Charles Conliff Mende Roach (September 18, 1933 – October 2, 2012) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and an activist in the

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

community in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Early life

Born in

Belmont, Trinidad and Tobago Belmont, in north-east Port of Spain, in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is located at the foot of the Laventille Hills; it was the city's first suburb. In the 1840s–'50s, parts of the area were settled by Africans rescued by the Royal Na ...

, the son of a trade union organizer, Roach arrived in Canada in 1955 as an aspiring priest to study at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

. Roach was politicized by the civil rights movement, stating: "after the '50s, I started being more political... This was the spirit of the times. I'm really from the civil-rights era." He then studied law at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

and was called to the bar in 1963.

Activism and law

Roach worked as a staff lawyer for the city of

in the 1960s, while also participating and organizing marches and demonstrations for equal rights. He opened his own law practice in 1968, eventually becoming the firm of Roach and Schwartz Associates. Among his clients were

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxist–Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California ...

attempting to seek refuge in Canada from prosecution in the United States and other asylum seekers. He also represented domestic workers being deported in the 1970s. He further became a vocal critic of the police, accusing them of racism.Kopun, Francine; ''Toronto Star'': He says nay to the Queen; May 11, 2007
/ref> In 1999, Roach went to

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

to represent

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...

journalist Mathieu Ngirumpatse against human rights abuse charges before the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; ; ) was an international court, international ''ad-hoc'' court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in United Nations Security Council Resolution 955, Resolutio ...

. Through his work, Roach became a leading figure in Toronto's Black community. He was a founder of the

Caribana The Toronto Caribbean Carnival, formerly and affectionately known as Caribana, is a festival of Caribbean culture and traditions held each summer in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a pan-Caribbean Carnival event and has been billed ...

festival, serving as its first chair. Roach further established the Movement of Minority Electors in 1978 to encourage non-caucasians to enter electoral politics and was a founding member of the

Black Action Defence Committee The Black Action Defence Committee (BADC) is a Canadian activist group founded by Dudley Laws, Charles Roach, Sherona Hall and Lennox Farrell, with Laws as the group's chair. It was founded in 1988 in response to the killing of Lester Donaldson, ...

Republican advocacy

Roach was a member of the executive committee of

Citizens for a Canadian Republic Citizens for a Canadian Republic ( French: ''Citoyens pour une République Canadienne'') (CCR) is a Canadian advocacy group founded in 2002 that advocates for the replacement of the Canadian monarchy. The new head of state could either be ch ...

(CCR) and commented publicly on his desire to end the

Canadian monarchy The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Wes ...

. He was a

permanent resident Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such l ...

of Canada, not obtaining Canadian citizenship because of his refusal to swear the Oath of Citizenship, as it contains a promise to bear allegiance to the

Canadian monarch The monarchy of Canada is Canada's Government#Forms, form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canadian federalism, Canada's cons ...

. Roach swore allegiance to the

Queen of Canada The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Wes ...

twice before: once as a reservist in the 1950s, and again when he was called to the Bar.Brean, Joseph; ''National Post'': Immigrant takes oath of allegiance to court; May 9, 2007
In 1992, Roach argued in the

Federal Court of Canada The Federal Court of Canada, which succeeded the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1971, was a national court of Canada that had limited jurisdiction to hear certain types of disputes arising under the Parliament of Canada, federal government's Canadi ...

that the Canadian oath for new citizens, which includes a statement of allegiance to the

, was a violation of the

Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...

. The court ruled against his motion to have the requirement to take the oath struck down and his appeal to the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

was dismissed. In 2007, Roach again sued, this time as a

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

. On May 17, 2007, Justice

Edward Belobaba Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

of the Ontario Superior Court ruled that Roach could proceed with the lawsuit, dismissing a Crown motion to have the action quashed as frivolous and vexatious. On February 19, 2008, the appeal by the federal government was dismissed by judges at the

Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently mistakenly referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal) (ONCA is the abbreviation for its neutral citation) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Ha ...

and the case went before the Ontario Superior Court. Roach's case was dismissed by the court in January, 2009. Roach again went to the courts in 2012 with another class action suit to argue the oath of allegiance to the sovereign is unconstitutional. On June 18, the Ontario Superior Court permitted the case's continuance. The case was dismissed in September, 2013.

Death

Roach died from malignant brain cancer on October 2, 2012, in

. A laneway in Toronto was named Charley Roach Lane in his honour in 2018.

Publications

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roach, Charles Lawyers in Ontario Black Canadian activists Canadian civil rights lawyers Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada University of Toronto Faculty of Law alumni University of Saskatchewan alumni Canadian republicans 1933 births 2012 deaths Deaths from brain cancer in Canada Black Canadian lawyers