|
In 1995, the News featured a look back at past editors of the celebrated student newspaper, many of whom went on to careers in journalism.
The McGill Daily looked like the Gazette or the New York Times, and we were just as stodgy. I was the first Jewish editor and that was a big thing. McGill had quotas for Jewish students but incredibly nobody questioned or challenged that at the time. We were so grateful to get into McGill, the attitude was "don't rock the boat."
My mother wanted me to be a doctor, so I was taking pre-med courses. But the Daily changed my vocation. I came home and told my mother "I am going to be a journalist." She said, "I don't care what you do as long as you become a doctor."
Gerald Clark, BSc'39, was editor of the McGill Daily in 1938-39. He was later editor of the Montreal Star.
|
 |
 |
|
Black in Canada
A few summers ago, VIA Rail offered an enticing 50 percent fare reduction for foreign visitors to Canada, but did not advertise the bargain, suspecting that it would anger Canadians whose taxes subsidize the corporation. I learned about the scheme while purchasing a ticket in Kingston, Ontario. The agent asked, stealthily, for my passport. I was puzzled. "What do you mean, my passport?" She then advised me about the discount for foreigners, specifying that my "American accent" marked me as an eligible passenger. I informed the agent that (as the très white beer commercial says), "I AM CANADIAN." But it's never simple to be a black in Canada.
My bloodlines run deep in this country. My father's father was West Indian -- but his mother's father came to Nova Scotia from Virginia in 1898. My mother's ancestors -- slaves liberated by British forces during the War of 1812 -- voyaged to Nova Scotia from Chesapeake Bay in 1813. I was born, raised, and educated in Nova Scotia. I went to Expo 67, I sang along with Ian and Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird, I wanted Robert Stanfield to win in '72. Either I am Canadian, or the word means nothing.
George Elliott Clarke
|
