Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced the designation of Albert Calvin Jackson as a person of national historic significance under Parks Canada's National Program of Historical Commemoration.
A voice for employment equity in 1880s Toronto, Jackson became one of the first, if not the first, mail carriers of African descent in Canada.
Born November 2, 1857, in Delaware, USA, Jackson was one of more than 30,000 African American freedom seekers to come to Canada on the secret routes of the Underground Railroad. The son of an enslaved mother and a free father, Jackson was also legally enslaved. His father died before he was born, stricken with grief at the sale of his two oldest sons. Albert was just a year old when his mother, Ann Maria Jackson, took him and his remaining six siblings to what was then the Province of Canada.
In May 1882, Jackson was hired as a letter carrier in Toronto for Royal Mail Canada, which today is Canada Post. However, when he showed up for work, he was barred from taking up his position and demoted due to race-based discrimination. Toronto's African Canadian community protested his mistreatment and appealed directly to the Prime Minister. By June, Jackson was given his uniform and trained before he embarked on a 36-year career delivering the mail. Today, Jackson is remembered for his fight against racism and his contributions to Canada's cultural, economic, and social life.
The Government of Canada, through the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, and Parks Canada, recognizes significant persons, places, and events that have shaped our country as one way of helping Canadians connect with their past. National historic designations recall moments of greatness and triumph or cause us to contemplate the complex and challenging moments that helped define the Canada of today. By sharing these stories, we hope to foster understanding and reflection on the diverse histories, cultures, legacies, and realities of Canada's past and present.
