The Coloured Women’s Club

The Next 100 Years

The Coloured Women’s Club of Montreal, the oldest Black women’s organization in Canada, was founded in 1902 by a group of American women whose husbands worked for the railroad as porters.

Montreal, at the turn of the century was marked with the advent of capitalism and the replication of solidarity groups. These groups were created, in part, to counter the social and negative consequences of industrialisation. They consisted mainly of religion oriented women from the community and the well-to-do. Black women themselves, living in difficult conditions were excluded from these charity groups. These ladies of colour, who worked as domestics or labourers, were the wives of railroad workers so it was quite natural for that time that they be left out of these cloistered circles. It was in response to specific needs of their community (St. Antoine district, today called ‘Little Burgundy’) that The Coloured Women’s Club was created. This was to be an organization dedicated to mutual aid and the fighting of poverty and social exclusion.

Over the many decades, these dedicated women have welcomed and helped many Black families in difficulty with such deeds as providing winter clothing for newly arrived families from the Caribbean. With their insight they have responded to the spiritual, material and emotional needs of the community as a whole. With the guidance of their very first President, Anne Greenup, they organized temporary shelters for the soldiers coming back from the Boer War. During that time they took care of the injured, made bandages and organized soup kitchens. It was also at that time of the epidemics in 1902 and 1904 that the Coloured Women’s Club emerged from being a social club to a self-help organization.

In 1907 The Coloured Women’s Club contributed to the inception of the Union United Church (Montreal’s oldest Black Church) and in conjunction with the church has put together scholarships for Black students. These women have done voluntary work in the Montreal area hospitals, counselled unwed mothers and helped the homeless and the unemployed. The C.W. C. has even purchased burial plots at a cemetery so that the needy could be buried with dignity.

The Coloured Women’s Club of Montreal is a beacon in the Black community. Their benevolent and charitable work was recognized in 1997 by the Ministere des Relations avec les Citoyens et de L’Immigration du Quebec. The Solidarity Prize handed out by the Quebec Government was named the ‘Anne Greenup Solidarity Prize’ in honour of the club’s first president. This recognition underlined the exemplary contribution of these women to help to eliminate social and economic ostracism, to fight for the equality and to bridge the gap between all communities and social gatherings. Each year the Anne Greenup Solidarity Prize is given to individuals or organizations that are instrumental in building support networks, establishing a strong solidarity between generations and reinforcing citizens belief in belonging to the national community.

Although the club started out with American women, it now boasts women from various backgrounds from all parts of the Caribbean, Canada and the U.S. Today, we are a group of twenty-one active members.

Social conditions and programs do not warrant the same sort of need that brought these women together so many years ago, but in keeping with the theme of helping out in the community we decided to concentrate our focus on education and try to raise more money accordingly.

In 1999, our group of mostly senior citizens, the oldest being 96 years old, compiled and published a cookbook ‘The CWC Millennium Cookbook’ which has sold over 1200 copies to date. This has added much needed capital to our scholarship fund.

The club continues to be instrumental in the dynamic teachings of the Black experience in North America. Since 1999, we have conducted African Canadian Heritage Tours to southern Ontario, Nova Scotia and the United States, following the path and visiting sites along the route of the Underground Railroad. These trips have been very insightful and informative and have helped to broaden everyone’s knowledge of the Black Diaspora in Canada.

On June 9^th, 2000 the president and the vice-president went to Ottawa, where at Rideau Hall, Governor-General, Adrienne Clarkson opened Canada’s official ‘Centennial Rose Garden’ with its Bench, inscribed in honour of the Montreal Coloured Women’s Club’, founded in 1902. They have been featured in the Montreal Gazette and on Global TV. In 2002, during Black History Month they were awarded the ‘Trailblazers Award’ from the Black History Month Round Table.

As part of their centennial celebrations they hosted a banquet and ball on September 14^th , 2002 at the Omni Hotel and on October 11, 2004 they hosted a dinner and dance in honour of Dr. Oliver Jones.  In November of 2002, the President, Mrs. Shirley Gyles was awarded Woman of the Year by the Montreal Council of Women.

In 2003 and 2004 as part of their heritage tour, they went to the United States and the Bahamas.   At that time they visited the states of Atlanta Georga, Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery Alabama, and Charleston South Carolina.