1998 Harmony Award Recipient

Bromley Armstrong was born in Jamaica in 1926 and immigrated to Canada in 1947.
In the late 1940s his empathy for the plight of others had him research the identification of Jamaican domestic workers brought to Canada in the early 1900s by wealthy Canadians. Many of these workers knew little of their backgrounds, and had no means of contact with their relatives in Jamaica.

Without a birth certificate or any other proof of age, they were unable to apply for Canadian pensions. Were it not for the thoughtful and persistent efforts of young Bromley Armstrong, they would have been unable to support themselves in their senior years.

Discrimination in housing was alive and well in Toronto in the 1950s. Bromley Armstrong, along with a young University of Toronto student of Chinese origin, would respond to advertised vacancies. When they were told the rooms had already been taken, a white couple, the other half of the ‘test’ team, would arrive and be offered the same accommodation. Bromley and the other members of his team built similar cases from their visits to restaurants and “private” clubs. Their efforts helped to bring many establishments to the attention of the legal system.

Mr. Armstrong founded numerous organizations in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, among them the Jamaican Canadian Association, the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, the Toronto Black Business and Professional Association and its Harry Jerome Awards, the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, and the National Council of Jamaican and Supportive Organizations.

As a factory worker and active trade unionist from the late ’40s, Bromley Armstrong’s leadership skills also benefited sports, as founder of the first Caribbean Soccer Club in Toronto, and promoted economic independence, through the Toronto United Negro Credit Union which he served as Vice-President from 1950 to 1954. Mr. Armstrong was also publisher of a newspaper, the Caribbean Canadian Weekly – The Islander, for four years.

Since the early 1970s, Bromley Armstrong served on the Advisory Council on Multiculturalism in Ontario, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Mayor of Toronto’s Committee on Race Relations, the Ontario Labour Relations Board, and the Board of Governors of the Canadian Centre for Police-Race Relations.

Bromley Armstrong has collaborated with and served as guest speaker at events organized by Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, United Auto Workers, National Association of Canadians of Origins in India, and at rallies in support of issues of concern to Chinese, South-Asian, Japanese, and Jewish communities.

Now retired, Bromley Armstrong continues to organize conferences for youth, mediate conflict situations and provide guidance and counsel to individuals and organizations.
While there are ongoing challenges to be faced, his efforts and achievements serve as examples of the progress which can be made through personal integrity and rational confrontation of injustices. The awards which he has already received include the Order of Distinction (Officer) Jamaica, the Order of Ontario, and Member of the Order of Canada. These and some nineteen other awards attest to the stature and regard which he has earned amongst a wide range of constituents. In 1988, Toronto Life Magazine profiled Bromley Armstrong as one of the fifty most outstanding contributors.
The 1998 Harmony Award recognizes a man who has educated individuals, organizations and communities through his unselfish and unwavering commitment to human rights, race relations and labour relations in Canada, for almost 50 years.

The Ajax Race Relations Advisory Committee brings strength through its diversity, knowledge base, commitment, work ethic and vision. A key objective of the Committee is to “make a quantum leap in the area of race relations – making the Town a leader in race relations”.