Always a Domestic?: The Question of Canadian Redemption and Belonging in Selected Literature by Black Canadian Writers

Abstract

The narratives of black writers of Caribbean descent living in Canada provide a useful perspective on blacks and belonging in Canada. Their stories elevate the history and legacy of the Domestic Worker Program which from the 1950s brought young black women from the British Caribbean to Canada.1 This program began in an era when Canada's immigration policies severely restricted Caribbean people from migrating to and settling in Canada. These early immigrants were the forerunners of later streams of black immigrants from around the world. In my reading of a selection of fiction by Austin Clarke, Dionne Brand, Cecil Foster, and David Chariandy, I argue that their narratives show that while immigration policies may have changed, the social positioning and inequalities imposed on the domestics still explain the social roles and positioning of blacks in Canada. These writers speculate whether, historically, the narrative of the black female in Canada is always to be imagined as a domestic.