Turner the hockey player was a white guy from Regina.
Turner the recreation director was a black guy from New Jersey who broke a colour barrier. He became Ontario's first black recreation director. In fact, he just might have been the first black recreation director in not only Canada, but all of North America.
Remember now, this was a period in U.S. history when blacks were not allowed to drink from "white only" public fountains, enter "white only" restaurants and could not attend "white only" schools.
However, when it came to sending blacks to fight (and die) in Vietnam, the colour barrier was lifted.
Turner broke the colour barrier when the town of Colborne (population 1,500) hired him as its first recreation director in 1954.
Four years later, Cornwall hired him as its first recreation director.
It was a bold step for a lily-white community that in 1960 had its share of rednecks.
Turner was a graduate of New York City University (bachelor of physical education), spent a season with the Chicago White Sox one year after the courageous Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's colour barrier and toured for one season with the Harlem Globetrotters.
His legacy is a recreation program that is second to none in the small city category.
He laid the foundation.
Sadly, Turner never got to see the seeds that he sowed grow into what we have today.
He died, at age 35, on April 23, 1962.
His heart stopped during a minor operation at Cornwall General Hospital.
He was revived, but spent several days in a coma before passing away with his wife Dorris, his mom and two aunts at his bedside.
Thousands filed past his casket in St. Paul's United Church.
He is buried in Athens, Ont.
A few weeks after his death, city council voted unanimously to name the new recreation centre that was built during his tenure after him: the Bob Turner Memorial Centre.
A bronze bust of Bob Turner was commissioned by council and placed in the showcase in the centre's lobby.
The bust for some unexplained reason has been mothballed and next year the centre will be torn down.
City council has refused to name one of the ice pads in the new Benson Centre after Turner.
They either don't understand the historical significance of Turner's tenure, or ...
One councillor scoffed at the notion of naming an ice pad (the names have been sold off) after Turner .
"If he (Turner) hadn't been black, they would never have named it (centre) after him," the councillor told this scribbler.
Yes, and if Jackie Robinson hadn't been black nobody would have named a school after him.
Like Robinson, our Bob Turner helped tear down a barrier.
By hiring Bob Turner, the city council of the day made Cornwall a model of racial tolerance, at a time when racism, especially in hiring, was discreetly practised in this country.
Many residents of Colborne (near Belleville) attended his funeral (in Cornwall).
A few days later one of them wrote a letter to the Colborne weekly newspaper: "Bob's life had known no limits and his deeds would be a living memorial to every man, woman and child who had known him. We, from Colborne, listened and how vividly we could recall the fine things this man had also done for our town."
The parent of a band member said Turner was "a man who had an enormous impact on the young people of the village (Colborne)."
An editorial in the Standard-Freeholder said, "Bob Turner was one of Cornwall's most popular city officials, particularly with children. Since coming to Cornwall, Mr. Turner organized and correlated physical, social and cultural activities in a recreation program which has been described as one of the best in the province."
Mayor Nick Kaneb said of Turner, "He often went beyond the line of duty in performing his duties."
While this community, sadly, seems to have swept Bob Turner's memory/legacy under the rug, or at least is doing a pretty good job at trying to do just that, his legacy is alive and well in Colborne.
In 2009, when the local marching band, which Turner nurtured while recreation director, held its anniversary, his widow and two daughters were the town's guests of honour.
We keep hearing that the city council plans to keep Bob Turner's name alive with some sort of plaque at the new Benson Centre.
Sounds like a shameful downgrade from having your name on a recreation centre, but, nevertheless, city council missed an opportunity to tie this kind of announcement to its proclamation of Black History Month.
Greetings, CBTU Family:
November 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of our organization becoming a Chapter of the CBTU, and the beginning of our year of celebration! Please take a moment to read our Special 30th Anniversary Edition Chapter Newsletter, where we have highlighted to accomplishments of several of our dear chapter members.
On behalf of the Chapter's Executive Board, we wish you all safe, happy, and healthy season's greetings and look forward to seeing and celebrating with you at our General Membership Meeting December 16 at 6pm.
Dear CBTU chapter members,
We are 30! This year marks 30 years of being a chapter of the International CBTU. To celebrate our history and the contributions of our members towards the Canadian Labour Movement, past and present, we invite you all to a special CBTU General Membership Meeting on Tuesday, December 16 in the evening. Location TBD and will be included in our newsletter coming out within a week. Yes, of course there will be food, it wouldn't be a proper celebration without it☺️
We look forward to seeing you there!
Dear members and friends of CBTU,
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) is holding its 18th Biennial Convention from November 17 – 21, 2025. We are proud to see so many members of the CBTU have, an continue to, step forward to announce their candidacy for elections for various roles at the convention. It has always been part of our Mission Statement to: “Challenge systemic forms of racism within the Labour Movement itself by: (a) promoting access and opening doors for Black workers and workers of colour within the Labour Movement; (b) promoting the rights of equality seeking groups to the benefit of all workers within Unions; (c) organizing and maximizing our political influence within the Labour Movement; (d) encouraging and supporting the full participation of Black workers and workers of colour in their Unions.”
The CBTU Ontario Canada Chapter was founded in 1995, but its origins began long before, in the 1980’s, when the organization was called the Ontario Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (OCBTU). In 1987, the activism of OCBTU members was instrumental to the attainment of affirmative action seats for racialized workers of the OFL. As a result of the advocacy, the OFL elected its first racialized vice-president to its executive board, Herman Stewart. Since then, several other prominent labour leaders and members of the CBTU have been successfully elected to the OFL.
While the CBTU does not endorse any individual candidates regardless of their membership status, we certainly applaud the increased number of candidates that are also members. The CBTU is not a union. We do not hold any delegated seats at the convention. Our membership’s actions are individual and do not represent the CBTU as an organization. We are, however, extremely proud to see our Chapter’s members flourishing in leadership positions across Canada. The CBTU Ontario Canada Chapter’s Executive Board agreed to provide this letter to reaffirm, for all members and friends of our organization, that a lack of endorsement from CBTU for any of our individual members should not be viewed by any delegates to the convention as a lack of support: it is our policy.
The CBTU aims to: “Increase union involvement in voter registration, voter education and voter turnout projects to advance policies that are in working-class interests and the interests of the African-Canadian community as a whole such as Black youth unemployment; publicly-funded education; universal health care; employment equity and fair employment practices; consumer protection especially against inflation
on basic necessities; social programs at federal, provincial and municipal levels; a strong social safety-net; community development initiatives and programs along with all other policies adopted by CBTU members through our demographic processes.” We show no favour to any one individual member, and
our organization has made quite clear that we do not provide endorsement of any kind. Rather, we
applaud each and every candidate that comes forward and can successfully push forward the agenda of the CBTU to create a vehicle for advancing the inclusion of workers of African-descent in all spheres ofour society. Thank you, and best wishes to all candidates.
In Solidarity,
The Executive Board, CBTU Ontario Canada Chapter
