No. 2 Construction Battalion (CEF)
Canada’s only segregated Black unit
Almost as soon as the war began, black soldiers across Canada were enlisting.
There were reports of a handful of black soldiers departing for England among the Canadian soldiers, and the list of soldiers of the Toronto Regiment included a few of “dark” complexion who listed birthplaces in the West Indies.
But there were also reports from across the country of black men being turned away because of their skin colour. Some were told it was “a white man’s war.”
There was an irony to these willing, healthy young men being rejected by an army that was crying out for recruits. “The lack of sufficient reinforcements for battalions at the front was becoming a serious national problem,” wrote Calvin W. Ruck. “Throughout the country, that divisive word ‘conscription’ was being heard more and more. And still the issue of accepting or continuing the unofficial policy of rejecting Black volunteers had not been resolved by the civilian and military hierarchy.”
In Toronto, J.R.B. Whitney, publisher of a newspaper for the black community, the Canadian Observer, put out a call to recruit a unit of 150 black men in November 1915. Minister of Militia Sam Hughes told him such a unit could become a platoon in any existing battalion. With a condition: the battalion’s commanding officer would have to accept the men first. That March, word came down that no commanding officer would accept a “coloured platoon” and Whitney was denied permission to recruit. He appealed again to Hughes: “Through the columns of the Canadian Observer, I have published a call for recruits for the Coloured Platoon. Many have responded to the call, and are eagerly waiting to be uniformed in the King’s colours . . . I trust that you will see to it that the Coloured Platoon will be placed with some battalion, otherwise there will be a great disappointment with the Race.” Again, unsuccessful.
A solution was found: the creation of an all-black labour battalion, the No. 2 Construction Battalion. It was based in Truro, N.S., with a few Toronto soldiers in the ranks. Few ever saw combat.