Donald Willard Moore 1891-1994

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted March, 2009

Here in front of this building at 20 Cecil Street is a City of Toronto Culture Division 2000 plaque. Here's what it says:

Plaque coordinates: 43.656966 -79.395833

From his arrival in Canada from Barbados in 1913, Donald Willard Moore worked to make Toronto the vibrant multicultural community it is today. To protest unjust immigration law, Moore led the first Black delegation to Ottawa on April 27, 1954. The law, restricting entry of non-whites from the West Indies and other Commonwealth areas, was changed due to Moore's tireless work and allowed, first, nurses from the West Indies to enter Canada to work in hospitals, and then women to work as domestics for a year before attaining permanent residence. Eventually the regulations permitted immigration of other non-whites, from other parts of the world.

Near this plaque stood the recreation centre purchased by Moore ("Uncle Don") and others for newly arrived immigrants. Also in this area (at College and Augusta) was the Toronto branch of the United Negro Improvement Association, which Moore helped found as well as the Toronto Negro Citizenship Association. For his social justice work Moore received the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the Order of Barbados, the Bicentennial Medal of Ontario, the Harry Jerome Award and the City of Toronto Award of Merit.

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Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

Posted September 29, 2012
From Mr Sylvan Carew, I would like to know if Mr Moore and his delegation walked to Ottawa or took the train. Thank you for your response. Some of my friends were having a debate about it. I would like to know who is right. Thanks for the answer. My email is ricemeat@hotmail.com

Posted February 13, 2011
I'm so proud of the work my Uncle Don did. Thanks for sharing this

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