Porter talk: Episode 6 trailer

 

In the final episode of Porter Talk, we dive into how union gains paved the way for a brighter future for Black communities in Canada. This fight for basic human rights significantly contributed to a stronger and more progressive Canada for all. (Episode 6 trailer)

Duration: 1:35

File size: 2.2 MB Download MP3

Publish Date: July 3, 2025

ISSN 2819-5035

• Transcript of Porter Talk episode 6 trailer

  Coming up in the sixth episode of “Porter Talk,” we’ll explore how union gains created the necessary conditions required for racial uplift and upward mobility within Black communities. As porters and their loved ones imagined a new future for themselves and future generations, they also took concrete steps to remake modern Canada for all citizens.

  Melvin Crump: The unions played-played what you may term as, um, an opening up of the door for the young Black, uh, men of Canada, uh, who became porters on, uh, the Canadian Pacific Railway. What I mean by that is the conditions under the next generation of porters—uh, under the conditions they had to work. We members of the union helped to pave the way for the next coming generation. We did—and uh-and uh, this I am proud to have been a part of, to make, to-to-to know that we did, helped to pave the way for my next generation coming behind me.

  Stay tuned for the next episode of “Porter Talk”, “Porters and the Making of Modern Canada.” You can subscribe for free to Discover Library and Archives Canada wherever you get your podcasts!

Host: Richard Provencher, Chief, Media Relations, Communications and Policy Branch

Featuring: Melvin Crump

Voiceover for the French version of this podcast trailer: Gérard-Hubert Étienne

Narrator biographies

Narrator

Melvin Crump was born in Edmonton in 1916 to a family that immigrated to Keystone, Alberta, from Oklahoma in 1911 under the Homestead Act. Uninterested in farming, he became a CPR sleeping car porter in 1936, at the height of the Great Depression. He worked out of the Calgary Division until 1954, where he served as chairman of the BSCP Safety Committee. (Source: 417403)

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