“Ain’t No Flying Fish, Only Cod”: Black Caribbean Migrants to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, 1900–30

In the late 1890s and early 1900s, extreme changes in industry and urbanization, fueled
the movement of people worldwide. Included in this movement was an African Diaspora
migration up and out of the Caribbean Basin and into the United States and elsewhere, as
people sought to escape economic hardships within their homelands. Some of these
migrants continued beyond the US and into Canada. Canadian expansionism and
industrialization had created opportunities for employment, adding to the varied
2 economic, social and political forces responsible for the growing geo-circulation of
populations the world over. Many took the opportunity to make their way to the disparate
climes of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island, where they labored in the coal mines and
steel plants. Facing a literal and socially cold climate, they established temporary and
permanent communities in the mining and steel making regions.

This paper provides a look at the lived experiences of some of these African Caribbean
migrants and the communities they created. It focuses on the community of Whitney Pier,
a community which arose from the massive influx of migrant ethnic workers attracted to
the newly opened Dominion Iron and Steel Company (DISCO), in the growing city of
Sydney. Discriminatory housing policies and segregated housing, as well as racism on the
job shaped the daily experiences of these men and their families. The stories of their
migrations to Cape Breton and the ways in which they navigated this cold climate have
been footnotes in Canadian migration history. This paper sheds light on the ways in
which these communities solidified a space for themselves, so much so that a few
generations later there was a well-known, and vibrant Caribbean presence on this
northern industrial island.