[Fdu] Charles Roach

[peter fitting]

 From Peter Rosenthal


It has now been almost six years since Charles Roach passed away.
At 7 p.m. on July 18 there will be a ceremony honouring Charley by 
naming a laneway after him. I hope you can attend and will also tell 
others about it. It will take place at the laneway: Charley Roach Lane  
Running east-west between Rushton Road and Arlington Avenue, just north 
of St. Clair Avenue, parallel to Howard Lowry Lane.
The laneway is very close to the building that housed the offices of 
Roach, Schwartz for many years.

As a civil rights lawyer and activist, Charley made extraordinary 
contributions to many struggles against racism and other injustices. 
Much of his legal work was pro bono, helping marginalized people with a 
huge variety of problems and furthering fights for social justice.

He also organized a number of cultural events. Most notably, Charley was 
the founding Chair of Caribana in 1967. Over most of the half century 
since, Charley helped Caribana to overcome many problems  as it 
developed into one of the largest street festivals in North America. 
Charley also organized poetry readings. He was a talented poet, musician 
and painter. If you search for "Charles Roach" on YouTube you'll get 
several videos of Charley being interviewed, making speeches and singing 
songs that he wrote.