"The Dresden Story": Racism, Human Rights, and the Jewish Labour Committee of Canada

Labour/Le Travail, Spring, 2001 by Ross Lambertson

The test was a success. The two black students were not served, yet the white student "customer" received service quickly. As a result, both Bruce and Alleyne laid complaints, and early the following year McKay was charged a second time for violating the Fair Accommodation Practices law.

At about the same time that the charge was being laid, the Toronto Association for Civil Liberties led yet another delegation to Premier Frost, this time asking for improvements in the Fair Accommodation Practices Act. Once again, the Dresden affair was a primary focus for human rights lobbying, and although Hugh Burnett was not able to join the delegation, it included a number of black activists: Bromley Armstrong (representing the Toronto labour committee), Stanley Grizzle and B.A. Walker (of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters), and Donald Moore (of the Negro Citizenship Association). [122]

Premier Frost was unwilling either to create an anti-discrimination commission or to amend his Fair Accommodation Practices legislation, but he did mention to Blum that he was optimistic that the law would prove effective. According to Frost, the Crown Attorney prosecuting the first Dresden cases had been ill, and had not handled them very well. In addition, as Blum later wrote to Kaplansky, this time the Attorney-General's Department was "going all out to make this conviction stick," and the case was being directed from Toronto rather than by the Chatham Crown Attorney. [123]

McKay's lawyer argued in court that his client was not responsible for any denial of services on the grounds of race and that the law was in any case unconstitutional criminal law legislation. He also maintained that the testing process was unfair, calling Blum's observer "a plant, a spotter, a spy." The magistrate, however, rejected these arguments, and in late February McKay was found guilty, fined, and assessed court costs. The fines were moderate -- $50 on each of two counts -- but the costs were over $600, an extremely high figure which reflected the cost of bringing the labour committee witnesses from Toronto to Chatham. [124]

McKay appealed once again, but this time the case went to County Court Justice Lang rather than Grosch. For Lang the case for the complainants was clear -- an actual refusal of services had taken place, the owner was responsible, the reason could be nothing other than race, and the legislation was indeed constitutional. He upheld both the conviction and the fine, ruling also that McKay had to bear the costs of both the convictions and the appeal. (The special Crown prosecutor had offered not to press for costs if McKay would undertake to stop discriminating in the future, but McKay's defence lawyer told the court that he wished "to go down with his colors flying.") [125]

McKay decided to appeal to the Ontario Supreme Court, and the court granted leave on the issue of the constitutionality of the Fair Accommodation Practices Act. Yet, in October, he struck his colours, probably realizing that his case was hopeless, and announced that he would not carry through with the appeal. The anti-discrimination forces then waited for a few weeks while government officials informed the Dresden community about their legal obligations and the possibility of future prosecutions. On 16 November 1956, a test group from the NUA asked for service from Kay's Cafe and the owner complied. Racial segregation in Dresden had come to an end. [126]