsorship of the first domestic labour scheme initiated by the Canadian government. Gary and his sister were left with their maternal grandmother. Gary also visited his father and his paternal grandparents, who also stayed in Jamaica. His mother at first was sent to a family in London, Ontario, where she stayed for a few years before moving to Toronto. After taking a few courses, Gary's mother began earning enough money as a secretary to send for the children. Gary's separation from his mother lasted only about four or five years, and he felt comfortable being among members of his extended family in Jamaica. His unification with mother went smoothly, but Gary says that he missed (and still misses) his grandmother. Ian and his older sister were left behind in Jamaica when their mother migrated. He lived in Kingston with his maternal aunt for four years. His aunt became a second mother to him and even today, Ian maintains that he has two mothers. Although his aunt is still in Kingston, he maintains regular contact with her and occasionally sends her some money. While in Jamaica, he spent summer holidays visiting his grandfather and another aunt and her nine children. Ian therefore left a large extended family to come to Toronto where he lived with his mother, her new partner, and their four-year-old daughter. They are frequently visited by a child who is the offspring of his stepfather and another woman. He describes a considerable amount of conflict within this new family. Although he has a good relationship with his mother, Ian quarrels with his stepfather, and his older sister has left home because of the stepfather's violence.

82 Life in Canada Richard, a young Jamaican of twenty-one, described a particularly close relationship with his grandmother, which was quickly changed by migration. When he was three, Richard's mother moved to Toronto, leaving him for six years with his maternal grandmother, who quickly became his second mother. Richard described how he called her 'Ma/ He said he felt closer to his grandmother than to his mother. Of his grandmother, he said: 'We saw more of her. She was there for us, she did our washing, cooking, cleaning. We helped her out around the house ... she done so much ... she not only done for us, she done for my cousins.' Richard felt wrenched away from a grandmother he loved and respected, and even today, tears come to his eyes when he talks about her. The inability to use the kinship term 'mother' after a long period of separation was also noted by Ian, who was left in the care of his grandmother when he was quite young. During their ten-year separation, his mother visited three or four times and she would write letters to which Ian confesses he replied only occasionally. Upon being reunited with his mother, Ian says: There was a period of readjustment. In fact, my sister, who is four or five years older than myself, up till this day does not call my mother 'Mommy/ She calls her 'Aunty/ and I used to call her 'Aunty' also. It's just an illustration, you know ... Well, I've never called anyone 'Mommy' until about seven years ago, and my sister has never made that transition ... Yeah, there was a bit of awkwardness getting out the word 'Mommy' at first.

Family separations also come about through more radical changes in family structure. Veronica is still in her mid-teens and attending high school in Toronto. Her parents had five children in quick succession and, as sometimes happens in the Caribbean, some of the children are 'farmed' out to other relatives to alleviate the financial strain of taking care of many children. Veronica was taken in by a grandaunt from the age of five. She explains, 'She wanted to take me in because my parents had other children and she thought it would be easier/ She lived with her grand-aunt until the age of nine, at which time the daughter of her grand-aunt visited Jamaica from Canada and decided to adopt Veronica and take her to Toronto. Veronica notes that 'it was kind of funny because I didn't know my adopted mother before that, and the first time she came to Jamaica was when she decided to adopt me. While this move provides Veronica with access to

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 83 better education than she would have had in Jamaica, it also meant that she was taken away from an extended family of five other siblings, her natural parents, and the grand-aunt who had, in the meantime, become her second mother. Veronica now lives with a 'third mother' and their relationship is tense. In discussing the importance of the family, Veronica describes the emotional pangs of separation even though she lives with her new adopted family: 'I can't picture myself without my family ... While I was living in Kingston [with the grandaunt] and my family was living in Manchester [Jamaica], I still missed them because I think being with my family ... is the best moment of my life. I can't picture myself without them, like living without my family/ She describes herself as lonely and very homesick for her family in Jamaica. Her situation is made more poignant since she and her new family, particularly her adoptive mother, are at odds. Her new mother expects her to do household chores, perform well at school, and in general comport herself appropriately: 'At school, she wants me to be really smart. She expects me to do better than everybody else, which I can't do ... because I'm just me and I'm not very smart in all my subjects. She also expects me to be really good, like behave myself and stuff like that.' Veronica also has her own expectations with respect to her adoptive mother. She notes, for example, that 'I don't think she would be able to hit me ... her not being my real mother ... I didn't think she was allowed to hit me.' In summing up her relationship, she feels that it is not good 'because I'm not what she expects.' Conflict in this relationship has come about as a result of unmet expectations on both sides. Moreover, her adoptive mother asked if she wanted her name changed, and although she said that she wanted her middle name changed, her adoptive mother changed Veronica's last name and left her middle name unchanged. When Veronica found out, she was unhappy because, she said, 'I really liked my last name. Some people say it's stupid, it only a name, but you know ... ' Veronica's many changes from rural to urban life in Jamaica, migrating to Canada, and living with many different relatives, has created a lonely, stressed young woman struggling to meet the challenges and expectations of life in Toronto with an adoptive mother with whom she does not get along. Although Veronica's experiences have led to distress, the pattern of sending children to other relatives does not necessarily result in fam-

84 Life in Canada ily tensions. Farming out or even adopting children within the home country is a fairly common pattern and does not appear to create any undue stress, as the example of Catherine indicates. Catherine, a woman now in her early fifties, also grew up with a second mother. Catherine's mother had several children and was in a common-law arrangement with Catherine's father. Her aunt, however, 'did not have any children of her own and was the oldest of the sisters and she loved me, so my mother let me stay with her while she left to work in [Kingston].' Catherine later migrated to Canada on her own where, despite (or perhaps because of) a broken marriage, she has had a fairly successful life. DOUBLE-LAP MIGRATION AND ITS EFFECT ON FAMILIES

As discussed in the chapter on migration, double-lap migration via England is common. During the sixties and seventies, migration to the U.K. was still relatively easy. England was the first-choice destination of most people of Caribbean origin since it was, to them, the mother country. Increasingly, however, these migrants to England decide to migrate to Canada following some years of economic struggle. In the early and mid-eighties, this pattern of double migration became evident. These double-lap migrants bring their children, who range in age from about five or six to the late teens. These children therefore experience the dislocation of migration twice. About onefifth of our total interview sample had had this experience. There are significant effects of double-lap migration on family separation and reunion. Lara and Nita, like Veronica, have had a series of major moves in their young lives. Originally, their parents emigrated in the late fifties from Antigua to the U.K., where she and her brother were born. The two siblings were then sent back to Antigua, where she stayed with her grandmother and aunt, who assumed responsibility for her. The parents, in the meantime, stayed in England until Nita was born, at which time they re-emigrated back to Antigua. For a while, the family was reunited. When the sisters were four and six years old, the family, including both parents, emigrated again, this time to Canada. The two sisters stayed in Toronto for a year and then were sent back to Antigua again as the parents struggled to adapt to the new conditions in Canada. Lara and Nita stayed in Antigua for about a year and then returned to Toronto, this time staying for about five years. Two more moves

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between Antigua and Toronto took place, and the sisters basically spent their entire teenaged period going back and forth between the two countries. For the past nine years, they have been settled in Toronto, but their parents have again returned to Antigua. Most of the family - parents, grandmother, and aunt - are in Antigua. Lara and Nita live in Toronto where, with some parental help, they have managed to attend university. Nita is living common law with a boyfriend whom she does not intend to marry because he comes from a different culture and religion. Paul has a less dramatic story. His father and mother met each other in the U.K., to which they had both migrated. Paul and his brother were born there. His mother emigrated to Canada when the two boys were young, leaving his father in England. Since Paul was only four and a half when he arrived in Canada, he remembers little of his earlier period in Leicester, England, and he claims that it had little effect on him. The decision to emigrate to Canada was one of the decisive factors that led to his parents' separation and resulted in Paul's growing up with only his brother and mother. The small family unit was extremely close, however, and Paul cites his devoted relationship with his older brother, as well as the democratic forms of family decision making initiated by his mother, as responsible for his success in adapting to Canadian society. In a few cases, adults raised in England migrated to Canada because of a specific job opportunity. Ernest was born in Jamaica and emigrated with his mother and father to Birmingham when he was ten years old. He went to school in England and found a job as an apprentice machinist in a factory. Ernest honed his skills and when the factory announced it would soon have to close, he discovered that the Canadian embassy in London was advertising for his kind of machinist skills. He applied for a job and immigration status through the embassy, was accepted, and emigrated to Canada in 1979. He has prospered in Canada and is now in a relatively highly paid industrial position as a tool and die maker. For the majority of people who experience double-lap migration, however, the results are not this positive. The process generally tends to create additional stress for families already experiencing the pressures of migration. In large part, the decision to move to Canada is related to the lack of economic achievement in the U.K. and what are perceived to be the increasing racial tensions in that country. The children, for the most part, arrive in Canada when they are still relatively

86 Life in Canada young and do not therefore experience additional burdens. The most crucial effect of this form of migration seems to be that it encourages the breakup of the parental partners. Whether the parents were legally married or living common law, it seems rare that both partners agree to the re-emigration. In almost all of our cases, the last lap of the migration was the precipitating factor in the breakdown of the relationship. Our sample is not quite large or detailed enough to be able to relate the effects of double-lap migration. For example, we cannot tell if the numerous moves created a predisposition to adapt well or poorly in Canada. It would appear, however, that the majority of children were too young to have been affected by the double move. It also seems that the social class of origin has little to do with the decision to re-emigrate since the numbers of working- and middleclass persons who have made the second migration are roughly the same. MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIP BREAKDOWN

One of the most striking findings of this study is that there is an extraordinarily high rate of marriage and/or relationship breakdown among first-generation migrants. Close to 90 per cent of our total sample of migrants, which includes young adults discussing the relationships of their parents, end in separation and/or divorce. These breakdowns seem to occur within approximately the first three years of migration. The majority were in a relationship at the time of migration, although in many cases, the couple did not migrate at the same time. A common pattern during the sixties was for women to migrate first, often under the government domestic labour scheme, and once settled, to send for both children and partner. A number of the respondents in their fifties followed this pattern. For the remainder, however, couples were either already married and/or in a common-law arrangement at home, or they formed one shortly after migration to Canada. As the following examples illustrate, relationship breakdown can be related in a general way to the stresses of the migration experience. There are, however, a number of factors that facilitate the breakdown of marriages and relationships. Perhaps one of the most basic relates to the ways in which male-female relationships are formed within Caribbean society, in which the bonds between men and women tend to lack emotional depth. The concept of westernized romantic love

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is, to some extent, missing in societies such as this in which instrumentality rather than affection appears to be the primary motivation in forming relationships, at least to the point of sharing a common household. Men want sexual gratification and attention to their food, laundry, and other domestic needs. (These can, of course, be satisfied without sharing a household. A common pattern in lower-class Caribbean life is for a man to have a woman or several women, who cook, do his laundry for him, and have children by him, but they do not share a common household.) A woman, on the other hand, is primarily motivated by the need to find a man who can offer economic support to her, her children, and possibly other relatives. When couples decide to live together in marriage or common law, a bond of affection is obviously necessary, but the burning needs of intense romantic love are often lacking in the bonds between men and women. Against this cultural background, men and women often find that their emotional bonds are not strong enough to keep them together, particularly as economic, financial, social, and other pressures impinge on them in the new host society. In a few instances, a living arrangement was formed primarily because a child was expected. The reasons for maintaining a relationship are not strong enough to keep the couple together and after a while, they tend to drift apart. Arthur, a fortyyear-old man originally from St Vincent, notes that he and his wife, whom he met in Canada, decided to get married because his partner was pregnant. Arthur felt that in Canada, children had more of a need to grow up in a nuclear family. After a few years of marriage, however, 'we just grew apart ... my son's mother is a good mother, but I don't like to mess with people's heads. I would rather be alone than play head games with people.' Now that he is single again, Arthur maintains 'friendships' with several women. Georgina, a forty-six-year-old woman from Trinidad, recently began divorce proceedings against her husband after fourteen years of marriage. She now lives alone with a twelve-year-old daughter. She and her husband were married in Trinidad, but she preceded him to Canada by one year. Georgina's story illustrates a number of points related to marriage failure. Her husband's infidelity appears to have been the precipitating factor in the breakdown, but Georgina is also bitter about the many years that she helped him establish his business and put him through school. As with many women of her age and generation, Georgina allowed her husband to dominate her life. Today, she vows that her daughter will not be raised the way she was raised:

88 Life in Canada He would tell me how to wear my hair, what clothes to wear and just to keep the peace, I would do it. It seems silly now. When I tell people, they wonder what was wrong with me, but I wanted my marriage to work. I blame my father because I had no experience with people and he was so strict that I had no mind of my own. My husband didn't even allow me to have Trinidadian friends. [Her husband was originally from Dominica.]

Georgina works for Bell Canada and is now in a supervisory position. She was therefore able to help her husband financially. In addition, she spent many hours helping in his business: 'I did double shift with a full-time job and helping my husband out with his business. I did not mind because I felt his success would be my success. I had advised him to work for someone else first for a while to gain experience, but he did not want to work for anyone/ Georgina's husband felt that he would make quicker progress in business if he had an MBA and was accepted into the program at the University of Windsor. Georgina, at this time, was the financial support of the family. I worked and put my husband through school. While he studied at the University of Windsor, I stayed in Toronto. It was at that time that he took up with another woman who was a student at the university. She would get a ride with him when he came to Toronto. I did not think anything of it at the time, but later when he started his own business and we rented a house, she lived upstairs and worked with him in the day in the office downstairs. He is now living with her.

Marriage breakdown brought about by financial problems was a recurrent theme. The common Caribbean pattern of women expecting their husbands to be the primary supporter of the family was a fairly recurrent theme of cultural continuity. In the new society, however, it was sometimes easier for women to integrate economically than men. Women find access to employment, however menial, far more readily than men. Jobs for women as domestics and babysitters are almost always available despite downtrends in the general economy. Access to employment for men is somewhat more difficult. Both the availability of jobs and the experience and training of the men are constraining factors. In addition, men appear to demonstrate more pride and refuse to accept jobs (except under extreme circumstances) that they consider menial and beneath them. One result is that men

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 89 experience more job-related and financial problems than women. (These economic factors are discussed in more detail in chapter 5 on employment.) With respect to the role of financial vulnerability in marriage breakdown, however, it is the combination of the culturally defined expectations that women have of their husbands and men's economic vulnerability to their ability to find employment that frequently leads to marital tensions and ultimately separation and/or divorce (Bonnett 1990). This particular set of circumstances is then made even more difficult when women, with their new economic independence, begin to assert their authority and attempt to make decisions within the family. The men, who are culturally accustomed to compliant and acquiescent women, resent women's independence and authority. This is a common pattern affecting immigrants from many cultures in which men play a dominant role over women (Bonnett 1990; Gordon 1991). Similar patterns have been found in Caribbean migrant communities. Gordon writes that 'immigrant males reported that they found immigrant women more demanding of their men in domestic and interpersonal relationships' (Bonnett 1990, 145). Men are not only pressured by women, but sometimes their own children begin to challenge their authority. As Bonnett notes, 'when the children are not his own but part of the "new" family that his wife may have started [before his migration] his problems are even greater' (Bonnett 1990, 145). Traditional culturally defined gender relations change with the migration experience, and the primary change is the enhanced role of women as they become financially independent of their husbands and often become the most important support of the family unit. Some men blame the failure of their marriages or relationships on the women. Carl, a young Jamaican, said that he and his friends dislike Jamaican women, not because they are Jamaican but because they 'have their mother's mentalities' and they don't realize that they have to change now that they are in Canada. He maintains that 'because they're "Jaican" [a popular euphemism for Jamaican], it doesn't mean that they have to breed [get pregnant], they didn't have to sit back and not think about school, have a child before they could basically look after themselves.' Carl's friend Leroy joined the conversation at this point and said there were two kinds of Black women: 'Black women from "backayard" [home] and women from here.' He goes out with White women in his own age group because their aspirations are so much higher than Black women's. He sees young Black women as not being

go Life in Canada ambitious enough. Carl and Leroy are examples of young adult men who have been here for ten or more years and have completed high school. While both are working, they have plans to attend university. Their aspirations are to move away from the traditional working-class Jamaican cultural patterns with respect to gender relations. Although Carl already has a child, he maintains that he doesn't want any more children outside of marriage. He wants to settle down with one woman for life, own his own hairdressing salon, and make some money. At the same time, however, he wants to remain Jamaican in identity. Another impediment to enduring marital relationships is also related to the motivation to marry. The so-called 'immigration marriage' is also an important contributor to the rate of marriage breakdowns. These arranged marriages take several forms. The most common pattern is that Caribbean-born men marry Canadian nationals in order to obtain Canadian citizenship. Such marriages are often arranged by a lawyer, immigration counsellor, or even a knowledgeable broker within the community. Caribbean men also marry Caribbean-born women who have emigrated to Canada earlier and become citizens. The woman can then sponsor her boyfriend from home or marry a man who is already in Canada on a visitor's permit or in the country illegally. Partners in this kind of marriage usually make an attempt at maintaining it, but minor differences and often the husband's relationships with other women break up the marriage. Although most of these marriages take place with women who are Canadian citizens, occasionally a male citizen marries a woman who is here illegally. Such was the case of Charles, a thirty-six-year-old man from Jamaica, whose wife, he claims, 'used him for citizenship.' I got married in 1984. This girl had been living here illegally. I got to know her. The friend she was staying with got Ontario housing and wanted her to move out. I found a place for her to stay. We became good friends. She did not tell me she was illegal. She used reverse psychology on me because she knew I would think she was trying to find someone to marry and stay in Canada. I go through a lot of problems with her. She treat me like shit. All I want now is to get on with my life and get my money. She won't let me see my kid [a four-year-old daughter], but when my lawyer is finished with her, she won't know what hit her!

Another factor involved in marital breakdown relates to parent-child conflict, which, in turn, creates stress for the parents. As children are

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 91 raised in Canada and exposed to values and norms that sometimes contradict those of traditional Caribbean values, generational conflicts between parents and children tend to occur. Tensions within the family mount, parents blame each other for their children's lack of success or because the children are in trouble. Differences of opinion between the parents regarding how to handle difficulties with their children begin to put pressure on a marriage or relationship that is already stressed because of other factors. Fathers, in particular, find that as their formerly dominant role in the family diminishes and as wives begin to assert their authority, children no longer automatically submit to his authority. The father constantly needs to reassert his position with his own children (Bonnett 1990). Another factor is that the concept of marriage changes with migration. In the cultural context of the Caribbean, marriage is defined as an ideal form of male-female relations, especially by women. Although not all women can achieve that ideal, it is still considered the most desirable of male-female relationships. Women see marriage as an enormous improvement in status: 'You get married for better, not for worse/ as it is commonly said. The expectation is that the husband will be the main provider and will assume responsibilities for the household. The high expectations that Caribbean women have of husbands make many men reluctant to marry because they feel that they cannot meet these expectations. With migration, however, the concept of marriage changes to that of a more equal partnership between men and women in which both partners contribute to the success of the whole. The wife works and contributes to the running of the household and does not merely make expectations of the husband. When the husband does not do his share, strains develop in the relationship. Similarly, if the wife begins to make more progress, as noted earlier, the relationship is in jeopardy. Ironically, the more equitably defined roles in the marriages of migrants leads in some instances to the greater possibility of breakdown. CHANGES IN FAMILY COMPOSITION

Families in the new society tend to follow either a nuclear or singleheaded household arrangement. The large extended family, so characteristic of Caribbean society, tends to be impossible to maintain under conditions of migration. One of the major implications of the shift towards nuclear or single-parent families is that child care, which

92 Life in Canada traditionally is performed by grandmothers and mothers' sisters, cannot be maintained. The lack of family support is one of the most crucial changes with which migrants, particularly mothers (and especially single mothers), must cope. The lack of elderly females in the family to perform this function means that alternate sources of child care must be found. Sheila, whose story was told at length earlier, noted that despite the terrible times she experienced in her own country, she could always rely on her parents and even her estranged husband's parents for child care. She notes that, 'even if it meant a short trip, I always knew I could leave my children with somebody, whereas here if I want to get a "minder," I have to think of paying somebody first. The next thing, how can you trust people to look after your children? If I had family around me, I wouldn't be in this position.' Sheila also believes that because of the racism in this country, she feels uneasy about leaving her children in someone else's care because her children might be mistreated because of their skin colour. Because easily available, trustworthy, and cheap child care in Toronto is difficult to find under the best of circumstances, migrants are often forced to rely on children as young as ten to mind smaller children. There are numerous examples in our data that indicate that children young enough to need care themselves are put in charge of younger siblings. These arrangements also lead to or reinforce another common Caribbean family dynamic - the exceptionally close emotional bonds between siblings. Sibling ties, especially among those who are close in age to each other, are in any case quite close. When the older sibling has actually assumed responsibility for the younger ones, relations between them become extremely close and the strong emotional bond is likely to continue throughout their lives. While there is a tendency for same-sex siblings to form these bonds more easily, there are also instances where brothers and sisters form close bonds, especially when an older sister has been put in charge of younger siblings including brothers. The closest emotional bonds within the family here (as in the Caribbean) are those between mothers and children; bonds between siblings are next in order of attachment. Emotional bonds between fathers and children are not as strong in traditional Caribbean society, and this does not appear to change radically in the migrant context. Children raised in Canada do not generally have a close relationship to

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 93 their father even if the father was present during their socialization. Mothers, mother surrogates such as grandmothers (or sometimes maternal aunts), and siblings (especially those close in age) form close emotional dyads within the family. 'RACE' AND PARTNER SELECTION IN CANADA

In almost all of the interviews, the influence of race on partner selection was raised. Younger respondents discussed race with respect to their ideals and choices of potential partners. The question of interracial marriages and relationships was invariably mentioned in many interviews. This issue was of much greater concern to younger respondents, primarily because they have greater contact with White Canadians in schools, neighbourhoods, and other venues. The older parental generation has contact with Whites largely through work, but children who have gone to school together will have had considerable social contact. Respondents varied somewhat with respect to their attitudes towards interracial relationships, but all agreed that race needed to be considered. Younger women respondents seemed more inclined to say that their ideal partner or husband should also be Black, whereas more of the men were either in favour of interracial relationships or thought it should be a free choice. Lara, one of the sisters from Antigua, is relatively light-skinned and calls herself 'red/ She laughingly maintains that if she were to 'have somebody who is White, I'd be wiped out totally. There would be nothing left!' On a more serious note, she says, 'I'm proud of my race and I would like to carry it forth. I want to continue with my cultural identity and my racial identity, so that's really important to me.' In identifying the kinds of problems that interracial relationships bring, Lara fears that she will inadvertently make a derogatory comment about White people. She feels that she could not be herself and feel comfortable if she were in an interracial relationship. She talks about her friends who have been or still are in such relationships and says that 'they speak so much about the fact that they can never be totally themselves. One person has to break ... either one person has to become like the other, it has to be one or the other ... the stronger will out.' At this point, race seems to be synonymous with culture. In fact, several respondents automatically put race and culture together, as both are differences that must be accommodated in a relationship. For

94 Life in Canada some, that accommodation is not worth it and ideological factors, such as pride in being Black, outweigh other factors. Some of Nita's ideas against interracial relationships have come from closely observing the relationship of her cousin who is in an interracial marriage and who has become 'White': 'I had this cousin who was married to this White woman and, I swear to God, he's whiter than her. He's so White! We went there for Thanksgiving, and we couldn't believe that he had forgotten or ignored his background, the fact that he was Black.' Nita is living in a common-law relationship with a man originally from Nigeria. While both are Black, he is culturally very different, but they are able to work out their differences. The relationship appears to be based more on instrumentality than on emotional needs. She says that it is very convenient because they share the rent and basic living expenses, which makes it easier for both of them. The apartment and its furnishings are hers - 'We don't buy things together, so that if we break up or whatever, we don't have to cut it in half ... a piece of furniture in half, an object in half.' Although they share an apartment and expenses, they do not always share their social experiences. Although she has been out with his Nigerian friends and he has occasionally socialized with her Caribbean friends, they usually do things on their own: 'When he wants to go Nigerianizing, he goes his way and I go mine, and that's fine. I like my space too.' Nita's sister Lara has also had an interracial and intercultural relationship. However, it did not lead to living together. Her boyfriend was of Portuguese origin. Although she enjoyed their friendship, she (like her sister) found that it led her to behave in a way that she did not like. For example: There were things [that] were foreign to me because ... I was doing what White people did all the time. It didn't bother me, ... but I found it hard to [be with] my friends who were Black and bring him around. I also thought it was important to mention that it was someone of a different culture. When I wanted to go dancing, I said, 'Well, I don't want to go out dancing with you.' Things that I liked doing that were from my cultural self I simply excluded him from it. We would go to cafes and [places] that were more westernized, but when I just wanted to get back into'my own cultural origin - roots I just basically never included him in it.

Like her sister, Lara needs her own cultural and racial space and

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 95 both sisters accommodate this need by excluding the non-Black or non-Caribbean partner. Lara says that race and culture are extremely important to her in choosing the ideal partner. She notes that not only would she prefer a Black man, she would also prefer a partner from the Caribbean because they would share similar values, but on the other hand she realizes that may not be possible. She also expresses a preference for a Black because as racial minorities, 'it's easier living in this society. You see the world through similar views because you're both minorities.' Like her sister she is light-skinned and has the same fear that she might wind up with a blond child if she were to have a marriage or relationship with a White man. For both sisters, being very lightskinned has deeply influenced their attitudes towards White mates. Ironically, the more typical need of New World Blacks was to 'lighten' their children. Because the colonial and neocolonial domination experienced by Blacks in the Caribbean and elsewhere in the New World led them to feel inferior, marrying or forming casual liaisons with Whites who fathered light-skinned children was a symbol of mobility and higher status. For younger, middle-class migrants like Lara and Nita, themselves the products of a long history of racial mixture, their pride in being Black and wanting Black children has replaced the more conventional view of racial mixing and the need to be as White as possible. Lara also raises the important question of the cultural and racial identity of children who come from mixed parentage. Definitely if I were to go and have a child, it would be with someone who's Black. I think if I had a child with someone White, looking at my mix, it would probably look very White and I don't ever want it to question its roots ... I see ... screwed-up people questioning their identity. They can pass for White and they come home and they see a Black parent ... 'What am I? Who am I?' I don't want a child of mine to have to go through that. There is no guarantee of a relationship working forever, and if I married someone White and the father and I split up, the child would be in my custody and I'd be looking at a blond child.

Moving on to the question of cultural identity, she continues, 'Its main influences would be Black, and I think in terms of AfroCaribbean. Canadian culture would be a mixture of everything, and I think it would go through a question of its own cultural identity

96 Life in Canada and I don't really wish for that to happen. There are enough other problems that the child has to deal with, not just race/ Lara is also raising the important issue that the world is inherently racist as it categorizes people. She does not want a child of hers to be unnecessarily subjected to such additional pressures. Mark, a young Jamaican man, also has very definite views on interracial relationships. He says that if he gets married, '99 per cent of the chance, she's going to be a Black girl/ Mark is very influenced by the statistical incidence of the male-to-female birth ratio. Of his own strongly stated preference for a Black woman, he also jokingly says: I guess I should be open. I have nothing really against it ... you're gonna have Black girls with White guys ... If you ever really study statistics, you know that there are less Black males than Black women and the Black males consider that they're gonna be extinct in a couple of years. In Ebony, it said not only were there less Black men born than Black women, but some of them were in jail, so based on all of that, I guess we're gonna need Black women with White guys.

Catherine, now in her early thirties and unmarried, although she has had a number of 'friendships,' says that she would very much like to get married, but cannot find anyone who is just right for her. Her comment on the situation was that 'most Black guys are either ugly, or are going around with White girls, or have lots of children already/ Implicit in this comment is a disdain for interracial relationships, but shortly afterwards Catherine expresses a preference for White men by saying, 'I like guys with blue eyes, especially, but blueeyed guys seem to be afraid of me/ Arthur, the Vincentian, maintains that he has relations with 'all kind of women/ He says that he is basically in favour of interracial relationships, but makes the important point that many Black women feel that they are badly treated by Black men. I don't have anything against such relationships. It's up to the individual. I can understand why a lot of Black women do it too. My women friends have told me about the way some Black men treat them. Black men treat White women differently. They take them to nice expensive restaurants, treat them like queens. When they go out with a Black woman, they take her to a patty shop. So I don't blame a lot of Black women for trying to find happiness with White men.

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 97 This leads to another important pattern mentioned in various ways by several respondents, and that is the way in which race, interracial relationships, and the need for status and power lead many Caribbean men to prefer White partners. The point is best expressed by Merina. Like Lara and Nita, Merina is a twenty-two-year-old woman who migrated to Canada as a young child when her single mother sent for her. Merina's mother raised her and a younger brother, the product of the mother's new relationship. Merina is still at university and has very definite views on the relationship of race and status as it affects interracial ties. I see interracial relationships in two ways. Sometimes we have people who just go out with someone of a different race for the sake of status - I really find that's a mixed-up individual. You don't like your own race, so that's why you seek another race. I found a lot of Black men going out with White women just because they are White women. You meet men in a gym, a wonderful guy who spends every day in a gym, and he meets a woman with all this flab. She's ugly, but she's White. It upsets me a lot to see young guys going out with White women all the time and not even trying their own race. I think interracial relationships occur naturally because you live in a society like this. You're gonna meet somebody different who is nice and that's natural. What upsets me is to see it on a continual basis - people going out with the other race because of status ... like a Black man saying 'I want to meet a blonde woman that's as foreign to me in attraction.' I don't think that's natural ... you have to be giving up a lot of yourself to reach to that point. There's a lot of self-hate going on there.

Merina articulates the status and power needs of many Black men who date White women. She questions their integrity and honesty in forming such relationships and thinks that they are largely based on status needs. Black men believe that they achieve status in the eyes of their peers for dating and sleeping with White women. To a certain extent, some are also motivated by power and their ability to dominate White women. (See chapters 8 and 9 on leisure and clubs, Black pimps and White prostitutes.) In a few of the interviews, especially with young men, the subject of interracial relationships between Black men and Chinese women was discussed. Apparently this is a growing trend since Chinese girls are said to be Very quiet and submissive/ Chinese women, according to this view, 'seem to have a certain amount of decorum/ whereas Black women 'will tell you exactly what they feel, when they feel it, and

98 Life in Canada where they feel it. They have no problem in fighting. They know how to fight/ The majority of these younger respondents discussed the issue of partner selection from the point of view of marriage rather than simply dating. Interracial dating is more readily tolerated than the establishment of more permanent relationships. CONCLUSIONS

What we have considered thus far is a set of gender and familial relations in which a number of patterns are discernible. Family patterns under conditions of migration both stay the same and change. Having children out of wedlock and raising children as a female single parent have been retained regardless of social status. Such patterns interfere or inhibit integration into Canadian society. A number of our respondents have come from lower middle-class or middle-class backgrounds and have been raised by single mothers, usually because of marriage or relationship breakdown. These children show signs of some mobility leading to eventual incorporation. For example, a number of them are at or have completed university and have white-collar, civil-servant positions or basically middle-class status. In some cases, migrants who have been here for a long time own homes in middle-class residential areas of Toronto. These children, now young adults up to the age of thirty, appear to be 'making it' in Canada. On the other hand, there is also a continuing pattern of single mothers, absent fathers, and lack of legal marriage or common-law status. Most of these migrants are from the working class, and children produced by the single women are usually the result of casual liaisons rather than common-law or other more permanent and stable forms of relationship. There is some evidence that these single mothers' attempts at mobility are severely constrained. They cannot in some cases complete high school, much less attend community colleges or universities. While pregnant and caring for their young children, such women are almost always living on mother's allowance and other forms of government assistance. Later, when their children are older and they attempt to enter the labour force, their job possibilities are constrained by lack of education and training. The most important disadvantage is that children in such families are raised in relative poverty. Even men who have fathered children are somewhat hampered, particularly if they make an attempt to provide some financial assistance to their 'baby mothers.'

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization

99

Several factors can be cited to explain these patterns. One is the strong influence of social class. Migrants who were at higher class levels when they migrated to Canada usually have their children as a result of a relationship, even if it is not a legal marriage. Because of the stresses and strains of migration, as well as a number of problems between men and women that are exacerbated by migration, such relationships have a high probability of breaking down, leaving single mothers to raise children in the absence of fathers. The effects of these patterns of continuity are not as severe for such people as for working-class single mothers. Continuities in family patterns therefore must be understood within the context of the migrants' social class. Another continuing pattern is the changing forms of family organization. As in the Caribbean, women who have had children as a result of casual liaisons may later establish common-law relationships or even have a succession of marriages. In Canada, Caribbean migrants show the same tendencies. Women who have had liaisons, commonlaw relationships, and marriages that have broken down may, under the right circumstances, form new relationships and have more children. Young children of these women usually remain in the household and are joined by any new children the mother may have with her new partner. An example of such a constituted family is that of Richard, whose mother married a man in Canada and had several more children. This arrangement can lead to the estrangement of the original children since they sometimes do not get along with the stepfather. Tensions are also caused by the new children since parents differentiate between Canadian-born children and Caribbean-born children. The latter sometimes feel that the new children are preferred and they suffer from real or imagined neglect and lack of emotional support. Continuities and 'Blame the Victim' Approaches

These continuties and discontinuities in Caribbean family patterns are also strongly influenced by the racism directed against Blacks in Canada. As many Black feminists have pointed out, 'Black women's relation to motherhood and reproductive rights was imbued with both racist as well as sexist content' (Williams 1989, 77). This content is particularly directed at family patterns that are regarded as pathological or deviant by professionals who interact with Blacks, immigrants, and others. Social workers, teachers, and others, as well as public sector agencies involved in the regulation of public assistance in both the U.S. and the U.K., have tended to assume a 'blame the victim' approach

ioo Life in Canada in the attempt to understand poverty, poor housing, school failure, and the like (Williams 1989, 77). While the scarcity of research on such issues in Canada makes specific documentation difficult, it can be assumed that bureaucrats and other professionals in Canada have a similar set of attitudes as they interact with Caribbean migrants and their families.6 At the basis of these and other issues lies what Lawrence (1982) has identified as unequal power relations in society, so that some groups, having been denied equal access to power, have limited choices and options available to them. Thus the Caribbean cultural patterns that regulate family life and that have come out of a society built upon slavery and colonial exploitation are, in fact, reflections of the limited options available to them then and now. Under conditions of migration, these options are not necessarily increased, at least not for the working-class and underclass segments of the population. Their maintenance of these patterns, however problematic in the host society, nevertheless reflects their limited options given their continued lack of access to power (Lawrence 1982). The empirical realities of educational and economic inequality in Canada play havoc with the lives of younger people. Young Black men suffer from high unemployment, low (if any) incomes, and an inability to enter or stay in the labour force. These conditions are exacerbated in the country's weak economy. As in the U.S, it may be that 'Black male joblessness [and not the welfare system in the U.S.] is the true cause of female-headed families and out of wedlock births' (Weinfeld and Christensen 1992, 4). The continuities in family patterns and in male-female relations from this perspective are therefore a symptom of the continued lack of economic and social power of the Caribbean and Black communities in the countries to which they have migrated. To blame the victim for maintaining patterns of single motherhood, absent fatherhood, and dysfunctional youth is to ignore the realities of the socio-political and economic power structure of societies in which peoples of colour are relegated to the bottom of the social hierarchy. 6 See, for example, chapter 6, on education; allegations of racism in the allocation of subsidized housing by the MTHA in chapter 11. Perceptions of racism in the health care field are documented in Racial Minority Women and Health (Toronto: Equal Opportunity Consultants, 1991). See also H. Bannerji (ed.) Returning the Gaze: Essays on Racism, feminism and Politics (Toronto: Sister Vision, 1993).

Marriage, Relationships, and Family Organization 101 These varied patterns of family organization and their maintenance in the new society suggest that the family is a changing form of social organization. Changes in family organization are possible even under conditions of migration, and this is especially true for women who migrate at young ages. The Caribbean family in Canada, just as it is at home, is a rapidly changing one. Any view of family dynamics at any ethnographic point must bear this in mind.

5

The Impact of Racism on Employment

Employment is one of the most important concerns for people of Caribbean origin since improving their economic status is usually one of the main reasons for immigrating. With very high rates of unemployment in most of the countries, the desire to emigrate is particularly strong among the working and lower middle class. Canada is an obvious choice because of its long historical ties to the Caribbean region and its reputation as a 'good' country. In recent years, however, Canada's reputation has suffered because jobs are not as easy to get as was first believed. Moreover, while Canada had been considered relatively racially tolerant as compared to the U.K., the increase in racism in Canadian society is gradually becoming well known in Caribbean countries. In this chapter, both quantitative and qualitative data are presented to discuss some of the themes in the study of employment. Many of the respondents talked spontaneously about employment discrimination and the problems they have experienced in the workforce. Interview questions about their employment history since migrating to Canada inevitably led to stories of racial discrimination. This was particularly evident among the men. Many respondents felt that racism pervaded the job market and was one of the most significant factors affecting their position in Canadian society. Accordingly, the focus of this chapter is on racism and employment - the overriding concern of many of the respondents. The interview sample in this study included people in a wide variety of occupations. Respondents in the middle class included a number of professionals such as teachers, health care workers, and civil servants. Those in the working class included factory workers, salespeople, security guards, and general unskilled workers. Most of the employed

The Impact of Racism on Employment 103 TABLE 5.1 Work status by sex, 15 years and older, in per cent Place of birth Canada

Caribbean Women

Did not work Worked part time Worked full time Total

1.2

1.5

20.2 78.6

27.9 70.7

100

100

Men

Did not work Worked part time Worked full time Total

1.2

12.7 86.1 100

1.6

13.6 85.3 100

Source for this and all tables in this chapter: 1986 Census of Canada, Statistics Canada, Special Tabulations

women were nurses and other health care workers, teachers, office workers, and hairdressers. The men ranged from professionals to security guards. The sample also included twenty-one people who were private entrepreneurs, although on a modest scale. One-third of the women were on mother's allowance or other forms of government subsidy. Eight men were unemployed. A number of full-time students, including twenty-three high school students who responded to the special study of education described in chapter 6, were also included in the sample. QUANTITATIVE DATA ON EMPLOYMENT

Statistics on labour force participation, job status, and income levels for the Caribbean community are readily available from census data as well as data collected by Canada Employment and Immigration. The quantitative data show a number of interesting trends in the Caribbean population, some of which are substantiated by the qualitative experience of the respondents in this study. One of the most striking findings about the economic participation of Caribbean immigrants in Canada as a whole, and Ontario in particular, is that they have a high rate of labour force participation. More than 75 per cent of both men and women are in the labour force. Table 5.1 shows the figures for Metropolitan Toronto.

1O4 Life in Canada TABLE 5.2 Occupation by birth and sex, 15 years and older, 1985, in per cent Place of birth Caribbean

Canada

Women

Upper middle/other managers Supervisors/technicians Skilled/semi-skilled Other manual Total

3.6 21.8 56.9 17.7 100

9.2 25.2 60.0 5.6 100

Men Upper middle/other managers Supervisors/technicians Skilled/semi-skilled Other manual Total

6.2 17.5 51.9 24.4 100

14.9 24.2 46.7 14.2 100

These figures indicate that contrary to popular opinion, Caribbean migrants are as involved in the workforce as Canadian-born people. Nearly 79 per cent of the women (more than Canadian-born women) and 86 per cent of men (slightly more than Canadian-born men) are in the labour force. What kind of jobs do they do? Table 5.2 shows the occupations of Caribbean-born men and women and demonstrates some notable differences compared to the Canadian-born group. There is a substantial difference at the managerial level for men and particularly women. As well, there are far fewer Caribbean-born people who are supervisors and technicians. The most notable differences, however, are at the level of manual workers. In this category, there are many more Caribbean-born persons than Canadians. These tables lend credence to the views of those interviewed for this study who maintained that one of their main problems was moving through the ranks. Caribbean people are rarely appointed to managerial positions and many, by virtue of seniority or skills, deserve such placements. On the other hand, there is a clustering of jobs at the lower end of the occupational scale. Table 5.3 shows that older arrivals earn more money than do those who arrived more recently, which is fairly predictable. The table also shows that Caribbean women are probably as much affected by gender as by racism with respect to employment. There are significant dif-

The Impact of Racism on Employment 105 TABLE 5,3 Annual income of Caribbean-born workers by age, period of arrival, and sex, 1986, in dollars Period of arrival Before 1971

1971-6

1981

1986

10,451 18,730 20,356 19,272

9,536 16,386 15,936 15,456

9,442 14,426 13,738 13,406

8,500 11,320 9,647 10,111

9,470 25,538 29,177 26,862

9,908 22,584 24,271 21,516

9,231 20,399 21,579 18,956

10,457 15,308 15,878 14,222

Women

15-24 years 25-39 years 40 years-f All ages Men 15-24 years 25-39 years 40 years +

All ages

ferences between the income of Caribbean women of all age levels and Caribbean men. Thus Caribbean-born women experience the double jeopardy of being both Black and female. EFFECTS OF AGE, GENDER, LOCATION, ETC., ON INCOME

Although no general analysis of the 1986 data has been undertaken, the 1981 census data was analysed by Richmond (i988b). The data analysis for Caribbean immigrants in Canada revealed that 'education and qualifications were the major influence on occupational status, which in turn was an important determinant of employment income/ In addition, women had a slightly higher employment status, but this was often accompanied by a 'significant negative association with income' (Richmond i988b, 5). This was explained in part by the job clustering of women in service occupations, which are relatively poorly paid. The relative importance of education for women was higher than that for men, although it added little in real terms to their income. Being middle aged was only 'weakly correlated with occupational status, but more strongly with income7 (Richmond ±988b, 5). Length of residence in Canada was positively associated with improved occupational status and income. Regression analysis showed that gender has a major effect in reducing income. Being female reduced mean employment income by more than $6,000, and this was only slightly reduced when all other factors, such as age, education, qualification,

io6 Life in Canada etc., were controlled. Each year of education added nearly $1,000 until 'the effects of other variables were controlled when it appeared that having a qualification was also important, and the effects of both were modified by length and location of residence' (Richmond ipSSb, 7). Richmond concludes that although the census data cannot 'prove the existence of discrimination/ the evidence does support the 'view that there was a systematic disadvantage in employment and income, relative to Canadians and to other immigrants' (Richmond 198 8b, 10). QUALITATIVE DATA ON EMPLOYMENT

For the people who migrated in the seventies (the majority of our adult sample), racism and the difficulty in obtaining employment were not well known. Consequently, employment-related problems, particularly when they encountered racism, were a surprise to many migrants and influenced their perceptions of Canada. The search for traditional employment is likely to be accompanied by some form of racism.1 This is probably because joining the labour force gives migrants the most contact with members of the mainstream society and its institutions.2 For the most part, employers are White and mainly mainstream Canadians. Some will exercise their power as employers to deny jobs to peoples of colour or, once they are employed, to deny them promotion and other benefits. THEMES IN EMPLOYMENT: CASE-STUDIES

Every attempt was made in this study to include all class levels found in the Caribbean population: persons in the underclass (following Rex); the semiskilled and skilled working class, the lower middle class (represented by white-collar workers) and the substantial middle class (represented by managerial and professional people) have all been included 1 We are differentiating between traditional and non-traditional employment. Traditional employment refers to paid employment in the labour force. Non-traditional employment refers to ways of earning money through such means as racetrack betting, reselling stolen or purchased articles, selling drugs, and a variety of other illegal activities. 2 Another critical point of contact with institutions of the mainstream society is with police and the justice system, which were also major areas of concern.

The Impact of Racism on Employment 107 in the sample. In fact, the occupations and incomes were the main criteria in determining class status for purposes of this study. In general terms, what our interview data reveal most strongly is that racial harassment and discrimination was a common theme for most respondents regardless of their class position. The forms of racial discrimination in employment vary. For some, verbal harassment and name-calling were cited as indicators of racism; for others discrimination meant being passed over for promotion despite having qualifications similar to or better than those of the successful employee. Earning less money than similarly placed White employees was another form of discrimination, as were salary disputes with the employer or the company. Of particular interest were the various ways in which people responded to racism. Those who feared losing their jobs remained silent; this was often the case with women. For others, particularly men, leaving the job when it became intolerable was a way of coping with racism. Men's most common response was the desire to open their own business and become entrepreneurs. The majority of the business persons interviewed said escaping workplace racism was the primary motivation for becoming entrepreneurs. RACIAL HARASSMENT ON THE JOB

More than anything else, racial harassment led men and sometimes women to establish their own businesses. For example, the owner of a record store describes his earlier work experience: 'I was working in a warehouse when I first came up here from Jamaica. The foreman kept calling me "Hey you" to my face, like he didn't know my name. To the other guys, he would call me "the nigger/' I couldn't take that any more and got some money together and opened my record store.' Similar stories were repeated by many respondents. Joy opened a hairdressing salon in Scarborough, a municipality of Toronto, after she quit her job as a secretary in a large retail company. Of her experience, she says: You know, like they really didn't want me there. You get the feeling, when they look at you and when the manager can't look me in the face when he talks to me ... The next thing that happened is that I hear him talking about me after I applied for a higher level grade and he says, That nigger thinks she owns the place/ I didn't get the higher grade and the White woman who got it did not know the computer programs that I did.

io8 Life in Canada Horace and his brother own a TV and electronics repair service. Horace decided to go into business for himself after a number of harassing experiences in the workforce. For example: 'When I was driving a cab, the dispatcher sent me to pick up two men. When I got there, the guy said he was waiting for a White driver. I told him there wouldn't be any more taxis sent out and they reluctantly got in. One guy asked me "How do you like to be called - Negro or nigger?" I said you can call me Mr Taxi Driver'/ The responses to racial harassment on the job varied considerably. For the most part, men who experienced verbal harassment usually left the job; fewer women did so. One respondent said flatly, 'Whenever I experienced racism on the job, which was quite regularly, I quit/ He has been at his present job as a machinist for some years and says he has had few problems because 'I let them known where I stand. I'm not putting up with any b.s/ In a few cases, grieved respondents launched complaints. Only two official complaints were filed with the Human Rights Commission. In one, a Jamaican man filed a complaint of racial harassment against a prominent cosmetics company and was awarded a modest financial settlement. In another, a preliminary review found there was too little evidence to pursue the case further, leading the respondent to say, 'I would never go back to them again. They don't give a damn/ While men frequently leave the job, several women complained about their treatment, but generally without any success, leading one woman to say somewhat facetiously that 'you only complain if you want to get fired/ Martha had the following experience: I was then working at a manufacturing plant doing electronics. One day I was asked to do some overtime and I said I would stay. I then went to phone my husband to tell him to come for me later. The supervisor grabbed the phone from my hand and starting shouting at me. I started to cry and another woman came over and asked him to stop shouting. 'Can't you see that she is being emotionally upset by your behaviour?' The supervisor then kicked a box and slammed his hand on the desk and said he was going to get rid of all these 'fucking nigger women/

Martha filed a complaint against him to management. They replied that the supervisor was a good and reliable worker and they 'were not going to take the words of whimpering women over his/ In the absence of any real recourse, or so it is perceived, racial har-

The Impact of Racism on Employment 109 assment and limited promotional opportunities lead people to leave the job and find something better. As mentioned earlier, unequal treatment is the main motivation for establishing a business. Continued racial harassment and discrimination in the workforce has therefore had a significant influence on the growth of Caribbean entrepreneurship in Toronto. FINANCIAL PROBLEMS ON THE JOB

Financial difficulties involved employers not paying agreed-upon wages, withholding payment, or in other ways cheating the employee of money. Winston is a forty-eight-year-old Jamaican of working-class background. In his youth, he had worked as a fruit picker in Florida and as a packer in a tobacco company. He had been recruited as an agricultural worker to work in the U.S. When he returned to Jamaica, he went into tailoring and then worked in a bauxite company. In Toronto, Winston drew on his tailoring experience and got a job sewing in a clothing factory. At his job interview, he was able to sew quickly on a very specialized machine, which impressed the boss, who hired him on the spot. He was offered a very low hourly wage - less than what he was earning in Jamaica. Winston asked for a raise and was promised another 25 cents per hour. His next payroll did not show the raise. Winston says: I really had the urge to go back home, but I was looking forward to my pay raise and it wasn't there. I went to the office and asked why it was not there and they said the boss didn't authorize it. I kept working with the intention I would get a retroactive pay. I worked about four weeks and then deliberately took off sick. My wife said, 'How can you have your first job in Canada and take off like that?' I said they are cheating me and I don't like being cheated.

Ironically, his boss phoned several times and finally visited him at home. Winston laughingly describes the incident: 'He came to my home to look for me. I slipped into bed and told him I am in bed and I can't take visitors. He came halfway up the stairs and he called me for three weeks after that!' Winston was so angry at being cheated that he never went back and subsequently found another factory job and is now employed by a beer company. Winston's experience shows how absurd racism can sometimes be-

no

Life in Canada

come. This employer was willing to risk losing a knowledgeable and productive employee by retracting the offer of the small raise, or perhaps he had so little respect for a Black employee that the possibility that Winston might leave did not occur to him. In another case, George described his experiences of being cheated out of his salary while working in construction. I started working for this guy and he started to give me the run-around. I would be working and he would come and tell me to leave that job and start something else ... He would do that several times a day. Finally, I just took my tools and left. In my haste, I had forgotten my hammer. I went back at the end of the week to get the hammer and the money owed me. When I went back, I got the hammer and the guy asked me what I came back for. I told him to get my money. He went to the back room as if he was going to get the money. But it seems he was calling immigration or something because I heard him asking, 'Are you sure he's not illegal?' When he came out, I told him I was not leaving without my money. Unknown to me, he had also called the police. They came and the first thing the police asked was whose hammer is that and told me to put it away because I was not going to need it.

After some discussion between George, the police, and the employer, it was agreed that the employer would mail him a cheque. What is also noteworthy in this story is the police's assumption that George was using the hammer as a weapon. WORKING FOR MEMBERS OF ONE'S GROUP OR OTHERS?

Another interesting theme that emerged from the analysis of work experiences had to do with the perceptions of one's own group as compared to others. Some people felt that they could never work for one of their own. One man said that on two occasions, fellow West Indians gave him cheques that bounced, leading him to declare, Til never work for another Black guy again/ Another said that he has 'nothing against my own people,' but they don't have enough help and resources to 'run a business properly. Sooner or later, they'll have cash problems.' Stan works for an import/export company that is owned by Greeks. He likes his job because he has been given independence and flexibility, plus a fair salary. He maintains that he earned their trust and in return, 'I do a good job for them.' The fact that

The Impact of Racism on Employment 111 the owners are also of ethnic origin is important to Stan. 'I couldn't work for just an ordinary White man like a Canadian or British/ Stan also rejected the idea of working for another West Indian, saying that 'we all have to fight too hard, and all I would be doing is competing with people in my community and that makes for strange relations/ Women, on the other hand, particularly those in service industries such as hairstyling, almost always worked for and with other women from the Caribbean. Most were from the same island. They did not mention any particular problems, but it is probably expected that one will work among one's own in this industry. In a study of Caribbean women, Mendoza found that thirty-nine out of a total sample of ninety women experienced racial discrimination on the job. Very few mentioned gender discrimination. She concludes that 'the majority of Caribbean women spoke in terms of racism in employment and society in general, but made little mention of gender discrimination. This attests to the idea that racial equality has always been their major concern (1989, 225). Ian is a young man in his mid-twenties who has been in Canada for more than half his life. He has held a number of jobs in the last five years. Ian is articulate and friendly and says that he is a 'born salesman/ Consequently, he has found some measure of success in retail as well as door-to-door sales. (Door-to-door salespersons often work on a commission plus a small salary. Ian did not experience much difficulty in obtaining these kinds of jobs because the employer does not take much of a financial risk.) Ian has had two experiences that he describes as racist. These experiences, in addition to his disenchantment with sales and his wish to work more creatively, have led him to self-employment in video production. In describing the first incident, Ian says: I used to sell patio doors and for awhile it was very lucrative until the Ben Johnson thing at the Seoul Olympics. I was doing door-to-door sales, and after that happened, nobody would let me in their house. [How was that racism?] I can only make assumptions, but the previous week I netted $1,500. In the next two weeks, not only didn't I make any money, nobody would even let me in their house. Yeah, it's related, Ben Johnson being a Black man and me also being Black. I had to quit the job.

In this case, Ian feels that potential customers viewed him as another Black person who, like Ben Johnson, might be a 'cheat' and sell them

112 Life in Canada inferior goods or provide dishonest service. A year later, Ian was working at another of his many door-to-door sales jobs. He performed well in the demonstration interview largely because of his panache and his prior selling experience, but sales did not go well and Ian felt that he should leave the job. 'I was getting ready to quit, so I walked into the office one day and I think he fired me before I quit. I felt racial tension there and the boss made a comment, saying, "You can go out in the work world and do that from where you're from, but it won't work here and you're gonna have to pull up your boot straps if you want to make it here. We work hard in this country."' Ian now feels that 'the only thing to do to make it in this country is to be your own boss.' Robert is a forty-two-year-old Jamaican who came to Canada in 1971. He comes from a working-class background and held a number of unskilled jobs in Jamaica. He now owns a tow truck business and is hoping to expand. My first job in Canada was in a factory. I did not like it at all. There was a lack of respect, the bosses want you to jump when they want you to. Then I started driving a dump truck. In 1973 I left that job because of frustration. There was a definite stereotype about Black people. They would deliberately send me into valleys and places with holes just to break my dump truck. It was very frustrating and I could not make enough money to support my family. Then I got into the tow truck business ... I like being my own boss.

Robert's story illustrates a major problem for potential and beginning entrepreneurs. He is now in a business of his own, but realizes that expansion is necessary in order to make money. He bought his tow truck with some money he had saved, plus a loan from his brotherin-law. His earnings now are just sufficient for his family's needs (his wife is employed as an attendant in a nursing home) but there is little extra to expand the business. '[Owning your own business] sound very glamorous, but you can't make a living unless you have money to expand your business. If you don't, you don't get anywhere.' Milton is also in his forties and has been in Canada for sixteen years. He came here as an illegal immigrant, but managed after a while to obtain landed-immigrant status. While still illegal, he began working for a tailor. I inherited the craft of tailoring from my father. When he died, I took over

The Impact of Racism on Employment 113 the business. I have been doing it for over twenty years. When I first came to Canada in 1972, I worked for the former owner of this shop. He was a Seventh Day Adventist and he hired another guy to keep the shop open on weekends. Then he sold the shop to his cousin, and this guy knew I wasn't landed and began taking advantage of me. I was running the business, but he would only pay a portion of what he owed me and every time it came to pay, he would make more excuses. This man was using other people who were not landed and he owed all of us money.

Eventually Milton's employer was forced to sell his shop because he was having marital problems and was afraid that if he got a divorce, his wife would be entitled to half the business. This was an opportunity that allowed Milton to begin his business. I bought the business from him, minus the equipment. The bank was no help. They told me I needed a certain amount of things to start a business. I went to the government's small-business loan branch. The person there did not even offer me a seat. I started the business with $1,700 I had saved. I had one month's rent, but not two; I gave them a postdated cheque for the second month. The first owner of the shop lent me a sewing machine and some tips on how to run the business. That is how I started the business.

Milton's shop is in a small shopping mall in Scarborough and there is a Caribbean restaurant in the mall. Since Milton purchased it in 1982, he has been able to enlarge the shop. He now has four sewing machines, several other pieces of equipment, and a number of apprentices. Milton has some White clientele as well as West Indians. His business is still expanding, but he wonders how far he can take it: T would like to expand and set up a factory here or in Jamaica, but maybe it's too expensive to be competitive.' Establishing a small business is a means of containing or coping with racism and its powerful effects in keeping persons of colour at a disadvantage in the workforce. Racism is well known in other immigrant communities and especially among the Caribbean people both in the U.S. and more recently in Great Britain. While this can be seen as a positive adaptive strategy, the many limitations on Caribbean entrepreneurship must also be cited. In the first instance, most of these businesses are in service or retail sectors that cater to the needs of their own community. Here, as in the U.K., Caribbean-owned businesses are in the food sector (restaurants, fast-food outlets, and gro-

ii4 Life in Canada eery stores); entertainment (records and music, booking and impresario services for live performers); retail clothing (manufacturing Africanstyle garments and specially designed T-shirts, tailoring and dressmaking); and grooming (barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetics); and the travel industry, including travel agencies. There are also an increasing number of businesses that provide insurance and immigration services, importation of specialty goods for the Caribbean market, and freight services to send goods home. The advantage of small businesses such as these is that they have a captive market - members of their own ethnic group; but what happens when a small-business person wishes to expand beyond the limits of the ethnic group? Those that wish to expand run into significant problems. The case of Milton and several more like him make the point. Milton now runs a successful tailoring establishment, but he wants to expand and establish a factory. Joy, the hairdresser cited earlier, dreams about manufacturing her own beauty products rather than importing American ones. A survey of Black business in Toronto showed that many people of Caribbean heritage would like to become entrepreneurs. Moreover, those already established in business would like to expand their enterprise. The main problems for developing or expanding a business had to do with the unwillingness of banks and lending institutions to offer credit to people of Caribbean origins (Henry 1993). In 1993, the government of Ontario provided substantial funding to a Black credit union sponsored by the Jamaican Canadian Association in an effort to improve the flow of capital into the community. Caribbean entrepreneurship is of particular importance not only in response to the need for economic survival but also because it is an important factor in institutional completeness in migrant communities. The area has been particularly well studied in Britain, where the aspirations and failures of Caribbean businesses have been documented (Phillips 1978). A case in point is a business selling reggae records, which was successfully started in the U.K. towards the end of the sixties. The business rapidly expanded and diversified, but as the fad for reggae music continued, other established record companies began selling reggae records. The 'West Indian promoters and entrepreneurs, whose activities has [sic] nurtured the boom, slipped in and out of solvency, unable to mount large marketing operations and so incapable of expanding' (Phillips 1978, 356). Without access to substantial capital and a 'system of references and contacts which would help them break

The Impact of Racism on Employment 115 out of the circle of restrictions failure is almost inevitable' (Phillips 1978, 356)- In the U.K., Caribbean business people are unable to break into the mainstream of financial and commercial structures, and thus inevitably fail in their expansion efforts. Ward and others who have studied entrepreneurship in Britain dispute the common assertion that Blacks are 'pathologically7 unable to run businesses. Instead they analyse some of the reasons for success and failure in business (Ward 1988; Ward and Jenkins 1984). Far fewer West Indians in the U.K. are in business as compared to other ethnic minorities, such as Asians. Construction and manufacturing were important sectors of self-employment, but a distinctive pattern of enterprise is shown by the detailed analysis of local areas. At the local levels, more than one-third of Caribbean businesses were in retailing. The service sector was also highly represented. The success of Caribbean business is directly related to a number of factors, including the ability to access markets external to their own community, continued access to skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in such markets, fair access to business resources, and finally, management training to help owners position themselves most effectively. Although relatively little research has been conducted on Caribbean business in Canada in general, or Toronto in particular, Tepper's general study of immigrant self-employment is revealing. There are more self-employed immigrants than non-immigrants (79.2 per 1,000 versus 67.5 per 1,000). They also earn more money than the non-selfemployed, and small business accounted for most of the new job creation during the period of the study (Tepper 1988). Census data from 1981 shows that 'Blacks' (which include people of Caribbean origin as well as other origins) were among the three lowest ethnocultural communities participating in self-employment with less than fifty per 1,000 for men and even fewer for women (Tepper 1988, 18). More recent data would, in all probability, reveal a higher participation rate. Most Caribbean businesses in Toronto start with little capital since credit is difficult to obtain from established lending sources and their failure rates are high. Even successful ones are unable to remain competitive, expand their activities, or include markets other than their own ethnic members. They continue to have limited access to credit, but they also lack the information, contacts, and networking abilities to enter mainstream establishments. Thus far, the perceptions of racism in the workforce have been presented. To what extent are these perceptions consistent with reality?

n6 Life in Canada Do studies support the view that racial discrimination is rampant in employment? EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION IN CANADA: OTHER EVIDENCE

Complaints about employment discrimination and increasing public pressure led the government of Canada to appoint a Royal Commission to study the problem. Judge Abella's historic Royal Commission report, Equality in Employment, was released in 1984. A pioneering study - Who Gets the Wort? A Test of Racial Discrimination in Employment (Henry and Ginzberg 1984) - called attention to employment discrimination. The Abella report provided detailed information on the problems of access to employment experienced by aboriginals, the disabled, racial minorities, and women. Its most important recommendation was for affirmative action strategies, to be called 'employment equity' in Canada. Who Gets the Work? used the well-known methodology of field testing to monitor housing and other forms of discrimination in the United States, as well as employment discrimination in the United Kingdom. While the Abella report included the four target groups, the study focused only on racial minorities, but in any case, both works cited substantial evidence to show that racial and other forms of discrimination in employment severely limited the chances of minorities to gain access to the workforce. Racial discrimination in employment is difficult to document. Several kinds of evidence have been used to argue that racial minorities, along with other victims of discrimination, are systematically subject to discrimination. Commonly used are reports of victims who allege that they have experienced discrimination in obtaining employment or in being promoted solely because of their race. Analysis of the reports of human rights commissions also gives some indication of discrimination. Research studies designed to assess racial discrimination in employment have been limited in Canada largely because a research design capable of studying the effects of the single variable of race on access to employment is difficult to create. The quasi-experimental design of field testing provides a model that, at least to a certain extent, is able to isolate a single variable. The first such study was conducted by Henry and Ginzberg (1984). Who Gets the Work? sent matched Black and White job seekers to apply for positions advertised in a major newspaper. After analysing the results of several hundred applications and interviews, findings revealed that Whites received job offers three times more often than

The Impact of Racism on Employment 117 did Black job applicants. Moreover, by using telephone surveying, callers with accents (particularly those from South Asia and the Caribbean) were more often screened out when they phoned to inquire about a job listed in the classified ads. Who Gets the Work? was able to test only for entry-level employment. This study was repeated in 1989 and while the findings on telephone screening (and also on the various forms of differential treatment) remained the same, the number of job offers to Blacks were the same as for Whites. This change may have been influenced by what was then a very tight labour market in Toronto, but it is, in part, also due to a greater willingness to hire minority applicants, at least at entry-level positions (Economic Council 1989)-

In 1986, the federal government of Canada announced a number of employment equity programs. The Federal Employment Equity Act applies to employers that have 100 or more employees in all federally regulated activities, such as banking, interprovincial transportation, and communications.3 The Contractor Compliance Program applies to suppliers of goods and services to the federal government. Despite these measures, analysis of annual reports published by Canada Employment and Immigration shows that there have been few gains produced as a result of the legislation. Of the four targeted groups, women have made slightly more advances than the others. Aboriginal people and the disabled have made the least gains in employment. Members of visible minorities had higher levels of education than the Canadian population and very high labour force participation rates, but they continue to be concentrated in certain occupational groups (Annual Report 1991). For example, they are overrepresented in the clerical categories. More than 70 per cent of visible minority women were in this category, compared to 61.8 per cent of all women. A total of 24.9 per cent of visible minority men were clerical workers compared to only 14.6 per cent of all men. In the banking sector, for example, more than 40 per cent of visible minority men were employed in the clerical category compared to only 19 per cent of all men. More visible minority men are, however, categorized as professionals - 16 per cent compared to 6.3 per cent of all men. This demonstrates not only the effects of the point system of immigration in which highly trained 3 Ironically, the Federal Employment Equity Act does not cover the federal public service itself. Recent reports demonstrate that the federal public service has a very poor record in hiring employment equity target group members (Annual Reports 1990, 1991).

n8 Life in Canada professionals have an advantage but also the sharp class differentiation in some visible minority groups such as, for example, people of Caribbean origin. Members of visible minority groups have higher levels of education than other Canadians. For example, 23 per cent had university degrees compared to not quite 14 per cent of other Canadians. Moreover, visible minorities had consistently higher levels of education than other workers in the lower-paying occupations. In the category of semiprofessionals and technicians, for instance, 32.3 per cent had university degrees compared to 18.3 per cent of others. Despite higher levels of education, members of visible minority groups were paid lower salaries than other Canadians. The average salary over all levels of education for a member of a visible minority in both the Upper level and Middle and Other Management occupations was approximately 18% lower than that of the total population' (Annual Report 1990, 57). Even in the 'other manual workers' category, including all levels of education, members of visible minorities earned nearly 10 per cent less than all other manual workers. With respect to the industries regulated by the employment equity legislation, visible minorities have made some gains over previous years. Their share of total hiring in the banking, transportation, and communications industries was 11.1 per cent, but their share of promotions was lower at only 9.5 per cent. Promotions were highest in two groups - clerical and professional workers - both of which show high visible minority concentrations. The overall representation of minorities was highest in the banking sector where nearly two-thirds were clustered in the lower ranks and only 12.4 per cent were in middle- or uppermanagement positions. Despite some slight improvement in the overall position of visible minorities in the employment regulated by the federal act, they are still concentrated in certain sectors, and despite higher levels of education, their earnings are lower than those of other Canadians. As the report notes, 'the representation of members of visible minorities in the work force under the Act was lower than their representation in the Canadian labour force in seven of the 12 occupational groups including upper level managers, semiprofessionals ... sales workers, service workers, ... other manual workers' (Annual Report 1990, 59). The continued poor record of racial minorities with respect to promotions is also demonstrated in these reports (Annual Report 1991). In 1991, for example, the report shows that they received less than

The Impact of Racism on Employment 119 4 per cent of full-time promotions in the categories of upper-level managers, foremen/women, and semiskilled manual workers. The government of Ontario has introduced employment equity legislation for that province and it became law in 1993. Additional evidence of employment discrimination comes from the various workforce audits of the public sector at the municipal level. Both the City of Toronto and Metropolitan Toronto have undertaken such audits, and they show that while racial minorities are fairly well represented at the entry or lower levels of employment, they are inadequately represented at middle and senior management levels. A number of private sector employers have also carried out audits. Generally, the results of these audits in both public and private sectors show that the major problem for employment equity target group members is being promoted and moving through the ranks. The socalled 'glass ceiling7 for women also seems to be affecting other groups. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Most Caribbean people in Toronto have found an economic niche for themselves in either wage labour or self-employment. Their labour force participation rates are extremely high, but they tend to be segregated into skilled, semiskilled, and service occupations. There is a significant group of professionals in this community, however, including a number of people in medical, legal, and financial services. While there are a small number of women in managerial positions, the majority of women are in lower-level jobs. As people of colour, migrants from the Caribbean experience a considerable amount of racial discrimination in employment as a series of studies have shown. The overwhelming majority of respondents in this project have personally experienced discrimination. Of particular significance was the difficulty in being promoted. On the whole, entry-level jobs and 'stay put' jobs were easier to obtain, but the real employment problem came about because of a lack of promotional opportunities for peoples of colour. One of the chief incentives for self-employment was racism on the job. This was particularly felt by men, who then made the decision to try to open a business of their own. In an ironic twist, entrepreneurship in the Caribbean communities has actually been stimulated by racial harassment.

6

The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth1

In this chapter2 the experiences of Caribbean students in the educational system will be explored. Earlier studies have discussed the important role of systemic racism and differential incorporation in the structure and organization of schools. Issues such as the Eurocentric bias in the curriculum, bias in textbooks, and the paucity of Caribbean teachers and administrators have been identified and various school boards have tried to create a more equitable organization. What has not been examined, however, is the far more subtle experiences faced by students on a day-to-day basis in the schools. These are the factors hidden to all but the students and the occasional teacher who is sensitive to the cultural needs of a diverse student body. This chapter therefore draws attention to the influence of the 'hidden curriculum/ the everyday, seemingly innocent comments and behaviours of teachers that make up the general ethos of the school and the subtle and unintentional ways by which Caribbean students may become differentially incorporated. First, a brief outline of immigration patterns and their relationship with formal education and educational change.

1 This chapter is written by Daniel Yon. 2 This chapter is based upon the many project interviews conducted among adults and youth. In addition, it draws upon the results of a study of the 'hidden curriculum' and other aspects of Caribbean student experience in one high school in Toronto. Fieldwork at the school took place over six months and included interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Considerable periods of time were also spent in participant observation at the school. The larger study is available as an MA thesis in the Department of Anthropology, York University.

The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth

121

IMMIGRATION TRENDS AND EDUCATIONAL CHANGE

As noted in chapter 2, there have been significant changes in the immigration pattern of West Indians to Canada over the last thirty years. The changes are related to education since it has been a criterion of admission under the point system. Until 1962, discriminatory immigration legislation gave priority to European immigrants and ensured that non-European immigrants (including those from the Caribbean) were considerably restricted (Hawkins 1983; Hughes and Kalian 1974). Before this time Caribbean immigrants were primarily soldiers returning from the Second World War. There were also domestic employees, usually female, who were admitted under a special scheme (Anderson and Frideres 1981; Henry 1968). The formal educational requirements for these immigrants were minimal, but some of the early domestic employees worked as qualified teachers and nurses in the Caribbean before emigrating and therefore experienced downward occupational mobility on arrival in Canada (Richmond 19883). For these immigrants, the domestic service scheme was an opportunity for a better future, and many sought further training in Canada in order to obtain occupations comparable to those they enjoyed in the Caribbean prior to emigrating. In the mid-sixties, students who came to study in Canada (and other visitors) were allowed to apply for landed-immigrant status on completion of their studies. The net result of these developments was a marked increase in the immigration from the Caribbean, increasing from 5,000 annually in the early sixties to 13,000 in 1969 (Richmond 1989). There was a drop in immigration between 1969 and 1972, but it peaked again in 1974 to 24,500 (Richmond 1989). The increase in immigration also resulted from changes in legislation that discriminated against non-European immigrants. Legislative changes that began in 1962 culminated in the introduction of a 'point system' in 1967. Immigrants qualified for immigration on points given for educational qualifications, language, job experiences, and other criteria (see appendix). Many Caribbean people took advantage of this arrangement with the result that a 'brain drain' from the Caribbean to Canada occurred. The changes in policy were based on the need to attract skilled and educated immigrants, which had generally not been the case in the mass movement from southern and other parts of Europe in earlier periods (Richmond 1975). Changes also reflected a new foreign policy towards building and extending relations with the Commonwealth (Hawkins 1983).

122 Life in Canada While statistics indicate that the educational levels of earlier cohorts of Caribbean immigrants were higher than among the rest of the population, Richmond's (1989) analysis of the later decade indicates a decline in overall educational levels. As part of this project on Caribbean migrants in Toronto, Richmond analysed the educational levels of Caribbean-born migrants using special tabulations developed from the 1986 census (Richmond 1993). Results indicate that less than i per cent of males reported no schooling compared with 2.6 per cent for other immigrants, while the proportion for Caribbean women was i per cent as compared with 4.6 per cent. Furthermore, the proportion of Caribbean males with high school graduation or less was about the same as that for Canadian-born people and higher when compared to other immigrants. On the other hand, the number of women with high school qualifications was lower than for other immigrant women, 52 per cent to 62 per cent. However, Richmond notes that Caribbean women were slightly more likely than other women to have a certificate or some other non-university education. In fact, the percentage of Caribbean men and women with non-university qualifications was considerably higher than among the rest of the population. The Caribbean population had less university education than Canadians. This is partly because entry to university in the Caribbean is highly competitive. The 'A'-level entry requirement makes it a more selective system; a smaller number go on to university in the Caribbean than in Canada. Richmond's findings show that on the whole, Caribbean male migrants have about as much education as the remainder of the Canadian population, but there has been a decline relative to earlier years. For example, 33 per cent of Caribbean men from the ages of twenty to twenty-four had some university education as compared to 7 per cent of those arriving between 1981 and 1986. (The same proportions hold for women.) The overall results of the study indicate that Caribbean migrants who arrived before 1971 or who were born or educated in Canada have attained educational levels similar to or higher than those of other Canadians. Young people who entered the Canadian school system after 1971 were less likely to succeed, as measured by having some university or postsecondary education. Richmond's study thus concludes that Caribbean immigrants are less likely to be at the lowest or highest ends of the educational ladder. Also significant for the period 1968 to 1987 is the high proportion of women and children (compared with other immigrants) whose educational level was among the lowest of incoming streams (Simmons 1990). This is partly explained by the fact that nominated and family-

The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth 123 class immigrants tended to predominate over independent immigrants who were selected for their education. The number of children arriving as nominated immigrants reflects a tendency of earlier immigrants (particularly domestic employees) to leave their children in the care of grandparents and other family members until conditions in Canada allowed for reunion. This has given rise to a tradition of family separation and reunions. Researchers have noted stresses and strains associated with this tradition and the negative impact it has on educational achievement (Beserve 1973; Kildaze 1982; Richmond and Mendoza 1990). Our interview data confirm that the problems associated with separation continue to be of concern to many Caribbean immigrants in Metro Toronto. Thus high school students interviewed spoke of the difficulties of having to 'rediscover' a parent who may be involved with a new spouse. This observation does not detract from the success of many reunions or from the fact that some whole families also immigrate as independent rather than sponsored immigrants. Instead it points to the diversity and difference that are subsumed in the category of 'Caribbean students/ Earlier research on Caribbean students in the school system focused on problems of isolation as a result of the change from the familiar island environment of the Caribbean to an urban environment that is unfamiliar, impersonal, and at times seemingly hostile. This isolation experienced was also due in part to differential treatment and to the 'visibility' of relatively small numbers of Caribbean students. This in turn was reinforced by name-calling and other racist practices such as racist graffiti. From the outset, this situation encouraged the formation of Caribbean students' subcultures within the school systems. These subcultures were frequently interpreted as expressions of Black militancy, with the result that schools discouraged or refused the formation of Black-based cultural groups (Anderson and Grant 1975). Studies undertaken in the seventies highlighted problems arising from racist practices and various forms of differential incorporation, such as misplacement with the basic, general, and advanced levels and teachers' inability to understand some of the students' cultural practices. These were seen as significant factors inhibiting the educational experiences and progress of Black Caribbean students in the earlier years (Beserve 1976; Head and Lee 1975; Ramcharan 1975). Similar concerns continued into the 19805 and while boards of education have attempted to address them, they remain issues of concern to parents and educators in the nineties (Richmond and Mendoza 1990; Wright and Dhanota 1982; Wright and Tsuji 1984). Many of these concerns are

124 Life in Canada shared by immigrant students from other cultural backgrounds (see, for example, Cummins 1988; Mallea and Young 1983; Samuda 1984). Eurocentricism and historical inaccuracies in school texts are also recurring concerns, although research has indicated some improvement in this area (see McDiarmid and Pratt 1971; Pratt 1984). More recently, concerned parents identified additional factors that contribute to the alienation, underachievement, and high drop-out rate among Black students. These include low self-esteem; the lack of Black teachers as role-models; the persistent 'invisibility' of Black studies and Black history within the curriculum; and parents' lack of understanding of the Canadian school system, which differs from Caribbean models.3 The work of groups such as Concerned Black Parents has been one of the factors prompting the various antiracist policies that have been introduced by the different boards of education. In recent years, research has also addressed the subcultural practices of Caribbean students and how subcultures affect learning (Solomon 1986, 1992; Yon 1990). These studies build on earlier works by Anderson and Grant (1975) and draw attention to ways by which students assert specific identities shaped by various forms of popular culture that are often oppositional to the 'mainstream7 school culture. Thus Solomon's study of Black Caribbean students in an educational institution emphasizes how this group developed 'ethnospecific behaviours to develop a cultural distinction and identity.' He notes that they exploit weaknesses in teachers' knowledge of them and take advantage of their inability to differentiate between cultural and subcultural activities (1986:49). While these studies provide insights into how students negotiate multiculturalism, they also highlight the various subcultures, including dress codes and the use of patois and other forms of language to exclude authority figures and others from their communication. These practices, however, are by no means universal, even within the institutions studied, and, as discussed below, while there are Caribbean students who are indifferent to these practices, others dissociate themselves from them. Furthermore, studies of students' cultural practices displayed within the hallways should not obscure the fact that significant number of students are at the same time absorbed in studies in 3 See also final Report of the Consultative Committee on the Education of Black Students in Toronto Schools, (Toronto: Toronto Board of Education, May 1988).

The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth 125 the school library. While students appear to assert an oppositional culture to resist incorporation into the generally 'White' ethos of the school, the studies of student subculture confirm that students are generally committed and believe in education as the means to success. In the sections that follow, interview data are used to illustrate the variety of experiences that Caribbean immigrants have with the educational system. The data point to a range of differences with respect to how Caribbean people have fared in the system. Many, for example, have excelled at all levels and some have subsequently held important positions in Metro Toronto. However, these 'success stories' are overshadowed by the alienation that many students experience within the system. EDUCATION IN THE CARIBBEAN

The Caribbean background that immigrants come from is very diverse and the educational experiences prior to coming to Canada are equally so. This background means that the terms 'West Indian' and 'Caribbean' are precarious because of the wide range of differences and experiences that they encompass. The type and quality of schooling undertaken prior to coming to Canada also vary considerably. For example, many rural schools are not considered as good as urban secondary schools, which might have more facilities. Similarly, experiences in private schools differ from those in public schools. As in other institutional arenas, social class is an important factor. Middle- and upper-class children in the Caribbean take the n-plus examination, and those who pass attend the best private high schools in the country. Others attend lower-level schools, which emphasize practical skills and do not lead to university preparation. Those who attend good high schools take O-level and A-level exams. Three A-level passes qualify one for university entrance. Even students who take only O-levels have the equivalent of a grade thirteen education in Ontario. (The Caribbean education system is closely modelled on that of the United Kingdom. Grade thirteen has now been phased out in Ontario.) The quality of education in the Caribbean is relatively high and highly structured compared with its Canadian counterpart. There is great emphasis on the three R's and other basic subjects. Reading ability, articulation, reasoning, and logical thinking, as well as math, are strongly emphasized. The result is that children who have completed

126 Life in Canada the equivalent of high school in the Caribbean are reasonably well educated. The levels of illiteracy in the Caribbean are extremely low, averaging about 2 per cent of the population. It is not surprising therefore that migrants who come to Canada have a high level of education compared to those from other Third World countries. However, the relationship between social class and schooling in the Caribbean is such that the question 'Which school did you go to back home?' may be used in Canada to 'place' a person in more ways than one. This tendency, some respondents argue, is becoming less pronounced in recent years as governments assume greater responsibility for education. Caribbean parents place an inordinately high value on education, which is important in its own right and is also considered the only avenue of mobility for people from the lower social class. Even poor single mothers will do their utmost to ensure that their children receive as much schooling as possible. Their efforts to make sure that their children have at least one clean uniform and one pair of shoes are legion. Descriptions of such efforts are highlighted in much of the fictional work produced by Caribbean writers. Classic writers such as George Lamming discuss the emphasis on the importance of school in the poorest home. More recently, S.B. Jones-Hendrikson's description of growing up poor in St Kitts pointedly stresses the significance of school in the lives of students and parents. One of our respondents, a Trinidadian-born teacher and community activist, notes that during periods of civil strife in the Caribbean when other buildings were destroyed, the school building was untouched because it was respected as an institution of learning. Similarly, many respondents spoke of the authority and respect accorded to teachers within the community. ADJUSTMENT TO THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IN CANADA Adjusting to the Educational System

A common theme from interviews and discussions with Caribbean immigrants is the problem of making the transition from a highly structured and disciplined system in the Caribbean to what seems like a less structured and less disciplined one in Canada. The difference between the two systems is reflected in teaching styles and the relationships that are formed between teacher and student. Caribbean education is so disciplined that it is almost authoritarian, while some

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perceive Canadian approaches as liberal to the point of 'anything goes/ Caribbean education is based on a dated version of the British system, which sets down clearly defined rules for appropriate behaviour, and there is a great emphasis on instruction as opposed to experiential and individualistic learning. Caribbean immigrants in Metro Toronto are frequently caught in the process of weighing one system against the other and sometimes the differences are stark. Those who have experienced both have mixed feelings. One respondent (who is not yet a father) went through both Jamaican and Canadian education systems. He claimed that he would not want his children to attend school in Toronto 'because it is nothing like in Jamaica. In Jamaica you grow up with manners, respect, and you work harder when you are in school ... Kids have to have neat hair, clean nails, shoes and uniform and teeth washed or else get in trouble. The Canadian system was more or less like a "free" kind of thing. You felt like you could do anything/ Traditional emphasis on discipline (including corporal punishment) is perceived as a distingishing feature of the system 'back home' and a necessary way of ensuring respect and order. The limitations of this approach are also recognized; for example, one respondent spoke of the teachers as the 'authority figure' and the 'maximum respect' that is demanded. The advantages of such a system are noted, but it was also pointed out that there was 'not much room for improvisation and for fluid dynamics between student and teacher, but this form here is more - I mean, I had to get used to students talking back to teachers, and students talking loud. It took me a year and a half to get my things together and say "Yeah, this is the scene here and I better learn this shit quick/" In our discussions, respondents consistently returned to the issue of discipline and felt very ambivalent about it. Some spoke of the intimate relationships that are established with the teacher as the respected community figure who was known to the parents and in whom almost total trust was invested to 'educate' the child in the way perceived best, even if this entailed beating. One respondent noted that when you get in trouble, 'they don't call your parents for every little thing. They just call you to the office and that is that/ In this case, being sent to the office meant corporal punishment. This approach to schooling is frequently considered preferable to the Canadian system, but responses are contradictory. As conversation with the respondent who applauded the 'no-nonsense' approach progressed, it became clear that this is not the entire picture.

128 Life in Canada That is what I hate. I hate the beating ... I was beaten with the strap, like you get it on your hands. I can't count the number of times. At school if you are talking to your friends while the teacher is talking, if you are chewing gum in class, if you were late, you would get this hit if you were making a lot of noise and not doing your work ... or if you get up out of your seat and go to somebody's or a friend's seat while the teacher was in class ... I liked schooling in Manchester better than Kingston ... I was really smart and when I got to Kingston, they put me in grade six instead of grade five. I never understand anything and I told the teacher. She says it's too bad and she would hit me whenever I didn't know how to do my work.

An obsession with discipline and corporal punishment was a common theme as respondents reflected on the schooling experiences in the Caribbean versus schooling in Canada. Gayle, a young woman who has experienced schooling in St Lucia as well as in Canada, emphatically stressed the 'definite difference' in the school system: For one thing, it is more like an Old World sort of experience. They do teach you old principles and values, some a little outdated. My major [memory] is of a Catholic school in St Lucia, which was an all-girls school and the forms of religion and that aspect of it - I think that's good. Your teachers - because you have gone through school with them a number of years - they do know you ... They might be aware that you are having problems at home ... Also, you become a part of the community because you knew everyone there. It's a smaller group, whereas here you feel foreign to the school. It looks like a big brick building when I first came and you never feel this homeliness towards it.

Gayle's mixed feelings about schooling became more evident as the discussion progressed. She spoke of never really having enjoyed schooling there because there were 'too many limitations/ When asked to elaborate, the issue of race and class immediately surfaced. She drew attention to her light skin colour' and the fact that she was one of the 'in' people whose 'status was above a lot of the others.' Furthermore, she said, 'I had an accent that wasn't fully local.' Her perceived difference created very mixed feelings and a seemingly contradictory attitude to schooling 'at home' which was found to be widespread. Connections are also made between the type of school attended and the job prospects that are opened up. One respondent spoke of having attended a grammar school where he worked hard because, he said,

The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth 129 'You don't want to come home and say that you were twenty-one out of twenty-two in class and get beaten, so I did learn ... I guess you could say that I was being groomed unconsciously to get a clerk job, or some kind of civil service, middle management, or middle something/ Along with a sense of being groomed for a particular kind of job was a particular lifestyle that contrasted quite sharply with the more alienating experiences encountered after arrival in Canada: 'I guess I was one of the semibright boys, but was always hanging with the fellas still after school, hanging in town, playing soccer, going places ... so it was nice - cricket, the beach, gambling, playing marbles, going round with tear-up trouser bottoms, 'tiefing cane, 'tiefing sugar apple/ The structured and more traditional education system that many Caribbean immigrants come from is frequently defended against accusations of low Third World standards. One respondent vociferously argued: They say, 'West Indian education is bad/ It's not, it's based on the English system which makes it much better because it is more rigid than it is in Canada. Canada is more of a liberal system. 'You want to do this, do it. You don't want to do it, don't do it/ Actually, when you are young, you have to be told to do certain things or you're not going to do it. Nobody is going to taste bad medicine. Medicine is not always nice. You have to have the bad parts and the good parts in it. That tends to be a problem ... [schooling in Jamaica] was hard. You go in there and you know the teacher is going to break you before you come out. You know what you're doing ... I have classes now in university ... and I come out and I still don't ... remember anything specific.

However, these views that favour the Caribbean education system are far from universal. Respondents also expressed a distinct liking for the 'morals and schooling' in Canada. What I like about the schooling is the fact that you learn. Well, you don't learn better, but the teacher tends to take time with you. If you don't understand something, she will make sure that you understand ... You see, teaching in Jamaica was pretty good but the teacher expected you to know everything ... If you went up to her and said, 'I don't understand this/ she said, Too bad. You should have been listening instead of talking/

130 Life in Canada While some students are excited by the challenge of the new facilities, different courses, and teaching styles in Canada, the transition to a seemingly less disciplined system may also result in a 'laid-back' attitude that negatively affects the learning process. According to the respondent, 'When you come up here, you kind of slack off in school ... because in Jamaica, they made sure that you did your school work. They constantly checked and you had to show your work on the board every morning at school. Here you don't have to show your work. You don't really have to do your homework. All you have to do is to know what you are doing.' Another respondent, looking back on his school experiences in Toronto, drew attention to the continuing conflict with family expectations and generational differences regarding Canada's education system. You know, it was not that you are slower, but it was harder to adjust. But they just think that you are stupid, you know, and they just left you. My father took it upon himself to teach us ... We'd come home and he'd ask us what we knew. When we told him, he was shocked because he had cousins that grew up over here and compared their work to our work. He got really upset and he would beat us to learn what they've learned. And that's what made things hectic between my mother and father.

Thus there are obvious contradictory and conflicting practices. However, in drawing attention to these as factors affecting adjustment, it is important not to detract from the institutional barriers and the shortcomings within the system that effectively marginalize many Caribbean students and further complicate these difficulties. Some of these shortcomings and the different strategies that students develop for coping with the system will become more evident below. Adjusting to family Reunification

Adjustment difficulties are also complicated for some students by the stress of being reunited with a parent or parents in Toronto after a long separation. Students interviewed spoke of coming to join their parents who found employment in Canada years earlier. One student noted: When we come here, we have different values from our parents and it is

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hard for us to accept our parents and for them to accept us. I realize that most of the time when the children come here from the islands, they are kicked out by the parents in three years because of the problem. The family life back there is so much closer. Here things are so much faster, so there is a big problem.

Another student described the experience of coming to live with his father who had settled with another partner since leaving him in Jamaica when he was only a few months old. He described the difficulties he faced, which eventually led him to move out and live on his own. He noted, 'When I am in school, I try to put my mind on school only. Then when I go out, I put my mind on the job. Next, I put my mind on living. I can't allow them to get mixed up/ This student had dropped out of school before this research was completed. Several similar cases were noted during the course of the research. However, these cases of strained relationships should not detract from the successful reunions that take place and the positive impact that these reunions have on the educational success of students. Adjusting to family Expectations

Another source of difficulty for students and parents alike are the attitudes and expectations that parents have of the education system. By and large, Caribbean parents are from a society in which education is highly valued. Teachers and educators are respected authority figures and have high social status in the community. The school's function of educating the youth is never questioned. A Caribbean parent therefore will not complain to a teacher or school about mistreatment or any other form of student harassment. It is naturally assumed that teachers have legitimate reasons for everything they do in the classroom. If a child gets the strap, it is because he or she deserved it and parents never question the school's authority. Working-class parents in particular rarely attend parents' meetings, and the only information they receive about their children's progress comes from the reports they bring home. A bad report can, in fact, also lead to a beating at home. With these attitudes, it is not surprising that the authority of the school and the teacher in Canada is also taken for granted. Students do not complain to their parents about their negative school experiences because they know their parents will accept the word of the school over that of the aggrieved student.

132 Life in Canada Glen is a twenty-five-year-old man who came to Canada from Jamaica more than fifteen years ago. He went to school here and had many experiences that he described as racist. Name-calling was a frequent occurrence. When Glen was asked if he ever fought back, he said: Oh yeah, we would fight back. When we fought back, we would get into trouble from the school. They think we were just troublemakers. My mother, because she didn't want us out of school or thrown out of school, had to try and come up with a reason about why we're doing the things we're doing and try to make things easier for us, but she didn't handle it the right way. [What did she do wrong?] Because she just do this, come to the school because it's their country ... You don't want to come here and cause problems.

Glen's mother refused to confront the racism her son and his friends experienced at school because she did not want to cause trouble. This non-confrontational attitude is quite common among immigrant Caribbean parents and forces many students to cope with racism on their own. Moreover, hard-working immigrant parents, and particularly single mothers, do not have the time to visit the school or help their children with homework. At the same time, they expect the school to do the educating, so additional work at home is not necessary. A student cannot therefore expect any help from home. Concerns about systemic racism rarely come to the parents' attention, and it is only in recent times that groups of concerned parents have organized to pressure the schools to create a more equitable educational climate for their children. Adjusting to a Heterogeneous Society Despite the fact that Caribbean societies are heterogeneous, the majority of respondents who were interviewed in this research spoke of coming from a milieu that was essentially Afro-Caribbean or Black. This milieu thus contrasts sharply with the predominantly White schools in Toronto. Consequently, for some, entering school amounts to a 'culture shock/ although this has become less acute over the years partly because of the increasing diversity and the presence of more Black people in the school system. More recent changes are also attributed to the creation of alternative or subcultural forms within the

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school. Respondents talked of only meeting White people 'back home' who were in positions of authority or who were tourists 'passing through/ Subsequently, as one male respondent who came to Canada in the mid-19705 puts it, 'it took a while to work out that kind of White thing, you know ... dealing with [them] one to one. It takes a while to relate on that level/ Another female respondent expressed these feelings more dramatically: I remember going into the class and everybody was White ... [I thought] my God! I don't want to talk! You know, your accent is different. A teacher said in one class, 'So what school you come from/ I said, 'I come from the Caribbean/ He sort of looked at me like 'Huh?' And they wondered, 'How did you get here?' ... I looked different and I dressed differently too. Because you come from the Caribbean, you do dress differently. I thought, 'I have to buy some clothes so I'll look like everybody else here/ You do look differently and you do behave differently because you have a different relationship with teachers there than you do here. Eventually, I became friendly with people - different races, but they were all from the Caribbean and that was the way it was at that school.

A male student described how he was teased by his fellow Caribbean students for being a 'freshie': 'I didn't know why, so a couple of years afterwards I got to know that it was because I come from Jamaica and I wasn't into clothes and stuff that they were wearing. So after I got a job, I started dressing and getting into the situation/ This isolation that early immigrants experience is also related to race and difference. This is one of the recurring concerns that frequently arose during the discussions with high school students. It partly explains many Caribbean students7 withdrawal and extended silences that were noted during classroom observation and that were mentioned by the teacher. However, it also feeds into the development of alternative cultural forms and expressions in the school in opposition to what is perceived as the dominant culture from which Black Caribbean students are excluded. Often the tendencies to remain silent are interpreted variously by teachers as defiance or ignorance on the part of the students. Such interpretations subsequently feed back into the relationships between students and teachers and in turn reinforce the student's isolation. Students interviewed in a Toronto high school spoke of the difficulties and barriers that are perceived between a White teacher on the one hand and a Black student on the other. One

134 Life in Canada student remarked, 'With the White teacher I am reluctant. I don't know why. Maybe I see some kind of barrier, whereas with the Black teacher, I can see that he is one of us. The barrier is imaginary. It is not something that the teacher would purposely put up, but it is imaginary, ummm ... just being in a White society/ Another student who was frequently absent from school and who made no contribution to class discussions described what he saw as the problems faced by many Caribbean students: Some Black kids just come up from some other country and they don't know how to carry on with White teachers. They are only used to Black teachers back home where they are from, so it is kind of hard for them to cope with the White teacher. They probably say Tm scared to say things/ They just need some Black teachers so that they can look up to them and say, 'Hey, this guy is just like me and everyone is the same/ It takes you a bit of time to cope with the system.

These remarks by a high school student go some way to affirm concerns about the need for teachers to reflect on the needs of the diverse racial and ethnic student population they serve. DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT AND PROBLEMS OF SYSTEMIC RACISM

The most important issues facing Caribbean students and that present enormous difficulties in adaptation are the structural and attitudinal barriers within the education system itself. Systemic racism and the differential treatment of Caribbean students by teachers, administrators, and other students is a significant problem that directly contributes to the lack of achievement and high drop-out rates in some regions. Differential treatment begins when students are assessed for placement into the system. This issue has a long history and sufficient time has already elapsed for the building of stereotypes about Caribbean and especially Jamaican students. They are already perceived to be slow learners and are often routinely put back by at least one year. The following comment reflects the experience of many interviewees who were incorrectly put back a year: When I came to Canada in 1973 with my sister, they put me back a year in school. I spent six months in grade nine. Then they moved me to grade

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ten. They were teaching me in grade ten what I had learnt in Jamaica ... Teachers would keep you back because they thought you were stupid ... One time I was marked really low in a test, but my answers were correct, so I went to see the principal to ask what I did wrong because the answers were right ... In those days, it was hard for Blacks to get into college.

Respondents frequently referred to the disproportionate numbers of Black Caribbean students who are placed in vocational and technical or basic-level streams in school as one indication that there is something wrong with the system. One articulate respondent, who had gone to high school and university in Toronto, said, 'You found that most of the Black students were placed into technical/vocational schools; it's either that you believe that Black folks are stupid or that there is something inherently wrong with the way the system assessed you.' But the respondent goes on to suggest that this might not be an issue only for Caribbean students: '[It affects] not only us though, but generally the immigrant community - West Indians, Greeks, Italians, Portuguese - because White folks don't treat the Mediterranean folks as White folks, you know.' Different treatment and expectations of Black Caribbean students are manifested in a variety of ways within the school system. Students describe some teachers' tendencies to treat Black students as an undifferentiated block rather than as individuals. This is implied in teachers' descriptions and references to the way 'they' behave and the way 'they' hang out in the school corridors. Teachers also consciously or unconsciously have different expectations that are race-related and that affect the way they subsequently interact with the students. For example, one teacher was reputed to have said that he regards Asian or East Indian students as potential mathematicians or scientists, thus unconsciously excluding the possibility that Black students may have similar potential. Another teacher is reputed to explain economic principles to the whole class and then repeat everything to the group of Black students to make sure that they understand. That could mean that he is a good teacher and he wants to make sure that we understand; but it could also mean that he doesn't expect us to understand in the first place.' These two examples reflect the range of conscious or unconscious differential expectations of Caribbean students. There is often a widespread feeling that Black students are generally expected to excel in sports but not in academic subjects. A third and more de-

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tailed example was given by a respondent who was pursuing a degree program at one of the local universities. This case indicates the consequences that may arise from having lower expectations of particular social groups. When I was in grade thirteen, I expressed a desire to go to Harvard and my marks were very good, so I went to the guidance counsellor and got all the information. In 1984, they had a policy whereby teachers would estimate what your marks would be at the end of term because you send away your marks in April. Well, they estimated my average per cent lower than what it was. I had 94 per cent and they estimated 78 per cent, so needless to say, my application to Harvard was void because you are not going to get in with 78 per cent. I went to speak to the chemistry teacher and he laughed. It was very shocking because they kept telling me to come back another year and play basketball. I said, 'No, I don't want to play professional/ I went to my vice principal, who was also my basketball coach, and he said, 'I don't think you will be able to sustain the marks you had.' I said, 'Well, if you don't think I can sustain these marks, let's look at my record completely.' He looked at the record and said, 'Well, I just don't think that's convincing enough.' I showed him that I had completed some grade thirteen courses and I only had four others that were incomplete. I said, 'Look at the marks of the ones that I have completed/ I had 87 per cent in calculus. I said, 'I could do it! That was two years ago and I got this mark, so I don't know how you can extrapolate from now and say my marks will suddenly plummet. It so happened that the next year, provincial legislation was changed to the effect that the mark you have in April is the mark that you send to university, and they decide whether or not they should take it as is or adjust it. But it didn't help me. I was upset for the longest time. I just lost interest in school after that. In fact, I skipped the whole month of May. I said, 'Well, there's no sense in me coming to school because my marks are as they are and the selection will be made. EXPERIENCES WITH RACISM

During the course of many interviews, three institutional areas were most often signalled out as provoking the most frequent incidents of racism. These were police and the justice system, employment, and education. Most of the students interviewed for the education project, as well as young adults who had some schooling in Canada, mentioned

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experiences they had in school. Even parents and grandparents were able to discuss incidents that occurred within their families. One of the most often-cited examples of racism was name-calling. Veronica, one of the youngest respondents and currently in grade ten, said, 'I don't associate with Whites because they wouldn't associate with us and they'll call you "nigger" right to your face.' Veronica did not know what it meant when another student called her 'nigger.' I looked at them and I said, 'Excuse me, what does that mean?' They just looked at my colour, so I just kept doing my work. Then I translated it to Jamaican, for in Jamaica they would say 'neager' and then I found out it meant 'nigger.' So I got up and boxed the guy. I slapped him down and I got into trouble. The teacher asked me what I was doing. I said he called me 'nigger' and I don't like that and nobody is going to get away with that. The teacher said, 'What's the matter if he calls you nigger?' I said, 'Hey excuse me, would you like it if I called you a honky?' He just looked at me. I said, 'Now you know how it feels/ and I just sat back down.

Veronica, a bright student with a will of her own, feels that the basic problem is exclusion. Schools should do more to include Black students. They should 'make us feel more like we belonged ... They could include us in everything like the other children. The only time we are ever included is in sports.' Veronica admits that she enjoys being included in sports, but is hurt because she is excluded from other more social activites. Sister Myra, a deeply religious woman now in her late sixties, recounts how her ten-year-old grandson was beaten at school. The incident resulted in the principal calling the police. It began with the young boy being called 'a whole lot of bad names.' They was calling him "nigger" and a whole lot of bad names. The boys followed him out of the school and they beat him and the headmaster came out. He had to call the police because they were beating up my grandson so bad.' The problem of racism is a continuing concern for many students and parents alike. This takes many different forms within the system and may be subtle or overt. Some respondents drew attention to the name-calling they experienced at school, or having guidance counsellors tell them that 'people like you' need to learn Canadian geography.

138 Life in Canada On the other hand, racism can be, as one respondent put it, 'more insidious and institutional where you just don't know for sure. The person isn't calling you "jungle bunny" or "you Aunt Jemima" or "you nigger" but you see it manifested in society. [There is] definitely a colour barrier or a colour line, where you are restricted from certain things and certain positions.' This uncertainty is reinforced when Black Caribbean students find themselves in what are essentially White institutions where, for example, only a few of the teachers and support staff are non-White. 'They don't even have a Black janitor,' one respondent laughed. The following quotes, taken from one interview, confirm the range of experiences with racism that elementary and high school students may have. Note the second quote's irony and the implicit strategies that are developed for resisting and ridiculing those who may consciously or unconsciously perpetrate racism. I was the only Black individual in my class and one of only three or four in the whole school. This was grade one through grade eight, 1983 to 1990 ... I was very small for my age and that created constant conflict with the other students. The racial comments were coupled with commentary on being very small; people used me as an easy target. I say this because my brother who went to the same school, five grades ahead of me, did not suffer anything that I went through. There was no name-calling and he did not fight like I did ... The racial commentary [included] 'nigger7 and 'spook' but they also threw in 'jungle bunny' and 'spear-shucker.' When Roots came out, 'Kunta Kinte' and 'Toby' were big. One that I had never really thought of before was 'skidmark/ which was a common one and it took me a while to realize, 'Okay, I can see what it's saying' ... 'tar-baby,' all of those things. But I really think the height made me the target.

And then at high school during the course of a grade ten science lesson: It was the first day and there was myself and another Black girl in the class. The teacher was talking about science. He said, 'Oh, I see we have two coloured students in the class. It's been my experience that coloured students don't do too well in the sciences/ Well, everyone in the class was just stunned and I laughed at him. I went home and told my mother and she wanted to go in and see the principal. I said 'No, I don't think that's necessary.' She said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because I have him now.' What I meant by that was that he

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knew as soon as he'd said it that he'd said something wrong, and he knew that I knew that he'd said something wrong. So for the rest of the year, I got off with things that no one else in the class would be able to do. I didn't have to ask to leave to go to the washroom ... I left. If I didn't come to class, if I was late, I didn't have to get a late slip, so I just used that to my advantage. Well, you know I can go to the principal. I have a whole class as witness so ... I went to him after the first exam and I had scored the highest mark. I said, 'Well, this must do something to your hypothesis/ and he just laughed nervously because he knew that he was wrong. We both knew what was going on! By the end of the year, he made me and another girl 'class helper.' We'd go around and help in experiments and stuff like that. That was the only real overt racial commentary that I received from a teacher in high school.

The respondent refers to harassment from another source: I transferred high schools after my second year. I went to a high school on the other side of town and I played basketball for them. They had a very strong team, so we did a lot of travelling. When we used to come to tournaments in Toronto, ... we played teams that were all Black and they would say, 'Oh everyone on your team is White,' and they'd direct it at me, saying, 'myself included' in the group. So there was that kind of harassment from both sides. RACISM IN CURRICULUM

Caribbean students are also affected by the subtle forms of racism reflected in the school's curriculum. Curriculum has two dimensions. The formal curriculum is what is actually taught in schools. It includes the courses, the books and materials used, methods of assessment, and the different strategies and teaching styles. The hidden curriculum refers to the different beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, and expectations that teachers bring to the school with them. Hidden curriculum also refers to the different social relations that are formed and the underlying organizational structures and practices of schooling. The hidden curriculum has received less attention than the formal curriculum because it addresses what is essentially intangible, the very 'ethos' of schooling that is difficult to pin down. The school's hidden curriculum can cause students to feel marginalized. This is the aspect of schooling through which the subtle and sometimes unintentional forms of racism manifest themselves. Many of the remarks cited earlier illustrate this fact.

140 Life in Canada The distinction between the 'hidden' and the 'formal' curriculum is made for research purposes. In reality, the two overlap. For example, the issue of whose experiences are reflected in the textbooks is an example of specific cultural values determining the content of an educational program. At the same time, the subjects taught can become important avenues for perpetuating the very values and assumptions that may be associated with the concept of the hidden curriculum. The 'hidden' curriculum concept does not imply that people are deliberately putting in place a hidden agenda, because some of the values and attitudes may be unconscious and culturally based. In fact, it is the unconscious, taken-for-granted, 'common sense' assumptions, beliefs, and cultural practices that a critique of the hidden curriculum seeks to address. During the research, some teachers consciously or unconsciously linked 'standards' to 'race.' For example, discussions about how schools may have changed with the arrival of increasing numbers of Caribbean students were often met with comments that standards have declined. While obsessions with declining standards is a preoccupation in school staff rooms worldwide, the direct link between Caribbean students and declining standards runs the danger of 'racializing' standards. This practice is partly legitimized by a public discourse and sets of beliefs about intelligence and race. The practice is not universal, because teachers in the same institution are quick to point out that standards may have changed but not necessarily declined. Fixed ideas about intelligence and racial differences, however, can influence and inform a hidden curriculum and shape patterns of interaction as well as teachers' expectations of students. A reluctance on the part of many teachers to deal with racism and controversial race-related issues was also observed. Conversations with teachers revealed a number of reasons for this tendency, which included a fear of offending the parties concerned by saying the wrong thing; claims about the 'oversensitivity' of 'some' students; and an indifference to students that is partly based on tendencies to treat them as a homogeneous group rather than as individuals. The tendency to avoid confronting 'controversial' race-related issues reinforces racist practices. This is the opposite of antiracist teaching, which should challenge and expose ways by which racist discourses are constructed and played out. Thus a Caribbean student who makes a case against the lack of Black images in the magazines used in the school is partly silenced on the ground of 'being controversial' and reminded that 'you

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have your Ebony magazine/ In the process, the issues of exclusion, racism, and the media are ignored. A reluctance to reprimand Black students for racist and other unacceptable behaviours was also observed. This is in part out of fear of being labelled racist. Students interviewed were quick to pick up and exploit this tendency to treat them differently. The practices described suggest a tendency to perceive Caribbean students as the 'Other/ For example, references are made to 'the way "they" [Caribbean students] hang out in loud groups/ The practice of 'othering' Caribbean students is also reflected in the language of 'us' and 'them/ It manifests itself in seemingly innocent ways, for example, when a teacher during the course of a lesson aligns herself with a preconceived notion of being a 'Canadian' teacher, as distinct from the immigrant 'Other/ which includes the Caribbean student. The cultural assumptions that inform this tendency also manifest themselves in teachers' ideas about what should be included in the formal curriculum. Thus teachers agreed with the need to include Black history, art, and literature, provided the inclusion is 'kept in perspective' and 'a balance is maintained/ The 'balance' and 'perspective' effectively maintains the status quo and perpetuates a world view that places Caucasian achievements at the centre and the achievements, beliefs, and cultural practices of other people, including Black people and other people of colour, at the margin. Teachers' own social backgrounds may often influence the social relations that are formed, their attitudes to recent immigrants, and their attitudes to antiracist education. Teachers who recall their own immigrant experiences may object to what they perceive as 'preferential' treatment being given to new immigrants. Populist arguments about new immigrants were often drawn on. Thus it is suggested that far too much is being done for new immigrants; that new immigrants should have to struggle in the same way that earlier immigrants from Europe struggled; that there was now a danger of 'reverse' racism, and that somehow immigrants are only people deemed to be 'visible' minorities. These attitudes were put forward as 'common sense,' and one result is a cynicism towards antiracist education. Claims about special treatment and 'reverse' racism may overlook the specific experience of Black students. For example, other students may experience discrimination on the basis of language, class, gender, and religion, which for Black students, may be overlaid by the question of colour.

142 Life in Canada The foregoing examples show how certain attitudes and values may innocently inform a 'hidden' curriculum. However, the examples described are by no means universal. They must also be seen in the light of the genuine concern and deep sense of commitment on the part of the many teachers who are committed to antiracist education and the advancement of all students. STUDENT SUBCULTURE

Youth cultures and subcultures have been extensively written about recently, but many of the studies give insufficient attention to the material conditions and social relations in which subcultural practices develop (Hall et al. 1976). With this in mind, the following brief discussion of the subcultural forms among Caribbean students needs to be understood within the context of the school's structures and the wider immigrant experiences addressed in this book. Caribbean students and teachers were quick to highlight what they perceive to be some of the negative aspects of their subcultures. Interestingly, while one teacher claimed that if he were a White student, he would be intimidated by the way 'they' (Black students) behave, there are Black Caribbean students who also internalize the same stereotype. For example, one female student talked about walking down the hallway and thinking, 'God, there they are. They want to speak to someone and they will yell instead of approaching them.' There is internal criticism and considerable ambivalence with regard to group identification and student subcultures. While discussions with immigrant students confirm the existence of subcultures on the different islands, the forging of a specific identity and reorientation towards subcultural groups can be seen as a direct response to the marginal position and sense of 'difference' that students feel. One male student noted, 'When I was in Jamaica I was normal. I didn't say "Oh, I want to be like this" ... There was not a lot of different cultures to choose from. Roots, it's like where I come from. It brings out the real me ... In Jamaica, all was one. Everyone was one, but they didn't have a name for it.' This feeling was reinforced by a second female student who spoke about a growing awareness of identity upon coming to live in Canada: 'Since I came here, I am much more aware of who I am. Back in Jamaica, you didn't really care who you are. I now know more about who I am and my culture and stuff. I appreciate myself more for being Black

The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth 143 than when I was in Jamaica ... When I was there, I felt Black as being negative. Now I am positive and thankful for being Black/ In the process of negotiating the shifting and multiple identities that are constantly being formed, students also begin to identify with popular culture's dress patterns and other codes. The role of the mass media in these processes cannot be overestimated, particularly as the different identities formed around the 'Roots' or 'Hip Hop' cultures transcend national boundaries. Group identification and subcultures are far from homogeneous and the different expressive forms and fashions subscribed to are constantly changing. It also follows that teachers' perceptions of Black Caribbean students' subculture boundaries are by no means neat, fixed, or coherent. For some students, identification with subcultural fashions might be centrally important, while for others it is marginal and temporary. There are still others who dissociate themselves from what is perceived as antisocial aspects of some cultural practices. The dominant subculture observed in one school is one called 'Roots.' In the absence of a school uniform, dress becomes an important indicator of individuals' relationships with Roots and other subcultures. The colours gold, green, black, and red are worn in belts, scarves, hats, bangles, etc. Images of Africa also signify Roots. The Roots subculture also reflects the dominant Jamaican influence and some associated ambivalence. On the one hand, students who were not of Jamaican parentage identified with this subculture and language; on the other hand, some students distanced themselves from it. One Jamaican-born student described the Roots subculture: 'Roots comes from Jamaica and is basically Black people's culture. Roots is the way you dress, not so much the way you talk ... the majority are nice, but the posers are hot tempered ... Even a person who can't afford proper Roots wears a kango or something like that. But real Roots don't worry about style. The so-called Roots are just a fashion for them.' While there is no evidence of any organizational structures for those who identify with the Roots subculture, in one school boys who identified with the subculture tended to meet at lunch-times in a specific indoor area that they referred to as 'Rude Boy Corner.' While Caribbean female students were rarely seen in this group, they were frequently the target of comments and 'jokes' with sexist undertones. The corner, in the words of one student, symbolized 'the line that must not be crossed.' While this referred to a racial divide, there was never any

144 Life in Canada evidence of racially inspired animosity. This was the area for bantering, frequently raucous behaviour, and a place where communication could be conducted primarily in patois. Association with the group offered students a localized sense of identity. Language also lends solidarity, particularly, as one student noted, since other 'ethnic7 groups within the school spoke in their own language, 'yet when we speak our language [patois], then we are described as rude/ The lunch-time group was made up exclusively of students who were not born in Canada. The 'Rude Boy Corner' appeared less important to second-generation Caribbean students. Not all Caribbean students could switch language codes. While some students displayed a lack of confidence when switching to standard English, there were others who found it difficult to switch to patois. It is not possible to draw any direct correlations between identification with this group and academic success. Those who associated with the 'Rude Boy Corner' were almost exclusively from non-advanced streams in the school. This may add to Solomon's (1992, 86) observations regarding the counterproductive nature of some subcultural practices. Solomon's (1992) detailed ethnographic study of 'the Jocks at Lumberville' notes the significance of language as a 'major dynamic in Black youth identity/ He argues that while patois serves as a functional language for the immigrant children who are more accustomed to speaking it than standard English, it also provides a sense of security and identity as well as a way of excluding teachers and students from other cultures and language groups. He argues that students displayed tendencies to capitalize on 'teachers' inability to distinguish between cultural and subcultural activities' and were able to exploit this weakness and thereby to undermine the school's control strategies and establish their own patterns of behaviour (Solomon 1992, 49-50). Reactions to the Roots subculture varied. There is also a certain ambivalence towards the Jamaican hegemony that the dominant Roots subculture implied. It was found that some students who come from other islands positively identified with it, while others were very adamant about distancing themselves from it. The ambiguity is evident in the following remarks made by students: I am just me. I don't dress to be a Roots girl ... Whatever looks good on me, I will wear it. They are only trying to cover up something else.

The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth 145 As far as I am concerned, I don't like being labeled in a certain category. I like to be myself. It is a sense of belonging to something, but for me, you close off your opportunities of being more enriched in experience. I could easily be Roots, but as far as I am concerned, everyone is just following it as a trend. As individuals, they're all good guys. It is just when they get together. Then they are something else.

Various names and labels are also coined to sanction what is perceived as appropriate behaviour and group identity. Thus students whose behaviour may be considered 'White' may be labelled 'white wash' or 'Oreo cookie'; that is, 'Black on the outside, but White inside.' These labels frequently encounter resentment and a tendency to resist pressure to conform to group expectations. The Roots and Hip Hop subcultures emphasize style. However, the oppositional stance resists neither the social and nor the material aims and aspirations of the dominant subculture. This observation is confirmed by Solomon, who notes that Black students' belief in their folk theory of making it, and their strategies for doing so, confirm their belief in education's emancipatory possibilities. Unlike other working-class cultures that are socialized to accept schooling for unskilled, shop floor jobs, the Jocks in this study have consciously rejected such a future. The implications for such affirmation is that the ideology of achievement through schooling is riveted in the consciousness of these children (1992, 108).

Solomon views this commitment to achievement as a hopeful sign. These findings are similar to comparable studies in England (see, for example, Gillborn 1990; Mac an Ghaill 1988), which guard against the tendency to view Black Caribbean students in pathological terms. Instead, attention is given to how these students are able to 'work the system' to achieve their goal of educational success while creating their own culture and resisting incorporation into a White cultural identity. Solomon suggests that to move from oppositional posture to conciliation, students need to assume a politically strategic stance that should not be a compromise but rather strive for balance between 'cultural integrity and a struggle for the type of schooling that will afford them greater access to occupational opportunities' (1992, 117).

146 Life in Canada In order to move towards a learning environment that respects the interests of racial minorities, training is obviously necessary for creating greater awareness and sensitivity. This involves moving away from ethnocentric teaching by incorporating some cultural specifics from the historical and social backgrounds of Caribbean students. However, while the movement towards multicutural and antiracist education is based on laudable goals such as changing the education system to be more responsive to the needs of minority students,4 the role of education in preparing students for the labour force (or for higher education) cannot be minimized. Experience in the U.K. visa-vis Afro-Caribbean students is worth keeping in mind. There it has been shown that changes in the education system are not sufficient to bring about racial equality. Educational authorities have assumed that changes in the education system will make Afro-Caribbean youth perform better and stay in school longer. Thus, they will be more readily employable, less frustrated and alienated, and less likely to engage in social disorder such as riots. According to Troyna, the main reason for the state's support of multicultural education is to reduce the potential for social disorder. This can be schematized as follows: irrelevant curriculum > low motivation among Black students > poor examination results > failure to obtain a job > disillusionment/frustration > involvement in 'criminal' activities > social disorder (riots) (Carrington and Troyna 1988)

Troyna shows the limitation of this oversimplistic equation. First, it falls into the danger of treating Black Caribbean students as an undifferentiated Black group and thereby tends to overlook the wide range of differences, including their different responses to the education system. Some excel while others fail, for example. Furthermore, the poor academic performance of Afro-Caribbean students in the U.K. has been demonstrated by data that do not control for social class. Academic performance has always been related to class; the poor re4 There has been a tendency to distinguish multicultural education from antiracist education. The former is preoccupied with lifestyles and culture, while the latter is concerned with life chances and the institutional barriers (including racist beliefs and practices) that restrict life chances. Multiculturalism has also been constructed as conservative in maintaining the status quo, while antiracist education is radical in seeking to bring about social change. This simple opposition is being increasingly questioned as the importance of culture for mediating structural inequalities increases

The Educational Experiences of Caribbean Youth 147 suits of minority students may be more class than ethnically related. Moreover, Troyna shows that employers use a wide variety of criteria (of which educational achievement is only one) to select employees. Studies in the U.K and Canada have shown that employers' racism may persist despite the educational qualifications of minority applicants. (CRE 1980; Henry and Ginzberg 1984) Moreover, periods of recession, factory closures in areas high in migrant settlement, and other factors affect the possibilities of finding jobs. In sum then, placing too much emphasis on the schools7 ability to reduce youth alienation and the potential for disorder is limited. The education system in and of itself cannot produce racial equity, although it is surely important to develop a system that conforms and responds to the diverse needs of the student body.

7

Religion

RELIGION IN THE CARIBBEAN

Religion is an extremely important institution in Caribbean societies. There is a wide range of Christian and non-Christian religions in the region. In addition to the Roman Catholic Church, every denomination of Protestant Christianity can be found there, although in terms of overall membership numbers, the Anglican church probably predominates. In addition to the many denominational churches, there are also a wide variety of Pentecostal, fundamental, and revival churches that are not affiliated with a denomination and often operate quite separately. A common pattern is for a 'minister' who receives the 'call' to found a church in a village and begin preaching. Word-of-mouth usually builds up a congregation. This creates many independent churches in the region. An independent Spiritual Baptist network is also active in the Caribbean. Spiritual Baptism, a fundamentalist offshoot of Baptism but unaffiliated with that denomination, has become so popular that a superordinate organization has been developed to unite many islands in the eastern Caribbean. In addition to Christian churches of all types, the Caribbean also has Muslim mosques and Hindu prayer centres serving the substantial East Indian populations found primarily in Trinidad and Guyana. African-Derived Religions

Of particular interest in the region is the presence of African-derived religions. The so-called 'voodoo' of Haiti is the best known of these, but African-derived syncretic religions are to be found in almost every

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country in which Roman Catholicism was the colonizing European religion. Thus, Yoruban-derived religious movements such as Shango in Trinidad and Grenada, Santeria in Cuba, Macumba and Candomble in Brazil are to be found. These religions are a unique blend of Yoruban pantheism with New World Roman Catholicism. African percussion and songs are performed along with Roman Catholic hymns and prayers. Altered states of consciousness (such as spirit possession in which gods and saints are said to possess the bodies of devotees) are common dimensions of this religion. Although only small proportions of the population are members of these religious groups, their influence on the customs and folklore of the region has been profound.1 Rastafarianism Rastafarianism is a new and unique religion developed in Jamaica during the thirties.2 Born as a protest movement among the disempowered, it has continued to attract working-class and underclass members who are today equally disempowered in Jamaican society. Rastafarianism combines religious mysticism, a back-to-Africa ideology, and a disdain for contemporary Caribbean (Jamaican) society. Rastafarian doctrine also includes a belief in the divinity of the late emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie. Their ritual involves the use of marijuana or ganja, which, as a natural, organic, and pure herb, is thought to enhance the religious experience. Because of its political ideology, Rastafarianism is therefore both a religion and a sociopolitical movement. Since its development in Jamaica, it has spread to most of the islands and territories of the former British Caribbean as well as to the migrant communities abroad (Barrett 1988; Owen 1976; Yawney 1978). 1 Shango and other African-derived movements are not yet found in the Caribbean communities of Toronto. Haitian-derived vodun (voodoo) is, however, practised by some members of the community in Montreal. Some Caribbean migrants in the U.S., especially the large Cuban community, have continued the practice of Santeria. Haitians in the United States have also maintained the practice of vodun. (It is probably only a matter of time until these religious movements are initiated within the migrant community in Toronto.) 2 Although there are Rastafarians in Toronto, the movement has not yet reached significant proportions as in Great Britain. The 'Roots7 subculture among the youth use many of the outward symbols of Rastafarianism, but they cannot be said to be members of the religious community.

150 Life in Canada Religion is closely class-affiliated in the Caribbean. Middle- and upperclass groups are either Roman Catholics, Anglicans, or Presbyterians. Methodists, Baptists, Seventh Day Adventists, Moravians, and others are found predominately among the working class. The large number of independent, non-denominational churches also appeal largely to the working class. There is also an element of competition among the churches in the Caribbean, and it is not unusual to have as many as seven or more churches serving a small village of 200 people. While the majority of churches are led by male ministers, most of the congregants are usually women. Caribbean men are also religious, but they do not attend church frequently, nor do they adhere to more than one church group as many women do. Women maintain a lifelong allegiance to religion, which, for many, provides solace and support. For many women whose lives are extraordinarily difficult, religion and reliance on God is their main source of emotional and spiritual support. The deep-seated religiosity of Caribbean women, especially working-class women, means that religiosity is transmitted to their children. Women bring their babies and young children to church, and children (as long as they are living with their mothers) are expected to attend church at least every Sunday. Attending church and learning faith and other aspects of religious behaviour are therefore experienced by every Caribbean child. A fascinating aspect of the religiosity of Caribbean people, especially women, is that they rarely limit their religious activities to just one church. Attendance at more than one church is commonplace. A woman may identify herself as a Catholic, for example, but attend the Moravian church on Wednesday evening, special prayer meetings at the Holiness church on Thursday, the Seventh Day Adventist church on Saturday, and regularly participate in the Shango feasts held in the area. This pattern of attending more than one church is particularly well established in the rural villages. Religious services in most Caribbean churches, especially in nondenominational ones, are characterized by strong participatory behaviour. Sermons are given by ministers using strong persuasive and emotional language, accompanied by the frequent antiphonal interjections of the congregants. Shouts of approval and agreement - cries of amen and hallelujah - ring out throughout the sermon. The service includes singing, chanting, and the use of bells, tambourines, and other nontraditional musical instruments. 'Catching the Spirit' by being over-

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come with emotion to the extent of shouting, dancing, falling, and rolling onto the floor is commonplace. Speaking in tongues is also a regular occurrence to congregants, as is prophesying. The service is extremely lively, engaging, and the active participation of the congregants is strongly encouraged. Music and hymns are important accompaniments to the religious service. CHANGES WITH MIGRATION

Does migration change the religiosity of Caribbean people? Caribbean migrants come from a very strong religious background, but is this maintained in the new setting? Yes and no. The younger people in our sample, as well as the special high school group studied in the education project, certainly indicate that religiosity declines in the second generation. Relatively few young people were observed at the church services we attended, and very few mentioned that religion plays a strong role in their lives. The migrant generation, however, maintains religious traditions of all kinds. In fact, one of the most important cultural patterns retained is patterns of worship. Age and generation therefore play a role in the maintenance of religious patterns. Sonia is a thirty-seven-year-old woman from Guyana who has been in Canada for many years. She regularly attends an Anglican church and speaks of the necessity of going to church: It's like at home ... it's almost as if when you grow up in the Caribbean, people turn their nose up at you if you don't go to church. I mean image you get up out of your bed on a Sunday morning, what else are you doing if not going to church? They will say things like 'Look at that old heathen sitting up there making all this noise and not going to church.' You're not a church person and you cussing bad word and carrying on, I mean God help you, so you just have to go to church and pray for them. But say, for example, if you grew up in a family at home where the parents were ardent churchgoers and you were always at Sunday school and stuff like that, unless you really move away and go somewhere else where you are not seen, it is the thing that you are expected to do. You know, once your folks are going, you're in that car or on that bicycle or whatever it is, but you're going and it continues until you become an adult and you move away or you play truant. But at the same time, one still expects you to show up at church every once in a while.

152 Life in Canada For some, church attendance becomes 'a drag' as one woman put it, but ingrained habits derived during socialization in the Caribbean are so strong that 'conscience get you' and despite the inconvenience of travel or bad weather, attendance becomes compulsory. Margaret discusses this inner drive to attend church: Here [in Canada] you get lost in the milieu because nobody cares. The conscience thing doesn't seep in that much because people live so differently here. I remember when I first came here and I went to Ottawa to live. I was at school and there was a church down the hall from me and it used to be so bitter cold and I used to have so much homework to do and I used to be so tired. I used to find every reason in the book to not have to go. I used to say to myself, 'Man me nah haf fuh go to no church, because me na know these people, chu.' Look, you see when that church bell start ring, things change. By the time that church bell stop ring, me in a church. I couldn't stand to hear the church bell ring and I'm lying down there not doing anything and not going to church. I just had to go.

Caribbean migrants like Margaret and Sonia and others attend mainly Black or multicultural churches. As in the Caribbean, the middle class and those who aspire to middle-class mobility attend the quieter and more traditional denominational churches. Denominational Churches

The full range of denominations found in the Caribbean are represented in Toronto. These include Anglican, Baptist, Moravian, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others. The fundamentalist or revivalist religions are also increasingly to be found in the migrant community. Church attendance on Sunday is a weekly event for most migrant families, although primarily among the migrant generation. People seem to attend the same churches as they did at home. The specific denomination may change, but the type of church is consistent with those frequented at home. Thus, none of our respondents who were Methodists or Catholics at home attended fundamentalist churches in Toronto. Similarly, those attending fundamentalist churches in Toronto also did so at home. Mary is a woman in her forties from the island of St Lucia. She attends an Anglican church and says, 'I have always been an Anglican member. I grew up with my grandmother and she was the parish sex-

Religion 153 ton. [She looked after the church, rang the bell, etc.] I have always gone to Anglican churches. The only time I didn't was when I could not find one close by. The one in the west end I used to go to was also Anglican/ In addition to choosing the same denomination as the one frequented at home, respondents mentioned another reason for choosing a specific church. West Indian migrants are uncomfortable attending churches whose congregations are White. They tend to select the churches that have other people of Caribbean origin in the congregation. Winnifred, a thirty-seven-year-old woman from Guyana, describes how she felt the need for a religious experience in a place of worship that she could feel comfortable in. Again, the ethnic and racial factor was prominent in her choice. One Christmas Eve - I think it was my second here in Canada - I missed home and missed being at church, especially on that night. After trying one church near my apartment building, I decided to look for a church that was more like the one I was accustomed to ... well, almost like the one ... I know I could not find one like it, but one with Black people I thought would do. So I hopped on the bus, not looking for a church particularly that night, but looking for a way to get rid of the Christmas Eve blues. I went for a ride and as the bus was nearing Vaughan Road, I saw a whole set of Black people walking along the street. I also heard and saw some singing Christmas carols on a corner. I immediately hopped off the bus and it was whilst listening to them that I realized that I had found my dream place of worship.

When asked if she knew of people attending 'White7 churches, one of our respondents answered, 'No. You know, come to think about it, I don't think so. I believe most people go to a church where they feel comfortable ... where there are more of their kind, you know ... where they don't feel like ET or something, and where Sunday is a day of worship and not one of scorn/3 3 West Indians in Britain have had a very similar experience with White churches. Their rejection by established churches has led to a proliferation of churches of all types. Caribbean migrants to Britain were shocked to discover that 'Britain was a secular society, and that congregations and even priests were embarrassed by the newcomers and regarded them as intruders/ Moreover, this form of rejection has led to 'one of the main features of contemporary Black British culture ... the growth of Black churches (as in the USA), particularly of the Pentecostal variety, which can express the exuberant vitality absent from Engish congregations' (Hennessy 1988, 43).

154 Life in Canada They will, in fact, travel good distances in order to attend a church in which there are substantial numbers of Caribbean parishioners. The need to be with one's own while at worship was extremely strong. One such Anglican church is located in East York. A number of persons interviewed for this project attend this church, although relatively few people of Caribbean origin live in this area. Most of the Caribbean parishioners travel to it. It has an active congregation of about 300 members. The Caribbean membership is approximately forty-five adults and about twenty children. Mary has been in Toronto for nineteen years and has been attending this church for eleven years. Of her choice, she said: I was looking for a place that had other West Indians like myself. I had found one, but it was too far away. It was in the west end and I don't drive. A friend took me there a couple of times, but she moved to Ottawa, so I came here and as I passed by, service was finished and I saw quite a few Black people, not a lot, but enough to make me think about coming. The people were warm, especially the West Indian people ... and the services reminded me of home.

Mary had tried a number of 'White' churches first, but says that she was definitely uncomfortable: Well, I went to a couple of all-white Anglican churches, but people just stare at you like you strange or something. When the service finished, nobody came over to say hello. Sometimes you go for a couple of times and even the priest did not even come over to greet you. At St L's, they always come to the exit of the church to shake your hand and welcome you, and they greet you during the service even ... Maybe those churches didn't want outsiders.

Several respondents had negative experiences at a United church. This church is located only one street away from the multicultural Anglican church. Several people had tried to worship there. Eleanor describes the atmosphere as stiff, cold, and unfriendly. They never made me feel welcome.' A family from Trinidad noted that they too had a bad experience in this church. They complained that the people were not friendly and they, like Eleanor, did not go back. Apparently neither members of the congregation nor the minister made any effort to extend friendship to people of Caribbean origin.

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Winnif red also describes her disappointment in the kinds of churches she began attending in Toronto: My first couple of experiences in churches in Canada were strange. At one church in downtown Toronto, I believe the people smiled, but it was one of those fake smiles ... you know, the kind that Ronald MacDonald wears ... almost like a painted-on grin. I know it was not going to be like Trinity [the church she attended at home], but I did not expect it to be so far removed. Apart from the colours (I mean Black/White), people literally ignored you and spoke with other White friends and, I guess, family.

Winnifred sums up the feelings expressed by respondents when they had finally found a church that was both welcoming and included Caribbean people in its membership. Recalling her first visit to St M's, she says, 'All I remember is that it was so good to see so many Black faces in one place worshipping God ... Boy, it was good/ The Multicultural Church

Mary and Sonia attend the same Anglican church located in a predominately White residential area in the city. It has a total congregation of about 300 persons and it used to be a church attended by Whites. A few Caribbean people moved into the area and began attending this church. They told their friends and relatives that the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming and more Caribbean people came to worship. In fact, the church has now become multicultural. Sonia describes how it wasn't always this way: It has nothing to do with having a Black priest or anything. It just has to do with having people who are open and warm enough and also having a few more of your own kind that you can at least sit down and talk with and feel as if you're not just 'the one outside/ But if you find a congregation that will be open to you - mark you, ours didn't start like that - we had to fight our way. But not everybody will sit down and say, 'Well, me not moving and going nowhere/

Sonia said that at the beginning, the Black people were looked at and 'heads turned when we walked in/ She credits the minister with making a strong effort to welcome Caribbean people:

156 Life in Canada The priest also plays a big part. If he sees that you are willing, then he puts you first and foremost and he'll get you involved in things like reading and taking part in the service. If he decides to put you up there to be a part of the service, the congregation has no choice but to accept you. So long as he finds you are capable, he gets you involved. In some other churches, they don't even take the time to find out what you are capable of doing.

The priest or minister therefore plays an important role in making Caribbean people feel comfortable and one of the most important things he can do is call upon these parishioners to become part of the service. Not all ministers have been welcoming, however, as Sonia noted: I hear of one priest who was prejudiced. So if the priest has his own prejudices and he decides that he is not going to make any overtures to minorities or whatever, and that's the way he proceeds, then of course, the rest of the congregation will follow suit. You know what I mean, it's a three-way thing. It comes from how the priest approaches things, also from the congregation itself, how they welcome you.

Several respondents mentioned that the Anglican church is going out of its way to become multicultural. As one woman said, Tt is a big push now in the Anglican church with multiculturalism. People must go out of their way to welcome others/ At this particular church, a welcome committee has been formed and the members on the committee make a special effort to make new people who come to the church feel at home. On the other hand, she knew of a number of other Anglicans who complained about certain churches where they just sat here for weeks and 'no one came over to them and welcome them, or say hello or ask where they are from and invite them to come back and stuff like that/ While St L has become multicultural under the influence of its minister, St M has become multicultural because of the area it is located in. St M is in a residential area that has had a growing West Indian population over the last fifteen years or so. Its congregation comes primarily from its neighbourhood, but there are also parishioners who travel from longer distances in order to attend services. Sonia, Mary, and Margaret are examples of women who have retained their religiosity within the migrant context. All three are heavily

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involved in church events and activities. They feel lucky to have found a church in which they were made to feel comfortable. They credit the minister who has made a concerted effort to make this church multicultural. Sonia concludes by describing how caring members of her congregation are: I did not go to church for two Sundays and those two weeks that went by, my phone did not stop ringing. People from the church were calling to ask me why I was not in church and to see if I was okay. They felt if I was not there, then I might have been ill. Other West Indians called, but there were calls from White parishioners also ... Some may not have called because they did not know my number, but when I returned to church, people said things like 'Oh, I missed you last week/

Winnifred, on the other hand, attends another Anglican church in midtown Toronto. It has a predominantly Caribbean congregation, but, interestingly enough, this church is headed by a White minister. As Winnifred explains, however, she felt immediately at home in this church because 'I went in, heard the most heart-warming Christmas service coming from the mouth of a White minister with a bit of a West Indian accent/ The church has become multicultural and has an estimated Caribbean congregation of well over 200. According to Winnifred, the church was predominantly West Indian, but the parishioners are from many different parts of the West Indies, the U.S., and even Africa. She feels that the 'mix is good and most of the experiences are good/ The few White parishioners (according to her) had some 'West Indian' ties. Like the other women, she has found a church that she is comfortable in and has attended for more than a dozen years. She has also been able to retain her religiosity in an atmosphere that 'felt like home and where people really smiled at you/ Several patterns emerge from these examples of religion in the Caribbean community. In the first instance, the respondents quoted above and others like them are all members of the middle class. They have established, white-collar office jobs, live in good-quality housing, and have many of the accoutrements of middle-class life. The religious experience is an important area of cultural continuity as middle-class West Indians tend not only to stay in churches of their denomination but to worship in those that include other West Indians of their class level. Their religious life continues to play an important role in their

158 Life in Canada lives, and for them the church serves as an important means of networking with friends and acquaintances. (The important role of the church in providing coping mechanisms for migrants is described in chapter 11.) Although men and entire families may attend Sunday services, the most zealous parishioners are women. The Fundamentalist Church

The independent fundamentalist churches are usually derived from Protestantism, but are not affiliated with an organized denomination. Many are initiated by a person who usually believes that she or he has had a call or a specific vision to found a church. The ministers in these churches are usually men, whereas the congregation is mostly women. Churches of this kind are numerous in the Caribbean. Migrants, especially those of working-class origin, are increasingly reestablishing these independent churches in Toronto. One such was studied in depth for this project. It is a Spiritual Baptist church established by a family originally from St Vincent. St A's Spiritual Baptist church, like many such independent groups, is small. It has a congregation of about sixty people. The group is closely knit, made up of individuals who are linked by ties of kinship, both fictive and blood, immigration, nationality, and worship. Most people in the church know each other fairly well. 'Visitors' to the church then are always highly visible and welcomed as a part of the service. Because of the growing importance of such churches in the Caribbean community, and also because little is known in Canada about this form of worship, a number of detailed case-studies are described. Brother Darryl Darryl Davis is a forty-eight-year-old man born in St Vincent. He grew up with an older sister in Trinidad. Darryl is married with six (soon to be seven) children. He has four biological children, two adopted children, and is in the process of adopting a third child, two years of age. Darryl is also a grandfather of a four-month-old boy. Darryl emigrated to Canada in March of 1973 on the inspiration of a spiritual vision his sister had in Trinidad. Darryl is a nurse by profession, having done his training in Canada. He has worked in Canada as a nurse and as a sales representative for a property management firm.

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Like his siblings Ralston and Pamela, Darryl grew up in the Gospel Hall church tradition where his father was the leader. Darryl enjoyed the church activities he participated in as a youngster. His youth was very church-focused. Following his emigration to Trinidad as a boy, Darryl continued to attend the Gospel Hall church. Darryl attributes much of his success today to his early experiences in the Gospel Hall faith: 'So the Gospel Hall has been a really, really great inspiration for me in making me what I am today. I esteem the religion very highly because of the principles. Most of the religions do not live up to some of the principles that the Gospel Hall religion lives [up] to/ In Trinidad, Darryl lived with a sister who was a Spiritual Baptist. He had a spiritual calling to the Spiritual Baptist faith in 1967. Darryl was concerned with the morality of the Spiritual Baptist faith, particularly with regard to unmarried couples having babies out of wedlock. Consequently, Darryl continued to attend Baptist services, but at the same time sneaked away to Gospel Hall services. Even after his spiritual calling to the Spiritual Baptist faith, for many years Darryl hid his involvement with the church from his family. I still went to the Gospel Hall church on Sunday mornings because, I am being honest with you, I was ashamed of the religion. I was ashamed of everything that people were saying. Because the Gospel Hall church was such a dignified religion, I wanted to remain dignified. And I hid it from my parents for many years because I did not want to hurt my mother and father's feelings.

It was only after healing his mother's arm when she visited Trinidad - through knowledge obtained while in spirit - that Darryl was able to reveal his involvement with the Spiritual Baptist faith to his family. Darryl is the founder and leader of St A's Spiritual Baptist church. This church started as a group of women, two of whom used to meet in each other's homes to study the Bible and pray together. On one occasion in 1975, a friend invited him to a thanksgiving being held by this group of women. Though regular contact was not established after this first meeting, Darryl met the prayer group on subsequent occasions. Eventually, the gatherings became too big for a residential home, and the current space was bought in 1980. Darryl was ordained in Toronto at around the same time and was made a revered high priest and bishop. In 1991, he was promoted to the position of archbishop in the lay hierarchy. Darryl claims that St A's is the first Spiritual Baptist church in Can-

160 Life in Canada ada. The church has a membership of 120, although this full number does not show up on any one occasion. He commented on the activities of the different groups in the church. There are three groups - the Women's League, the largely inactive Young Men's Christian Prayer Group, and the New Life Youth Group. The Women's League raises funds for the upkeep of the church. The men in the church have a barbecue twice during the summer to raise funds to buy instruments for the church. Darryl noted that he supports his members individually in times of difficulty: Like every church or every community setting, there are problems. Everyone would not be in accordance at each time. And if there is a problem, people come to me and I would sit down with the problems of that person and try and solve the problem. I am the mediator between the two people, because there are various times when as a family, you pick on one another and things do not always go smoothly. It happens in the church, but I have to be wise and be like Solomon of old, be able to split the difference and not be partial. So there are times when there are frictions. I bring them together and we sit and we talk about it and I encourage a handshake after we have discussed whatever the problem is.

During the sermon following the interview, Darryl noted that a speaker on human rights and racial discrimination, a woman church member, would be coming to the church to give a talk to the youth. In this way, the members of the church are given information that could potentially aid them in their encounters with racism and other forms of discrimination. This is especially crucial in a church like St A's, whose population is exclusively people of colour and predominantly African in descent. St A's Spiritual Baptist faith emphasizes their connection to African spiritual traditions. According to Darryl: Most of the things we do are from the Eastern hemisphere and from way back African culture. And what we are trying to do is to entertain our ancestors' way of worship, which was our original way of worship that was taken away from us. And we deal a lot with African powers, so a lot of the things that you see that is done in the church - the jumping, the moving - it's what was done in olden times in African culture.

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The bishop has a very definite view of the future of St A's. He would ultimately like to build a home for Black seniors, particularly those of the Spiritual Baptist faith. My future vision is building a home for the poor, the members of St A. In the past, there were not a lot of Blacks in Canada. And from a nursing point of view, I am seeing the need now for a Black home. I don't want to sound prejudiced, but every nationality has a home where their sick, their shut-ins, their old people can still get the national food, the things that they're used to, the people that they're used to, their way of worship. And my aim is to build a home called St A's Home for the Aged, whereby all old people, especially those that are involved in the Spiritual setting, could be sheltered when we reach that stage. Right now, we do not have a lot of Blacks in hospitals or in nursing homes, but I am seeing that as a future problem because there are a number of us here now and I am concerned as to what is going to become of us when that time comes.

Darryl's case history is typical of how leaders of fundamentalist churches receive a 'calling' to establish a church. Equally traditional is the formation of a church around a family and kinship nucleus. Fundamentalist churches define their congregation in kinship terms. They build on the biological family, which often, as in this case, serves as the nucleus. Members are 'brothers and sisters' in the religion, and important members are also given kinship titles such as 'Mother/ The congregation becomes one large group of kin and they are expected to treat each other as if they were biological kin. There is a strong emphasis on helping others in times of need, and reciprocity is expected should fortunes be reversed. For Caribbean migrants, church membership is an especially important institution that helps them cope with the stresses of migration and sometimes with the fight against racism. Fundamentalist churches, such as the Spiritual Baptist church and others like it, provide particular solace to their members. One of their most important functions is to increase the networks and connect more people with each other through their use of a kinship model of identification. Brother Henry Henry James is a thirty-nine-year-old man who is originally from St

162 Life in Canada Vincent. Henry immigrated to Canada from St Vincent in 1981 and became a Canadian citizen as soon as he was eligible. He lived in Toronto for a short time before moving to Calgary, where he worked for three years. Henry moved back to Toronto where he currently resides. He is married with two sons, aged eight and one. They live in a three-bedroom town house. Henry worked as an engineering technician in St Vincent before coming to Canada. In Canada he has worked in sheet-metal fabricating and soil testing. At the time of the interview, Henry had been laid off his job and was unemployed. He has experienced racial discrimination in his job search. Henry says that he has experienced racial discrimination since living in Canada and has come to expect it and live with it. Henry was raised in a strict, religious family in a rural district in St Vincent. He is the third youngest of nine children. Although raised by both his mother and his father, Henry indicated that his mother was the primary care giver as well as strict disciplinarian of the children. He was closely in touch with Spiritual Baptism during his childhood since his mother was a member of the Spiritual Baptist church in St Vincent. However, she did not introduce her children to her church and encouraged them to attend the Methodist church. Henry did not like the Spiritual Baptist church when he was growing up in St Vincent, as it was looked down upon generally in the community. Of his early experience, he says, 'Well, actually when I was back home, I didn't really like the Baptist church because back there, they look down upon Baptists because they go about in this white headtie and stuff and, as you see, they carry on in church. Back home, they have a proud kind of attitude and they look down upon you if you do not have the ability to dress, have a good job. Even if you work the land, they still look down upon you/ From Henry's comments, it appears that much of the discrimination was class-based. Working-class people were the main practitioners of the Baptist faith and middle-class values within a racist and colonial context disparaged the religion: They seem to exalt those with the jacket and tie, those with the fancy jobs, the nice cars, the good houses, and stuff like that. And unfortunately, most Baptists do not possess those things.' His own mother, in an attempt to provide some avenue of mobility for her children, trained them to go to a denominational church. Henry became a member of the Spiritual Baptist church six years ago after

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he emigrated to Canada. He became a member after contemplating repentance and becoming 'conscious': 'I become conscious about what is around me and what is happening. And I decide I going to be baptized, and since I baptize, now life is much better/ Another important member of this church is the minister's motherin-law, Miss Rellda. She is widowed and has eight children and eighteen grandchildren. Her entire immediate family lives here in Toronto with the exception of one grandchild who lives in the United States. Miss Rellda lived most of her life in St Vincent. She emigrated to Canada in 1969. She has lived 'between' the United States and Canada since this time. In the U.S., Miss Rellda lived with her companion. When he died, she moved permanently to Canada to be closer to her children. She has become a Canadian citizen. For the last five years, she has run a government-sponsored day care in her home. Miss Rellda leads a very busy life looking after her young charges in the day care and assisting in the care of her three grandsons and the running of her house. She grew up in a very religious family in a small village in St Vincent. Her father was the leader of a Gospel Hall church. While growing up in St Vincent, she attended church three times a week. Miss Rellda, though now a Spiritual Baptist, remains closely influenced by those early teachings. She offers the following comments on the continuities of her religious belief as mediated by the experience of immigration: It's only that when you come here, sometimes you have to change the thing around a little 'cause sometimes it's just like a living-room. You have you living-room and you wouldn't want to have furniture one way all the time, so you change around a little, you know? Same furniture 'cause you can't go out every time and buy new ones, so is the same. So is the same God we're praying to.

One item of the furniture, to continue the analogy, that Miss Rellda refuses to move involves gender division of roles in the church. Miss Rellda insists that women cover their heads in church, and she does not believe in women preaching, giving communion, or baptizing. She attributes her beliefs to her early experiences in the Gospel Hall church in St Vincent: I grew up in a very religious home. My father was the minister of the church in the community, as you call it, or village. So, from small I go to church.

164 Life in Canada The only thing that maybe I can't bring myself to is preaching because of my teaching. Back then, women not was to preach, only men, because I was brought up in the Gospel Hall circle of women. Back there you pray, sit, and listen, and when they go home they ask their husbands questions. They was not allowed to stand up, like how the girl was preaching last night. [Miss Rellda is referring to the sermon given by a young woman on Sunday.]

Growing up in St Vincent, Miss Rellda knew about the Spiritual Baptist faith and would listen in on open-air meetings on her way to and from Sunday school. Her involvement with the Spiritual Baptist faith began about ten years ago out of support for her brother Darryl, who was then the leader of a congregation that met in people's homes on a rotating basis. Miss Rellda does not see her religion as influencing her daily life. She sees the two as separate activities that are best separated for the effectiveness of each. Miss Rellda also points to the special concerns of women who are care givers within the home, who may have to interrupt their communion with the spirit in order to tend to the needs of children. It should be noted that this separation between daily life and church activity is linked to the separation of identities as signified by names. She is 'Miss Rellda' in secular life. However, in the church she is 'Mother Ford/ 'the mother of the home/ or the 'Queen Mother/ In this way, women's role of mother in the home mirrors their separate and distinct role of mother in the church. Miss Rellda commented extensively on the activities of church members and groups in providing support for members of the church as well as members of the outside community. According to Miss Rellda, the Women's League (formerly the Women's Auxiliary) works to accommodate the needs of members. Church members are visited if they are sick, old, or infirm: The first group we had was Women's Auxiliary, and then we changed it to Women's League. We wear a certain uniform in order to identify who we are in the church and sometimes we go to visit different churches, and if we know of anyone who is in the hospital, the Women's Auxiliary will go to the hospital/ Church members also provide companionship for each other. Some of the partying and socializing among church members is organized by the church to raise funds to pay the mortgage on the property. Miss Rellda indicated that there are some members who oppose this practice as 'they feel that Christians really shouldn't have partying to get the money to pay the mortgage/

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The men in the church also stage activities. They put on barbecues to raise funds to buy instruments. It appears, however, that the women are the ones who are most involved in fund-raising and supporting the activities of other members. This reflects the fact that the church is made up mostly of women. It may also involve a carry over of the care-giving role embodied in the notion of the 'mother of the church/ The church also provides aid to the poor in the community by sponsoring an annual dinner. Now the church is very poor, but then we gives out. We have to give to the poor. In July, the bishop of the church and the other ministers would go to the byways and highways and whatever and bring in the unfortunate people - we don't call them poor people, we just say very unfortunate people - bring them to the church, feed them, bathe them, we give them clean clothes to put on. But we only do that once. The church promise, or we the members of the church promise, that we should do it a little more often.

James and his mother-in-law, Miss Rellda, are examples of workingclass West Indians who have come from a strong religious background. Although neither were members of the Spiritual Baptist church in their native St Vincent, they and other members of this congregation are very familiar with its practices since this form of fundamentalist religion is very popular in St Vincent and elsewhere (Glazier 1980; Henney 1973). Their descriptions of their life in the church and the meanings attached to their religious experiences closely parallel religion as it is experienced in their native country. Their strong faith in religious fundamentalism, as evidenced in their Spiritual Baptist worship, influences their outlook on life, particularly as it is lived in their new society. Despite their hardships (for example, the minister's current lack of employment) their faith provides them with a serene and contemplative approach to life. As in the Caribbean, one of the important functions of religion is to provide a sense of direction to the secular life. For many fundamentalist worshippers, religion in Toronto, as in the Caribbean, is a lived form of faith that is acted out and experienced on a daily basis. Thus, in all its many forms, religion and religiosity plays a strong role in the lives of the immigrants. Their children, on the other hand, do not appear to be as involved in religion as their parents. Whether this fall-off is a function of age or a change as a result of migration has yet to be determined. Evidence from other countries to which Caribbean people have migrated suggests that the locally born or socialized

166 Life in Canada generation is attracted to religious groups such as Rastafarianism because it brings together important socio-political and cultural messages within a religious framework. Emerging Rastafarianism also helps in establishing a new sense of 'Roots' identity. (See chapters 6 and 12 on education and identity.) Does religion, in the many ways it is practised in the Caribbean migrant community, foster or inhibit differential incorporation? Are West Indians penalized in their attempts to incorporate into Canadian society as a result of their strong religiosity? Probably not. In fact, religion appears to be one of the important strategies that Caribbean people use to make their lives here more meaningful. What is important to emphasize in the context of analysing their religious experience in Toronto is that here too exclusionary attitudes and practices have acted against them. The racism that many of our respondents felt and experienced when they attempted to join mainstream places of worship was a powerful deterrent to their efforts to incorporate into Canadian society. Exclusionary practices and the desire to worship among themselves has led to the establishment of a large and growing number of Caribbean churches in Toronto.

8

Leisure and Social Life

Social and leisure activities are an extremely important part of Caribbean culture. The concept of socializing with others figures prominently in the culture. This is largely fostered by the small size of many of the islands, but even in the larger countries, collectivity rather than isolation is the rule. Social life and activity almost always includes a number of people. Family life fosters this concept since most working-class homes are small but full of people as there are often many children and older members of the extended family. There is relatively little privacy in Caribbean homes, and the concept of privacy has very little salience. Houses are densely packed together in small areas. In many poor urban areas, there are still remnants of the barrack rooms that existed on plantations and estates of former times. A series of rooms built in a yard (often called barracks or barrack rooms or simply the yard) constitutes housing for the urban poor. Life in the barracks affords no privacy and everything is known by everybody else. Every aspect of life is lived as a collective social event.1 The rural areas, even in the larger countries, are characterized by a series of contiguous rather than isolated villages. In the most general sense, life in Caribbean countries is lived together rather than alone. Togetherness is reinforced by the large size of most Caribbean families, the small size of most of the countries, the particular spatial arrangement of villages, the denseness of urban living conditions, and the like. The importance of kinship in Caribbean culture is also a coni Many of the novels produced by Caribbean writers vividly recreate life in the urban barracks. See, for example, Earl Lovelace's The Dragon Can't Dance.

168 Life in Canada tributing factor in reinforcing togetherness. People are inextricably linked together by the large, extended kin networks. On another level, concepts of friendship and neighbourliness are also extremely important features of Caribbean social life. People come together as a result of 'dropping by' or 'just passing/ People drop in on each other's homes without invitation. In fact, being invited (other than for a more formal party or event) rarely occurs. People, especially men, also meet frequently on street corners, in parks, or in any other open space to talk, pass the time, or sometimes have a drink or two. This practice (known as 'liming' in some of the islands) also serves the important role of male bonding. Taverns and 'rum shops' are also extremely popular venues for male socializing. In many of the smaller islands, as well as in the rural areas of the larger islands, social events in which friends, neighbours, and kin come together for food, drink, and 'old talk' are a popular means of passing time. Parties, known in some islands as 'fetes,' are usually held in private homes and attendance is loosely by invitation, but 'word gets around' and parties tend to grow as people bring friends and friends of friends. Since most people know each other, these informal attendance patterns thrive. At larger parties, there is sometimes a charge for food and drink consumed. A variant of the house party is one in which, in addition to the charges for food and drink, there is an entrance fee. These parties are usually given as a means of making money for the host. In addition, such paying parties are often given to aid churches and to raise money for charities or particular events such as youth excursions. Other venues include community halls and sometimes church premises. Parties and dances are given to celebrate particular events. Birthday celebrations, even for adults, are extremely popular events. Parties are generally held in homes and dances in public venues such as halls and centres. Both events, however, include food and drink and, most importantly, music. The success of such social events is often evaluated by the quality of the music played. The major activity, of course, is dancing. Caribbean parties are not sit-down-and-talk events, nor like the stand-around North American cocktail party. Caribbean fetes are characterized by spirited and loud music and active and continuous dancing. Parties also take place outdoors, and a common social activity is the beach excursion, often held when the moon is full. Large groups of friends will rent a bus or travel in a number of private cars to the seaside, carrying their own food and drink. A sound system is

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set up on the beach and drinking, eating, dancing, and listening to music continue into the small hours of the morning. In addition to house parties and dances, popular venues of Caribbean social life include nightclubs. In many of the larger islands, clubs range from the seedy to the respectable. Many forms of social activity take place throughout the year. However, social life is particularly active during certain seasons. The Christmas period runs from the beginning of December to early January. In addition, most countries have a carnival during Lent in Catholic countries, around Christmas time in the Leewards, or in midsummer in other areas. Sailing regattas and festivals take place in countries such as Antigua. In addition, special harvest celebrations such as CropOver, which harks back to the slave period when the harvest was completed, take place in countries such as Barbados. These many social activities and the larger social life patterns of the Caribbean span the class structure of the region. Fetes, parties, and dances are characteristic of all classes.2 SOCIAL LIFE AMONG MIGRANTS

Many of the traditional forms of socializing are transported to the new society. House parties, dances, and clubs are extremely popular in Toronto's Caribbean community. However, there have been significant changes in the social life of Caribbean migrants. The forms of social activity - house parties, dances, and clubs - have remained the same, but the activities have changed somewhat over the years. The House Party in the Mid-seventies

During this early period, the main social activity for the migrant community was the house party. House parties of all kinds ranging from birthday parties to the celebration of festivals and religious events such as Christmas are an integral part of the lifestyle of Caribbean people of all class levels. 2 Social activities are also undertaken by members of 'posses/ The posses has been given a negative connotation in the media as being a gang of toughs engaged in criminal activity similar to a biker gang. In fact, a posse is any group of people, both young men and young women, who organize and share the same interests and activities. The members of a posse might wear the same kind of jacket, similar hairstyle, or an emblem, or listen to the same kind of music and decide to hang out together.

170 Life in Canada When a host charges admission to invited guests, the event usually takes place during a festival period and the money is used to defray expenses for food, drink, and live music and provide 'something extra' for the hosts. When a party is open to all comers who pay the admission, the party is usually given so that the host can pay rent, mortgage, or other large expenses. The early migrants therefore brought with them a particular form of social life that was maintained in Canada. House parties were especially useful because there were almost no clubs, fast-food outlets, community halls, or any other venue that might have been used for social events. Moreover, social life was still defined in terms of the way it was at home - holding house parties in private homes. One of the researchers on this project remembers the house party life of this period because her parents were known as great party givers: I can recall a party that my stepfather threw in 1974. I remember cleaning the house with my mother on Saturday afternoons. Gotta make sure everything is spick and span. Gotta make sure all the dust and hand prints and smudges on the wall aren't there. I personally at the time used to think it was a total waste of time since the place was going to be in darkness anyway! However, I cleaned and helped prepare for the party. My stepfather had a stereo with a name - 'Sky-Rocket Downbeat/ This stereo was serious. I'm talking heavy-duty bass, flashing red lights - the works. 'Sky-Rocket Downbeat' played many a reggae import from Jamaica during 1973, 1974, and 1975 - songs like 'Barbwire' and music by Toots and the Maytals. That's what I grew up listening to during those years. I also listened to rhythm and blues when they still called R & B rhythm and blues, funk and soul. Curtis Mayfield, the Ohio Players, Al Green, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Ojays, the Manhattans, Millie Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and many, many more pumped through the stereo. 'Sky-Rocket Downbeat' was the hub and life of the party because without a set [a stereo sound system], your party wasn't really happening. The stereo was located in the drawing-room half of our living-room. The wall unit that housed the turntable and equalizer was covered in light blue wallpaper with what always looked to me like wispy, white clouds. Maybe the message was that the music could make you fly. Anyway, in the middle of the unit was a small red light that flashed to the pulse of the beat. There were speakers in this drawing-room, as well as speakers in the basement of our house. On the night of the party, we kids (myself and my two brothers) were allowed

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to stay up for a bit while the early guests came in - Jamaicans, Vincentians, Trinidadians - some newly arrived. Blue and red silky dresses, black pants, and psychedelic shirts. People would arrive and head down to the basement. Judging by the smells, and if I confirmed my suspicions by peeking over the banister of the stairs, I would see my mother busy in the kitchen, dishing up plates of food for people and serving beer. Curried chicken and rice and peas. Curried goat and plain white rice. Gravy on the top. Molsons and Labatts. At one party, people paid for the beer and the food. People went to house parties without knowing the host. There seemed to be a more relaxed attitude around who was at the party compared to today. Guests would come to the door and say, 'Hi, I'm a friend of a friend of a friend and I'm coming to your party/ Because of the lack of other entertainment and because 'there just wasn't a whole lot going on in Toronto for Black people, and so we did our own thing/ the house party flourished. None of our respondents could recall running into trouble with the neighbours or conflict with the police because of a house party. The most that would happen is that on occasion, a neighbour called the police because of the noise. The police might or might not come to the door, and if they did come, they would often only suggest that the stereo be turned down. At these parties, Caribbean people from Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad, and other islands would gather. Many knew each other through family ties and relationships 'back home/ others through work and school links forged in the immigration experience. Quite a few people also brought their young children. These parties were intimate in the sense that people were linked to each other through ties of friendship, family, and work. They were not generally parties thrown to generate profit. Carol recalls that at one of these memorable parties, one of her aunts held 'wining' lessons for the rapidly Canadianized and stiffening pelvises of the young Caribbean immigrants and Canadian-born generation: I will never forget this occasion. For in the moment of the wine, as children we got to express a part of ourselves as sensual, feeling beings that the historically and culturally defined ways of moving for children in Canada denied. In school, whenever the teacher put on music for us to dance, all the Canadian children would stare at the Caribbean children shaking their thing! School

172 Life in Canada dances and 'free movement' during playtime were a chore! We would stare in amazement at their seemingly jerky, disjointed, stiff movements.3

Social Life among the Black Youth in Toronto Partying at this time largely revolved around high school dances at 'in' schools. 'In' schools were ones that many Black youth frequented because of an informal rating system based on 'coolness.' The 'coolness' ratio was defined in terms of who was going there (i.e., cool people or uncool people), success of sports teams (i.e., happening track and basketball teams or losers), good dances (i.e., a lot of people went to the dances, especially the cool people), and an unquantifiable aspect that had to do with the 'vibe' of the school. In the late 19705 and early 19805, the following schools were cool: Georges Vanier, Oakwood, York Memorial, and Vaughan Road. Everyone who was anybody went to dances at these schools. Young people came from all over the city to attend or at least hang around the entrance to the dance area. In this way, the dances were also common meeting grounds for black youth. The DJ at the dance also had a lot to do with the popularity of the dance. People 'followed' DJs - that is, they went to dances where DJs played because they were loyal to the DJ. The DJ had to be able to 'kick ass' and not disappoint his crowd. He (it was always a man) had to play the right mix of dance songs and 'slow grooves' to keep the dance happening. People would line up for dances and pay between $5 and $7 to get in to the dance. Dances were moneymakers for the student council of a particular school. They were also moneymakers for the DJs, many of whom were high school students. That DJ action also transferred to nightclubs. Exotically named places such as Retreat, Heaven and Hagermans, These Eyes, and Exctasy were the nightclubs that young Black people frequented. The experience at clubs during this time did not include fear or discomfort. Respondents remembered that they did not feel afraid to be out with other young Black people. There was no fear of violence or 'unknown elements' among the peer group of young Black people, most of whom 3 'Wining/ pronounced 'whining/ is a dialect expression and means to wind or move the hips in a sensual manner.

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had arrived in Canada ten years previously in the early 19705. At the same time, however, it was necessary to be familiar with club etiquette: 'This etiquette, as a woman, included knowing how to avoid creeps, having your "mad" money and knowing how to leave a club fast in case there was any trouble/ Clubs and parties were therefore easy social activities that young people (and their elders) could enjoy without the threat of violence or the often disagreeable behaviour of people high on drugs. In fact, no drugs were consumed at the house parties and many of the clubs were also fairly clean. Carol remembers attending a party in the early 19805 given by two students attending Vaughan Collegiate: I would say nearly 200 people crowded into this guy's house at Lawrence and Caledonia. It was rammed to the ceiling. People were sweating and wet with the heat and perspiration of all those dancing bodies in the basement of the house. The party was also happening in the kitchen and upstairs on the top level of the house. I remember a girl who had pressed her hair with a hotcomb and set it for the party. By about midnight, this sister was sporting a 'fro! Everyone's hairstyle was altered by the heat. However, even though there were so many people at this guy's party, there was no violence. Not a single fight broke out.

These parties were common meeting grounds for young Black people. This type of partying was an essential part of identity formation for young people of Caribbean heritage living in Toronto. Students who attended schools in which there were few West Indian students particularly needed this kind of social life. If they wanted to socialize with other young Black people and listen to a certain kind of music, eat Caribbean food, and meet young men and women to date, parties and clubs were the solution since the school environment didn't provide these essentials for students of Caribbean origin. Blockos or Block Parties 'Blockos' or 'block parties' were an important part of the summer in the early to mid-eighties. Starting in the month of July, these outdoor music and dance parties were often sponsored by a DJ as a kick-off to Caribana. At 33 St George Street on the University of Toronto campus, there was a blocko every Sunday preceding Caribana in 1983. Young people would congregate there to 'hang out, check out guys,

174 Life in Canada check out what other girls were wearing, and dance - yes, dance right there in front of 33 St George with all of the other people/ Older men and women would also attend these events with their babies or toddlers. There were always a few people selling rotis, patties, and other goodies to eat. Flyers advertising dances and parties would always be handed out at these blockos. Often the flyers advertised an upcoming dance that the DJ was going to hold. Many times, other crews (groups of DJs who worked together) would hand out their own flyers as well. As high school students continued to university, much of their partying was also done privately, as the pubs and social events on campus (particularly at the University of Toronto) did not welcome Caribbean students. Later Caribbean student groups were organized and they held dances. The Warehouse and After-Hours Clubs During the mid-eighties, the number of Caribbean clubs proliferated. Another social venue began to be developed: large empty warehouses in and around the area of Queen Street as well as further south along Harbourfront were rented. Warehouses are used particularly during Caribana, but dances are held throughout the year. After-hours clubs became common. Clubs such as the Twilight Zone and the Copa were particularly attended by young people. Many of the clubs played 'house' music and attracted all the house music-lovers and dancers. Many of the same people would attend these various clubs and warehouse dances and got to know each other. These venues attracted different kinds of people, primarily Black, but also included some Whites and Asians. People of diverse sexual persuasions were also drawn to these clubs, mostly because of the music and the freedom to dance in an uninhibited fashion. The Zone was an after-hours club owned by brothers. Things got started around midnight and wrapped up at 7 a.m. People would arrive as late as 12:30 a.m., stay sometimes until closing, and then have breakfast before going home. Many people who were frequent attenders at the Zone spent a lot of time and effort in choosing their outfits for partying. Some were into fashion and actually designed and sewed the outfits. The style of dress was an important feature. Some clubs were licensed to sell alcohol, but after-hours clubs such as the Zone were not. Alcohol was, however, consumed surreptitiously.

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The Change in Party and Club Atmosphere During the summer of 1988, an almost imperceptible change in atmosphere or Vibe' became noticeable at parties and clubs. People were not having the big house parties of the seventies and eighties as frequently as they used to. The young man who had hosted the large house party described earlier no longer holds these kinds of parties: 'It's dangerous to have parties like that any more because you just don't know who may show up, and then the next thing, you know, you could have a shooting or the cops at your door/ Others share that sentiment and the number of house parties given primarily for fun and music has noticeably declined. Carol attended a house party in the fall of 1990 and reported that there was a definite change in atmosphere compared to even four years earlier: Things didn't seem as relaxed. Everyone seemed more guarded. There were guys there with beepers who excused themselves to make phone calls at 2 a.m. Things were different. You couldn't relax.' Social activity in the Caribbean community has changed in the last few years. Many house parties are being held, but they have changed their character. They attract guests who are not necessarily in social networks with each other. They are often given by people who intend to make money by charging admission and also for food and drink. Anyone who has the price of admission is free to attend. Drugs and alcohol are freely sold at many of these functions. These changes were attributed by some respondents to the influence of Jamaican dancehall culture on the party scene and other aspects of life in Toronto's Black and Caribbean community. In addition, the growth of the drug culture in Toronto's Black community has apparently had an effect on partying. The increased tension between the Black community and the police in Toronto has also affected the atmosphere of partying. If a party is taking place, people expect the police to show up at any moment. Warehouse dances (called 'raves') are also extremely frequent, as are concerts given by rap artists. Clubs hosted by various DJs are also still popular. However, all these social venues have been infiltrated by groups of people who are more interested in subcultural activities associated with drugs than with the more traditional Caribbean 'feting' with its emphasis on music and dance. These innovations are also the result of rapid changes within the community. More young people are finding themselves alienated not only from mainstream Canadian culture but also from the migrant generation. (See chapter 9 on subculture for further analysis of these

176 Life in Canada trends.) The ethos of work and the drive to succeed that characterizes the migrants do not apply to some of these young people. Increasingly, therefore, the social scene is being changed to suit their needs and requirements. People who used to have a good time at house parties and clubs no longer attend because they are not comfortable with the way they have changed. They also fear the violence that sometimes accompanies these activities. As police-community relations have worsened in the city, a circular dynamic appears to be taking place. People at social events expect harassment from the police. The police, on the other hand, expect violence, drug dealing, and other subcultural activities at these venues. Both groups expect the worst of each other. Policing the Black community social functions therefore increases the tensions between police and segments within the community. OTHER SOCIAL ARENAS

Another vital form of social life takes place in and around fast-food outlets and restaurants that specialize in Caribbean food. At the end of an evening spent at a club, many people head off to one of several restaurants in the Toronto area, such as Raps located on Eglinton Avenue. These restaurants that serve only West Indian food are open late at night. On any Friday or Saturday evening between midnight and 4 a.m., a crowd of people purchasing food can be seen there. Going to places like Raps caps off an evening out for many people. For others, it is simply a restaurant where one can have a Caribbean meal. On a particular Saturday night, one of the fieldworkers drove to Raps at about 3 a.m. The restaurant was crowded, with every table occupied and a queue of about thirty people waiting for service. Reggae music played on the music system. On the walls are a variety of posters displaying Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, various scenes of Jamaica, a travel poster of a young woman emerging from the sea in Jamaica, and a variety of notices about events in the Caribbean community. The atmosphere in the restaurant was social. Many of the patrons knew each other and most had come from clubs and other events. People who did not know each other quickly struck up conversations with those at neighbouring tables. Occasionally, White Canadians eat at Raps. On this evening, a group of five white Canadian men walked in and joined the crowd waiting at the counter for service. Almost immediately a space cleared around them.

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They were served promptly. When their food came, they took it and sat at a table. For a few moments, all eyes were on the Whites and a hush fell over the crowd. Nothing was said, but their movements were watched. After about forty-five minutes, the field worker and her party left. She spotted four police cars cruising by Raps during this time. It was observed by a member of the group that 'of course the police are around any site where Black people hang out!7 Two of the fieldworkers were invited to a party given in honour of a small group of Caribbean entertainers who have achieved a considerable measure of success in Canada. The description of this event, held at a luxury hotel, gives an insight into the social life of those few who 'have made it!' The Guys Who Have Made li I was invited to join the New Year's Eve party by two individuals I met whilst I was on holidays in St Kitts. They were members of a rap group called Dream Warriors. They were filming a video for their new hit single on the island of St Kitts, and they asked me to be a part of this. I arrived at 2:30 a.m. The party was breaking, but I was informed that there was a private party going on at the Toronto Harbour Hilton. I followed their limos down to the Hilton and arrived on the twenty-seventh floor where they had rented a few suites. Here they had a buffet and some of the finest champagne. At the private party were some of the top-of-the-line rappers who originated from Toronto. They were a part of that New Year's Eve celebration. They included names like Maestro Fresh West, Shelley Thunder, Meshe Me, Man-o-tronics and Techno-tronics, Mr 'B' Cool, HDV, and the Dream Warriors. There was a whole room full of them. Some of these guys, however, had lived in the projects - Regent Park, Queen Street, Bathurst, Spadina, and Dundas projects - and it was very interesting to sit back and look at these folks who have money now. They have money now, but they came from lower socio-economic backgrounds. At this party no one pretended to be better off than anyone else. It was their managers who planned the party. All they had to do was just show up and invite their guests. Everybody seemed to have respect for everyone else. It seemed that they were all on the same level. Conversation flowed quite intelligently. They did not talk only about the music business, they spoke about many kinds of things. I remember talking to Fresh West about how money changes people, how they become 'stuck up.' He told me that the money has not changed him, that he was still the guy he was before. It was interesting to note that he tried to play down the money aspect.

178 Life in Canada Everyone at the party seemed to be having quite a good time. All were dressed up - fancy clothes, fancy gold rings, etc. The people were quite warm and friendly to each other and to me.

Thus far, we have been considering informal, relatively unstructured forms of social activity. We turn now to the major social event that mobilizes the Caribbean community as well as increasing numbers of Canadians every August. Caribana

One of the most important activities sponsored by the Caribbean communities in Toronto is the annual street festival known as Caribana. Modelled after the carnival in Trinidad, Caribana has continued to be an important institution in the community for twenty years. The celebration of Canada's centennial inspired the formation of Caribana when the federal government asked a group of people from the Caribbean to participate in the celebration. During its first year, a large crowd looked on as about 1,000 participated in a street parade. In 1992, Caribana attracted over i million onlookers and many thousands of participants. Caribana now draws people from all over the world - West Indians from England and from cities in the U.S. People also travel up from the Caribbean to attend the festival. It has become a major focal point for the renewal of family ties and friendship. Hotels across the city are fully booked; restaurants do a booming business during the week of Caribana. In addition to the main parade of spectacularly costumed 'mas bands' (masquerade), each with their steel band or other music accompaniment, many related social events and parties take place in the city. Exhibitions and other cultural events have become part of the festivities. Caribana can, at one level, perhaps be identified or classified as a cultural broker institution. It plays a largely integrative role because it operates as a bridge between the Caribbean community and Canadian mainstream society and its institutions. Caribana is supported by Metro, the City of Toronto, the province, and corporate sponsors because it is regarded as a positive multicultural expression. It also aids in bridging the gap between the community and the mainstream because of the increasing numbers of White Canadians who are attracted to it as spectators and participants. A costumed 'mas' band composed entirely of White Canadians has

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participated in the festival for some years. Shadowland's members are a group of environmentally conscious residents of Toronto Island. The band usually 'plays' an environmental theme and its costumes are now being designed by an artist imported from Trinidad. Many more White Canadians are actually participating in the other bands. In one band, an entire section of about thirty-five people were White, and they were scattered in other bands as well. In the parade of 1992, one section of a band was comprised entirely of women joined by one White man who was 'playing/ dancing in time, and obviously having a marvellous time. The actual White participation rate, as judged by observing the bands, is about 5 per cent. White spectators are also increasing. On the parade route, about 15 per cent are White, and in the Exhibition Place stands where the bands parade and are judged, about 6-7 per cent of the seated spectators were White. The majority of these appeared to be connected somehow to Caribbean people as friends, neighbours, spouses, or other associates. Caribana also serves important purposes for the Caribbean and Black communities. Aside from providing a good time, the festival maintains or attempts to recreate the atmosphere of a Trinidad carnival. It is an institution that has been retained, although migration has of necessity involved many changes in its structure and organization. It also acts as a yearly celebration of Caribbean identity in the host society. Caribana supports the development of Black artists and their work and aids in identity maintenance, as noted by Althea Trotman: Tor the artist of African descent in Canada, these creations by our cultural workers become important tools in our conversation with ourselves about ourselves. They are also strong statements to our fellow citizens about who we are' (Trotman 1992). Caribana allows Caribbean people to act joyfully and expressively. It also reinforces their cultural and racial identity. Caribana also serves as a vehicle of empowerment - 'Showing pride in one's heritage becomes a form of political empowerment for peoples who have been traditionally marginalized' (Burney 1993). It provides minority people with a 'sense of place by recreating ... symbols, myths and ritual' and thus 'symbolizes the reaffirmation of displaced identities in the placeless cultures of metropolises such as Toronto, New York and London' (Burney 1993). Caribana also introduces the second generation to this important aspect of their original identity. On the negative side, Caribana also maintains the traditional island

180 Life in Canada divisions that still factionalized the community. The composition of its organizing committee and many of its events reflect its Trinidadian origins. Trinidadians have resisted the efforts of people from other areas of the Caribbean, especially Jamaicans, at playing a major planning role. There is more of an affinity with people from the small eastern Caribbean countries who are seen as less threatening in terms of attempting to influence the direction of the festival. Their carnivals are also thought to be more similar to those of Trinidad. From this perspective, Caribana exacerbates island disunity. There is also a continuing debate over the inclusion of Latin American and African groups who now wish to mount bands. The many clubs and parties around town during Caribana reflect the diversity in the community, and many of the dances and parties feature reggae and other Jamaican-derived music. As one flyer advertising a club party or 'slam' noted, Tower Slam '92 the best in funk, dance, reggae, calypso and hip hop7 and Tarty with the tourists, head downtown on Caribana Friday; we don't discriminate we play reggae/ Thus, while the main event is still clearly Trinidadian, the social events around the main event reflect the diversity in the community. Social and leisure activities in the Caribbean communities are diverse and reflect the many origins of the community. Activities range from small parties, picnics, excursions, nightclub events, and dances to the large-scale street festival of Caribana, which attracts over a million people!4 Do social activities and events affect the status of the communities in Toronto? There is no clear answer to this question. Much of the social life of Caribbean people, like that of others in this society, must be lived indoors for climatic reasons. There is an inevitable tension between outdoor and indoor activities. No doubt some of the increasing clashes between party goers, their neighbours, and the police can be attributed to the size and noise levels of Caribbean functions. At home, large parties, dances, and other events spill out onto the street or are held in part in gardens or in yards among the poorer classes. People go in and out of the party venue. More guests can be accommodated than the interior of a home or hall would hold. Loud music 4 We have little information on sporting activities in the Caribbean communities in Toronto. Caribbean people are sports-oriented and excel in sports such as cricket, track and field, soccer, and basketball. These sports are also played here locally and within small networks.

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is not considered 'noise'; party music is supposed to entertain the entire neighbourhood. (Radios and TVs are also played at high volume in the Caribbean. This may stem from earlier times when perhaps only one or two houses managed to own a radio. They played it loudly so their neighbours could also have the benefit of the programming.) Socializing among large groups of people, playing loud music, conversing and joking in loud tones characterize the social activity of an outdoor culture. Attempting to maintain the same patterns in Toronto inevitably leads to clashes with non-Caribbean residents and the police.

9

The Illegal Subculture

The 'subculture' refers to a pattern of social and economic activities characteristic of the underclass in the Caribbean community. These activities include various forms of illegality ranging from selling alcohol after hours to prostitution and distributing drugs. The venue for subcultural activity, such as drug dealing, is primarily the social and after-hours clubs. After-hours clubs generally operate past their licensing hours, if they are licensed at all, and begin operations at around i a.m. 'Booze cans' usually refer to after-hours clubs, but the term has taken on a more generic meaning to include private house parties in which liquor is sold. Often associated with the subculture of drug dealing are prostitution and pimping. Participants in these activities are in their late twenties to early forties. The younger groups generally tend to work the streets, school yards, and shopping malls. Subcultural activity also includes crimes such as breaking and entering and car theft. Occasionally, subcultural activities will also include violence such as assault and murder. This pattern of underclass activity has been the focus of the police surveillance of Black and Caribbean-origin people. The media have also paid considerable attention to this aspect of Caribbean life in Toronto. One of the complicating factors in an analysis of these activities is that the venues used are often the same as those used for legitimate leisure activity. The majority of patrons who attend clubs and people who go to house parties are there to have a good time and enjoy the music, but a small minority attend these functions to carry out illegal activities. The whole range of leisure activities have therefore been

The Illegal Subculture 183 given a 'bad name/ As already noted in the previous chapter, hosts who used to give parties no longer do so. Similarly, there are now many people who refuse to go to clubs. To a certain extent, the use of clubs for illegal purposes is a manifestation of cultural continuity since some clubs in the Caribbean also serve these functions. Thus, an important concern is continuing cultural, patterns that have become extreme and cater essentially to the 'underclass' in the community. In order to put this form of activity into cultural context, a brief description of club life follows. House parties and their role in Caribbean social life have already been described in the previous chapter. CLUB LIFE IN THE CARIBBEAN

Social and leisure clubs are important in the social life of Caribbean people, particularly among the urban working class. There are also clubs that cater to the middle class and others who are 'respectable7 or who have social status in the community. Local taverns, known in some Caribbean countries as 'rum shops/ are in both urban and rural areas. They are, for the most part, frequented by men. There is a tradition of clubs, especially among the working class, that exist primarily for drinking and socializing. It serves as an important vehicle for male bonding and maintaining peer relationships. In the cities such clubs are also venues for prostitutes and some of them may on occasion serve as distribution centres for drugs. Activities that take place within the clubs also spill onto the street and much of the 'deviant' and illegal activities in some clubs can also be found on the street, especially in the poorer areas of the capital cities of the region. Some of these patterns have been carried over and have been exacerbated by a variety of conditions found in the migrant setting where they have become particularly attractive to some of the youth. HOUSE PARTIES, CLUBS, AND OTHER SOCIAL VENUES IN TORONTO

With migration, the house party has taken on an almost exclusively economic function, as it is almost always given to make money for the host to pay rent, mortgage, or other large expenses. The social functions of the house party, which play an important role in the Caribbean even when money is being raised, still occur, but these functions have

184 Life in Canada increasingly changed. Since raising money is the primary motivation in having a party, other activities that are illegal but financially profitable are also to be found at the kinds of house or 'rent' parties given in the areas in which Caribbean people have settled. Moreover, the house party has, in some instances, become another venue for 'booze cans' - that is, places where liquor can be purchased after hours. Some parties now do not charge admission but rely on liquor sales to make their money. And, in some, women are admitted free. In the municipality of Scarborough, where many Caribbean people live, the issue of house parties has taken on major significance. Recently, eight people were killed and dozens injured at parties held in Scarborough and other areas. Non-Caribbean residents are increasingly disturbed about the noise, street parking, and offensive behaviour, such as urinating on lawns, that are said to take place during the all-night events. A delegation of irate citizens recently appeared at the Metro Toronto Police Services Board to protest the lack of police action in stopping the parties (Toronto Star, 11 July 1992). The police maintain that they do not have the resources to monitor large party crowds. They also maintain that they do not always know in advance when such events are to be held. Police perceptions of these parties are extremely negative, although they maintain that they don't really police them. In an article reporting on illegal booze cans in the downtown area that are 'friendly' and house parties that are suburban (that is, in Caribbean or Jamaican areas) and dangerous, police officers are noted as saying: The suburban house party is far more dangerous. They tend to be huge gatherings and even police are afraid to go ... [an officer is quoted as saying] 'People get hyped up on whatever there is, and you get a lot of turf war, but it has nothing to do with the inner-city booze cans, which are really quite friendly places. (Toronto Star, 17 July 1993, 2)

The house parties, which have largely changed their function in the migration context, are attended mainly by young people of the working class and underclass. The parties themselves have become symbolic of the changing nature of the Caribbean communities in Toronto and are an indication of the growing alienation of the underclass from mainstream society. Attenders are the same people who have already dropped out of school, are often unemployed, and have little prospect for the future.

The Illegal Subculture 185 SOCIAL CLUBS There are now, in various areas of Toronto, a number of licensed social clubs that cater to all segments within the Caribbean community. The clubs offer live music and liquor, and some of them serve Caribbean food. They are normally closed during daytime hours and operate from about 8 p.m., but the activity does not really start until about midnight. The social clubs are very well known and each has its particular orientation. For example, Oceans 11 is known as a Jamaican club. The Club Caribbean and a recently closed club called Astrolite catered to Trinidadians and other island people. A club in Downsview caters primarily to persons of Indo-Caribbean origin. Clubs, like the many island associations that flourish in the Caribbean communities, are usually island-specific and are further evidence that island of origin is still an important form of segmentation in the Caribbean community. Clubs located on the outskirts of Toronto were much favoured because they are considered to be 'upbeat7 progressive. They are largely frequented by second-generation people or those who were socialized in Canada. The term 'progressive' means a club in which funk and R and B (rhythm and blues) music is played where people no longer want to dance only to reggae music. A progressive club is also one in which the patrons do not speak 'patswa' or patois. In all, as one respondent noted, 'we act more American, but with a certain amount of West Indian thrown in/ Oceans 11: A Case-Study

Oceans n is a club located in Mississauga. It caters primarily to middleclass patrons, but some working-class people also go there occasionally. The crowd is usually in their mid-twenties to early thirties. Oceans 11 is owned by a Jamaican and is mainly attended by Jamaicans. It is, in fact, known as a 'Jamaican' club. Many of the clubs appear to be island-specific; for example, Club Affairs caters primarily to Trinidadians. Oceans 11 is behind a storefront. An admission fee of $8 is charged and the doorman uses a stamp to mark the hands of customers who have already paid the entrance fee. The club contains a large bar, a dance floor, tables, and chairs. The staff includes several White bartenders. The action at Oceans 11 begins around 11 p.m. The club has either a DJ or, sometimes, a live band, and the music alternates be-

186 Life in Canada tween reggae, jazz, and (at the moment) funk and rhythm and blues. Food is served until about 3 a.m. The club begins to fill up at around midnight and it appears to attract a wide range of young to early middle-aged men and women primarily but not exclusively of Jamaican origin. Many of the patrons do not live in Mississauga, but they attend this club because of its 'clean' reputation. Other clubs closer to downtown were said to be riddled with drugs, pimps, and prostitutes. These activities invariably bring the police and several respondents said that 'it's no fun to be constantly watched and harassed by the police.' Although there were several police cars parked in the parking lot during our participant observation, the police rarely enter unless fights break out. Fights, according to the patrons, usually occur when people from certain areas challenge another group and an argument ensues. Sometimes fights took place between Jamaicans and non-Jamaicans. On the whole, the club caters to people who want basic entertainment of the kind that a social club can provide. Clubs like this can be differentiated from those in which illegal activities flourish. However, even a 'respectable' club such as this one can and is used for undercover purposes. There are also social clubs owned and frequented by people of Caribbean origin in which a variety of illegal activities are carried out. This does not mean that every patron of these clubs is involved or wishes to purchase drugs or sex. The vast majority are there simply to have a good time. These clubs are, however, known as places where subcultural activities can easily be engaged in. THE SUBCULTURE AT WORK PWD s; A Case-Study*

PWD's in Yorkville is a nightclub frequented mostly by Black, mainly Caribbean, men, although there is a cross-cultural clientele as well. Funk i The participant observation data and the interviews that form the basis for this chapter were collected by a young Black field researcher in his mid-twenties. The club scene was already fairly well known to him before he was engaged for this project. He spent approximately two months in visiting various clubs and attempting to speak to people he met there. While he was able to gather an impressive amount of data, close details of what involved illegal activities were not discussed. The 'interviews' consisted of informal conversations held in the clubs, but on a few occasions they were conducted on the street.

The Illegal Subculture 187 music is played attracting those who are especially fond of this form of music. When it first opened in the late 19705, PWD's was a very exclusive, top-of-the-line nightspot located in trendy Yorkville. Over the years, the clientele has changed and so has the atmosphere at the club. Over the last three or four years, it has become known as a place that plays mostly funk music, hence the largely Black clientele. The majority of its patrons are between thirty and forty years of age. Professionals as well as people from the subculture frequent the nightclub. The patrons enjoy dancing to funk music, and for many the club provides a place where stress can be danced away. Many patrons simply enjoy a night out. Members of the subculture, however, go there for other reasons, mainly to prey on the legitimate customers. One such is Bubbles, the 'hustler/ who steals wallets from purses. There are no drugs sold in this club, but contacts for their purchase can be made here. There are, however, a lot of undercover police officers at the club. Sunday night is known as T and H' night (that is, pimp and hole night). Apparently on Sunday nights a number of police come to the club to see what prostitute is with what pimp and to make the connection for the continuous files that they maintain. The name of that particular organization within the police force is said to be called 'CLUE'; it has been set up specifically for monitoring pimps and prostitutes. It is also thought to monitor drug dealers. At PWD's, everybody walks around with an air of sophistication. The atmosphere is friendly and 'nice' people are dressed up in suits and fancy dresses. On the surface, it looks like any club at which middle-class people are out to have a good time. Under this veneer of gentility, other activities are taking place. 'Bubbles' Bubbles is forty-five to fifty years of age and has grey hair and a grey beard. Bubbles is originally from Jamaica. He came to Canada in 1959 and has not held a job in twenty-five years. Bubbles says that he got 'sidetracked' as soon as he came up here. One evening, one of the researchers spent some time in talking to him. I bought him a drink and we started to talk. Bubbles excused himself because he had to go make money. I, in the meantime, sat back and watched his movements and his method of 'hustle/ I saw him stealing purses and wallets out of purses. I was quite amazed to see him among a group of people, and I

i88 Life in Canada watched him lift the wallets out of purses while he was surrounded by people. He came back to me and I told him I had seen him 'at work' and that he was very clean and very slick in the way he did it. He then bragged to me about the fact that he was clean. He also said he has done a lot of jail time for his numerous activities. He'll do almost anything (usually illegal) for a dollar. I asked him, 'Why do you do what you do?' He just tells me that he lives a hustler's life, that he is going to die hustling, and that's basically about it. He was reticent about discussing his lifestyle in more detail. I also asked him about jail, as he mentioned he has been in jail numerous times. Somehow he indicates that jail does not bother him. To him, it's just a part of life. He says that sometimes you get caught and you have to go to jail. He has had a number of friends who have been deported for their illegal activities. Although Bubbles seems to be a very nice guy, you can't trust him. He is a real downtown hustler, he will burn you for your last dime. This guy likes to drink. He placed the two wallets he had lifted on the bar in front of me. They contained about $125 combined. After this, he was able to relax. He had a drink, returned the drink that I had bought for him. He had moved within the subculture from coast to coast. He knows a lot of people everywhere. He has friends in every province. His life appears to be very basic. He spends his money at night, gets up next morning and hustles. There is no saving for a rainy day. There is no anything. Bubbles does not appear to have a family. He said the reason he did what he did was because 'this is where the money is' and because he is completely 'unskilled.' I believe he is fundamentally illiterate, although he can read and write a little bit.

The Subculture on the Street James is a man in his mid-thirties who came to Canada from Jamaica about a dozen years ago. Apparently, James and a White friend of his committed a robbery. After the 'job/ they ran into the bar with police a block and a half to two blocks away. As far as the police were concerned, they were looking for two Blacks who had pulled the robbery. The police entered the bar and cleared out every single Black man from the bar and held them for questioning. James was charged for robbery and his White friend, who was not caught, went free. James then went through the system. He retained a legal aid certificate that paid 50 per cent of his lawyer's fees. The lawyer told him to take the 'rap' and he agreed only if the police officer was charged for assault.

The Illegal Subculture 189 James asserts that the officer beat him up when he found out that he had actually committed a robbery. He had taken the 'rap' to prevent his friend from being charged with him at the time of the arrest. When James was apprehended, he fought with the police officer who he claimed hit him first, but James returned the blow. Other officers quickly appeared and continued the beating. During the scuffle, James knocked the officer down. Other police officers saw this and jumped on James. He succumbed to the pressure. Hence James wanted the police officer charged with assault. Although half of his legal fee was paid, James was hostile. In describing the incident he says: Tuck them. Why should I pay the rest? They put me through all that turmoil.' James maintained that the scene that had shocked him most was the clearing of the bar of all the Blacks, although they were all innocent except for him. Moreover, the police maintained that they were looking for two Blacks when in actual fact it was a Black and a White man who had committed the robbery. During the 'interview/ James was asked why he committed the robbery. That's the finances day to day, different levels of the street incorporate different crimes, large scale and small scale as in marijuana selling, a gram, one eight, one quarter, an ounce being small scale, a kilo being large scale. Of course the longer you're in the street, you graduate to a higher level. On a higher level, it incorporates the pimps, extortion, and blackmail. It becomes very complicated. The unwritten rules of the street is, of course, you never use someone's real name and even in your neighbourhood you should not use your name too much. Levels change with age as you graduate deeper and deeper into crimes. There is the honour among thieves. Everything is cheaper, the black market, the bartering system; clothes are easier and cheaper to buy brand new. Lots of stuff is available on the streets, anything one might need to live is readily available if you know the right people.

The threat of jail always faces street hustlers. The risk of running into police is always there. Sometimes, even the smartest street hustlers get caught. On the Street: A Case-Study In the following case-study, the police are observed in an action against a Black man.

190 Life in Canada While driving down Bloor Street the other night, in the vicinity of the Lansdowne/Bloor area, which is an area where crack cocaine is sold, I saw the police pull over, jump out of the car, and jam this Black guy up against the wall. I was in my car, I did not stop, but I already knew that he was not 'holding/ He did not have dope on him. Later I found out that he was a known criminal with a police record. Since the police know who he is, he is seen to be guilty of a crime whenever he walks along the street. A half an hour later, I drove back down the street and that Black guy was still there on the street. The police have since driven away after most probably searching him and finding nothing, hence they let him go. I learned later that he had disclosed information about other dealers. One of the dangers of this activity is that the police can coerce such an individual to give information or they will charge that person with something as simple as 'disturbing the peace.' On another occasion, this same man was caught with a gram or a $40 rock. In any case, a small amount. He was given the option to 'roll over' or to 'rat out' the information as to who has the crack/cocaine so the police can make a major bust. He could either admit that he had the dope and 'take a charge' or dispense vital information on others thus avoiding a charge, at least for the moment. The danger in 'ratting out/ however, is that he may put his life at risk in order to stay out of jail for a sentence. It's not easy trying to supplement that kind of income. Even your own friend can turn you in ... because, as James put it, 'there are no real friends in this business on the street/ Hustlers are afraid to trust anybody in the subculture because, as it was often said, 'if they get jammed by the police, then you don't know how long you can really trust them for. Also, if they get released, you don't know what kinds of information they have given up to secure their release/ Hence to trust anybody out there on the streets can prove quite detrimental: 'You must always be on your guard/ It is alleged by those on the street that the police use Blacks to infiltrate the drug networks, which are monitored by the police. Andre is a police monitor. He comes from Montreal, although his parents are Jamaican. Andre had been a cocaine dealer of some repute until he was 'selected' by the police to be a 'monitor/ Andre said that he could buy cocaine from the police, which he dealt to his customers. In exchange, Andre gave information to the police. According to him, he was an invaluable source of information to the police on other cocaine dealers as well as customers. Eventually, it would appear that the word on Andre 'got out' since too many of his acquaintances were being charged. Andre disappeared and it was said that he had fled to the United States.

The Illegal Subculture 191 In another case, the police wanted information on the use of marijuana in a downtown high school. They picked up a sixteen-yearold who was known as a user. He was charged for smoking a joint while walking down a street. He was charged for half a gram of marijuana. He was still in high school and the police wanted information about who else in the school was smoking marijuana. He was punched repeatedly. He had had trouble with the police before, so he kept his mouth shut. He then went to court and was fined five days or $550 for smoking a joint of marijuana. This youth now has a criminal record. Whether operating out of clubs, on the street, at after-hours 'booze cans/ or at private house parties, 'hustlers' are to be found. The hustlers operating in the Caribbean community in Toronto differ from those identified in Great Britain. They are, for the most part, migrants themselves, whereas in the U.K., the hustling lifestyle is associated with young Black, British-born males living in the ghettos of major cities (Pryce and Rambachan 1977). Some already had criminal records at home and they maintain their hustling activities in Toronto. Some are in the country illegally. However, even in our relatively small sample, some were identified who came as young children and were socialized in Canada. They are, for the most part, the products of single mothers and absent fathers, living in subsidized housing and experiencing school difficulties and failures leading to dropping out of school. The attraction to hustling activities is clearly related to their lack of skill in doing anything else and, as well, their disdain for jobs that pay minimum wage. In Britain, hustling has been identified as a response to the refusal to do 'slave labour' or the contemporary mode of work known as 'shit work/ the only work open to Black males of the underclass (Pryce and Rambachan 1977, 24). WHO ARE THE DRUG DEALERS?

Illegal activities in the subculture most often involve the sale of drugs. Several different types of people are involved in the trade. These range from established dealers with their clientele to youthful school dropouts who have never had any other form of employment. 'Couriers' are people who sell drugs but also transport them, sometimes across the U.S. border. Their network is more extensive than that of other sellers who primarily deal within their own known network. In addition to drug dealing, other forms of illegal activity include robbery and breaking and entering. It is commonly accepted in the community

192 Life in Canada that the vast majority of illegal activity involves drugs and only a small proportion of people commit other forms of crimes. Some Case Examples Tom is a twenty-six-year-old born in Barbados. He has lived in Canada for six years, and married a Canadian to gain citizenship. He is a White Barbadian of Portuguese ancestry. Tom had been working on a cruise ship sailing through the Caribbean. He felt that Canada would have more to offer. When he reached Canada he did a number of labouring jobs, but he soon found that he needed a change, he needed more money. He said that he started dealing marijuana to quit smoking cigarettes, but basically it was for economic reasons. Most of his friends are White and most of his clientele are White. He jokingly defines the subculture as an 'equal opportunity employer/ He ran into difficulties continuing his legitimate employment. Lack of skill was a contributing factor to his involvement in marijuana dealing. From profits earned in selling marijuana, Tom has established a 'house-doctor' business specializing in house painting, eaves-trough cleaning, and general maintenance. His company is registered with the Better Business Bureau. He is trying to better his situation by dealing marijuana on the side, which helps fund his company. He has a few thoughts on encounters with the police, but he believes that the risk is worth the pay. He feels he conducts his business safely; the money is much more important than the threat of jail. He would rather do this type of activity than 'run a Canadian version of the rum house for extra money or booze cans after hours/ He would have undertaken that form of work, but he did not like the hours, which run from i a.m. to 6 a.m. He believes that in the subculture, interaction with all types of people is possible. Tom interacts with people of many different ethnic backgrounds. There are a substantial number of young people in their twenties, Black, White, Asian, who are involved in this so-called subculture. He feels that in order to survive and gain ground in this society, he has to deal in order to 'get over/ The money keeps him in dealing. As Tom says, 'the money, man, it's definitely the bottom line/ Ricardo is thirty-two years old and, although he said he was from Martinique, he does not speak French. He has been in Canada fifteen years. Ricardo wears a three-piece suit, carries a briefcase, and looks like a businessman. But his business is selling crack cocaine at $150

The Illegal Subculture 193 a gram for the powder and $20 or $40 for a rock. He used to be a car salesman, but gave it up because 'there wasn't enough money in it/ He has a grade ten education and his entire lifestyle appears to consist of drugs and partying. He may stay up for a couple of days, then sleep for two days. His friends turned him on to the cocaine and the profit that he could make. He says that he now clears up to $5,000 a week and he drives a 1990 Jaguar. He has a criminal record for cocaine and the profit, in his view, is worth the jail time. He states that the police know him and that he purchased large amounts of coke from the police. Ricardo maintains that there is a network of police who are dirty. When Ricardo was asked why he stays in the subculture, he replied, 'If it wasn't for this so-called subculture, my standard of living would disappear/ He has two children who live with his estranged wife in a house he bought for them. He helps to support his family. He said that his main contact has been down in Chinatown and they welcome him because he comes with lots of money and everybody respects him because of the big money involved. He said he buys 'his stuff from the Asians in Chinatown, which he then sells in the after-hours clubs. On the subject of racism, Ricardo maintained that it does not exist in the subculture. He encounters it only when he enters the 'real world/ THE YOUTHFUL DEALERS

Reginald is twenty-one years of age and sells crack cocaine for $20 and $40. He says he is 'making a lot of money/ He works in conjunction with several others who supply him with the crack. He works the area on the strip between Marlee Avenue and Oakwood on Eglinton. He dropped out of school at grade twelve and started dealing crack for money. He is living at home with his mother and has two younger brothers and sisters. In the past he and his family have been strapped for money, but with the money he makes from selling crack, he is helping his family. He has never held a legitimate job. He went to school at Oakwood Collegiate. His mother is a cook in a restaurant. He first got into this line of work basically for economic reasons, because he needed some money. On the island of Jamaica, he never smoked a joint and claims he was unfamiliar with drugs. He has been in Canada for five to six years and has been in trouble with the police a number of times. He just keeps doing this for the money.

194 Life in Canada He believes that jail 'is no big deal/ He sees all kinds of problems with this lifestyle, but in a way he feels trapped. He cannot think of a way towards a more legitimate occupation and lifestyle. Reginald says that what happened to him and others is that they come to Canada and see 'what the White man has/ but have no way of getting it and therefore have to turn illegal in order 'to get their hands on that fast money' to buy what they need. Reginald seems to rationalize his position by saying that 'as long as I have the money, then, hey man, everybody can say split/ Reginald wears 'his gold' and he dresses well. He is most definitely making money. It seems that on the whole block from Oakwood to Marlee, 'everybody knows everybody else. You know anything you want from around there, you ask people, friends, and acquaintances/ He can pick up any drug he wants or get rid of any drug he wants, and after hours, he and others conduct business and supply houses with drugs. The network seems to be quite extensive. While Reginald was talking to our fieldworker in front of the Pizza, many people came up to him to chat. He is clearly well known in the area. Arden is a twenty-year-old high school drop-out who describes himself as a 'rude boy' - a name taken from a song recorded by Jimmy Cliff, and which has become synonymous with some form of hustling. Like Reginald, Arden wears track suits, lots of gold around his neck, and has pockets full of money. He lives with his mother and father, but he feels that he has to move out and get his own place because no one likes the hours he keeps. Both his parents are employed, his father as a mechanic, his mother as a cook. He went to school at Jarvis Collegiate, got as far as grade eleven, and then dropped out. He got into marijuana and hashish dealing through a network of friends. He actually likes to think that he is king of what he is doing. He feels that he is invincible. When questioned about being caught, he said that he is a 'rude boy' and that he was good at what he did; therefore, he cannot be caught by the police. He has never had a legitimate job since he started dealing dope and he has been doing it for about two years. He has been stopped by police, but says he has always thrown his stuff away, so when the police search him, they never find anything. Although he has had encounters with the police, he has always walked away untouched. He has therefore developed the attitude that he is invincible.

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195

THE 'ROUNDERS 7

Paul is a thirty year old from Trinidad who has been here since he was ten. He is what is called a 'rounder' (or all-arounder), which means that he is into a variety of things. He has done everything that is illegal. He was sent to jail for five years for attempted murder and was recently released. Subculture to him is a means of existence accompanied by a sense of belonging. He says he never encountered racism as such. When he was busy, he was 'doing his rounds and stuff, which is breaking into cars, breaking into houses, taking the cars and selling them, credit cards - anything - I would basically do anything to make a dollar/ He said that his brethren usually stayed with marijuana and hash and that was the extent of their entry into the so-called subculture, whereas he went 'full-fledged, headstrong into all of it, all the business and then ended up with five years for it/ THE COURIERS

Ray's family is in Detroit, but they are originally from Jamaica. He has a girlfriend in Toronto and has a child with her. He has one older brother and younger sister who live in Detroit. Ray is twenty-four years old. He went to school in Detroit, has grade eleven, and plans to go to school to finish, but money has always been a factor determining the choices he has made in life. He has had a number of menial jobs as dishwasher, busboy, and the like. He did not see any future in those kinds of jobs and always had problems getting along with his bosses. He developed quite a network of his teenage peers in Detroit. He crossed the border and came to Toronto on a temporary basis to conduct business. He now returns to Jamaica to courier marijuana to the U.S. and Canada. By crossing two borders, he earns $37,000 cash, plus two weeks in Jamaica. He maintains that he can do this as often as he wants. The business for which he is a courier is organized by Jamaicans in the U.S. It appears that his network is connected with some of the Jamaican-Canadians in Toronto. He has no thoughts about jail; the cross-border trips seem too easy. He just concentrates on making money. His mother and his older brother know what he does. He has for years always given his mother some money to help her. His family relies on that support and respects him for

196 Life in Canada making it possible. They leave him alone and accept whatever consequences he might have to pay. The family is aware that Ray may one day end up in jail. For them, however, his money is important, and as Ray says, 'Why should he work for the White man when the White man is not going to pay me what I'm now accustomed to being paid?' BOOZE CANS: SELLING AFTER-HOURS LIQUOR

Eva is a middle-aged woman who works out of her basement apartment. She is about forty years old with greying hair and a strong sense of authority. She sells primarily beer and liquor and occasionally small dime bags of 'weed and hash/ She is one of the very few women who appear to make their living selling illegally. She plays some reggae after hours, and, as she puts it, 'a lot of people come here to hang/ She seems to be some kind of matriarch in this little society and everybody knows her by her first name. She says that she has never had any problems within her club since she knows 'everybody/ Eva has two grown sons who are on their own. She is no longer married and lives alone. She came up to Canada to be a nanny. It took her about four years to get her children here. She has a son who is an engineer of some kind and another drives a bus. She said she did not want to be a nanny anymore. She got turned on to the booze can idea by her friends. She has been engaging in this activity for about six years and knows everybody in the neighbourhood. She has been arrested three times on misdemeanours for selling alcohol. The police have come to her place several times, but have never found evidence of marijuana or hashish. AFTER-HOURS CLUBS

A number of after-hours clubs are located in the heart of one of the main Black areas of the city. One club that does not seem to carry a name but is known by its address is frequented mostly by Blacks. During our period of observation, everybody in the club was taking drugs. It appeared obvious that many were addicted and that their lives were centred around drug taking. There were quite a number of young Black girls and boys in their teens. Their demeanour was 'spacey and strung out/

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197

SHOPLIFTING

Another illegal activity is shoplifting. A common form of social organization is the 'posse/ The term is a generic one for a group and does not always imply illegal activity, although the media and others routinely use it to label 'deviants/ Gangs, composed mainly of young Jamaicans, undertake shoplifting and sometimes breaking and entering. The participants are usually men who have left traditional employment because of low wages and/or incidents of racism. They consider themselves employed, but obviously such activities are non-traditional employment. CONCLUSIONS: THE SUBCULTURE INTERPRETED

The subculture has been defined as a series of economic activities involving mainly drug dealing, which has created a social lifestyle centred around the places where drugs are likely to be sold or where contacts can be made. The pattern of behaviour involved in these activities is recognized as a subculture by its participants who define it purely in economic terms. Dealing is a job that can lead to significant earnings far larger than any ordinary job can produce. As one young man responded when asked how he would change his life if he could: 'Change it to what? A minimum-wage job? You know, you're crazy. Why should I go back to a disaster?' The primary motivation for this activity is money. The people who are engaged in it lack education or training for any other kind of job. There appear to be two age categories involved. There are men in their mid-thirties and older who, together with youth and young adults, work among the younger crowd. The men involved in the trade come from low-income families and have had little education. From the respondents interviewed for this project, it appears that young men are brought into the trade by friends who are already in it and making substantial sums of money.2 There is also the push 2 There is undoubtedly an extensive drug network that brings supplies into the country through the use of couriers. There is also some sort of distribution network, but the details of the drug trade were not considered relevant to the aims of this project. Our interest in the subculture is only to describe a certain range of activities that involve a very small proportion of the Caribbean community.

198 Life in Canada factor, which stems from a low-income family trying to increase its household income. In Reginald's case, a single mother with several younger children to support urged him to get a job. He did not appear to be enjoying school and his marks were not good. He spent as much time out of school as in it. The push to 'go and get a job' basically involves obtaining a low-paying job at McDonald's or at a gas station. In the meantime, Reginald was approached by a friend who said that he could earn $7,000 if he went down to Jamaica 'to see his family.' All he had to do was bring back some marijuana in a shoe or an old toy or any likely hiding place. Reginald already saw that many of his peers had money to spend and it did not take further convincing. Several people commented that being involved in the subculture meant being part of a larger cross-cultural family. In some cases, young men who enter the lifestyle are or become alienated from their families. According to them, being part of the larger network creates a sense of family. Ricardo specifically spoke about what it meant to him: To me, it's a sense of belonging, a sense of love, and a sense of family. There are a lot of people around who are not part of anything. They are displaced from the Black community, but now they congregate on common ground, even if that common ground means dealing marijuana, cocaine, or whatever else makes the money.' Another young man said that he rebelled against his family and his community, but found a whole network of people, not only Blacks from the Caribbean but people from Chinatown and some Canadians who have become his new friends and acquaintances. Customers, many of whom are mainstream Canadians, become part of this network and some are considered friends. Dealing involves a wide-ranging method of distribution. Basically it begins with a courier who brings the drug (usually from Jamaica) and delivers it to the dealer, who then distributes it to his subdealers, who sell it to their customers throughout the city. The network therefore ranges across many neighbourhoods and includes Whites, Chinese, Indians, university students, and other groups. Caribbean-origin dealers do not sell only to Black customers. In fact, for many of them, it would appear that Whites are their main customers. As Ricardo put it, This is about money ... money has no colour. There is no racism where money is. The only thing is that they will take you out or they will beat you up because you owe them money, not because you're Black, White or Chinese. It's because you owe them money.' In sum then, the drug subculture involves primarily men who are

The Illegal Subculture 199 either young adults or in early middle age. It is an activity in which low-income, working-class people become involved because they are attracted to the money they can earn. The young people who go into the subculture are also those with little or limited education, which makes working at a basic job a low-paying and menial occupation. Some get involved because of the family pressure for them to earn money. For others, it is a way to rebel against family and community values. In either case, involvement in the drug subculture creates a sense of belonging to a larger functioning group, which some respondents liken to a large family. It therefore may serve the function of providing a baseline for the marginalized youth who do not feel that they can fit into Canadian society. They lack the education, training, or social skills to make them adaptable. For older members, drug dealing is an extension of what they experienced in Jamaica where marijuana consumption among the working class and especially among the urban underclass is well known. The use of marijuana among true Rastafarians is part of their religious practice; it is used for ritual and purification purposes (Owens 19; Yawney 1978). At another level of analysis, the subculture, with its emphasis on hustling, must be seen as a survival strategy for young men who have been marginalized from mainstream values and institutions. Hall et al. have identified the Black underclass in the U.K. as a 'colony7 that stands in relation to mainstream society just as the exploited colonies that flourished under colonialism stood in relation to the mother country (Hall 1987). Blauner (9172) and others in the U.S. see the development of the urban ghettoized underclass and its culture and values as the inevitable outcome of racist oppression. Hall emphasized the subtle ways in which all systems in society - education, employment, housing, the media, law justice, and the police, - come together through the modality of race. With the development of a separate lifestyle or 'colony society7 came new strategies for survival. Instead of continuing to wage the battle for success in traditional ways, such as through schools and acceptance into the workforce, young men took to hustling as an alternative. The hustle is as common, necessary and familiar a survival strategy for 'colony' dwellers as it is alien and strange to those who know nothing of it. It is often, erroneously, thought to be synonymous with professional crime ... They work the system; they also make it work. They are indispensable to the 'colony7 for unlike those who live in the colony but work elsewhere,

2oo

Life in Canada

they have chosen to live in, and survive off, the 'colony7 itself. (Hall 1978, 35i)

Hall analyses the criminalization of a small portion of the Black proletariat as an adaptive survival response to the 'secondariness' of the Black community, which results from the interaction of class (low, unskilled) and race. Their exclusion or differential incorporation brings with it a condition of 'wagelessness' that can be understood in two ways: One interpretation [is] the presence already of a growing political consciousness ... expressed in the refusal to work. Those who refuse to work must continue to survive and crime is no doubt one of the few available modes of survival left to the 'wageless7. But this is incidental to the positive rejection of 'secondariness7 represented in the refusal of one of the principal defining structures of the system - its productive relations, which have systematically assigned the black worker to the ranks of the deskilled labourer. (391)

The pattern of subcultural activity that involved primarily members of the underclass is beginning to resemble similar dynamics identified in the Caribbean-origin community in the U.K. The formation of groups of marginalized youth has been helped by a state system that has increasingly marginalized them (Solomos 1988). Moreover, these lifestyles have been enhanced by the lack of employment in areas where Caribbean people have settled, leading to a need to find alternative means of economic survival. Some of these constraining conditions are not as evident in Canada; nevertheless, the cycle of poverty tends to be reproduced, especially among single-mother families. Conditions of poverty and marginalization build upon cultural patterns that have been transplanted from the Caribbean. Racism exerts a negative force curtailing the aspirations and desires of young people. A complex series of factors therefore are responsible for the growing marginalization of underclass migrants and, increasingly, Canadian-born or -socialized youth. These appear to lead to the subcultural lifestyle.

10

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts

Of central concern to the Caribbean community is their relationship with the police. Since the police are usually the first point of contact with the justice system, they are most often singled out by Caribbean Black people.1 Here, as in the U.K. and the U.S., police-Black community relations are at the core of racial tensions in the city.2 Police-Black community relations were mentioned by a vast majority of our respondents quite spontaneously and usually in answer to questions 'about Canada/ As in other areas of concern to Caribbean people, social class differentiated their views to some extent. Working-class respondents, especially males, were most concerned about police harassment and police racism. The concern with policing was of lesser importance to the women in this class group. Respondents who fall 1 Most of the respondents spoke about relations between themselves as 'Blacks' rather than as people of Caribbean origin. The studies, reports, and newspaper accounts of police-minority relations also use the term 'Black'. In this chapter, therefore, we will be using both terms to describe the Caribbean community, but attention should be drawn to the fact that not all Blacks in Toronto are of Caribbean origin. There are migrants from Africa, the U.S., and internal migrants from Nova Scotia, in addition to small numbers of Blacks whose ancestors have lived in southwestern Ontario for generations. 2 In recognition of this problem, the provincial government of Ontario appointed a task force to study police relations with the Black community. The Report of the Race Relations and Policing Task Force was released in 1992. It called for substantial changes in the ways police use force, and it recommended race relations training and an independent civilian review board for the police. Following the Yonge Street disturbances of 1993, the task force was recalled in order to examine the implementation of its recommendations. It found that few of its recommendations had, in fact, been implemented.

2O2 Life in Canada into the underclass street category were most concerned, not only about the general issue of police-Black community relations but more specifically about how to avoid the police in the kinds of illegal activities they were often engaged in. Middle-class men agreed that the issue was of crucial importance to the community as a whole, but tended to focus on their experiences with police harassment. Middleclass women, for the most part, did not spontaneously raise this as a major concern, but when asked, most were able to cite at least one example of police harassment and/or racism. The shooting of Black victims in Toronto was most commonly cited as examples. A group of particular interest were the students, both high school and university, who participated in this study. Regardless of their class origins or their present class status, students tended to view the police as the 'ultimate oppressor/ THE ISSUES

The various segments of the Caribbean community share the view that the justice system, and particularly the police, do not serve their best interests. Generally speaking, there is widespread concern about police-minority relations and, for many, there is fear that the justice system as a whole works against them. Middle-class opinion leaders, people who hold positions of authority, as well as the working-class members of the community, believe that police-minority relations is the one area of contact with the host society where explosive and potentially violent confrontations are likely to take place. This has already started since, in May 1992, what has been called a 'race riot' took place in downtown Toronto. This opinion is brought about by the pattern of events in the Caribbean communities in the United Kingdom, where the so-called 'race riots' of the last twenty-five years have almost always been triggered by a police-related incident (Solomos 1988). Similarly, the major urban disorders that have swept many cities in the United States have also been started by a police-Black community 'flashpoint/3 Recent encounters between the police and the Caribbean community 3 This chapter was, in fact, being written as riots and demonstrations in Los Angeles were taking place. Forty lives were lost and billions of dollars' worth of property damage resulted from the outrage felt by African-Americans because four police officers accused of beating Black suspect Rodney King were acquitted.

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provide evidence that in Canada, and especially in Toronto and Montreal, a similar pattern of police community dynamics is taking place. Police shootings of Black youth in both cities and recent acquittals of White officers paint an alarming picture to Caribbean people (Cryderman and Fleras 1992). Why have police contacts with the Caribbean community received so much attention? One main reason for the attention given to the police centres around the 'drug problem/ There is a commonly expressed view in the community that alleges that the 'war on drugs' is a deliberate and conscious form of racial discrimination directed against them. In the last few years, police attention has been focused almost entirely on this issue. The city of Toronto launched a war against drugs and hired a commissioner to help contain the widespread use and distribution of drugs, particularly among the youth. The result of all these directives, however, is that the police are given even greater 'sweep powers/ which result in their much more frequent attempts to 'clean up' the Metro Toronto Housing Authority units and other poor areas of the city. In such a 'sweep/ as many as fifty can be arrested and charged when, in fact, only a few may be guilty. Moreover, it is alleged that drug sweeps hit the poor and particularly the areas in which Caribbean people live, while middle-class neighbourhoods are rarely 'swept/ This results in fewer mainstream persons being charged with drug use, possession, and distribution, despite the fact that many of the 'big players' are, in fact, White, mainstream, middle- and upper-class members of society. In addition, the police are alleged to 'always hang out where we hang out/ as one young woman put it. Social clubs, restaurants, house parties, sports events, and, in fact, any site or event that is frequented by Black Caribbean people is bound to bring out the police. The incidence of use, possession, and distribution of drugs in the White communities is equal to or greater than that of the smaller, more visible Black groups, according to this point of view. 'It's just that the Whites don't get caught, but they go out of their way to get us/ as one person noted. (The actual incidence of drug use and abuse in the Caribbean community, as compared to non-Caribbean groups, is not known.) It is not surprising that the Black Caribbean community sees the war against drugs as discriminatory because it gives even more power to the police to make arrests and lay charges. Two particularly noteworthy drug busts took place in Toronto in 1989

2O4 Life in Canada when two of the subsidized housing units controlled by the Metro Toronto Housing Authority (MTHA) were 'swept/ Complaints against the police in which tenants alleged that police used brutality and racial slurs were filed by residents with the Office of the Police Complaints Commission. Tenants also claimed that premises were broken into and disturbed without a search warrant. They also arrested some innocent bystanders and young teenagers. In one community, tensions between police and the community ran so high that a bomb was planted outside a police station, an undercover police officer was stabbed while making an arrest, and a police car was fire-bombed. While there have been many such sweeps in primarily Black housing units, these two were actually investigated by the complaints commissioner, who released a report on the findings and recommendations. In the meantime, it is alleged that the levels of drug dealing in MTHA units have decreased, and that relations between police and tenants has improved (Toronto Star, 11 July 1992). Police maintain that criminal activity among Blacks, particularly of Jamaican origin, has significantly increased during the early nineties. They cite the widespread distribution and use of crack cocaine, which, they allege, is largely run by Black Jamaicans. In addition, they note that the number of criminal gangs that the police call 'posses' has escalated. In Toronto, police intelligence sources allege that there are seven posses with a 'hard-core membership of 350' who actively recruit new members from abroad and have 'strong links to the Colombian cocaine cartels' (Globe and Mail, 13 July 1992). It has also been estimated that as much as 40 per cent of the prison population in and around Toronto is Black.4 A similar percentage are said to be sought by police for robberies and hold-ups committed in the city. The numbers of drug arrests are said to be even higher. In addition, of eighty-seven homicides committed in the city of Toronto in 1991, thirty were committed by Blacks, and twenty-four of the victims were Black (Globe and Mail, 13 July 1992). That there is a significant level of criminal activity in the Black community, especially among young Jamaicans,* is indisputable. Despite the probability of police exaggeration of figures, and in the absence of any systematic method of collecting and analysing crime statistics by race,6 there is general agreement in the Caribbean community as 4 Personal communication from a member of the Ministry of Corrections, Government of Ontario, 1993.

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a whole that there is a subculture consisting primarily but not exclusively of youth, who engage in illegal activities. However, it is also alleged that a disproportionate number of Blacks are charged, convicted, and sentenced. What raw police estimates and figures distort are the difference between arrest rates; the kinds, types, and numbers of charges laid by police for various offences; the degree to which Crown attorneys accept, revise, or discharge police charges; and the outcome of charges as determined by other members of the justice system, such as justices of the peace and judges. Members of the community, as well as both mainstream and Black lawyers, note that one of the main reasons there are so many Black accused - totally out of proportion to their numbers in Toronto (or Ontario) - is the direct result of police actions that, in turn, flow from the 'war on drugs/ As more and more Blacks crowd into the courtrooms, Crown attorneys, judges, and other staff members become convinced that Blacks are prone to criminal behaviour. It reinforces the negative stereotypes they already have about Black people and contributes to the dangerous process of the 'racialization of crime7 - the equation 'Black equals crime/ The practices that support this belief are already very apparent in both Great Britain and the United States (Gilroy 1982; Kilson 1987). Moreover, as the evidence of 'Black crime' hits the public eye through the media and other forms of communication, the belief that only Blacks are responsible for the widespread drug problem in this city is reinforced in the community at large. The war on drugs campaign is not the only concern in the Black community. It is alleged that there is a much larger, concerted effort to confront what are called 'visible' crimes, or those committed by Black people. In addition to drugs, pimping, common assault, breaking and entering, and one or two others are included in this category. A White mainstream lawyer, a partner in an important law firm that has a reputation for defending Black clients, was interviewed for this project. Since he has had considerable experience in dealing with Black 5 The disproportionate numbers of Jamaicans involved in criminal activity and who therefore participate at some level in the criminal justice system relates to their overall numbers, vis-a-vis the Caribbean-origin population in Toronto. Approximately 40 per cent of Caribbean-origin people in Ontario are from Jamaica. 6 This issue has generated considerable controversy in the last few years beginning with the release of statistics by police officials that claimed to show that Blacks commit proportionately more crimes than Whites (Doob 1991).

206 Life in Canada accused over the years, his observations on police-minority relations, as well as on what happens to Black accused in the courts, are particularly interesting. Being a visible minority is the same thing as visible crime - if a minority is visible, then the crimes they commit are more visible. It is easier for police to go after crimes committed by the Black poor the new crack cocaine scare, which is a scare, but it's there because poor people who don't have a lot to look forward to ... obtain a quick, cheap high. It doesn't take much abuse to make you an addict - it begins with psychological need. Then you have to sell small quantities to keep your own habit. Now police have gone into this field, arresting Black people for crack and crackrelated crime. It takes away from the real problems causing the drug prpblem to begin with and everybody's prejudice is increased by walking into a court and seeing all Black faces. They're doing nothing about the real problem to try and convince a middle-class judge that this is a social problem, not a criminal problem, is a hopeless task. The justification for these strong sentences is the ultimate irony - horrible - you've got to protect people in the subsidized housing projects. They say they are protecting people in housing projects. They maintain the status quo, which maintains the housing projects, which maintain the poor, the indigent, particularly Blacks. For the last two years in criminal courts, Black people are overcharged and oversentenced. It's now alarming - poverty combined with racial prejudice. The types of offences emphasized are those committed by Black people crack and pimping - these are now the worst possible crimes. These are areas courts have declared war on. Big-time cocaine dealers get the same sentences as they did five years ago, maybe even a little less, but look at the small-time dealers. The sentence has been multiplied by at least three in a matter of a year and a half. A chap today got eighteen months for trafficking $40 of crack - no record - eighteen months. Can't appeal it, the Court of Appeal is as bad as the lower courts. As a White lawyer, you walk into court in the morning and you hope that it's not going to be all Black faces that you see in there because you know that's what's happening. You know there are a lot of Black people in there, but you continually hope that it's not going to be so, but it is. This just feeds into a racist society.

The Caribbean or Black community in Toronto is generally united

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around the view that police-minority relations are critical for their acceptance and integration into Canadian society. However, here as in other arenas of life, social class differentiation affects the opinions and feelings of community members. Similarly, the effects of police behaviour are felt differently within the community, depending upon the social class of the individual. Here, more than in any other institutional arena, the effects of differential incorporation of the Black community is most strongly felt. POLICE-MINORITY RELATIONS AND THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES

The police primarily relate to that section of the community that is most involved in illegal activities. They have far less contact with lawabiding members of the working or middle class. This has several problematic effects. In the first place, the police's view of Blacks is influenced by their contacts with the underclass. Stereotyping and the criminalization of all Blacks naturally follow from what is basically their main contact with the community. The police do not distinguish the various class levels in the Caribbean community. This leads therefore to the police stopping a young middle-class university student who is preparing to be a doctor or lawyer because he is alleged to resemble a hustler or drug dealer wanted by the police. It also leads to the common complaints noted by respondents in this study that if they happen to live in a middle-class area, they are sometimes stopped by police on their way home. They are questioned with regard to their identity and their reasons for driving in the neighbourhood. The different class levels within the Caribbean community also have differing perceptions of the police. While even middle-class people subscribe to the idea of police harassment and racism, working-class and underclass persons are more vociferous in their negative views. One of the main problems with respect to police-Black community relations is that the police use biological or racial characteristics such as skin colour and hair texture in their contacts with the community. They ignore the vital role of social class in stratifying and differentiating the 'community' into several 'communities.' Social class differences within the Caribbean community are discussed in other sections of this book, but it is important to again re-examine social class from the perspective of police-community relations.

208

Life in Canada

The Working Class An important distinction must be made between what we have categorized as working class and those who are in the underclass or, as some analysts would label it, the 'lumpenproletariat' (Rex 1988). The distinguishing characteristic between the two relates to the nature of their 'employment/ Working-class people are traditionally employed in semiskilled and skilled jobs or seeking employment in those sectors. The category 'underclass' refers to those who are employed in nontraditional ways in a variety of hustling and sometimes illegal activities that bring them into close contact with the police. Young male Blacks, often but not exclusively of Jamaican origin, fall into this category. 7 Among the working-class and underclass group, fear, hatred, and hostility, especially towards the police, are characteristic. These feelings are particularly prevalent among the youth and young adults of the population. Straight youths expressed the same hostility as did hustlers in the underclass. Both fear being caught and/or harassed by the police. Their attitude towards the courts is also extremely negative. Among the middle class, however, there is more ambivalence. In the first instance, it should be emphasized that the most frequent encounters with the police take place among lower-class people and especially youth. Middle-class West Indians do not face the police stations and the courts as frequently. From a purely numerical point of view then, it is the poor, working-class or underclass West Indian (most often of Jamaican birth or origin) who encounters the police and subsequently goes through the court system. The frequency of these encounters, as noted above, relates most closely to the issue of drugs or other hustling activities. In chapter 9, some elements of the subculture's hustlers' (and others') experiences with police are described. Here we cite a number of cases involving working-class people. Of particular interest are the experiences of middle-class people who also find all too often that police harassment is a fact of life. 7 Similar distinctions have been made in the Caribbean communities in the U.K., most notably in Pryce's lifestyle distinctions made in his study of Bristol (1979) and Rex's analysis of the growing underclass of young ghetto dwellers in Birmingham and elsewhere in the cities of the U.K. (1988). There is also substantial literature on the Black or African-American underclass in the United States (Cans 1990; Glasgow 1981). The term usually refers to 'people living in census tract areas characterized by high rates of school dropouts, male nonemployment, welfare recipients, and female headed households' (Franklin 1991).

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The Middle Class Middle-class West Indians are caught in something of a predicament. On the one hand, the majority of them fully share in the perception of police and the courts' injustice and differential treatment of Blacks and, on the other hand, they know that it is primarily the workingclass and underclass class sections of the community who are the 'problem/ This view is held primarily by people of middle-class, nonJamaican origin. It is especially prevalent among some Trinidadians who guard their proprietary rights to Caribana. While not condoning the behaviour of the police, they also feel that the Black working class, but particularly underclass youth and others who are in the drug trade, to some extent bring it on themselves. There is widespread acknowledgment of the drug trade as well as drug use in the poorer sections of the community. This is especially recognized among those who live in or are familiar with the subsidized housing areas where minor drug trading and usage takes place among some residents. There is also concern about the illegal drug activities that take place in after-hours clubs and other social venues frequented by people of Caribbean origin (see chapter 9). The tendency to 'blame it all on the Jamaicans, it's not us' creates further distance, not only between people at different class levels but also between people of different island origins. We have noted earlier that in addition to class, island of origin is still a powerful criterion of differentiation in the first-generation community. The somewhat traditional hostile perceptions that Trinidadians and Jamaicans have of each other are still maintained in the new society. This aspect of differentiation maintains differences in the community and prevents consolidation and mobilization of the community as a whole. This aspect of differentiation is particularly evident in the area of police-community relations and the alleged criminality of some Black Jamaicans. Trinidadian respondents mentioned frequently that Jamaicans 'were different to us; they are hot [tempered]; they get into too much trouble.' Toronto's Caribana festival stems largely from the carnival in Trinidad. There has always been a Trinidad flavour to the proceedings, but the inclusion of other people of Caribbean origin (as well as of other ethnicities) has often been discussed. At a planning meeting of the Caribana festival held in the early summer of 1992, and in which the majority of participants were Trinidadian in origin, one member made the following comment: 'We can't let the Jamaicans in. Jamaicans will want to join Caribana and that's a no, no because

2io Life in Canada they will all have guns in their pockets/ Another member promptly argued against this perception by saying, 'I refuse to allow a police and media view of our brother Jamaicans to influence our thinking and planning. It's time we all pull together and have a festival celebrating all of us/ There was a momentary silence followed by a general round of agreement with the second speaker and the business of the meeting continued. Some middle-class West Indians even fail to acknowledge that there are strained relations with the police by saying, as one of our respondents said, 'Why should I be concerned? I'm from a small law-abiding country. We don't get into trouble. We come here to earn a living and make a life for our children. It's those no good West Kingston slum trash who come here and make all the trouble for all of us/ Courtney is now a member of the middle class. In his late thirties, Courtney came to Canada when he was thirteen. He was born in Guyana, but spent some years in England as a child and was familiar with conditions in that country. He now works for the government of Ontario in an accounting department. In his view, many of the Black people who live in Ontario housing do not have a chance in this society, just as a similar group has been marginalized in Britain. Courtney is critical of these people, but in a sympathetic and understanding manner. Most of the Black people from the Caribbean came here in the 'yos when the way was cleared. They are a different calibre of Black people and they come from some of the worst places in the Caribbean. When they get a meal a day, they think it's heaven, and they don't want any more than that. When these people move from Jamaica to Ontario housing, they all try for a house. Everybody wants a town house in Ontario housing. All those women on welfare have no ambition. I am not down on those women - some of them really need it - but once you get stuck in that system, your children suffer. In the areas where there is subsidized housing, the quality of the education in the schools is lower. There may be a genius in the school, but we will never know. The parents don't realize that they are determining the future of their children. The police are not running around the Bridle Path! It's all really frustrating because the Canadian government does not care and the Black people are too stupid to see what's happening.

Courtney articulates some of the class- and country-based thinking that is sometimes typical of West Indians of his group. He believes

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 211 that the poor Black people are too stupid to know what is good for them because they are members of the lower class. The stereotypical view of lower-class laziness and lack of initiative is quite characteristic of many middle-class West Indians. On the other hand, Courtney fears for the middle class: 'Most of the Black professionals today are in my age group (late thirties) and in the next generation, there will be none. They will be in institutions like jails and Ontario housing!' Implicit in the kind of opinions held by people like Courtney is the wish to disassociate themselves from that segment of the Caribbean community that is not considered particularly praiseworthy. On the other hand, there are increasing numbers of middle-class Jamaicans and other West Indians who feel the need to assume responsibility because the community, and especially the youth, are going wrong. As noted by Karl, a middle-class Black lawyer, 'We can't forget they're our people too. They are troubled young people ... they are afraid ... They don't fit here and they get confused. They don't have enough parental guidance. It's up to us to help our brothers, not turn our backs on them.' Karl is articulating a commonly held view - that the Caribbean community must 'pull together/ that is, attempt to transcend their class differences and begin to take responsibility for helping those less favoured. This perspective is, however, in conflict with the other view (also commonly expressed) that 'it's not our problem.' Insofar as there is no agreed-upon view that brings the middle-class community together, it is not surprising that there is no commonly agreed-upon strategy of amelioration. Another major concern of the middle class is that because of the racialization of crime, every Black person is suspected of being a criminal not only by the police but by other members of the mainstream community as well. The middle class therefore fears for its reputation. Since for the most superficial encounters between minority and majority persons, race is far more antecedent than class, even a wellrespected Black lawyer or doctor can be involved in an incident of racism. This is especially true in their relations with the police. Our research revealed that almost every single respondent, especially men, had a 'police story.' The encounters usually occurred when they were stopped by the police while driving in new or late-model cars. Almost every adult male in our sample among those who drive reported that he had often experienced such stops. Usually, they are pulled over for no apparent driving offence and asked for their licence and car

212 Life in Canada ownership papers. After the officer has examined the papers and run a computer search, the driver is told he is now free to leave. If the driver questions the reason for the stop, officers normally respond by saying that the driver seemed to match the description of someone who is being sought. In many instances, the person being sought is years older or younger than the driver, of different stature, build, physical type, and skin colour, but 'this doesn't matter to the police; all Blacks look alike/ as several of our respondents noted. Moreover, the primary reason for being pulled over in the first instance, it is believed, is to examine the car, which is suspected of being stolen. There is the immediate suspicion that such a car must be stolen or that the driver is a drug dealer: 'A lot of cops look at a Black guy driving in a fancy car and say, "What does he do? Sell drugs?" But if it's a White guy driving that car, [it is thought that] he works hard/ Ray, the owner of a flourishing restaurant and a Porsche car, mentioned that there are times when he is stopped more than once during the course of an evening. While on his way to a club in Mississauga, Ray was stopped by police on the 401 and asked for the car's registration papers. As he pulled into the parking lot of the club, he was stopped by a different police car and asked the same set of questions all over again. Black men driving late-model cars while accompanied by White women provide another easy excuse for a stop by police, who think the car is stolen and the driver is a pimp. Glen, a young man in his twenties, was charged with assault, although he claimed that he never touched the police officer. A few friends were walking down the road having a good time and we were heading up to a club. Before we got there, we see a couple of officers and they said there is a marijuana smell here. But they didn't have proof - maybe they had a marijuana detector! Well, it reached a point where he read our rights. He was just trying to protect his ass. He searched me and all of that. Next thing we know, he radios for more help because it's three Black guys, so he thinks there is bound to be trouble. Next thing I know, he charges me with assault.

In another police-related incident, Baylor, a York University student, was driving downtown to meet a friend at a restaurant. As I turned right, I see a police cruiser. I drive along and the next thing

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 213 I know, the cruiser is following me. At the next light, I wait behind three other cars to make a right turn. As I make the turn, the cruiser comes up alongside. I get out and ask what IVe done wrong. He tells me that he thought I was not wearing my seat-belt. Later, he tells me that tonight they have found two stolen cars in the area and they were just pulling over people. Funny thing was, I was the only car they pulled over!

Another common reason given by police is that they are searching for a suspect who is Black. As a result, every car driven by a Black person in a given area can be routinely stopped. Ranee, a middle-class university student in his mid-twenties and a part-time researcher on this project, relates: I was driving down Yonge and turning into St Clair when I see the car behind me with lights flashing, the whole bit. I pull over and two cops come to each window, pull me out, stand me up against the car, and frisk me. They didn't say a word. I begin to ask, 'Why? What's happening? The light was green/ and so on. I was detained for over twenty minutes while they did a record search on me. I had to tell them I was in university, was working on a research project, quoted all the names of my professors. A crowd of people circled the car and it was very embarrassing because it looked like I had been caught by police doing something. It was also near my home and I was sure that some of my neighbours are probably seeing this. After a half hour, all they said was, 'You can go now.' When I asked again why they stopped me, they said they were looking for a robbery suspect driving a blue car. I'm Black and my car is blue!

In a similar example, a university student was stopped by police in Montreal and actually arrested and brought into a police station because he was said to resemble a suspect. It was through the intervention of his aunt, a member of a prominent middle-class professional family, that he was released. It was later determined that the suspect was middle-aged and brown-skinned. The arrested student was twenty-two and very dark in complexion. These stories become ludicrous and obviously questionable when crucial differences between the suspect and the individual stopped or charged are ignored. Important differences in height, weight, age, and especially skin colour often differentiate the driver of a car or anyone else being stopped by the police from the suspect allegedly being sought. Because of the number of police shootings of young Black men in

214 Life in Canada their cars, many young men, regardless of their own class status, now routinely show their hands as they are stopped by police. One young adult driver in his last year of university described how he treats this situation now: I stop the car and the first thing I do is pull down the window and stick my hands out. After he comes over and he asks for the papers, I very slowly open the glove compartment and take out my owner papers. Then I say my licence is in my wallet, and I carefully pull my wallet out of my back pocket. All my movements are very slow and deliberate.

Women also relate experiences of police harassment. Julie, a young woman in her early twenties, describes the following incident: I was waiting at Licks, the ice-cream place on Yonge St, for a friend. [Arriving a bit early, she purchased an ice-cream cone and awaited her friend.] I noticed a cruiser going round several times, but took no notice of it. In about ten minutes, the police cruiser pulled up and a policeman got out and motioned with his hands that I should move along. I looked at him and said, 'Excuse me?' He told me that he would have none of this on this corner and told me to move along, go further down the street. I said I was going nowhere and I'm waiting for a friend and I can stand on any part of this sidewalk. He became abusive and told me to get along or Til run your ass in if you give me flack/ [By then a crowd had formed. Julie said that if he was insinuating that she was a prostitute, she would hold her ground and stay to await her friend because she knew her rights.]

The second policeman got out of the car and Julie was handcuffed, charged with disturbing the peace and suspicion of being a prostitute, and taken to the police station. She called her parents, who called their lawyer. Her parents bailed her out, went back to the same street corner, picked up Julie's friend, and went home. The family lawyer lodged a complaint against the police and the charges were eventually dropped. West Indian women often complained of being watched in stores as they shopped. One of the common stereotypes against Blacks is that they are shoplifters, particularly in clothing stores. Cynthia and her friend related this incident, which occurred while they were shopping at a well-known chain store in one of the shopping malls. In this example, the police were eventually called despite the shop owner's wish to drop the matter.

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 215 Cynthia relates that she and her friend were walking through the store examining a variety of items when they were accosted by the female store detective, who told them: 'If you're not prepared to buy anything, why don't you just leave because I don't have time to continue following you around.' [Cynthia turned towards her.] I asked her, 'What the hell are you talking about?' The woman then started shouting and became abusive and said, 'I don't have to take this from a nigger.' My friend then turned around and slapped the woman. The police were called and me and my friend were held by the store detective and told not to leave.

Once the police arrived, Cynthia had to prove that she had money with her and her name was put through the police computer. The police asked the store detective if she wished to lay charges and Cynthia immediately said that she would lay charges of harassment against her in that case. The store detective continued to use abusive language and although by this time the manager of the store wanted to drop the whole thing, the police also became abusive towards Cynthia and her friend. They were told that they could get into all kinds of trouble for shoplifting and they even described what jail was like. When no charges were laid on either side, the police barred Cynthia and her friend from the store and the shopping mall. She was told that if she was seen in the mall again within six months, she could be picked up. It should be noted that the police in this instance went far beyond their powers in barring a citizen, who had no police record of any kind and who was not accused of shoplifting, from going to a shopping mall. Another common form of complaint against police harassment is from those who live in middle-class residential areas and who claim that the police have to be convinced that a Black family actually lives there. They then frequently cruise the area in front of the house to see 'if anything illegal is going on here/ Middle-class professionals of Caribbean origin are thought to be drug dealing or undertaking immigration scams, according to some of the middle-class respondents interviewed. In one rather extraordinary case, a couple claimed that they were harassed by police because they purchased a large home in an expensive area of the city. Paula is an immigrant from Jamaica married to an older man originally from the island of Dominica. He worked as a taxi driver and she was a part-time hairdresser working in a salon on the Eglinton Avenue strip. During the mid-eighties, they

216 Life in Canada won a substantial amount of money in a lottery. They purchased a large home and bought two expensive cars. Paula said that she observed police cars cruising past her house frequently. When it was pointed out to her that expensive areas are normally well protected by the police, she claimed that the police car would actually park in her driveway. On one occasion, an officer came to the door and showed her a search warrant, saying that there was suspicion of drug dealing from this house. Paula laughed, but she said, 'I really wanted to cry/ The police searched, but did not ransack her house and told her that she had a lovely home. When Paula's husband returned home, he called the police station, enraged, and was again told that the police had received a tip that drugs were being dealt from that house. Paula was asked if she had given the police information about her lottery win. She maintained that her lawyer had advised the couple that this was not any of the police's business, but that they should carefully monitor any further police harassment in order to file a complaint. Stories and incidents such as these were told by every respondent interviewed for this project. Without exception, every man and woman and even couples were able to relate stories of police harassment. Although the most hostile attitudes are held by working-class youth, who have had the most negative experiences with the police, many middle-class respondents also expressed negative attitudes towards police. Richard, a young man in his late twenties who does not have a police record and has led an exemplary life in Canada, summed up the feelings of the majority of people of Caribbean origin: When I drive and see a police car coming, I would try to drive the other way to avoid them. I'd do anything to avoid the police. Not that I have anything to run from, but just not to cause anything with them ... to do anything to myself ... because I know for a fact that if police were to pull me over, I'd have to have something like a tape recorder or something in the car because you can never really trust any of them, you know what I mean? MIDDLE-CLASS AMBIVALENCE

Middle-class people feel a considerable amount of ambivalence towards the police. On the one hand, they feel victimized and oppressed; on the other, some wish to dissociate themselves from the 'hooligans' in their own community. To a certain extent, the latter reaction is

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 217 further evidence of cultural continuity and follows the class stratification patterns of the Caribbean. It is useful in the migration context in that the middle class can get on with its objective of mobility and achievement. On the other hand, however, it does not allow for the provision of support and help to disadvantaged members of the community. Middle-class Caribbean Blacks are realizing that race and social racism is the force that harasses and oppresses them all regardless of class. The relationship between race and class is becoming particularly clear in the area of law enforcement as it has been in the U.S. for generations. The ambivalence and, indeed, the agony of middle class and professional African-Americans have been well documented (Franklin 1991).8 There is therefore a strong movement in the middle-class community to provide help and support services for a social situation of considerable magnitude - the marginalized status of young Black males, increasing numbers of young single mothers, and other evidence of the growth of an urban Black underclass. (A considerable number of agencies providing support services to these members of the community have now been developed.) In this regard, a similar pattern of the community closing ranks has been described in the U.K. Hall writes, for example: The commitment of the first generation migrants to a steady if unrewarding labour, and of the second generation to the life of the street and hustling rather than labouring are the principal forms in which the 'generation gap' is articulated in the Black community. However, as the pressures on the 'colony' community - from police surveillance and control, from unemployment and from official or institutional racism have steadily increased, so the division within the 'colony' between young and old, or between those who have chosen the respectable route and those who have chosen to hustle and survive, has 8 A prominent African-American scholar writes, for example: The criminal behaviour of a relatively small number of ... black men in big central cities is ... a critical factor undermining the quality of life of all blacks living in those cities, and also a contributing factor to race relations' (cited in Franklin 1991, 112). To some, the only answer is to 'get tough7 and another well-known African-American professional believes that the only solution to the problem of underclass men is to 'lock them up7: 'The cities, the culture and Black people in particular have to begin to move to get that garbage off the street ... We have to take a very hard line, against them ... turn him in, lock him up for a long time7 (Franklin 1991, 112).

218 Life in Canada been eroded, and there is an increasing tendency to close ranks, internally, in the face of a common and hostile threat' (Hall et al. 1978, 353). POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS AND THE RACIALIZATION OF CRIME

One of the most important components of what has been called 'the new racism' relates race to criminality (Fleras and Elliott 1992; Henry et al. in press). Classical evolutionary racism was predicated on the notion that non-White races are biologically inferior to Whites. Remnants of nineteenth-century thinking can still be found today in that many people still believe in the inferiority of some races and even in the concept of race itself. Academic racism in the form of work done by Shockley, Jensen, and their Canadian counterpart Philip Rushton are primary examples. The form of thinking has shifted somewhat, however, and its most striking example is the notion that Blacks, as a race, are more disposed to commit crimes than are Whites and other races. Beliefs in 'Black criminality' are becoming increasingly common in certain segments of Canadian society. These beliefs are increasingly being fostered in Canada (specifically Toronto) in large part by a number of institutions. These include the police and their interactions with the Black community, the belief among police as well as some members of the justice system that Blacks are responsible for more crimes, and that Blacks come from a crime-prone culture, notably Jamaica. Such beliefs, which fuel the 'new racism,' are also reinforced by the debate surrounding the use of the collection of crime statistics by race. These beliefs are being reinforced by media reporting.9 In the U.K., the racialization of crime has been evident since the early 19705 and reached a high point in the early 19805 (Gilroy 1987). 9 Law enforcement institutions are not alone in fostering the 'new racism/ The racialization of crime, which is in the first instance perpetrated by police and justice institutions, is reinforced by the media reports of alleged Black criminality. This is particularly evident in tabloid media such as the Toronto Sun and its affiliates across the country, but it is also evident in more subtle ways in other media. For example, the Toronto Star, as well as the electronic media in Toronto, gave significantly more coverage to the incidents of violence and shootings that occurred during the annual Caribana festivities in Toronto in August 1992 than it did to the festival itself. A particularly striking example of the media's role in fostering the 'new racism7 was a threepart series published by the Globe and Mail, which calls itself 'Canada's national newspaper/ on Jamaican crime (Globe and Mail, 10, n,-i3 July 1992).

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 219 The idea that Blacks are a high crime group and the related notion that their criminality is an expression of their distinctive culture have become integral to British racism in the period since the "rivers of blood" speech' [speech by a fascist member of Parliament - Enoch Powell - objecting to Black emigration to Britain and suggesting repatriation of existing citizens, 1968] (Gilroy 1987, 109). Gilroy argues that as earlier notions about the volume of Black immigration and the diseases and sexuality of such emigrants gave way to concerns about their distinctive cultural expressions, the focus of the new racism became their criminality. Crime and specifically the criminal acts of mugging, robbery, drug charges, street rioting, and other forms of urban unrest that followed were understood to be the natural expressions of Black culture, which was defined as 'a cycle in which the negative effects of Black matriarchy and family pathology wrought destructive changes on the inner city by literally breeding deviancy out of deprivation and discrimination' (Gilroy 1987, 109-10). Similar patterns are beginning to emerge in Canadian cities, particularly with respect to police interactions with the Black communities in Toronto and Montreal. As happened in an earlier period in the U.K., Black crime is increasingly becoming the central focus of racist ideology. Such ideology directed at the Black community means that Black life in a more general sense is being examined and understood or misunderstood through the 'lens which criminal signs and imagery provide' (Gilroy 1987, 76). This tendency is already apparent in recent (1992) media articles that focus on criminality among Black youth. MEDIA AND THE RACIALIZATION OF CRIME

The media plays a crucial role in reinforcing the racialization of crime. They may do this without conscious intent, yet the ways in which they approach 'Black' stories, the highly dramatic and evocative language used, and the selection of 'Black' stories themselves plant images and ideas in the minds of readers. One primary example of this phenomenon is a series of articles on Jamaica published by the Globe and Mail in July 1992. The first article is entitled 'Island Crime Wave Spills Over: Criminal Subculture Exported to Canada/ and begins with a description of life in a Kingston slum: It's a sweltering Friday night - an ideal time for a plainclothes cop on the intelligence unit to look around. On one corner, Detective Corporal Mark

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Allen chats briefly with a man recovering from a bullet wound in the neck. It was a drive by shooting, apparently motiveless. On another a woman complains that a gang of robber rapists is terrorizing the neighbourhood. He stops in a doorway to speak with a mother whose two teenaged sons were recently slain ... 'Jamaica's crime rate is among the world's highest ... I've never seen violence to this extent - to kill for no apparent reason/ said a Western diplomat ... The article goes on to note that, although it is now unpopular to discuss Black crime in Toronto, it is quite clear that 'this criminal subculture has been exported' and is evident on the streets of Toronto and, to a lesser extent, in Montreal. Named and unnamed Toronto police sources are quoted as saying that Black crime is no myth, it is reality 'which manifests itself in arrest records' and is proof that 'a volatile group of young Jamaican males has altered Toronto's criminal landscape ... in an explosion of guns and crack cocaine.' In the meantime, local Jamaican police sources maintain that this is strictly a Canadian problem and caused by 'riff-raff who migrate. And local Jamaican experts are quoted as saying that crack cocaine is the result of the hopelessness of life among the poor and the breakdown of the family. It ends by offering another 'expert's' opinion that Jamaicans are aggressive and violence-prone because they are the descendants of the most rebellious slaves who were offloaded in Jamaica more than two centuries ago. The racialization of crime is not limited to the media. Senior politicians, such as June Rowlands, mayor of Toronto, said in her campaign speeches that Black youth are responsible for the crime rates and commit more crimes than White people do. Alan Tonks, chair of Metro Toronto, expressed similar sentiments. Senior police officers, including Chief McCormack, have also said that there is a real problem in the Black community. It is widely believed among many people in the Caribbean community that the police in particular believe that Blacks are prone to criminality. The racialization of crime has also extended to public and cultural arenas. For example, it has been alleged that popular venues, such as Ontario Place, will no longer book Jamaican reggae artists because of threats of Jamaican violence. In a sold-out 'Sunsplash' concert at Ontario Place in 1991, a disturbance was created by a number of fans who were unable to purchase tickets. The event was not booked in 1992, because of the 'weak drawing power of some of its artists' and not because of the threats of Jamaican gang violence, according to

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 221 the booking agent (Toronto Star, 2 August 1992). The Metro police have been increasingly concerned about violence at the annual Caribana parade. The festival has been marred by a few incidents over the years, but even its strongest critics would concede that any event that brings i million people into the streets of a major city would provoke some unruly behaviour. Recently (1992), a Metro police report raised concern about a 'five hour parade that takes 12 hours' (cited in Toronto Star, 2 August 1992). On the one hand, police are concerned that a long parade involves them in more costs. More importantly, however, there was mention of limiting the number of floats and the time allotted to each. The Caribana committee was criticized for issuing vendors permits that permitted them to work after dark. The message in this report is clear: 'Limit the parade; limit how long Blacks are out on the street ... Make this strictly a daytime affair. Curfew' (Toronto Star, 2 August 1992). The Black Caribbean community is disturbed by the increasing evidence of the racialization of crime. As mentioned earlier, some middleclass Blacks and their associations want to assume responsibility for 'all of our people'; others wish to dissociate themselves. Still others are trying to take a middle position. A recent example is the attempt by the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) to keep Black youth away from the last day at the Canadian National Exhibition. For the last three years, small groups of Black youth have acted out and tried to take over the Exhibition. Police are on hand in substantial numbers to impose order. In 1992, the president of the JCA sent a letter to the media and community organizations asking that Black youth stay away from the 'Ex/ The community reaction was divided. Some supported the letter, arguing (as does the JCA) that the entire community should not be castigated for the antics of a few hooligans. Others challenge the JCA's right to curtail freedom of action of any segment of the community. Trinidad-born activist Lennox Farrell, current chair of Caribana, was immediately quoted as saying that no one has the right to curtail the activities of his son who was brought up with proper and appropriate values. And Beverly Bowen, an assistant city editor at the Toronto Star and of Afro-Caribbean origin, wrote a scathing article (4 September 1992), which began with 'Curfew by Race.' In it, she clearly suggests that Fuller, as president of the JCA, may very well be an ally of the police, who have a strained relationship with the Black community and need to find allies. She also notes that Fuller 'who sees himself in a position of authority in his community [is] unwittingly perpetuating the stereotype that where Blacks gather there

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will inevitably be trouble/ She also raises the question that if White teenagers were to cause trouble, would they too be urged to stay home? While the debate on this issue polarized class groups, the Metro police 'solved' the problem by having the largest police presence ever seen in the recent history of the Exhibition conspicuously present during the last day. Police used two helicopters, a number of video units, and hundreds of officers, some wearing riot gear. Some officers were even stationed at the top of a roller-coaster to keep the crowd under surveillance. This massive display of force, which even the newspaper called 'awesome,' managed to maintain order, but was itself strongly criticized by some members of the Caribbean community, who interpreted the police action as oppressive towards the community. Both class and political ideology split the community on this issue, as on others that involve the racialization of crime. The racialization of crime and the increasingly pervasive view that Blacks are disposed to criminal activity affects the Caribbean community in many negative ways. In addition to the police harassment suffered by many, regardless of class level, there are also fears that the justice system itself is not free from the taint of racism. While many Caribbean people have negative contacts with the police, it is largely the working-class and underclass members of the community who actually have experience in the courts. They are the ones most frequently arrested and charged. Charges lead to the courts. PERCEPTIONS OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM: THE COURTS

Most of the respondents who had experience in the courts commented on the lack of representation of Blacks other than those 'in the box.' This common complaint centres on the fact that the large majority of judges, Crown attorneys, lawyers, and other personnel are members of the White mainstream population.10 10 The complaint is so common that a group of Black lawyers in Ontario have formed the Delos Davis Law Guild to better represent their needs and to act as a lobby group to pressure government to appoint more Black judges, hire more Crown attorneys, justices of the peace, and other members of the judicial establishment. There are said to be only about 100 Black lawyers in Ontario, and of these, only about one-fifth do criminal law. There are only about six racial minority Crown attorneys. There has been a recent effort to increase the number of justices of the peace, but even here the numbers are still small. There are said to be only about six non-White judges in the Ontario system. In 1992, a Black judge was appointed head of the Federal Court of Canada.

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 223 Almost any courtroom in Toronto today will provide evidence for this important criticism. In most instances, Blacks, mainly of Caribbean origin and usually young adults, face a system in which all personnel other than themselves are White. During the course of fieldwork, a number of courts were visited. On one such occasion, the provincial courtroom on Queen Street was observed. The researchers walked into a courtroom where a trial was just beginning. On trial were five youths charged with forceable confinement and rape. Two of the youths were South Asian, three were Black. The victim was a young Black woman. Each of the five youths had retained a White lawyer. We observed that there was a senior, elderly White male judge, a female White Crown attorney, a White male assistant Crown attorney, a White law clerk, and a White recorder. In addition, there was a row of five White lawyers, some of whom had their own White legal assistants. The Black accused sat to one side. Members of the public seated at the rear of the courtroom were almost entirely Black (or South Asian). They were the families, friends, and school mates of the accused. The stark picture was of the strong contrast between a White legal establishment and the Black Defendants. Several respondents said that not having Black lawyers to defend them was problematic, but even more so was the role of the judge. One of the two Black lawyers interviewed in this project expressed some clear views about the justice system and, in particular, his perceptions of judges. Warren, a lawyer now in his thirties who has practised for a number of years, said: Most of the judges I have seen are White, male, elderly, and very conservative. There may be one or two who are a little more progressive in their thinking. They know nothing about Blacks, the Caribbean, the people, their values, their cultural backgrounds, etc. They see Blacks only in their courtrooms as defendants, charged by the police with criminal offences. They believe that Blacks are prone to criminal behaviour because they are the only ones they see.

In addition to the justice system, the correctional system was criticized by a number of respondents. CONCLUSIONS

The area of police-Caribbean or Black community relations is one

224 Life in Canada fraught with tension. It is clearly the point of contact with the mainstream society that has proven to be most difficult for Caribbean migrants in Toronto. Police shootings of young Blacks, the stop-andsearch procedures, and other forms of harassment have become so severe that tensions have been exacerbated. Coupled with the increased policing of the Black community is the development of the Black underclass, often made up of young, alienated men who engage in illegal activity. There is therefore a vicious cycle of increased policing brought about by increasing deviance in the community, which in turn continues the cycle of the racialization of crime. Reactions to this disturbing conflict vary in the community according to class level. There are members of the Caribbean middle class who maintain that they have nothing to do with the criminal element in their community and turn their backs on it. Others are saying that the community must take more responsibility in caring for its own. Among the working class, and especially among the underclass, fear and hatred of the police are maintained. An important community organization developed some years ago - the Black Action Defence Committee (or BAD-C) - has consistently called attention to police racial harassment. BAD-C's leaders are often decried by mainstream politicians and members of the police establishment as speaking for only a limited segment of the community. While radical action is espoused by only a few, the denunciations made by this group resonate within the wider community. Although some members of the Caribbean-origin middle class attempt to distance themselves from the underclass, most of the middle-class respondents in this study fully subscribed to the views of BAD-C. They were, however, less willing to take radical or militant action. The justice and correctional systems are also increasingly coming under attack because they are perceived to be treating Blacks differently from others charged or convicted. These allegations have become so pervasive that a provincial task force sponsored by the Ministry of the Attorney-General is investigating the charges. Policing, justice, and corrections are institutions within this society that most clearly demonstrate the perceived differential treatment of Caribbean Black people in Toronto.11 Along with employment discrim11 Police harassment of Caribbean people, as well as allegations of overcharging and, in fact, harsher sentencing patterns, are consistently alleged by members of the community as well as by informed and sensitive observers. Nearly all the respondents in this study spontaneously discussed the community's relations with police and the

Relations with Police, Justice, and the Courts 225 ination, the racialization of crime, the procedures of justice, and the increasing Black presence in the prisons are more than enough evidence of the differential incorporation of Caribbean people in Canadian society. The following is a letter received by the author after she was quoted in a local newspaper about police stopping Black drivers: After reading the story ... I felt a reply was in order. Once again when something happens to a minority race and the blame is always put on someone else, or the old standby, colour ... When is someone going to ask if there is another reason? The reason is obvious to a great many people. If you read the newspapers every day, it should be obvious to you too. The police pull over Black drivers because they have more Black descriptions on their wanted list than any other race. This is because the Black race commits more crime in this city than any other race, probably more than all other races combined. If there is a shooting, stabbing, or public disturbance, it's almost always a Black person responsible. These people are responsible for a lot of the problems experienced by the majority of law-abiding Black people. Don't blame the police, blame them. The problem will never be solved until you start admitting a great deal of the problems with the police are the fault of members of your race. If it had been pointed out that every Black person shot by the police in recent years caused the problem by either committing a crime or assaulting the officer, it might have made people look at it in a different way and prevented that senseless aftermath ...

justice system. As with other perceptions of racist experiences, however, these allegations have not been empirically tested. In 1992, the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney-General appointed the Task Force on Systemic Racism in the Justice System. The task force is currently at work and expected to report in 1994. Empirical research is part of the mandate of the task force.

11

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation to Canadian Society

How do Caribbean people respond to their marginalization in Canadian society? How do they react to racism on individual and collective levels? To what extent are certain cultural patterns that they bring with them advantageous in helping them adapt to a new society? In this chapter, the adaptative strategies of people of Caribbean origin will be examined. What particular techniques have been developed to aid in the adaptation process? The ways in which people help each other in the new environment to make the adjustment easier will also be discussed. Migrants in Canada, as elsewhere, begin the adaptation process by meeting their basic needs for survival, finding employment, housing, and services such as education for their children. People of Caribbean origin use the process of networking within the community quite extensively (Ho 1991). Community solidarity through which networking can be accomplished is also facilitated by island associations. Although their importance to those born or raised in Canada is less, the island associations play a crucial role for first-generation immigrants. Networking is also carried out during leisure times, especially at clubs. The churches also play a role in the networking process. Secondly, West Indians, as other migrants, tend to reside in areas already inhabited by others from the Caribbean (Foner 1989). (This is a common pattern. In New York, for example, most Jamaicans live in the Crown Heights and East Flatbush areas of Brooklyn. Trinidadians tend to cluster in the Eastern Parkway section of Brooklyn.) In choosing to live in certain areas of the city, Caribbean people are meeting the important need of staying together. Areas of residential concentration also hasten the process of institutional completeness. Insofar as they can

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 227 meet most of their service needs, they do not have to interact extensively with some of the institutions of the mainstream society. Areas of Caribbean settlement in Toronto will be described in order to demonstrate the growing institutional completeness in the Eglinton strip area and the beginning of the process in Scarborough. And, finally, for any form of adaptation to take place, people of Caribbean origin must learn to cope with the systemic and individualized racism that they are victim to in Canada. Various coping mechanisms used against racism will also be considered in the final section of this chapter. NETWORKING WITHIN THE COMMUNITY

Networking takes many different forms and can also take place within many arenas of the community. People can also network outside of the community to begin the process of mainstreaming or entering mainstream institutions. Because of the strong class divisions in the Caribbean community, networking, as other forms of interaction, takes place along class lines. Networks therefore develop within class groupings, but rarely between them. There is an obvious relationship between networking and the instrumental use of ethnicity. Networks are established along ethnic lines. For example, in some instances, people of Caribbean origin identify themselves as Caribbean. In others, particularly as they interact between themselves, island of origin determines ethnic identification. Within the Jamaican community, for example, there is a strong need to identify and maintain some aspect of Jamaicaness. (This has already been discussed in the chapter on education.) At Caribana time, Trinidadians strongly identify themselves according to their country of origin. In these situations, ethnicity serves to anchor and reinforce identity and differentiate the community according to place of origin. At concerts and other public events, a panCaribbean identity is assumed. Although people tend to shop in stores that reflect their island of origin, there is also a tendency to shop at West Indian stores, regardless of their ownership. Similarly, there is a tendency for people of the same origin to worship at the same churches, but we have also observed a number of 'mixed' congregations. For political purposes, however, especially when the community attempts to mobilize a demonstration or mass meeting to protest police actions, for example, a Caribbean-Canadian or Canadian-Caribbean

228 Life in Canada identity is assumed. At this point, it becomes politically important to demonstrate that the community is composed of Canadian citizens and landed immigrants with their corresponding rights and privileges. At each point along this continuum of ethnicity, a different network is activated. Networking is also facilitated through the use of kinship networks. Kinship plays an important role in Caribbean society because of the prevalence of extended families and the recognition of kinship with individuals such as third- and fourth-level cousins and other far removed, collateral relatives. With migration, these extensive kinship networks are markedly reduced, but kinship ties still provide an important basis for networking. Since few Caribbean migrants occupy a position of economic power, providing jobs to members of the kin group rarely takes place. But information sharing and the lending of resources, including money, frequently occur among people who are related. One of the main arenas for networking takes place within the church, and it applies particularly to problems with immigration. Information about newcomers Cjust comes') flows within the religious network. Help is always offered in finding accommodation and employment. Of particular importance is aid provided to illegal migrants. Letters of reference are supplied to such persons to help them secure accommodation. Business owners will give a person without papers a letter of reference stating that he/she was an employee for several years. With such letters, illegal migrants are sometimes able to access credit and credit cards. Those with immigration problems affiliated to a church are easily incorporated into the community and provided with the tools of survival. Church organizations sometimes keep lists of resources available to their members. This information circulates, and it becomes known that Mr X is looking for a salesperson for his store, or Mrs Y needs help babysitting her children, or Mr Z has a basement flat for rent. This form of help is especially crucial to illegal migrants who cannot access the normal information channels without drawing attention to themselves. Another main channel for networking takes place within shops, especially beauty shops for women and barber-shops for men. In both instances, customers are there for a period of time and, naturally, there is considerable talk among the patrons and with the employees. A customer will mention that he or she has heard of someone without papers who is 'in a very bad way/ If anyone in the shop has information on available resources, it will be offered immediately. A name, address,

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 229 or phone number will be proffered and the conversation will then continue without further reference to the individual in need. Networking is an important component of adaptation. It fills a gap in providing service not readily available to 'just comes' or to illegal migrants. For the latter group in particular, it substitutes for welfare and other forms of government subsidies. Networking seems to function at several levels within this community. It serves to exclude in that people are kept away from the mainstream and are able to access resources within their own community. It therefore plays an exclusionary or non-integrative function. At the same time, however, it also has a protective function in that it safeguards members of the community who require anonymity. The most common concern is for illegal migrants, but protection for persons importing contraband goods, such as products that do not meet Canadian standards for chemical content, is also extended. Such goods are sometimes smuggled because the demand for them is high. Other contraband goods, of course, include drugs. Networking functions orally. Nothing is ever written and there are no formal or standardized procedures involved in networking that involves the exchange of information. Oral transmissions are usually conducted in patois or dialect for greater security. INSTITUTIONAL COMPLETENESS: URBAN AREAS OF SETTLEMENT DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES

As with other immigrant groups, people of Caribbean origin have created areas of residential concentration. Two of these residential zones are around Eglinton and Vaughan Road and the Bathurst and Bloor area. As these zones became crowded, people began moving into certain sections of Scarborough. As the community became larger and more established, West Indians began moving to the outlying areas of Mississauga and Brampton. As these residential areas of concentration were being developed, another form of concentration was also taking place. This relates to meeting the housing needs of the poor in the community. The increasing needs for subsidized housing provided by the Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority has led to the development of neighbourhoods such as the Jane and Finch area in which a substantial number of people on welfare, mother's allowance, and other forms of subsistence live. These areas have also been identified as high-crime zones, especially for the distribution of drugs.

230 Life in Canada Even poor districts provide that sense of security and togetherness that people claim makes them feel more comfortable. However, it can also be argued that MTHA's apparently deliberate policy of putting Black people together into the same housing units exacerbates the potential for urban social disorder. Examination of MTHA's allocation policy shows that of over eighty housing projects, Blacks are overrepresented in eight projects, creating housing zones in which Caribbean-origin people predominate. MTHA maintains that it offers applicants three choices, and most choose to be placed in complexes that already have significant numbers of Black residents. It can also be argued, however, that reinforcing such patterns of residential segregation, particularly among the poor and marginalized segments of the community, increases their already peripheral status. Thus methods of housing allocation leading to concentrations of poor Blacks reinforces the differential incorporation of this segment of the community into mainstream society (Darden 1991). Although people of Caribbean origin living in Toronto have created a number of residential areas of concentration, none can be described as a ghetto in the sense of the large-scale ghettos characteristic of American cities. Tenements and substandard housing do not exist within the Toronto context. MTHA-subsidized housing units, while sometimes shabby, do provide standard one- and two-bedroom apartments. These buildings are usually indistinguishable from the regular adjacent apartment complexes. These areas develop as a result of two dynamic factors. First, there is the well-known phenomenon in immigrant ethnic communities of the wish to live together for the sake of solidarity, comfort, and networking. On the other hand, the push factor of racism cannot be overemphasized. Studies conducted in Toronto and Montreal have demonstrated that racial discrimination in rental housing frequently takes place (Henry 1989). In the Toronto study, it was shown that in nearly one-third of the cases tested, some form of discrimination had taken place. Methods commonly used include telling a telephone applicant that the apartment is available, but that it had just been rented when the coloured applicant comes to the office; not providing availability information; overcharging, etc. The Ontario Human Rights Commission also handles complaints based on discrimination in housing. They have been relatively few in number, largely because few people take such complaints to a commission that is perceived as bureaucratic, inefficient, and excessively slow in handling complaints. Apartment seekers find it easier and quicker to look for housing

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 231 in areas already settled by Caribbean or Black people because the chances of rejection are therefore minimized. Racism in the form of differential access to housing therefore plays a significant role in the development of zones of residential concentration.1 In sum, there are now clearly identifiable areas within and outside of Metro Toronto that are largely inhabited by people of Caribbean origin. The residential concentration of people of Caribbean origin differs little from that of other immigrant communities who also tend to reside together. The Eglinton Strip

Among the earliest areas of commercial and residential concentration of the Caribbean population is one in the centre of the city. The north and south boundaries of this area are Eglinton Avenue and St Clair, and Bathurst and Dufferin bound it east and west. Approximately 45,000 to 50,000 people live and work in this area. The actual residential community is concentrated from Dufferin Street to Arlington Avenue. The primary business area is the 'strip7 on Eglinton Avenue westbound from Winnet to Dufferin. It ends rather abruptly at the site of Division 13 of the Metro Toronto Police and its immediate neighbour, the Beth Shalom synagogue. Another important business area is on Bathurst Street between Bloor and Dupont. Strong connections are maintained between the two areas. Products are shared, customers are exchanged, and there is an extensive information flow between the two areas. The original businesses were mostly hairdressers, barbers, and grocery shops. As the migrant community increased, shops and services have expanded. Sarge and his wife, originally from Jamaica, opened a grocery selling West Indian products during the early seventies. Of his customers, he says, They buy here because shopping is more than buying goods - they like the smell of the familiar foods. They connect to the store, like at home/ An unfamiliar Black customer is always asked if they 'live or work around here/ Names are exchanged. Caribbean and Black music is always played, even in grocery shops. Customers stop and chat with each other and a temporary homogeneity is established. The employees i Racial discrimination in house purchase has not been studied. Impressionistic evidence, however, shows that it does sometimes occur. Real estate agents screen out properties that they do not show to a Black client. This is sometimes done at the express order of the seller and sometimes by the unofficial policy of the company. Occasionally, this screening practice is also carried out by a bigoted real estate agent.

232 Life in Canada in these stores are almost all Black, but occasionally a White person who can 'behave Black' is hired. Customers are, for the most part, Caribbean, except for the restaurants where a substantial number of White customers can usually be observed. One store proprietor suggested that it was 'chic for Canadians to visit ethnic areas/ Although prices are set in the restaurant menus, bargaining for a lower price was sometimes observed. Moreover, patrons could bring in their own goods for the restaurant to prepare and serve to them. The area is always busy. Cars and people throng up and down the strip. In addition to the traffic noises, people call out to each other, stand and chat, laugh and joke. These friendly interactions take place outdoors in the summer and indoors in the winter. Sometimes people walk into stores because they have seen a friend, or perhaps they simply wish to chat with the proprietor. Buying is not necessary. Most customers as well as employees greet each other with a 'Hi, and how ya doin?' Patrons at a restaurant will fall easily into conversation with each other. What is maintained in these areas is the sense of open friendliness and communality so characteristic of urban neighbourhoods and small villages in the Caribbean. DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL COMPLETENESS

The study of ethnic integration and/or assimilation has been strengthened by theoretical formulations dealing with institutional completeness and the idea of 'ethnic community closure/ In both theoretical constructs, it is postulated that the more institutionally complete an ethnic group is, the more members of that group will tend to contain their interpersonal, informal relations within the group. Consequently, their need to develop personal contacts with members of society at large will be reduced. The degree of institutional completeness of an ethnic group reinforces their ethnic identity and interpersonal ties. The more institutions an ethnic group is able to develop in the new context, the more organized it is, and the greater its chance of maintaining ethnic identity. Community closure refers to the process by which community members, once they have formed communal relationships, tend to monopolize economic, political, and/or social advantages. This does not mean that such a group is dominant in society. Closure may be attained by communities located at various positions along the stratification continuum. When applied to ethnic communities, ethnic community

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 233 closure attains or maintains a positively esteemed form of ethnic identity. Both theories direct attention to categories or factors involved in the process of maintenance of ethnic identity, one referring to interpersonal relations, the other to power, privilege, or prestige (Isajiw 1975). The literature on ethnic identity maintenance is extensive (Reitz 1990). Most ethnic groups have a need to maintain some cultural aspects of their ethnicity. In migrating to a multicultural society, ethnic maintenance plays a crucial role in the ability to access social, cultural, political, and economic rewards. Using ethnicity instrumentally helps a group to obtain societal rewards, especially when their numbers are large enough to have a political influence. The process of institutional completeness allows a group to maintain its ethnicity, whereas ethnic community closure provides a means to begin accessing political and economic power and privilege (Earth 1969). The process of institutional completeness has already proceeded to a considerable extent within the Caribbean community in Toronto. Many of the respondents in this study were engaged in retailing and other services. Moreover, observation of the services available in the community indicate that the range of services available is extensive. It ranges from simple services, such as shops, to advanced professional services in medicine, accountancy, and financial services. An analysis of advertisements placed in SHARE, the main newspaper serving the community, showed that over 500 services and products were being advertised. (Some of these services are listed in the appendix.) The most represented institutions are community services and organizations funded by the government. Air travel services take up most of the advertising space in SH^IRE, suggesting, perhaps, that Caribbean people travel back and forth to their home countries regularly. The relatively large numbers of freight and cargo services (containers) for shipping goods to the Caribbean indicate that a considerable amount of freight is transported to and from the Caribbean. Many of these service the retail shops specializing in the importation of Caribbean food products. Personal services, such as beauty and hair care, are well represented, as are social and leisure clubs. A few educational and cultural institutions, as well as legal and health services, are featured. Although there are in all likelihood more churches in the community than groceries, few churches would choose to advertise services for worship. Other businesses advertised included

234 Life in Canada restaurants, real estate, meat markets, tropical foods, and clothing.2 While medical, legal, and dental facilities are available to the community, these advanced professional services are still in limited supply. It is very likely, therefore, that people will seek an attorney, a family doctor, or a dentist outside of their community because these particular services are not readily available to them. To a certain extent, people of Caribbean origin will still need to seek services outside their community and they will continue to network accordingly. In such a situation, boundaries that maintain ethnic identity tend to be porous rather than impermeable. Other evidence of the growing institutional completeness of the community comes from a recently completed study of Black businesses in Toronto (Henry 1993). It showed increasing involvement in business enterprises in the migrant generation, but also called attention to the constraints and barriers faced by entrepreneurs of colour. Caribbean people have difficulty in obtaining credit from established lending institutions such as banks.3 This especially constrains entrepreneurial development, but it also affects persons wishing to obtain loans for a wide variety of purposes. One cultural institution that has been maintained in the migrant context is the revolving credit association known in some islands as the su-su. Such groups operate at every level of Caribbean society and provide a means of obtaining relatively small sums of money. There are many su-su clubs operating in the migrant community. The rules for these savings clubs are simple. Each person puts in a specified amount called 'a hand' per month and draws out that amount in turn. Each month one person draws out the amount invested over a specified period of time. Many of our respondents were participants in these clubs. Some said that it was difficult for them to save money unless they used this form of savings. The majority of persons questioned about the su-su were in for $100 per month for ten months. Every tenth month, they were able to withdraw $1,000. A number of people used their money to travel home for holidays, while others used it for gift giving at Christmas. Money was also used for purchasing household appliances and items for do2 This survey does not exhaust the services established in the community. It lists only businesses and services advertised in SHARE during a two-week period. Many other services available do not advertise in this newspaper. 3 A Black credit union recently received substantial funding from the provincial government to provide loans to more members of the community.

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 235 mestic use. All our respondents knew other investment clubs in addition to theirs and a few had 'half hands7 in other clubs. While these relatively small sums do not help entrepreneurs, they do provide a means of obtaining small sums without the hassle and probably rejection of personal loan applications at the banks. In addition to the su-su, pyramid schemes were very popular in the community some years ago, but have since been discarded because many of them collapsed before paying out dividends to members. THE ROLE OF VOLUNTARY ISLAND ASSOCIATIONS

The Caribbean community in Toronto has a large number of island associations. These include the Jamaican Canadian Association, the Trinidad and Tobago Association, and many others. Such associations have conferred benefits and advantages to their constituent populations and have been identified and studied extensively in the anthropological literature of immigrant communities. Island and other types of voluntary associations within immigrant communities generally play a mediating or brokerage role between the ethnic group and the mainstream society. Such associations often help immigrants adapt and adjust to a new environment. Associations assist with finding employment, housing, and in general dispensing information on social services as well as government-assistance programs. Island associations also bring immigrants together in a variety of social, cultural, and athletic events that give people an opportunity to re-establish their ethnic origins and enjoy aspects of their culture. This is particularly important in the ever-changing world of popular music, since many new styles emerge regularly from the Caribbean. Such events are important because they provide opportunities for the continuance of Caribbean cultural forms and expressions in the new society. Associations also keep migrants in touch with events in their countries of origin. Since the Caribbean is a very politicized area of the world, migrants, even after many years of residency abroad, still maintain a keen interest in political events in their countries of origin. (Some Caribbean countries such as Guyana have developed a plan so that Guyanese abroad can cast ballots and participate in elections.) Island associations have also proved useful in mobilizing their communities to respond to disasters at home. For example, several associations organized help when hurricanes struck their home countries.

236 Life in Canada The following case-study presents the activities and philosophy underlying the purpose of the Jamaican Canadian Association/ This association is the largest of its kind in Toronto, representing the largest Caribbean community. The smaller island associations tend to emphasize social and leisure events since they lack the size and resources to develop community action programs. Case-Study: The Jamaican Canadian Association

The Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA), a charitable organization in Toronto, was founded in 1962 when the city's Jamaican community came together to celebrate Jamaica's newly won independence. It started as an organization that would meet the networking needs of Jamaicans, but it has gone through several stages of development. It has moved from primarily a socializing organization to social service delivery to social advocacy. The JCA is recognized within the mainstream society and especially by government as being serious, committed, and responsible. This association has, to some extent, become the focal point for Toronto's Black and Caribbean community. Today the association provides counselling services, arts and crafts programs, and after-school programs for young children. It also maintains a Caribbean Youth and Family Services wing. The JCA facilitates networking within the Caribbean community by publishing a newsletter, providing workshops and seminars on a wide variety of topics, and liaising with many other Caribbean community organizations. It also has an immigrant settlement program that provides information on housing, education, and employment. Recently, it has added a support program for assaulted women. It now also houses the community's Black Credit Union. OTHER ASSOCIATIONS

Increasingly the Caribbean community is developing associations and groups to combat racism or promote and develop Caribbean and Black interests. Some of them also provide services such as business advice, personal and family counselling, and legal counselling. These groups 4 The case-study is drawn from interviews of executive members of the association conducted by Lindelwa Ntutela-Mourangi, a senior graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at York University.

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 237 also play an important role in survival and they help implement strategies to cope with the migration experience. Of particular importance are associations that promote economic and business development in the community. Recognizing that racism and economic disadvantage keep many members of the community from developing their talents, associations such as the Black Business and Professional Association, the Black Chamber of Commerce, and Black Pages have been created. This last organization is devoted to the development of Black business and publishes a directory, Caribbean African Canadian Businesses, Professionals, Organizations and Associations (Black Pages Directory 1992). The Black Business and Professional Association acts as a resource and a lobby group on behalf of business and professional members of the community. There are other groups for art, drama, and music that encourage the development of the arts in the Black community. In theatre and music, for example, a group working out of Regent Park has been formed to promote Black and Caribbean art forms. In addition, networks have been established to help young people in particular to learn how to focus their lives. Case-Study: 'Black Perspectives'

Regent Park is a high-density housing area that includes subsidized housing units. Racial minorities and especially Blacks of Caribbean origin are substantially represented in its population. This area was originally inhabited by Afro-Canadians. When people of Caribbean origin began to apply to the Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority for subsidized housing, they were often allocated units at Regent Park, presumably because it already had Black residents. Over the years, Regent Park has become almost entirely Caribbean. The Black Perspectives Program was developed four years ago in response to the growing number of Blacks living in Regent Park. It explores Black cultural and historical traditions through music, poetry, and visual arts. This should result in greater pride in Black traditions and encouragement for young people in their interactions with their peers and the wider Canadian community. Its activities include a photography club, a sports club, and sponsorship of special events. Recently, a theatre wing has been added. One of its first efforts was a drama workshop in which youth developed their own script and supplied all the technical resources to develop a play. The aim of the

238 Life in Canada project is to provide Black youth with a forum to deal with social issues of relevance to their community and to promote theatre and other performing arts in the Regent Park area. At the local neighbourhood level, in the Jane-Finch community, Regent Park, Bathurst Heights, and other areas with subsidized housing, self-help groups of all kinds have been formed. In the Jane-Finch area, concerned citizens associations fighting drug abuse have played an important role in controlling substance abuse among the young. Of particular value to the Caribbean community in its efforts to incorporate into Canadian society are organizations that provide counselling and educational services to families, youth, and others in need of aid. One such organization is the Harambee Centres of Canada. The following describes this group's range of activities. Case-Study: Harambee Centres5 Harambee Centres of Canada is a national organization dedicated to the development of the Black peoples of Canada. Its founder and president is Dr Ralph Agard, a Trinidad-born psychologist. Harambee is a non-profit conglomeration of centres spread throughout Canada with a head office in Toronto. Its philosophy is based on the Kiswahili concept of harambee, meaning 'let us all pull together/ Harambee is a concept institutionalized and utilized for the delivery of culturally sensitive services. It is based upon the idea of Black people taking charge of their lives and helping themselves. In 1984, Agard gathered together data that indicated an increase in family breakdown, teenage pregnancies, the number of children in the care of child welfare agencies, failures in the education system, and many other problems. In the summer of 1984, Dr Agard travelled across the country to do a feasibility study funded by the Department of Multiculturalism. He spoke with various members of the Black communities. His findings supported the recommendation that multiservice centres were urgently needed. In November 1984, a group met in Winnipeg, established a national steering committee, and appointed Agard as coordinator. The mission statement of the Harambee Centres says that 'we all 5 Interview with Dr Ralph Agard, founder of Harambee Centres, president and executive director, 2 November 1992, conducted by Lindelwa Ntutela-Mourangi.

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 239 have a mission to turn the tide on our social, economic, political, educational and cultural well-being as Canadians. We can't sit back and expect others to do it for us. Harambee is a call for self-help/ In order to achieve equality in this new society, cultural differences must be recognized and taken into consideration. The Harambee philosophy comes from this basic premise of cultural difference. The programs reflect and incorporate an understanding of the culture-specific values of the Black peoples of Canada, develop a sense of identity and pride in Black Canadians, and provide a support system to develop skills and cultural understanding. This will prepare Blacks for full participation in Canadian society. Agard ties this all up with the Harambee philosophy: The key here is understanding how our value system works in relation to the values of the mainstream society, for sooner or later the inevitable happens. Values that were once central to our survival are threatened. They do not seem to work. The pressure to survive mounts. The system is unable to provide the kind of mechanism we need to survive, to realize our own destiny. Our tendency is to abandon all the 'old ways7 and forcibly become Canadianized. Such pressure to conform at any cost invariably leads to self-denial. We give up our core values. This in turn results in a greater degree of inconsistency, self-doubt, and conflict.

Agard perceives frustration as the end result of this conflict in lifestyles. The other position is to understand how the Black community's value system operates, 'how it fits together as a whole. We should also understand how the value system of the mainstream society operates ... and how we can survive within both in a non-stressful manner/ The goal of Harambee has always been to enable Blacks to become bi-culturally functional. In recognizing cultural differences, Harambee becomes the bridge between the two cultures by providing programs and services that are culturally sensitive. Programs provided by Harambee include a family literacy program that provides upgrading skills in reading and math, and clinical services counselling for individuals, families, and groups about teenage pregnancy, parent-child conflicts, marital problems, and other issues. Harambee staff and members are skilled and competent. They have established centres in several Canadian cities and are successful in fund-raising for their projects. The group, however, is perceived by

240 Life in Canada some to be elitist, condescending, and arrogant in dealing with other Black community organizations, so it has very little grass roots support. Its biggest problem is the 'cult of leadership' that surrounds its founder, president, and executive director. A mentor program for Black young people has recently been started by Charles Boehm-Hill at the YMCA. A committee of both White and Black school administrators and teachers identified some of the common problems affecting Black youth. These included not being able to overcome cultural and economic problems, not being motivated, not participating and dropping out of school, not using available avenues to achieve and succeed, etc. The committee noted that such problems lead to the inability to find jobs and eventually lead to 'a life of drugs and crime and a disproportionate number of blacks in city jails' (Toronto Star, 8 February 1993). Boehm-Hill and staffers have started the Black Achievers Program in a number of schools and recruit mentors from the professional class of the Black community. Their objective is to 'give young Black people the opportunity to examine the values our mentors possess and build on them.' A similar program of mentorship is the Goals for Youth Program, which was introduced by the Toronto Board of Education in 1987. A pilot program to bring youth and mentors together was started at one of its schools and has about 200 students matched with mentors. A total of nearly 800 students have passed through this program. It receives some funding from the Ministry of Citizenship's Anti-Racist Secretariat. (The Secretariat has funded a substantial number of community-based initiatives put forward by various groups in the Black community.) Community organizations such as Harambee and Tropicana (another social service agency in the Black community) and support programs such as Black Achievers and others have been developed to help Caribbean people in the integration process. These organizations function as intermediaries between people of the Caribbean who come from a different cultural background and the mainstream institutions of Canadian society. They hope to achieve some measure of integration without loss of Caribbean values and identity. THE ROLE OF RELIGION

Religious institutions play a significant role in providing support services to the migrant community. They do this in two ways. First, the solace of religion is maintained for people accustomed to defining their lives through their religiosity. Second, religious institutions within the

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 241 community also provide networking and other support services to their members. The church provides a sense of belonging and, as one woman put it, 'St L is like my home away from home/ The use of the word 'home7 means not only the house in which she lives in Toronto but also 'back home/ When she is at the church and participating in their activities, 'it's just like at home/ Wendy specifically referred to the church as a surrogate family and the support it provided was akin to that of family: It was important for me, especially because I had no relatives here in Canada. I had migrated here alone and it was extremely lonely most times. When I lived in Guyana, the church for me and my family was everything. I was involved in many aspects of church life and the church was always where I felt I had a second family. The folks, old and young, were just so friendly. I remember calling people in church 'Sister So-and-So/ or 'Brother-So-andSo/ I guess it was like 'sister' or 'brother' in the Lord. We were related by religion, true Christian religion, so I guess when I came here, I wanted the same kinds of things ... you know, the fellowship and friendliness ... I did not find it, though. At least I did find some kind of replacement when I came to St M's, but it is still not the same.

Mary described the same social and economic support that the church provides: In the Caribbean, the whole village is a social service, but in Canada these things are kind of legislated. Here at St l/s, we have been doing a lot of things for people in need. We run a deacon's cupboard out of the church, which is an extension of a food bank. It is mainly the seniors who run it, and we help people who are in need of most things like food and so on. We are not only there to open our doors on a Sunday, we are there to help in whatever way we can, especially people in trouble.

A number of churches provide help in finding accommodation and sometimes jobs for new immigrants and refugees. Illegal immigrants are also helped by the church. In one case, a 'safe' house was found for a group of people who were in Canada illegally. This activity, despite its risks, is explained away: 'We are not Immigration Canada. We don't question people about their status. We see people who come to worship with us as seeking friendship and we in turn reach out and extend, friendship. We let Immigration do their job and we do ours/

242 Life in Canada Some of the churches, especially the independent ones, have plans for the future that include building seniors' homes and nursing facilities for members of the community. The Spiritual Baptist group discussed in chapter 7, for example, have such plans. They were announced in a sermon delivered by the minister, as mentioned in chapter 7This church and others also have youth groups in which they try to encourage young people to stay in school and to better themselves. At one such meeting, a speaker on human rights and racial discrimination was invited to address the group. The minister asked the young members of the congregation to bring their school friends because 'there are a number of children in our schools that are not able to cope with what we call racial problems, with discrimination/ In the next breath, however, he castigated young Blacks who bring discrimination on themselves because of the way they dress and behave! 'It's not them, it's us. We have to look within ourselves and better ourselves ... ' Small independent churches in particular have traditionally helped resolve interpersonal conflicts. The leaders of these churches in the Caribbean are asked to help with personal problems. They also function as healers since some of the leaders are skilled herbalists. These church functions are also maintained in Canada. And, finally, these churches provide spiritual comfort: Sometimes, like when families have problems and stuff like that, people become sorrowful and stuff like that, and they find comfort in serving God. When we proclaim the struggles that the forefathers before that has gone through, it kind of give you a comfort in something to lean upon - that, hey, this is not bad after all because my forefathers who have gone before has gone through these things and God seen him through. So, therefore they find comfort in these things.

Several themes emerge from the analysis of religion as a method of coping with migration. A religious group is closely modelled on the family and kin terms are often used to designate members. The religious family sometimes overlaps with the secular family since members of the same family attend the same church. Beyond that, however, other members are viewed somewhat as fictive kin and the entire group is seen as one large family. The family in religion therefore provides some of the same supports as does the biological family and

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 243 the circle of kinship is widened to include other church members. The possibilities for networking and interpersonal transactions of all kinds are therefore maximized. Religion also interacts with identity as a person's world view and sense of self are often tied up with his or her self-definition as a Christian. Henry put this view most succinctly when he said, 'I would like to identify myself in that which I preach, which is God/ The church also assists in developing community contacts and providing social services. It reinforces social class differences because of the class-related patterns of church attendance, which have been maintained in the context of migration. The use of religion as a form of coping with a new society is definitely age-related. The older migrant generation are church attenders and particpants. The youth do not appear to attend church in significant numbers, nor are they as religious as their elders. CLOSING THE CLASS GAP AS A SURVIVAL STRATEGY

It was noted in the chapter on law enforcement that the negative relation between police and the Black community, more than any other issue, has reinforced the class divisions within the community. The differences between the respectable working class, the professional and semiprofessional middle class, and the growing underclass were maximized within the community. The middle-class segments tended to dissociate themselves from the underclass and its atypical behaviours. As police harassment of the community's members has apparently increased, and as the media continues to dramatize the 'deviant' behaviours of underclass males, the class divisions in the Caribbean community, at least for the purposes of closing ranks against destructive and oppressive forces, have been somewhat minimized. Help, counselling services, training in skill development, and apprentice programs for youth, etc., have, for the most part, been initiated by middle-class professionals in the community. Although class divisions are still strong, there is growing awareness in the middle class that they must take greater charge of the social issues facing the community. THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY'S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

Political participation in mainstream politics is one of the most im-

244 Life in Canada portant avenues of advancement open to ethnic or migrant communities. In Canada, the Italian community has been especially successful in accessing the several levels of government. People of Caribbean origin have not yet reached the level of cohesion necessary to enter the political process.6 Elected officials from the community are few. Until recently, there was only one Black member of Parliament and only one in the provincial legislature of Ontario, although there are more at municipal and other local levels of government.7 Most migrants with political aspirations were naturally attracted to federal politics, but in some instances, their lack of citizenship prevented such goals. It is only recently that the Caribbean community has recognized the importance of school boards and municipal politics. Even so, their numbers are small for several reasons. Of particular importance is the relative recency of their arrival. West Indians have only been migrating in substantial numbers for about twenty years. Concerned with basic economic and social survival, they have not yet had the time and energy to devote to politics. In addition, they are not sufficiently organized, nor are there really large numbers to vote in blocs. They have not, therefore, been especially attractive to politicians seeking large numbers of votes. Moreover, Caribbean people are widely scattered throughout several municipalities and districts in Toronto. They do not constitute a majority in any one political riding. Once they have achieved a sufficient level of organization, ethnic groups can begin to function as interest groups and lobby governments for goods and services, especially when they are in a strong voting position and are aware of their own needs. This process has been called 'the mobilization of ethnicity' (Koot and Uniken Venema 1988). Several factors influence the development of this process: a) the ethnic minority group occupies a subordinate position in society; b) the population's attitude towards immigrants is negative; c) the attitude of political leaders and the government is one of tolerance; d) the group has an ideology that emphasizes their own culture; e) there is an in6 Political participation is just beginning in the Afro-Caribbean communities of Great Britain. Their participation has been constrained by a number of factors, including their uneven distribution in the U.K. They are concentrated in the sections of the population that have the least political influence, and barriers of racism have inhibited their entry into the field. The state's policy responses to their presence and the attitudes of the main parties towards them as well as their own internal level of political development have also been relevant factors (FitzGerald 1988). 7 Three Blacks were elected in the federal election of October 1993.

Coping Mechanisms: Strategies of Adaptation 245 tegrated leadership that can mobilize the rank and file. Caribbean people conform to the first three conditions and to some extent the fourth. Their inability to generate a level of integrated leadership that can mobilize the rank and file prevents them from becoming a potent political force. A study of forty socio-political organizations in the Visible minority' communities in Toronto, including West Indians, is currently in progress. It concludes that visible minority organizations are not the political intermediaries they could be. Although many of these organizations are quite vocal politically, the voice is that of organizational leadership, not of the racial minority populace ... much of the networking occurs among a core of individuals ... Any political vision comes from an inner circle of activists, not from the average person who comes in for services. (Wayland 1992, 33)

While the Caribbean community has not yet had any real political influence, there is some evidence that it is beginning to act as an interest group. The appointment of a task force to study policecommunity relations was created as a response to the community's ability to mobilize, however briefly, against police shootings of Black persons (Lewis 1989). In 1992, Premier Bob Rae appointed Stephen Lewis as special investigator of race relations in Toronto, and his report has stimulated a considerable amount of government activity (Lewis 1992)

Wayland came to the same conclusion when she wrote that despite (or maybe because of) the dissension among Blacks, 'at least Blacks and Caribbeans are taking an interest in political questions' (Wayland 1992, 33). While present organizations enhance the racial and ethnic solidarity of the groups they represent, they also prevent the formation of a single 'unified political bloc in Canada' (Wayland 1992, 33). This is largely attributed to the presence of so many ethnoracial groups in Toronto and in the country, each of which speaks for a specific group. Caribbean political mobilization has also been hampered by the mainstream political parties' lack of interest in them. It is only within the last few years that any concerted attempt to attract the Black vote or encourage participation in political parties has been undertaken. The New Democratic party in Ontario established seven advisory committees for different groups, and four of them are concerned with

246 Life in Canada ethnic groups. In the same year, the Liberal party also established groups to recruit members of racial and ethnic-minority groups. The Conservative party established a multicultural committee that has not, however, been active. CULTURE: THE ROLE OF ART, MUSIC, LITERATURE, AND THEATRE

Another significant development in the growing institutional completeness of the Caribbean community in Toronto is a vibrant artistic and creative culture. While working within the traditional frameworks of theatre, music, or creative writing, Caribbean artists have added their unique perspective to artistic development. Nowhere is this more evident than in the growth of dub poetry. Dub, a form of poetry originating in Jamaica, combines rhythmic music with the spoken word. As practiced by artists such as Lillian Allen and Clifton Joseph in Toronto, dub combines words primarily with the music of reggae. Joseph, a founding member of De Dub Poets, has gone beyond reggae and states that his form of the poetry is 'basically reciting poetry, playing with verbal rhythms, sometimes with a musical backing and sometimes without. With a band, I use all types of rhythms ... If you consider all the elements that are used for backing dub, we're producing a more authentic Toronto sound' (Toronto Star, 5 April 1988). The language of the dub poets is Jamaican patois, which poet, storyteller, and musician Louise Bennett raised to new artistic heights in her work. The material of dub poetry, like the Trinidadian-based calypso, is social and political commentary and protest, discourses on the nature of human nature, and accounts of the artist's personal experiences. Poetry is also well represented in the works of Dionne Brand and many other women. The feminist journal Fireweed has published much of their literary output. In other areas of literature, novelists such as Barbadian-born Austin Clarke and Neil Bissoondath recount the experiences of Caribbean immigrants in Canada. Over a dozen years ago, a locally based theatre company was formed to give presence to the work of Black playwrights. Theatre Fountainhead premiered plays by some leading Caribbean and Caribbean-origin playwrights in the city. In the last five years, Jamaican theatre has become an essential part of Caribbean culture in Toronto. Jamaican companies are regularly brought to the city to perform the works of the Caribbean (but primarily Jamaican) playwrights.

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The community has also continued the active dance tradition of Caribbean societies. A few professional and many amateur dance companies have been formed over the years. Not only do they concentrate on folkloric themes but some have melded modern dance forms with the older, traditional Caribbean dances. Music has provided a rich source of artistic expression in the Caribbean community. Artists of Trinidadian origin have continued the calypso singing and steel band musical traditions. A calypso association has more than two dozen actively performing members. Some (such as Cosmos, quoted earlier) have made recordings of their work. Steel bands have been formed in Caribbean neighbourhoods, and the instrument is taught in high schools that have a substantial number of Caribbean-origin students. Other bands, playing all types of music - soca, rock, hip hop, reggae, and others - abound in the community. Most of them play their gigs in nightclubs and at dances, community functions, and private parties. Caribbean migrants in Toronto therefore have many opportunities to participate in the cultural activities characteristic of their home countries. However, these cultural activities have not expanded their market beyond the Caribbean community. While this satisfies the cultural and entertainment needs of the community, singers, musicians, dub poets, and playwrights cannot earn their living from these limited opportunities. Most want to expand into the mainstream, but are denied access partly because their culture is defined in a limited manner. In addition, however, the forces of exclusion also affect culture to the extent that the style of Caribbean artists is sometimes appropriated by White performers while their originators are barred from participation. SUMMARY

The combined stresses of migration and racism create a need to develop organized, collective survival strategies in the new society. A number of these coping mechanisms have been identified in this study. They range from relying on traditional institutional forms (such as religion) to breaking down class barriers. There are also coping mechanisms for individuals which will be discussed in the next chapter.

12

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level

Institutional and organizational coping strategies were discussed in the preceding chapter. There is also the individual level of coping with change. How do people adapt to a new societal environment? How does the process of change affect the ways in which the new generation defines itself? We are referring of course to the changing patterns of personal identity. Finding a new identity or set of identities and using them successfully is an important method of coping; this mechanism works at the individual level. In addition to the changing nature of personal or individual identity in a new host society, both immigrants and those who were born or socialized in Canada must come to terms with racism in Canadian society. The variety of mechanisms developed to cope with racism are also discussed in this chapter. THE CHANGING NATURE OF IDENTITY

How one defines oneself or is so defined is an integral part of the migration process. Migration almost always brings with it new modes of identity formation. This is doubly important for people of Caribbean origin who often face racism and discrimination. The main issues affecting the adult migrant community concern the need to make a living, secure adequate housing, and in general attempt to integrate into a strange, primarily White Canadian society. Culture shock affects migrants from the Caribbean in particularly trying ways because of the need to adjust to a society in which individual and institutional racism are manifested. Although the majority of people interviewed in this project were, on the whole, satisfied with their

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 249 lives in Canada and definitely glad that they made the move, nostalgia and the wish to return 'home' for retirement were also recurrent themes. Migrants of lower middle- or middle-class origin as well as the upper class, find it considerably easier to merge their original island identities with that of becoming Canadian. The name of the largest ethnic organization in the city, the Jamaican Canadian Association, is evidence of the ability to merge identities into a functioning instrumental whole. This does not mean that adult migrants have given up their Caribbean identities. As one man put it emphatically, 'I'll be a Jamaican until I die/ It indicates that for integrative and instrumental purposes, a 'new' identity has been formed. Migrants who were of working-class and underclass status when they first arrived and who have not achieved any significant improvement in their lives find this identity merger far more difficult. For them, being even partly identified as 'Canadian' is problematic. Among the youth of the community, those who are adapting are forging new identities that merge race, origin, and new Canadian culture. They identify themselves as Blacks of Caribbean origin or specific island origin and as Canadians. In some circles, and under American influence, the term 'African-Canadian' is preferred. Any aspect of this set of identities can be highlighted when the situational context calls for it. The multiple identity 'bag' allows for the instrumental use of any component depending upon the circumstances.1 1

For Caribbean people who have migrated to the United States, identity becomes even more problematic because of the need to position themselves vis-a-vis American Blacks and Hispanics. Foner (1989) and others have pointed out that, for the most part, Jamaicans and other West Indians in New York and elsewhere in the country take pains to distinguish themselves from Americans. On the whole, they tend to see themselves as superior to African-Americans. Sutton (1987) notes, however, that West Indians are faced with a contradictory set of attitudes and pressures. On the one hand, they have no interest in becoming defined as part of the unemployed American and Hispanic underclass and therefore are unwilling to 'shed their cultural heritages or separate Caribbean-based identities as they seek to further their socio-economic status in New York7 (1987, 21). On the other hand, they know that they have benefited from the political struggles that have characterized the African-American and Hispanic agenda for many years. This causes them to 'oscillate between particularistic island/ethnic identities and definitions ... and more generalized political/radical alliances in which joint demands are made on the municipal, state and federal governments' (1987, 22). More recently, Sutton has called attention to what she calls a 'transnational socio-cultural system' within which Caribbean people in New York live.

250 Life in Canada Another important component of identity relates to island of origin.2 To some extent, island of origin identification still plays an important role, particularly with respect to shopping, religious worship, social events, and the like. Island of origin identity assumes more salience when interacting with Caribbean people from countries other than one's own. However, a pan-Caribbean identity or Black identity is becoming increasingly important. Since migration reinforces a concentrated pattern of residence, people from a variety of Caribbean countries tend to live in the same areas, shop in the same stores, attend the same places of worship, and send their children to the same schools. There are therefore many opportunities to meet Caribbean people from other areas. A pan-Caribbean identity also becomes merged with the racial category 'Black/ which promotes a larger and more inclusive pattern of identity formation. This overarching identity is most often used when people interact with the larger mainstream community. A person will most likely say 'I'm from the Caribbean' when asked by a Canadian co-worker or acquaintance. Only further questioning is likely to produce the name of the Caribbean country of origin. A similar pattern of interisland interaction has been observed among Caribbean people in New York. Sutton and Makiesky (1975, 130) write, 'It seems that New York offers more opportunities to build common understandings among West Indians than all the pro-Federation pronouncements of West Indian leaders at home/ Those who are not adapting are also forging new identities, but these are, to a certain extent, influenced by other factors. For example, when a young person who has been part of the 'Roots.'-oriented identity in high school drops out, flunks, or even graduates but is unable to find employment, the 'Roots' identity can quickly turn to the 'rude boy' or even 'hustler' lifestyle with its characteristic illegal behaviours (see chapter 9 on subculture). In addition, an increasingly important part of the new identities being formed by young people is their relationship with the cultural symbols of Rastafarianism. For some working-class youth, Rastafarianism gives them a stable identity base. The attraction of Rastafarianism for Caribbean-origin youth in the U.K. has already been 2 Mendoza's (1989) study of a sample of Caribbean-born women living and working in Toronto found that the majority of the sample (fifty-four) identified themselves in terms of the region, another nineteen defined themselves as coming from a specific island, and only seventeen claimed a variety of 'mixed7 identities.

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 251 studied (Garrison 1979) and it is more than likely that aspects of Rastafarianism will become increasingly important in the construction of identity among the youth. For the youth of Caribbean origin, personal or cultural integration is both necessary and problematic. Unlike their Caribbean-born parents who are still clearly West Indians in terms of their subjective identity, most of the youth are caught between being West Indian and being Canadian. Most of the youth and young adults who were born in Canada or who came at a young age find themselves caught between the old-fashioned cultural values of their parents and their need to modernize, be progressive, and become Canadian, although the 'Canadian' part of their identity has strong American overtones. Their need to integrate into Canadian society takes a very different form to that of their parents. Youth Identity

In addition to the differences between generations with respect to identity, youth of Caribbean origin, like many immigrants, construct their personal and cultural identities instrumentally. They want to be able to choose whichever identity suits them best for particular situations. Sometimes it may be more beneficial to be Canadian, while at other times they want the freedom to express their Caribbean identities. A group of Jamaican young people put it this way: Everybody doesn't want to appear local or Jamaican, but as soon as a good reggae number comes up they want to dance to it. They are all proud of being Jamaican, even if not all of them were born there. They're proud of it, but don't want it rammed down their throats. They want to be able to choose when to dance, eat, or speak Jamaican and when they want to be Canadian or non-Jamaican with Jamaican background.

Two other young people specifically noted that roots were what they wanted, but at the same time they wanted a progressive Jamaican attitude. (See chapter 6 on education.) They do not want to act the way they see their parents act. The interviews with a number of adults and youth suggest that the notion of identity among Caribbean migrants is complex. Respondents often spoke of subscribing to a 'Jamaican' identity or of being 'Jamaican-Canadian' or, conversely, 'Canadian-Jamaican/ These cate-

252 Life in Canada gories are useful for understanding group identities, but shed little light on the multidimensional and constantly shifting characteristics of what identity means to people of Caribbean origin. Migrants do not gradually take on Canadian cultural norms and values and thereby become Canadian. The process of new identity formation in a new society is an ongoing one, in which a variety of 'Canadian' experiences derived from social interactions, school, the workplace, the media, etc., merge with the perceptions, memories, and experiences related to migration from the Caribbean. As noted in an earlier chapter, immigrants have not 'left7 the Caribbean because modern communications have created a global society in which telecommunication and travel links enable migrants to maintain contact with their place of origin. Flights to Jamaica, for example, are frequent and relatively cheap. Telephone calls, especially after hours, are also inexpensive. Identity for migrants in New York, as Sutton and others have shown, transcends national boundaries (Sutton and Chaney 1987). Moreover, as was also noted earlier, some migrants still have houses and real estate at home and some make payments on property at home from wages earned in Canada. They are therefore not completely committed to Canada. FACTORS INFLUENCING IDENTITY FORMATION The Interaction between Images of 'Home' and Experiences in Canada*

This interaction is influenced by a variety of factors, including the age at which immigration takes place, the frequency of return visits to the Caribbean, and the level of contact that is maintained with relatives and friends. Migrants of Jamaican origin who visit Jamaica on a regular basis are often ambivalent towards the identity that is subsumed under the label 'Canadian/ Jamaica is perceived to be more 'natural/ Its sunshine, beaches, and open spaces were often cited as examples of the more natural state. People in Jamaica live more in tune with nature than they do in a materialistic North American country. Jamaica also evokes a closer attachment to the land. This perception is the very opposite of the perception of life in Toronto. However, the natural attraction 3 This section owes much to the work done by Daniel Yon in his study of Caribbean high school youth.

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 253 of Jamaica (and other Caribbean countries) is also continually being weighed against the economic difficulties in the region that made migration and the search for a better life in Canada desirable in the first place. Except among the educated, some of whom accept an anticapitalist political perspective, there is little evidence of any bitterness towards the wider structural and historical differences between 'here7 and 'there/ Richard, a young Jamaican, recalls his childhood memories of being brought up in the country by his grandmother. With some degree of nostalgia, he says, 'She would grow her fruit and all her food ... and she would go to the market. That's where she would sell the goods and she'd make some money for us. At the same time, we would eat that same food. There were only a few things she bought, like sugar/ The childhood memories of those interviewed were often dominated by a sense of freedom, of washing clothes and bathing in the river, of playing outdoors, 'that open land, any open land/ and even of being beaten by adults for behaviour interpreted as 'mischief/ These memories contrast with the conditions that the geography, size, and climate of Metro Toronto offer. Some migrants believe that their lifestyle and consequently their identities are also influenced by the climate. Throughout the interviews, many people contrasted the cold of Canada with the warmth of the Caribbean. The notion was articulated by a middle-aged woman from the Caribbean who said, 'It's so great just thinking about the sunshine, the food, and the people. It was so natural. Canada is artificial, plastic, compared to Jamaica/ The 'naturalness' of the Caribbean suggests a warm, friendly, and informal lifestyle as compared to something cold, artificial, and plastic, which is how some migrants perceive their lives in Canada. The pleasantly warm weather in the Caribbean allows for a social life that is often lived outside rather than in apartments and houses. Social activities there are sharply contrasted to social activities in Toronto, which take place mostly indoors. The relatively casual lifestyle is not possible in Toronto where a different kind of life is led, but the earlier persona that accompanied a Caribbean lifestyle is not completely negated. Such unfavourable comparisons are, however, counteracted by the memories of economic constraints and hardships in the Caribbean. This sometimes put into perspective what is perceived to be the more negative, materialistic lifestyle in Canada: 'You see, over here you get used to this kind of pampered luxury, like the cars and the clothes, the

254 Life in Canada jewellery and hair products, TV. Back there, we would play dominoes all hours of the night, even if the street lights would go off ... where we couldn't see and we would still be playing up to all hours of the night/ For some people, economic hardships are not the only painful images and memories of home that have to be dealt with. Memories of extreme violence are also evident: 'Well, I was going to school on the bus and this guy was beating his girlfriend on the bus. He was chopping at her with a machete and everything/ And some respondents, especially those from Jamaica, sometimes referred to the violence that preceded elections in that country: 'It's the only time Jamaica is ever in the Canadian news ... when they are reporting some hooliganism about the elections/ For many Caribbean people living in Toronto, cultural identity becomes a trade-off - one sacrifices the warm and natural environment for the benefits of jobs and material goods. For younger people, the original culture is appreciated and trips home are happy experiences, but the reality is that Canada has become home. A young woman from St Lucia describes the contrast. Her view is not without contradictions because while she speaks of Toronto as being 'much more open in terms of ethnicity' and therefore feels 'at home,' she enjoys her annual visits to her country of origin in the Caribbean because it's nice to be back culturally in tune with yourself. I mean, there have been a lot of changes, but once I get into it - that lifestyle - there is a lot of negative in it, but there is something nice about being in your own culture. You don't really have to question yourself. I found up here that everything becomes a race issue whether we like it or not, whereas there you are not having so much of a race issue because it is a society where the majority is of your race. It is not a question of race that comes into play. You don't find Blacks and Browns with identity crises, with police crises. You don't see that.

Significantly, however, the same respondent pointed out that despite the frequent visits home, she did not think that she could return there to live indefinitely because of economic, social, and educational hardships. The Dual Allegiance: Commiiments to Both Countries

Adult migrants do not lose their commitment to their home country even after many years abroad in Canada. In addition to regular visits

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 255 home, several other factors strongly influence the continuing bond to their original home. The majority of migrants maintain ties by sending remittances home to help support children and other relatives. The literature has demonstrated that in some cases, this money forms a significant portion of an island's income. In addition to money, migrants send goods home regularly. The items range from detergents and manufactured products that are in short supply in the Caribbean to clothes and toys for children (Frucht 1971). Maintaining Home Investments As migrants increase their earnings, many tend to invest in land and other property in their original countries. Some purchase homes for their parents or other relatives, and, in some instances, for their own eventual retirement. One man in his mid-thirties who has been in Canada for many years and is well established professionally and financially has decided to invest in his native Jamaica. He and a small group of friends have pooled their monies to purchase a textile factory. Belonging to Island Associations People of Caribbean origin maintain their cultural identities by belonging to their island association. In Toronto, as in other areas where Caribbean people have migrated, island associations are formed to maintain island solidarity and a sense of cultural and personal attachment to 'home/ There are at least half a dozen such associations in Toronto. Occasionally some 'die out' and are reorganized again by more committed people. (See chapter 11.) The main function for many associations, however, is maintaining identity in the sometimes hostile environment of the new society. Events and Projects Organized by the Community The Caribbean community has organized a number of events designed to enhance Black and (to a lesser extent) Caribbean identity among the youth. The Harry Jerome Awards are distributed at an annual dinner and are given to youths who, by their achievements, commitment, and energy, have made significant progress for themselves and contributions to the community. Another initiative called the Black Cultural Arts Project promotes the development of Black culture by

256 Life in Canada introducing youth to music and other artistic forms of expression in some high schools. Chissamba-Chyuka, a dance group devoted to promoting the folk-dances and theatre of the Caribbean, also occasionally perform in schools. Personal Identity Responses to questions of national and racial identity highlight some of the complexities implied in the concept of a 'Black' or 'Caribbean' identity. The responses also point to the range of differences in these notions of collective identities. For example, some respondents resist attempts to be categorized in one way or the other. In response to a question about Jamaican or Black identity, one respondent replied, 'Well, what do you mean when you say Jamaican first, Black first? I'm really a human being first.' Despite this desire to be acknowledged first as a human being rather than as a segment of an undifferentiated collective entity, the same respondent maintains very close links with Jamaica, sending goods home and visiting the island whenever he is able to. At the same time, he claims to stay within his own community in Toronto because 'it is good to keep a certain identity. I can't shy away from it. That is what I am and that is what I like. That is the lifestyle that I love.' The ambivalence implied in not wanting to be labelled on the one hand, and yet subscribing to that label on the other, is a recurring theme, particularly for youth. Thus, a second respondent spoke of trying not to pin his identity to a region, preferring instead to consider himself a 'Black male of African descent.' This particular identity provides a focus, an orientation, and a symbolic point of reference for his relationship with the wider Canadian society. African history, it is claimed, guides him, 'like a compass, providing armour, so you can take whatever comes your way ... Canada is home in a way because the world is a house and Canada is a room, so it is just one room, where the heating is best and the ventilation is best, so I'll stay here for now.' Other members of the community subscribe to a Black Jamaican identity more directly because they feel more comfortable among their fellow Blacks. One respondent claimed that his fellow Jamaicans are the only people that he is able to 'tie' with. The same respondent offers interesting insights into how the Canadian identity may be used instrumentally: The only time you use Canadian is when you are at

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 257 the airport and you want to come up here, If they are hassling you, you go "Listen, I'm a Canadian citizen. Let me out." That's it. I'm more proud to say, "I'm a Jamaican." That's where I was born, so why should I say "I'm Canadian"?' Another familiar theme emerged in the youth study: collective identities are forged as a result of immigration rather than being an integral part of the self-perception that is held prior to immigration. Respondents pointed to what are perceived as structural barriers within Canadian society that help to account for this particular process of identity formation. One respondent describes her minority status as 'first and foremost' that of a Black person of Caribbean descent because society isn't structured to accept you, but you can't change your skin colour, your features, that distinctiveness that make you non-Anglo-Canadian and the longer you live up here, the more you become aware of it. There is never 100 per cent assimilation into their country. You'll never be 100 per cent yourself; you're only seeing a part of the self. That's a part you've adopted, having lived in this country for that period of time. You're never at home.

The feeling of being an 'other' in 'their' society means that certain strategies have to be adopted for 'presentation in public' and for coping with a sense of difference: You can't drop all your cultural barriers. They are unaware of your cultural bias. They think you are always like this all the time. They don't realize the unrevealed side of yourself - your alternate personality - the side you adopt living here, your Canadian self. Like you are two personalities, two cultures. You show the adopted self. The issues you talk about are universal, like women's issues, not Third World issues. You talk differently, slow down your talk, drop slangs, alter your forms of speech. I also think you watch what you say. I think that is the main thing - a major part of communication is speech. Former traits - you know, growing up in the Caribbean, you articulate with your hands - that probably slows you down, you tend to calm yourself down. As a culture, we are very expressive and you have a tendency to monitor that side of yourself.

Another female respondent noted that being a light-skinned Black did not have the social advantage that it has traditionally held within many parts of the Caribbean. Being light-skinned did not enable her to fit in culturally with anybody White in Mississauga where she went

258 Life in Canada to school. On the other hand, she also had difficulty relating to fellow Caribbean students who had been brought up in Canada because they didn't have any West Indian background and I found them foreign too. In the Caribbean, it's more of who you are, or who you perceive yourself to be, what you act like, what you actually identify with. When I compare myself with Black Canadian children growing up with 'White' identities, I find it is who we perceive ourselves to be; that Blackness is not so much even a sense of skin, but how you can identify yourself culturally with people.

Another student noted that she appreciated herself more for being Black in Canada than she did in Jamaica: 'See, when I was there, I felt Black as being negative. Now I am positive and thankful for being Black. The attitude is still in Jamaica, probably because the people are Black and so nobody really pays attention, and there is too much poverty to take notice of that sort of thing/ In a study of Black youth in Toronto, Carl James found as we did that positive racial consciousness came with living in Canada. Although colonialism in the Caribbean produced a value system that ranked Whiteness over Blackness, the day-to-day realities of being Black in a predominantly White society are only experienced under conditions of migration. In the new society, having a black skin was more important than being a person, but being white-skinned is never mentioned when referring to or describing Whites (James 1993, 5). Being Black in Toronto automatically meant having to face racism, but for these youth, racism was perceived to be a 'hurdle and not a barrier/ Racism needed to be overcome in order to achieve goals and objectives in life. Moreover, the construction of Blackness was seen 'in relation to their social position as racial minorities ... and as a response to dominant social preconceptions, prejudices and stereotypes ../ (James 1993/ 5). One of Toronto's Black artists, who emigrated from the Caribbean in the late 19705, elaborated on what he sees as the 'brainwashing' about race and colour. An extract from the interview with Joe draws attention to the consciousness-raising process and strategies: We're taught in the Caribbean, and in certain parts of the West, to despise Blackness, the heritage that we come from, so that a lot of the history that we actually get is the history of conquerors, the freaks who call themselves victors. So then what happens is that I come here not knowing anything about

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 259 Africa and hardly anything really of essence about the Caribbean because I was educated in the British-dominated educational colonial system that taught me more about European history, culture, and geography than it did about the history and culture of the place that I was living in - much less. So the unconsciousness that we are talking about is where that kind of unconsciousness, that brainwashing, paralyses you towards actualizing yourself as a human being and taking control of your situation. Politically, it means that you have to understand the situation that you're in and so what we went about in high school, as at York, was to initiate more readings, more books on Black history, Black facts, Black information to give us a sense that we're not inferior. Somebody says that you're inferior, and you go through a whole educational system and you don't see yourself reflected, or when you do, you see it in a negative portrayal. In my case, the only time we heard about Black folks in high school was slavery; we didn't even do the civil rights movement ... You need to have information to say This is not true.' So we had to get into all that factual information, so that we could boost up our own self-image and self-worth, instead of going around thinking that we are inferior. And that's still a process that still needs to be done from the great-great-grandmother to the newborn baby because it is something we haven't dealt with on an ongoing basis. Some Black folks end up believing and make distinctions. Some will be given special privileges. Then they start to despise the rest of the community, 'We're not like them,' and so on.

Joe elaborated on the consciousness-raising processes he went through in developing a sense of identity. This identity he described as a more 'worldwide, international, pan-Africanist socialist type' that was developed during the course of high school and university experiences in the late seventies. I came here and I immersed myself in this city and the politics of high school, so that even though the old man would say, 'Be a good boy and don't get into trouble; it's White people country,' that was all bullshit to me. This is not this White man's country. He stole this country from the Indians ... A lot of times they telling you things they really don't believe, but they trying to keep you out of some shit, 'cause they know the wrath of the system can come down. So in doing the parental thing of protecting us, they fill our heads with a lot of shit ... It wasn't really our parents' fault in a sense, but there were many things that we were gung-ho about. We were in the situation and we wanted to see some changes in the school situation, but our parents were coming out of the West Indian thing: the teacher is supreme ... so they

260 Life in Canada weren't as active in checking out the idea of us as new Canadians inside of the school system and needing to work out the politics in the society and so on.

While some people, especially youth, have defined themselves with pride as being Black, others still show some sense of ambivalence. Courtney, an accountant of Jamaican origin, made an interesting point in discussing a program on TV that was called 'Black World/ Take a program like "Up Front/' If anybody came to Toronto and wanted to find out what is happening in the Black community, all they had to do was open the TV Guide and they would find "Black World," but the show changed its name to "Up Front." That shows a lack of identity!' The formation of racial identity among the youth is perhaps the most significant example of cultural discontinuity. From the negative conception of being Black to the positive identification of being Black and proud is an important transformation brought about largely by the process of immigration. The importance of racial identity in the remaking of the personal identity of young Caribbean migrants cannot be overemphasized. Their parents, raised according to old Caribbean traditions, do not emphasize racial characteristics to their children during the socialization process, except in the negative ways referred to by the artist quoted earlier. Although Caribbean societies are changing, racial difference, especially difference in skin colour, still forms the basis of stratification in those societies. Blackness is still equated with being 'African,' ugly, and inferior. While concepts of Black pride have made significant gains in the region, race is still considered important. Having fair skin and 'nice hair' are still markers of social status that can be used advantageously, especially by women to enhance their social status through hypergamous marriage. Young migrants have been raised with this background so that Blackness does not inform their personal identities. With migration, however, Blackness becomes for many the main component of their identity. It is particularly evident among high school and university youth and young adults whose political ideology is framed around socialist philosophies and who denigrate concepts of inequality based on race. The points made earlier regarding the changing nature of personal identity and what might be called the new politics of race in the new society have been well articulated by Stuart Hall, one of the major

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theorists working in this field in the U.K. He notes that in the U.K., as in Canada, whereas the migrating generation thought of itself as sojourners wishing to return home one day, their children think differently. One of the first requirements for this new generation is to construct an identity that works in the new environment. He calls this 'identity politics one/ which has to do 'with the constitution of some defensive collective identity against the practices of a racist society' (Hall 1991). Hall notes that in the U.K., the new migrants and their children were blocked from being part of British society. As a result, they had to find their own sense of personal and collective identity. People had to discover who they were and this is the 'moment of the rediscovery or the search for roots' (Hall 1991). This comes about because of the need to resist exclusion and marginalization brought about by the racist practices of British society. This identity - the category 'Black' as a political and social category of identity was not known in the Caribbean societies from which they come. Black in terms of skin colour and its many gradations ranging from black to brown to near-white is an important basis of stratification in Caribbean societies. In fact, the conjunction of colour and class forms the very essence of a complex form of social stratification in which shades of skin colour (as many as twenty and more) are recognized, labelled, and used to distinguish people (Lowenthal 1972). Thus, 'Black' might refer to actual skin colour, but not to a social, cultural, and political category of classification. Hall notes that in the U.K., migrants came from many different areas of the former British Commonwealth and many began to identify themselves as 'Black' despite their different racial and ethnic origins because 'we may be different actual colour skins but vis-a-vis the social system, [or] the political system of racism there is more that unites us than what divides us' (Hall 1991, 55). The category of 'Black' therefore became an instrumental social and political reality. And in the U.K. at the moment, 'third generation young Black men and women know they come from the Caribbean, know that they are Black, know that they are British. They want to speak from all three identities' (Hall 1991, 59). In Canada, the process has not reached this far because of the recency of the Caribbean migration as compared to that of the U.K., but the second generation is certainly in the 'Black' phase in the sense that this category carries cultural connotations, as, for example, in the 'Roots' subculture of the youth. The formation of a new set of identities therefore becomes crucially

262 Life in Canada important, especially for younger members of the community who are torn between the two cultures. For older migrants, their Caribbean identities must be modified by aspects of Canadianess to function successfully in Canadian society. The changes brought about in personal identity therefore become an important indicator of success. In a particularly revealing comment, Joe called attention to the confusion, ambivalence, and fantasy surrounding identity: They want to be "the elite of Jamaica," to have the best of both worlds, to be Jamaican without being poor, without being into drugs, without being illiterate, without being Third World/ COPING WITH RACISM AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

People of Caribbean origin in Toronto agree that racism is an everpresent reality. The majority of migrants come with the understanding that they will encounter racism in a variety of forms. Most have had experiences with Whites at home, either locals, expatriates, or tourists, and generally know that 'a lot of White people are racists/ On the other hand, many Caribbean migrants have had experiences mainly with White tourists from Canada and the U.S. Tourists generally tend to put on a different face when they are abroad. Those who do harbour racist sentiments seem to be able to hide them, especially when they visit a Black country. West Indians seem to know White racism almost instinctively, but some have not actually experienced it. Modern technology has also ensured that even the poorest people in the Caribbean own or have access to TV. They are very familiar with racism in the United States and they expect no better in Canada. Moreover, they have all been in touch with friends and relatives who have described the problems to potential migrants at home. This understanding does not, however, deter them from migrating. Migration is undertaken for basic economic, social, and educational reasons. Racism, while problematic, is yet another issue they know they must somehow adjust to. Racism is experienced in many forms, as previous chapters have indicated. There are also ineffable and intangible experiences that people describe in very subjective terms. Ian noted that whenever anything major happens in the news involving a Black person something that is negative - I feel eyes, people look at you when you're on the subway, on the street, especially if it's a crime that's been committed.

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As a Black male, I feel particularly identified. People look at you rather suspiciously. You can feel it. I'm sure a large amount of that is I'm forcing my own expectations on people, but I see it standing out there.

In this case, racism is experienced in an intangible manner by the look on people's faces or the negativity in their eyes. Several of our respondents commented on the various effects of the Ben Johnson affair.4 Ian again offers an insightful comment: [Just before the positive test], Canada was ecstatic. I was on the subway or even walking along the street on a Sunday afternoon. People would be on their porches, smiling, waving. Like they were waving at me? I'm a Black male, meaning you just can't get away from the group mentality. You're Black and you fit a certain description, you're all the same. They felt so good about Ben winning this gold medal and breaking the record, and so all these Black people are now great. Then something bad happens and then, of course, these are nasty, murderous, terrible, cheating, lying people.

Ian touches on the heart of individual or personalized racism. What he describes is classical stereotyping - a person is not considered as an individual but as a member of a specific group. When a group member behaves well, the entire group looks good (but only if the event is a truly spectacular one, such as winning a gold medal for a country) and, conversely, the bad behaviour of one or two is generalized to the whole group. The most general and frequent form of racism is racial harassment. Many respondents commented on name-calling incidents, even among adults. George, a middle-aged Jamaican man, says the White building superintendent in the building in which he lives is extremely racist and usually refuses to do any repairs for Black tenants. He recalled that the super's fifteen-year-old daughter once called him a 'fucking nigger' and when he shouted at the girl, her father called the police. Other experiences of harassment take place at school, in the workplace, in housing, and in contact with the police and the justice system. A frequent form of harassment takes place in shops. Women in particular, probably because they are more frequent shoppers than men, 4 Ben Johnson, an athlete of Jamaican origin, running for Canada in the Olympic games of 1990, won the gold medal in the loo-metre dash. When he tested positively for steroids, his medal was removed and he left the games in disgrace.

264 Life in Canada discussed how they were watched in stores. The moment you walk in, they start following you around/ This is probably the single most frequent form of racial harassment. Women automatically know that it is happening to them, but they seldom react to it. 'I see them watching me/ says Veronica, 'but I just ignore them. If the shop doesn't have what I'm looking for, I leave, if it does, I buy it. After all, that's why I'm shopping/ Many of the women said that if they took issue with being followed, they would never get any shopping done. Only rarely do shoppers confront their observers. In one case, however, a young woman said that she sometimes reacts to this situation by 'turning around and saying, "Look, I'm trying to shop, I am not going to shoplift/" She says that the response is one of extreme embarrassment. This confrontational attitude was extremely rare, however, and confined to people like this woman, who is a well-established, second-generation university student. For the most part, ignoring the situation is the more usual response. Racial harassment at the workplace takes place frequently. Women working as domestics are often the most vulnerable of Caribbean workers. Rella, a middle-aged woman from St Kitts, migrated to Canada more than twenty years ago. Now employed in an office, she began her working life in Canada as a domestic. Of her many memories of racism, she recalls, 'God forbid if the lady of the house came home one evening and any stone was left unturned. Then I would have to hear how you can't get good help around these days, and how niggers can be so lazy, and I had to be reminded that this is what your people are good at doing. God knows you've been doing it long enough. What the hell is the matter with you?' Rella says she would just turn the other way and try to ignore it. She knew that the job was temporary, but she could ill afford to lose it. Attempting to ignore the racism was her only recourse. Another former domestic described her employer's behaviour when she was in a good mood: 'When she was in a good mood, she would joke and laugh and say to her two-year-old, "Don't you get too close to Cheryl now. Mommy does not want her baby getting Black. A good tan is good, but Black is bad/" Cheryl said she would smile or laugh. Again, a seeming acceptance of the behaviour was the only possible response when keeping a job was of primary importance. Glen noted that he became aware of racism when he was in grades nine and ten. Then he began to realize that his buddies were getting

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 265 jobs as gas station attendants or packing bags in grocery stores, but he was unable to find such a job. On the whole, the most common reaction is, as Sharon put it succinctly, 'I refuse to let it affect my life. My existence is not dependent on the few racists/ Sharon and others like her are not deterred from their goals by racist incidents. They see the problem, but refuse to let it touch their lives, except f leetingly. As a letter writer to the Toronto Star put it, 'Racism has never stopped me from getting the education I wanted or the job. And it won't stop me from living the life my family and I deserve. It's that simple/5 Glen, on the other hand, who says that there is racism everywhere against Black people, tries to ignore it. 'You know you can't really go about it. You just try to adapt, you just turn your eyes away from it/ The reason he turns away, says Glen, is that otherwise 'it's just going to get me irritated and I don't need being irritated for the day/ People like Glen are aware at all times, but do not allow themselves to be engaged by every racist incident they experience, otherwise their days would be ruined and their life objectives would not be met. Glen and a number of other respondents commented on the 'phoneyness' of Canadians. They still want to be your friend and they'll tell you that. They say they've got a Black friend/ He much prefers people and situations in which it is clear that he is not wanted. 'I'll stay out of your way, you stay out of mine. Good. That's your problem, just as long as you don't come up to my neighbourhood. Just keep it to your damn self and go live in your neighbourhood/ Glen's coping technique therefore is to ignore and avoid. The two domestics quoted earlier basically also ignored racism. Ian, a young Jamaican man, has had several experiences with the police. In one case, he was called a nigger by a policeman and, he said, 'I was not shocked. In fact, after giving him the finger, I laughed/ This form of reaction was not typical of our respondents, but a number of people did use the phrase 'I just laugh it off/ Richard tried to fight against racism when he was at school. As a young schoolboy, this meant physical fighting. He would hit and kick boys who had called him names. When the school contacted his mother, however, Richard was forced to stop fighting. Now, as a young adult, he too attempts to ignore it. George believes that he can always defend himself except when con5 Jude Kelly, Toronto Star, 24 June 1992.

266 Life in Canada fronting the law and the police. He believes that the police think every Black man is a potential rapist and mugger. He believes that mild forms of racism are just something to ignore, but physical assaults take on more importance. George and a number of other men defined racism in terms of physical assault and believe that they can therefore defend themselves. As he succinctly puts it, 'Somebody hit me, I hit 'em back!' Another form of defence takes on a more psychological overtone. A number of men, particularly those in relatively high positions, said that they isolated themselves from others, particularly in the workplace. Wyn, who used to be employed in a company and is now in business for himself, described the posture he took: 'I built a wall around myself. Don't get too close to anyone. I laugh and joke with the rest of them, but keep myself to myself.' This form of defence results in people's perceiving the Caribbean person as stern and relatively unfriendly. It is not understood as a means of isolating oneself from the hurt of racism. The idea of 'keeping myself to myself may take place on a personal level as just noted, but on a larger scale, it results in a community's keeping itself apart from the mainstream. Carl James studied a group of Black youth, most of Caribbean origin, regarding their aims, aspirations, and perceptions of Canadian society. He found that many saw racism as a hurdle and not as a barrier. As a result of this perception, they felt that they could develop coping strategies to overcome the negative effects of racism. Some thought they could just ignore it or consider it part of life. Some believed that they could avoid racism by eliminating contact with White racists. Others believed that they could get around racism by making the right contacts or working harder to prove themselves. In a restudy seven years later, James found that many of the youth have had to re-evaluate their conceptions of their ability to cope with racism as well as the coping mechanisms that they had identified. By 1991, they had experienced racism in finding employment and in the workplace. They 'seemed more aware of structural racism' and its obstacles and many had 'lowered their career aspirations, possibly to avoid disappointment and to realize a sense of achievement' (James 1993, 20). COMMUNITY ANTIRACISM GROUPS

Groups such as the Urban alliance against Racism, started over a dozen years ago by community leader Dr Wilson Head, recruits a mul-

Coping Mechanisms for Racism at the Individual Level 267 ticultural and multiracial group of activists to join in the fight against racism. Their activities include sensitization programs, research, and lobbying. A number of newly formed antiracism groups have been created among high school students. One such, the Antiracist Association, recently mobilized a demonstration against the Heritage Front, a right-wing, neo-Nazi group. The demonstration turned violent when groups of demonstrators scuffled with police in front of the University Avenue courthouse. Other groups, such as the Black Heritage Society, attempt to combat racism by promoting Black culture and values. The fight against racism is fought not only at the individual level; more groups and organizations, many of them multiracial, have joined in the battle. For many Caribbean people, the advantages of increased opportunities in a new country outweigh the disadvantages of racial discrimination. On the other hand, there is a small but vocal minority of the population that wants to mobilize and fight actively against racism. For the most part, the struggle includes marches, demonstrations, petitions, and briefs. There is also a small but growing segment of young people, undereducated and unemployed, who blame racism for their plight. The possibility of their using illegal or violent activities in the struggle against racial oppression cannot be overlooked.

13

Summary and Conclusions

SOCIAL CLASS DIVISIONS

The Caribbean community in Toronto is not homogeneous. In fact, the term 'community' is misleading and 'communities' is a more accurate description of a group that is clearly segmented by a number of factors. Of primary importance is the retention of a stratification system that is ingrained in Caribbean society. It is the result of a history that includes the plantation system, slavery, colonial domination, and, more recently, the conditions that have led to a continued pattern of neocolonial dependency. Social class divisions in Caribbean society are extremely powerful determinants of status and position. M.G. Smith was led to characterize Jamaica, despite its relative ethnic and racial homogeneity, as a plural society based solely on the differences between the classes (Smith 1965). The main determinant of class in the Caribbean is skin colour and related racial features; there is a gradation from white to near-white, to brown, and finally to the black-skinned lower class.1 Belonging to a family that can trace its origins back several generations is also a marker of status, particularly among the upperclass 'Creole' Whites. (The term is used here in the sense of Caribbeanborn Whites, usually referred to as French, Spanish, or English Creoles.) Migration has continued these class divisions. What has changed, however, is that the determinants of class position have been modified so that they more clearly resemble the traditional class determinants of i Skin colour is becoming less important as a class determinant. Increasingly, education and economic achievements are becoming the determinants of class, power, and privilege (Lowenthal 1972).

Summary and Conclusions

269

North American society. Education, income, and occupational achievement have replaced skin colour and other racial characteristics in determining social status. Social status derived from the traditions of family have also declined in importance. The differences in such material features as income, housing, consumer goods, and the like are extremely marked between the middle- and working-class segments of the community. Educational and closely allied professional achievements also differentiate the two class segments. There are at least two Caribbean communities, comprised of a middle class and a working class. In addition, however, there is also a growing underclass composed of youth born to working-class parents or single mothers who are increasingly frustrated by the barriers of racism and poverty that they experience in Canada. They feel uncomfortable in the school system (which does not recognize their needs) and are easily led to drop out. Some succumb to the easy money and lifestyle of drug dealing and other forms of hustling. They develop a cynical, negative view of Canadian society and feel marginalized. A serious obstacle for Caribbean people is that these class divisions are not recognized by the mainstream, especially the authority groups such as the police, the justice system, and agencies of government. Even the media have a tendency to group all Black and Caribbean people together. Much of what is written and reported about this community relates to their social 'problems/ As noted earlier, the media's unbalanced reporting about criminals and others with severe social, educational, or domestic problems reinforces the 'racialization of crime/ Government agencies also tend to emphasize only the problems of the community - those that affect primarily the working class and underclass. As described in chapter 10, the police perceive the community as homogeneous and often stop middle-class people when they are allegedly looking for members of the underclass. The police not only recognize racial features - 'all Black people look alike' - but also fail to distinguish class levels.2 2 One might question how the police would distinguish class when stopping a car driven by a Black driver. Since many underclass persons also drive late model, fairly expensive cars, the class clues might be difficult to determine. However, once an officer has ascertained that the driver is a university professor on his way to class, or an insurance company executive, questioning of the alleged 'suspect' should stop and an apology be offered. In both the actual cases, questioning continued.

270 Life in Canada The Black community is often characterized as leaderless, fragmented, and unable to mobilize for political or any other form of action. This inability to mobilize, which was of great concern to many of the more politically oriented respondents in this study, is often held against the community as a whole. The inability to create umbrella groups and coalitions to represent the community has often been cited as an example. There have been several attempts to create national Black associations, but they have been short-lived. Even at more regional levels, a group that claims to represent the entire community in Toronto is hard to find. Even Black notables have been known to discuss what they call the 'Black disease/ This includes not only the lack of group action but also the actions of individuals who often spend time and energy in criticizing other members and denigrating other people. It has often been noted by observers of Caribbean society that people with motivation and achievement are not praised and rewarded by their own community. Instead, there is an attempt to cast aspersions on their behaviour, accuse them of betraying their own, and acting arrogant - 'snooty/ This behaviour is somewhat reminiscent of what is described in the anthropological literature as the 'fear of the limited good/3 The class divisions that have been retained are instrumental in factionalizing the community and become problematic in the migrant context. One reason why the Black or Caribbean community is factionalized and unable to mobilize for action - why networks, coalitions, and umbrella groups fail to function - relates to class divisions. A common racial status is not sufficient to surmount class divisions and barriers. It may be politically and ideologically powerful for Black leaders to urge the community to come together, but in reality this is not possible because the class divisions are ingrained. The so-called failure of Black leadership has more to do with class origins of potential leaders than any failure on their part. Each leader speaks for a small segment of the community because that is what class divisiveness has created. These concerns underlie the often expressed idea that 'it is time for the middle class to take responsibility/ Concerned middle-class professional members of the Caribbean community are of the view that 'we must take responsibility for our own' and look after the troubled 3 This fear is based on the idea that there is only so much 'good7 that is available to people in this world. When a few people take what is considered too much of it, there is fear that little will be left for others.

Summary and Conclusions 271 youth and the unwed mothers. Programs aimed at helping these groups are in effect and more are planned, as noted in an earlier chapter. Assuming responsibility is one thing; eliminating class barriers is another. It is unrealistic to expect that class divisions can be eliminated, even temporarily. Class divisions in all segments of capitalist societies are strongly entrenched. If such divisions characterize the White mainstream community, why should it be any different for Caribbean people and Blacks of other origins? To speak monolithically of the 'Black community' or even the 'Caribbean community' is to ignore the everpresent realities of social class. Caribbean people have always been exposed to the materialistic standards of capitalist society; in fact, their early history in the New World can be traced to capitalist expansion. Why would one expect such strong and historically rooted values to change even in the face of racism? Ideologues in the community believe that race can surmount social class, but the realities of modern society dictate otherwise. SATISFACTION WITH LIFE IN CANADA

Another general finding relates to the level of satisfaction with living in Canada. On the whole, most Caribbean migrants in Canada are satisfied with their lives in Canada. Those most satisfied are people who have met or are on the way towards meeting their goals. People who have achieved educational or career aspirations, as well as those among the working class who are well employed, express contentment with their life in Canada. Most say that they would do it all over again.4 The least gratified are those in the second generation and members of the underclass. 4 One quantitative measure of satisfaction might be afforded by return migration. Unfortunately, however, return migration to the Caribbean cannot be accurately measured. Most Caribbean countries do not keep records of people who return from abroad and, of course, Canadian authorities only count those entering, not leaving the country. It would be useful to know how many people leave Canada to return to their Caribbean countries of origin and for what reasons. I have some impressionistic evidence gathered from many years of research and visits to the Caribbean. Generally speaking, people who return are those who have achieved their goals while in Canada and have managed to save some money. They then return home to open a business. People who have earned professional degrees and acquired experience return home to assume high-power jobs. Migrants who have 'not made it7 rarely return because they are unable to face their families and friends with 'nothing to show'!

272 Life in Canada The relatively high levels of satisfaction expressed and the belief that the decision to migrate was right are even more surprising in view of (or in spite of) the stresses of racism, which all Caribbean migrants face in varying degrees and forms. Racism most clearly affects the employed and unemployed working-class people, whose mobility is hindered by their lack of higher education or training. The underclass is most affected by racism, but many in this group have chosen alternative methods of maintaining themselves. Men in the middle and working class are increasingly turning to self-employment as a reaction to racism. On the whole, members of this community have found means and strategies of coping with and adapting to racism, at least to a point. Most simply want to work towards their goals, do the best job possible, and gain their objectives. They do not allow their energies to be diffused by racism. However, second-generation youth do not adapt to racism nearly as easily as do their elders. CULTURAL CONTINUITIES

At the level of the migrant generation, there is evidence that cultural patterns characteristic of Caribbean society are being maintained. Some cultural continuities are more positive than others. It was noted that in the area of family organization, the patterns of single teenaged mothers and absent fathers, particularly among the working class and underclass, are a serious cause of concern in the community. These patterns of relationship and family organization stem from a wide variety of historical factors and can be understood as related to the economic powerlessness of Caribbean men. Being born into the working class means that the opportunity to find employment for men is severely constrained by an economy that is still largely dependent on the European and North American metropolis. Men therefore often lack the financial means to marry legally or support families (Clarke 1956). While migration seems to increase the opportunities for employment and also enables some to marry, it does not do so for those in lower levels of the working class and underclass; thus patterns of single motherhood and casual liaison are continued. Unlike in the Caribbean, where extended and matrifocal families have been developed to provide service and support for many members of the family, this form of family organization is lacking in the migrant context. Single mothers rarely can count on help from their mothers or grandmothers. Therefore, young single mothers tend to drop

Summary and Conclusions 273 out of school and become dependent upon government subsidies. On the other hand, an institution such as religion, also strongly maintained by the community, provides solace and comfort to people. Churches function as social agencies and also help in counteracting the loneliness that many migrants feel in their new country. The intense religiosity experienced by many in the migrant generation helps in overcoming some of the stress of life in a new society. Religiosity was less marked among the youth, however. Caribbean life in Toronto is characterized by many continuities, but some cultural institutions are changed by the process of migration. One such example is the way in which the basic house party, a popular social activity in the Caribbean and during the earlier period in Toronto, has changed its form and function. The house party has become more than a vehicle for fun; parties are now given primarily for financial gain and occasionally become the venues for illegal activity. DIFFERENTIAL INCORPORATION OF PEOPLE OF CARIBBEAN ORIGIN

The analysis of the data gathered on and about Caribbean people in Canada suggested that the group as a whole was not structurally or culturally integrated into Canadian mainstream society. The concept of differential incorporation - which is defined in this context as the inability to access fully the economic, social, and cultural rewards of this society - was used to describe this position. The major barrier preventing incorporation is racial discrimination, which affects West Indians as people of colour. Racism in its many forms affects on the lives of Caribbean migrants to a considerable degree. Caribbean people encounter individuals who are prejudiced and whose behaviour leads to the exclusionary behaviour. They also encounter institutional racism in which the policies and practices of an organization are not attuned to their needs and interests, with the result that the migrants do not derive benefits equal to that of other Canadians. Disregard for their African and Caribbean heritage in the curriculum of schools and postsecondary institutions is an example. Perhaps the type of racism most frequently encountered is the everyday variety in which subtle messages and cues signal the dislike or lack of welcome to a migrant of colour. The most overwhelming form is the constant exposure to media and advertising images, the subtle forms of language and other symbols in which a White, Eurocentric set of values finds expression.

274 Life in Canada In addition to the many types of racism with which migrants must cope, it was suggested that some of their own cultural institutions and values that have been retained in the new country play a role in hindering the incorporation of Caribbean people. What is the evidence for differential incorporation? Immigration

The differential treatment of Caribbean people begins when they arrive in the country and interact with Canadian immigration officials. Respondents reported that they are rudely treated by some of the officers. There is also some evidence that planes arriving from the Caribbean and carrying immigrants are processed extremely slowly. Detention for several days in hotels used for immigration purposes was not an uncommon experience of potential migrants. After arrival in Canada, many West Indians maintain contact with immigration because of their wish to sponsor other relatives. For women, this is especially taxing because many are trying to bring in their children. Some women reported that they were treated like 'animals' and that cases dragged on, sometimes for years. It is alleged that the process time for peoples of colour is far longer than for other immigrants, especially those coming in under the government's investment project. Of more significance, however, is that the marital and domestic circumstances of Caribbean family life are poorly understood by immigration officials, creating further delays and sometimes embarrassment for the applicants. Migrants who arrived during an earlier period did not report excessive difficulty with immigration. Those who arrived more recently, as well as older migrants attempting to sponsor relatives, had the most difficulty.5 Employment

The strongest evidence for different treatment and differential incorporation comes from barriers to equal treatment in employment. Since finding employment is basic to the survival of migrants in this society, the barriers erected by mainstream employers (often for racist reasons) 5 Contact between immigration officials and migrants was not studied. We are reporting the perceptions of some members of the community about their less-than-equal treatment by immigration authorities.

Summary and Conclusions

275

have serious consequences for the community and its members. Chapter 4 cites the many studies in which racial discrimination in employment was demonstrated. The labour force participation rates for both men and women of Caribbean origin is higher than the Canadian average. Work is obviously vital to the community. Yet despite relatively high levels of education, Caribbean migrants are poorly represented in managerial and supervisory positions and overrepresented in skilled, semiskilled, and manual occupations. Caribbean employees are increasingly encountering a 'race ceiling' that constrains promotion, much as the 'glass ceiling' does for women. Incomes are also lower than for Canadians. Caribbean women in particular earn less than the men, indicating they are being affected by gender as well as race. At the personal level, respondents reported many incidents of racial harassment on the job. The harassment usually took the form of name-calling and denial of promotion. Harassment came from employers as well as co-workers. A variety of economic indicators, as well as the personal experiences reported by respondents, show that racial discrimination in its various forms definitely affects the area of employment. Housing

Although Caribbean people, like other immigrants, often want to live together to feel more secure and comfortable, there is also evidence that housing discrimination is a potent force in the development of residential areas of concentration. Several studies have shown that as many as a third of applicants of colour for rental accommodation are rejected for spurious reasons. Caribbean people rarely see themselves as the victims of housing discrimination because at the individual level, it is difficult to prove. Few would take the trouble to actually test the availability of an apartment by phoning again or sending White friends to an apartment that is allegedly already rented. Field testing, however, reveals these barriers. The growing residential concentration of people of Caribbean origin in regions of Toronto such as the Eglinton-Vaughan Road area, Rexdale, sections of Scarborough, and others is the result of the desire to live together and the prevalence of housing discrimination. The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority's methods of allocating housing have also been questioned. They appear to place most Black applicants in specific units, leading to a level of concentration that may have undesirable social effects.

276 Life in Canada Education In addition to the search for employment, education is an important reason for migrating to Canada. Many West Indians want their children to receive the benefits of an education that is better than what is generally available in many areas of the Caribbean. What they are totally unprepared for are the forces of racism in the school system. Caribbean students face difficulties in adjusting to a school system that differs markedly from those in the Caribbean. Unequal treatment begins with the assessment and placement process when Caribbean students are placed well behind their age cohorts. It continues when they are faced with a Eurocentric curriculum taught mostly by White teachers. Throughout the system, they encounter authority figures who do not understand their forms of behaviour or their cultural background. White students also racially harass Black students by means of namecalling and graffiti. In addition to that in the formal organizational aspects of the school and its culture, a kind of racism that is subtle and less obvious is contained in what has been called the 'hidden curriculum/ It consists of cues and messages sent by teachers, administrators, and others that imply that Caribbean or Black students are considered different from other students. The textbook that describes and illustrates only the activities of Whites attests to the invisibility of Blacks in society. Graduation pictures on the walls that show only White faces also send a message to the more newly arrived Black students. A teacher who repeats a point for the benefit of Black students who may not have caught it the first time around suggests that they need the extra help. Caribbean students have adapted to the school system by remaining aloof and clustering together. A definite subculture, called 'Roots/ has evolved with which students identify to greater or lesser degrees. Caribbean students are made to feel as though they are outsiders and different. They respond by developing their own subculture and becoming as distinctive as they have been made to feel. Many parents feel that the education system is failing their youngsters. This is especially important because while Caribbean migrants who arrived in Canada before 1971 had high levels of education, subsequent arrivals had less. Of great concern to educators and especially the Caribbean community is that many are underachieving, and the high school drop-out rate in this group is said to be about 60 per cent. Alienation from the school system greatly increases the growth of an underclass.

Summary and Conclusions 277 Policing and the Administration of Justice Chapter 10 described the relationship of police and the courts to the Caribbean community in some detail. It was noted that this was the source of greatest tension between the Caribbean community and the mainstream institutions of Canadian society. The police are perceived to engage in racist activity not only against deviant members of the underclass but against law-abiding citizens as well. In addition to the shootings of Black youth, members of the community (particularly men) are most outraged by the number of times police stop Black drivers for no apparent reason. The overrepresentation of Blacks in the courts and in the jails is also believed, at least in part, to reflect the racism of the police and justice officials. There is also concern that differential treatment in the courts with regard to bail, convictions, and sentencing strongly affects the Black community and leads to disproportionate incarceration rates. Although hard numbers are lacking, if one walks through the courts and visits the prisons, it is quite clear that Blacks are there in vastly disproportionate numbers relative to their overall population. Although there has not yet been a systematic study of differential treatment in the courts, there is a widespread perception within the community and among some mainstream lawyers that it does take place. Along with the sphere of employment, therefore, policing and the administration of justice provide evidence for the differential incorporation of people of Caribbean origin. The Adjustment to Life in Canada: Managing Racism

Caribbean people have made their home in Canada and substantial numbers have settled in Toronto. Most segments of the community are relatively satisfied with their move. A growing middle class attests to their productivity and achievement in their new country despite the ever-present spectre of racism. Both community and individual responses to racism have been evolved to help defuse the pain and bitterness created by racism. The community response to racism includes several innovative mechanisms. Caribbean people are in the process of becoming institutionally complete by developing services to meet their own needs. By creating their own institutions, they are attempting to maintain aspects of their culture and ethnicity. They are becoming part of the pluralistic structure of Canadian society; they do not attempt to assimi-

278 Life in Canada late. Assimilation is impossible in view of the racial barriers that lead to differential treatment. If anything, Caribbean people wish to be a part of the plural structure of society while retaining those aspects of their ethnicity and culture that are important to them. While preserving a level of separation, there is also the need to integrate into some of the dominant institutions of Canadian society, such as employment and education, and gain access to social and government services. While it is always difficult to predict the future development of any community, it can be said with certainty that the Caribbean group will continue to grow in numbers. Class divisions will in all likelihood be maintained, but a succession of broker programs and associations mediating between the classes will probably be strengthened. Of particular concern is the growth of an underclass in the community and the potential for social disruption, which, if predictions can be made from the model of Britain, will in all likelihood increase as the level of frustration among the youth escalates. Such social disruption (if it occurs) must, however, be understood as the result of Canada's Black and Caribbean communities' lack of social, economic, political, and cultural power. The continued commitment of middle-class members of the community, and an increase in the political will of the three levels of government, will be necessary to ensure the growth and stability of the Caribbean community in Canada. In the meantime, the community experiences unequal treatment and suffers from differential incorporation into Canadian society.

APPENDIX A

Description of the Interview Sample

As noted in chapter i, the interview sample was collected using a 'snowball' technique in which an interviewee was asked to provide the names of other potential respondents. On two occasions, a more conscious effort to find certain types of respondents was undertaken. When the importance of single teenaged mothers surfaced in the data, efforts were made to interview more people in this category to obtain more information about that issue. Similarly, when it became apparent that there was a middle-class bias in the sample, efforts were made to include more working-class respondents. The sample of persons interviewed using a loosely unstructured interview guide containing approximately twenty questions was 134. However, a number of other people were interviewed on specific issues, such as the six additional single mothers who were interviewed primarily with respect to their situation as single mothers. At least twenty-four people were talked to in clubs and at events associated with the subculture. The conversations centred around their specific activities in the subculture. More interviews were conducted with directors of groups and organizations to find out about their activities in the community. The data for the chapter on education was collected through a series of interviews conducted with students and nearly six months of participant observation in the school. In addition, conversations and discussions were held with numbers of people during the course of many of the participant observation sessions. While 134 people were officially interviewed, taken together, as many as 200 people were talked to during the course of this project. Data gathering began in 1989 and continued through the next two years.

280 Appendix A TABLE A.I Origin of official sample Jamaica Guyana Trinidad/Tobago Windwards St Lucia Grenada Dominica St Vincent Leewards Antigua St Kitts/Nevis Montserrat Anguilla Barbados Others (Martinique, St Martin, Bahamas, Bermuda)

64 20 16 12 2 3 3 4 10

5 3 2 0 7 5

Seventy-four women and sixty men comprised the official sample. The majority of people, eighty-seven of both sexes, were between thirty and forty-five years of age. Twenty were over the age of fortysix and the remaining twenty-seven were under thirty. Table A.i shows their countries of origin. The majority of respondents had been in Canada for more than ten years; the average was about fifteen years. The total sample in this project was roughly representative of the Caribbean population in Toronto.

APPENDIX B

Caribbean Community Institutions in Toronto Listed in SHARE, Canada's Largest Ethnic Newspaper

BEAUTY (HAIR) COSMETIC CLINICS

Amorphous Hair Group Power Hair Azan's Beauty World Body and Soul Natural Hair Care Centre Capri Beauty Salon Chic Afrique Christopher G. Hair Emporium Daisy's Hairstylist Flo's House of Beauty Gagle's Glamorama Hairstylists GG's Hair Design Gemini Hair Care Golden Hair Clinic Hair Beauty Supplies Superstore Hair Design Studio Hair Splendor Unisex Hopwood Esthetics Jazzar Salon La Parisienne Unisex Hair Place Leisure Curl Centre Lloyd's Barbers, Hair Design & Esthetics Lovina's Hair Design M & R Hair Affair

Mackie's Barber & Beauty Salon Mascot Beauty Supply New Venture Hair Salon Nina's Beauty Lounge Passion Hair Creation Pearl's Unisex & Barber Shop Precise Unisex Hair & Skin Care Providence Discount Beauty Salon Paradise Simone's Hair Care Sparks Barber & Hair Design Super French African Hair Design Terry's Beauty Lounge Wisdom's Barber & Hairdressing Salon subtotal: 36 CHURCHES

Downsview New Testament Church of God Hope Community Baptist Church New Dawn Moravian Church subtotal: 3

282 Appendix B CLOTHING

FREIGHT SERVICES

Duro Fashion Public Shoe Warehouse subtotal: 2

Canada Caribbean Freight Services Caribbean Cargo Network Central Jamaica Freight Freight Plus Worldwide, Ltd Ludford Shipping Inc. Panba International Shipping and Trading Sea Jamaica Shipping Ltd Speed Freight Sunsure Shipping and Container Service T & T Express subtotal: 10

EDUCATION

Higher Marks Paramed Academy (health care, CPR, etc.) subtotal: 2 ENTERTAINMENT

B & W Enterprises Club Eldorado Club Taj Mahal Club Trinidad Cutty's Hideaway G & R Promotion Galaxy Promotions La Sunset Party Centre, The Real Jerk, The San Fernando's Caravan Sight Productions Studio 12 Classic Swan Club, The subtotal: 14 EXPORT/IMPORT

PJ.P. Exporting Spice Isle Exporters Universal Import-Export subtotal: 3

LAW PRACTICES

Edmund Anthony Clark (attorney, business law and litigation) L. Ashbourne Robinson (barrister and solicitor) Roop Sharma (barrister and solicitor, notary public) subtotal: 3 MEAT MARKETS

D & D Wholesale Meats Farm Poultry-McHaffie Riviera Meat Co. subtotal: 3 MEDICAL/DENTAL

Dr Matthew S. Weekes & Associates (dentistry) subtotal: i

Appendix B 283 MONEY TRANSFER SERVICES

Jamaica National Overseas (Canada) Ltd Trinidad/Jamaica Remittance Victoria Mutual Jamaica Western Union subtotal: 4 REAL ESTATE

Century 21 subtotal: i RESTAURANTS

Down South Catering Golden Star Restaurant Machidean's Take Out Reflections Roland's Restaurant Smokey's Bar and Grill Vijay's Restaurant subtotal: 7 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS, COMMUNITY CENTRES, AND ART GALLERIES

African Experience Resource & Communication Artczar Gallery Ballet Creole Black Business and Professional Association Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention Black Secretariat Bloor Information and Legal Services

CANACT Canadian Alliance of Black Educators Caribbean Canadian Business & Professionals Association Caribbean Canadian Seniors Club Catholic Family Services COSTI-ILAS York Region HELP Centre Give and Take Child Care Program Guyana Canadian Association Harambee Child and Family Services Harriet Tubman Organization Intercede Jamaican Canadian Association Jane-Finch Community & Family Centre Jane-Finch Concerned Citizens7 Organization Keenagers Club, The Malvern Family Resource Centre Massey Community Hall Mississauga Cross-Cultural Centre Ontario Black History Society Parkdale Literacy Program Toronto Children's Breakfast Club Tropicana Community Services Organization Usafiri Dance & Drum Ensemble York-Fairbank Centre Youth Assisting Youth Youth Clinical Services subtotal: 33

284 Appendix B SUPERMARKETS, VARIETY/ CONVENIENCE STORES

Banana Shop, The Danforth's Market Formula 1 Religious Supplies India Africa Grocers Ltd Grace, Kennedy (Ontario) Inc. Identity Toys (designed with the Black child in mind) Mr Saver Wholesale Myrtle's Market Paul's Herbalist and Religious Supplies Tower Fruit Market subtotal: 10 TRAVEL

All-Ways Travel Amral's Travel Bon Voyage Travel BWIA Edenbridge Travel Inc. Guyana Airways Hummingbird Travel Hurontario Travel Centre Laparkan Airways Marina Travel Agency

Martour Travel Mirabel Travel Inc. Mississauga Travel Professional Travel Place, The Rome Travel Agency Sam's Travel South Islands Tours Inc. Speed Flight Travel Starways Travel Sunbird Travel Services Sunflight Travel Service Sun Kiss Travel Sunlight Travel Services, Inc. Sunny Isles Vacations Inc. Sun-Ray Travel Sunshine Travel Service, Inc. Tenn's Travel Agency Travel Media Tri-Star Travel (Brampton) Inc. (Plus twenty-three bus trip ads for cross-border shopping) subtotal: 30 TROPICAL FOODS

Wire's Variety subtotal: i

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Index

Abella report, 116 Agard, R., 238-40 Arawak Indians, 3 Barbados, numbers from, 28 'blame victim' explanations, x, 15; and family, 100-1 Breton, R., et al., 13-14, 53 Canada: attitudes to, 32-3, 43f; satisfaction with life in, 34, 46-50, 271-2 Carib Indians, 3 Caribana, 7, 178-80, 209; White participation in, 179 Caribbean: 'pathological' culture patterns, 25; people in U.K., 18-21; people in US., 18; unemployment in, 5-6 class: closing class gap, 243; differentiations, 57, 59, 61; middle, 209, 216-18; and police, 201, 207-17; relationship of class/race 21-2; religion and class affiliation, 150, 157; retention of class patterns, 63, 99; social class divisions, 268-71; working, 208.

See also stratification patterns colonialism: in the Caribbean, 4f; of plantations in the Caribbean, 5; of plantocracy, 4 community services: Black Perspectives, 237; cultural services, 246-7 Cosmos, Lord, 45 Creoles, 4 crime, racialization of, 218-22; and the media, 219-20; in U.K., 218-19 Cross, M., 19f cultural continuity, x, 17, 272-3 culture, 246-7 culture shock, 44-5; and identity, 43-56 Dann, G., 62 differential incorporation, lOf; in Canada, 13; community response to, 17; definition of, 11, 14, 17; summary of, 273- 7; in U.K., 20-1 drug: couriers, 191, 195; dealers, 191-5; rounders, 195 education, 121-47; adjustments and transitions in Canada, 126-7, 130;

Index Black parents' concerns with, 124; Caribbean background in, 125-6, 129, 131; culture shock, 132; discipline in, 127-8, 130; and family expectations, 130-1; qualifications and immigration, 121-3; and racism, 123, 132-9; and racism in curriculum, 139-42; and student isolation, 123; subcultures in, 123-5, 142-5 employment, 102-20; effects of age and gender in, 105-6; and entrepreneurship, 112-16; and ethnicity, 110-11; evidence of discrimination in, 116-19; financial problems in, 109-10; and income levels, 105; and labour force participation, 103-4; racial harassment in, 107-8; and racism, 106-19; and work status by sex, 103-4 Employment Equity Act, 117-18 entrepreneurship: in Toronto, 112-16; in U.K., 114-15 Essed, P., 23-5 ethnic identity, 233 ethnicity, lOf, 14, 233; changes in, 248-51; and dual allegiance, 254-6; and factors influencing identity, 252-4; and personal identity, 256-62; and youth identity, 251-2 family, 57-101; and absent fathers, 73-7; attitudes towards mother, 77-80; and blame the victim approaches, 100-1; and Caribbean patterns, 57f; changes with migration, 63; and class differentiations, 57, 59, 61;

295

composition, 64, 91-3; and double-lap migration, 84-6; and imposition of British values, 72; and income, 64-5, 69; and interracial relationships, 93, 97; and marriage, 58; and marriage breakdown, 86-91; matrifocal, 59; and non-legal unions, 59; nuclear, 59, 78, 91; and partner selection in Canada, 93; retention of class patterns in, 63, 99; role of mother in, 77-80; separation and reunification of, 80-6; of single female parent, 62, 65-73, 91 Ginzberg, E., 116, 147 Gordon, M., 14 Guyana, number of immigrants from, 27-8 Haiti, number of immigrants from, 28

Hall, S., 20, 199-200, 217-18, 260-1 Harambee, 238-9 Henry, R, 116, 147 identity, 126-7, 248-62; changing nature of, 248-51; and culture shock, 43-56; and dual allegiance, 254-6; and influential factors, 252-4; personal, 256-61; and youth, 251-2 immigrant characteristics, 30-1 immigrants, illegal, 40-2 immigration, 27-42; and contact with home country, 44; and double-lap migration, 32; and effects on families, 84-6; indicators of, 51; negative

296 Index attitudes towards, 35-8; and point system, 27; and racism, 35f; and return migration, 43f Indo-Caribbean, x, xiv, 148 institutional completeness, 229-34; and community closure, 232; and Eglinton strip, 231-2 island associations, 226-35 Jamaica, number of immigrants from, 28 Jamaican Canadian Association, 114,

Committee, 224; and Caribbean communities, 201-25; and crime statistics, 204-5; encounters with, 202-3; and middle class, 209, 216-18; shootings, 213, 224; and social class, 201, 207-17; and war on drugs, 203-5; with women, 214-16; and working class, 208 political participation, of Caribbean community, 244-6 poverty: in the Caribbean, 5; and effects on families, 64-5, 69

236

justice system, and the courts, 206, 216-18 Kuper, L, 11-12 leisure, 167-81; and block parties, 173; in the Caribbean, 167-9; changes in Toronto, 175-7; and house parties, 169-72; and school dances, 172; in Toronto, 169; in warehouses and after-hours clubs, 174

marriage: see family men, in the Caribbean, 62 methodology, 6-9; and description of interview sample, 279-80; and interviews, 6; and participant observation, 7; and quantitative data, 7 networking, 226-9; in church, 228; and ethnicity, 227; and kinship, 228; in shops, 228-9 pluralism, llf police: and Black Action Defence

race, mixed, 4 racism: and antiracism groups, 266-7; coping with, 226, 248-67; cultural/ideological, 25; defined, 22-5; in education, 132-42; in employment, 106-16; everyday, 23; in housing, 230; individual, 23; institutional/ systemic, 24; managing, 277-8; and racial harassment, 263-4; Rastafarianism, 149 religion, 148-66; African-derived (Shango), ix, 148; in the Caribbean, 148-51; and class affiliation, 150, 157; and fundamentalism in Toronto, 158-65; and gender, 150; multicultural church, 153-6; Protestant denominations, 152-3; and racism, 154; and survival strategies, 240-3 residential concentration, in Toronto, 29

Richmond, A.M., xiii, 7 Roots subculture, 17, 143-5 Simmons, A., xiii

Index slavery: abolition of, 5; in the Caribbean, 4; and effects on family, 61 Smith, M.G., 11 Smith, R.T., 58 Spiritual Baptist, 148, 158-65 stratification patterns, 11, 21, 58; defined, xv; and middle class, 201, 209, 216-18; and police, 208; and relationship of race/class, 21-2; theoretical literature on, 22; and underclass, 16; and working class, 16

subculture, illegal, 182-200; and booze cans, 184, 196; and clubs/ parties in Toronto, 183, 185-8, 196; defined, 182; and drug dealers, 191-5; and hustlers, 190-1, 199; interpreted, 197-200;

297

and shoplifting, 197; on the streets, 188-90 survival strategies, 226-47; in Canada, 226-47; and closing class gap, 243; and institutional completeness, 229-34; and island associations, 226-35; and networking, 226-9; and religion, 240-3; and residential concentration, 226; in U.K., 20 Toronto Star survey, 46-52, 53f Trinidad, number of immigrants from, 28 Trotman, D., xii Williams, D., xii women: in the Caribbean, 59-62; and multiplicity of roles, 60