by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman
July 15, 2024
The neighborhood members hope to ascertain mandated swimming programs to honor the deceased.
Montreal is honoring the tragedy of the Little Burgundy Negro Neighborhood Centre. A memorial befell for the 12 Black kids who drowned within the 1954 boating incident.
On July 13, mourners gathered on the Montreal park the place the drowning occurred. Seventy years prior, kids traveled to the realm for a day journey that may change their neighborhood ceaselessly.
An harmless boat trip turned deadly as a vessel capsized with a number of kids on board, most not realizing tips on how to swim. Whereas some survived, 12 kids by no means returned to the shore alive. Their descendants now honor their lives and legacy whereas talking on how their deaths influence the neighborhood right now.
“It was simply this heavy, darkish secret,” recalled Allison Saunders, an organizer for the occasion and relative of the deceased, to CTV Information. “Individuals weren’t allowed to speak about it or our households had been form of, , not allowed to go swimming or not allowed to be removed from their dad and mom, however by no means actually realizing why that’s.”
All the victims’ names at the moment are ingrained in a memorial plaque, serving as a reminder of the preventable drowning.
Saunders added, “I feel it’s very nice to have it marked so that folks can come and bear in mind them and study slightly bit about this story.”
Whereas the deaths led to boating rules, the middle’s advocates proceed to push for necessary swim courses in Canadian faculties. Racism led to the historic barring of Black individuals from public swimming pools within the nation, confirmed by the College of Toronto. Whereas the legal guidelines have modified, its systemic influence persists. Nevertheless, the middle’s members hope to dismantle the obstacles within the victims’ names.
The memorial is greater than a remembrance of those that drowned. It stays a name to motion for all kids in Canada to study the life-saving talent.
