Students Await Arrest After Police Broke Up A February 1969 Sit-in At Sir George Williams University (name used in source article)

Students Await Arrest After Police Broke Up A February 1969 Sit-in At Sir George Williams University (name used in source article)

Sir George Williams Affair arrests

This is a photograph taken of the aftermath of protests in 1969, where students occupied the computer room of the Sir George Williams University (now Concordia) until violently dispersed by police. This moment comes during a time of increased unified resistance and activism amongst African diaspora in Montreal and, as will be elaborated on by further sources, is a significant moment in the development of the National Black Coalition of Canada (NBCC). While the testimonials of these protestors and the circulation of images showing how they were forcefully handled was powerful in garnering support, it is again important to see this from a different angle. For a superordinate role, in this context largely being White anglophones, these protests appeared to be violent and destructive, enforcing already existing stereotypes of African-Descended Canadians as being disorderly. Some focused more on the millions of dollars worth of property damage to computers and the building due to the protests rather than the injury to protestors as result of the methods used to quell it.

Jim Reed (reporter for CBC)

Image can be found in the following article:

Friedman, Jordan. “1969 Sir George Wiliams protest was Canada's civil rights reckoning.” USA Today, March 27, 2019. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/03/27/black-history-sir-george-williams-affair-canada-civil-rights/2809147002/.

CBC (likely origin given Jim Reed's affiliation)

National Film Board (they own the documentary in which USA Today got this photo)

1969

Likely All Rights Reserved

JPG file

English

Still Image