Remembering Dan Philip: Montreal Black community leader and civil rights activist

Dan Philip was a pillar of Montreal’s Black community and long-time civil rights activist. He died April 1 at the age of 87.

On Monday, family and friends gathered at Holy Family Church in Montreal to pay their final respects to Philip.

“I’m very proud of my dad because he helped a lot of Black individuals,” said Dan’s daughter, Grace Philip. “And he fought for immigration, fought for black rights because there’s a lot of racial profiling and things that shouldn’t be happening and I’m really proud of him for that.”

He was one of the first people in Quebec to fight against police brutality and pushed the Quebec government to change legislation that discriminated against Black tenants.

He also protested the taxi industry in Montreal in the 1980s, which was heavily segregated at the time. 

“He fought for Black people. At least he tried. Nobody’s perfect but he tried to fight for us and fight for the racial profiling that is in this whole world and at least in Montreal he tried to do something, at least a little change,” said Grace.

Marvin Rotrand is the interim director general for United Against Hate Canada, but was also a former city councillor who often worked closely with Philip.

He said that Philip desegregated the taxi industry in Quebec almost single-handedly.

“It wasn’t that long ago when there wasn’t a single black driver in this city,” explained Rotrand. “He got the province to legislate against discrimination and housing so landlords couldn’t come up with a phony reason not to rent to a Black tenant. He worked with members of city council to alert them problems between the Black community and the police department. He was the first to talk about the words ‘racial profiling’ at a time when the concept was hazy and vague and hadn’t really been defined.”

Born in 1935 in St-Lucia, Philip came to Montreal in 1972 and earned a degree in political science from Concordia University.

Philip went on to become the president of the Black Coalition of Quebec for four decades before retiring in 2019.

“What he did is create something unique. The Black Coalition Quebec was the only black organization in all of Quebec that brought together Anglophones and Francophones. People of African origin, people of Caribbean origin, native born, said we have common problems. We’ve got to fight those problems together, and he did,” said Rotrand.

Bubba Junior is a Black community activist in Montreal and a radio-host for CKUT 90.3.

He said that although community work isn’t easy, it takes someone to do it.

“If someone doesn’t start, there is no one else to follow,” he said. “It takes someone, like an organization. It doesn’t take one person; it takes more than one. Someone does this, someone does that. He really fought for us, and now we have to continue the trend.”

Philip will be remembered as a Black community hero to many.

According to friends and family, they would like to have something named after him in the city. 

“We need to name something for Dan. A number of people have already approached me including the Black coalition of Quebec,” said Rotrand.

Bubba said that he wants Philip to be named after something that can last forever.

“It could be a park; it could be a street because those things stay there forever. It’s rare that you see streets being taken down, the names taken down, and you already see parks not being destroyed. So, either a park or a street, either one of them would be a significance. And I’m sure the people would appreciate that, you know, because then they could walk and say, oh, yes, Dan Phillip.”