New Brunswick Black History Society
Law Enforcement & Military
Black History in World War 1
Black men who tried to enlist were routinely turned away by white recruiting officers. After the Black leaders managed to make a national issue of this rejection, the military finally decided to create an all Black unit in April 1916. The unit that resulted was the No. 2 Construction Battalion, the only segregated Black Battalion in the history of the Canadian Military. This camp was segregated for Blacks only for the No. 2 Construction Battalion in Jura, France.
Gerald Douglas Carty
Gerald Douglas Carty (1925-2008)
Trailblazer in Aviation and Technology
Gerry Carty was born in Saint John, N.B. in 1925, the son of Albert Carty and Fanny (Tyler) Carty. He was one of five members of the Carty family to serve in the air force during World War II. An earlier generation of the family had served in World War I. Gerry joined the RCAF in 1942 and was selected to train as aircrew. He was the top student in his flying course and at age 18 was promoted to Flight Lieutenant, becoming one of the youngest commissioned officers in that branch of the armed forces. At this time, although the RCAF had removed its ‘colour line’ against minority officers and pilots, African Canadian bomber pilots were extremely rare. During the war he flew Wellington and Halifax bombers in 35
stories over occupied territory. The crews of the RCAF squadrons in Bomber Command had the most hazardous duties of any Canadians during the war. Wounded in action, Gerry spent his recovery in England by studying to become an electronics technician.
His war service resulted in the Defence Medal, the War Medal (Victory Medal) and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. Mr. Carty’s electronics technician certification was the first granted in New Brunswick. Based in Fredericton in the post-war years, he operated an electronics service centre and other businesses and was a pioneer of cable television in the 1950s. On the aviation side he was involved with a charter air service, was a founding member of the Fredericton Flying Club and was the commanding officer and an instructor for Air Cadets. Gerry Carty was heavily involved with other community organizations, including the Royal Canadian Legion, the YMCA and the RCAF Association.
(Photo courtesy of the Carty Family )
Hartley Gosline
HARTLEY GOSLINE
The First Black Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer from New Brunswick; First Black Mountie to be posted to Nova Scotia
As a high school student in his native Saint John, NB, Hartley Gosline had an important goal: to join Canada’s famed Mounted Police. Despite its outstanding reputation at home and abroad, the RCMP, which dated back to 1874, was not a diverse organization in the 1960s. It would not recruit its first female cadets until 1973. With the assistance of a Mountie and the Royal Canadian Legion, the six foot one inch tall youth applied and was accepted for the rigorous training program at the depot at Regina, Saskatchewan. During training, Hartley was told by a drill sergeant “you’d better be white by 6 a.m. the next morning.” In 1969, as a constable, he became the first Black Mountie to be assigned to Nova Scotia, serving in the New Glasgow detachment. Duties there included highway patrol and general policing. He later reported that many citizens, not accustomed to seeing a Black Mountie, starred at him. He went on to assignments in Dartmouth, Toronto, Jasper and Edmonton. For a time he worked with the RCMP Security Service Division (later absorbed by the Canadian Security & Intelligence Service). His Security Service work in Toronto in the 1970s was ‘classified.’ This policing trailblazer left the RCMP in 1978 but continued his interest in law enforcement, running a private investigation company, serving as an Alberta liquor control inspector and working as a fraud investigator for Human Resources Development Canada. In 2003 he received, in Edmonton, a nomination for the Canadian National Griot (Black Culture) Award. Other Black Mounties have described him as their role model.
(Photo courtesy of Hartley Gosline)
Major Walter Peters
Major Walter Peters (1937-2013)
The First Canadian-born Black Jet Pilot in the RCAF; first Human Rights Officer for the Canadian Armed Forces.
Walter “Wally” Peters was a man of many accomplishments. Born the youngest of six children in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis County during the Great Depression, he relocated with his family to Saint John, N.B., where he graduated from Saint John High School. A gifted athlete, he switched from rugby to football when he moved on to Mount Allison University, graduating in 1959. He went on to further studies at the University of Southern California. Returning to Saint John, he worked for the municipal government and for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. At 24 years of age he enrolled in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). At this time there were very few African Canadians in the RCAF. Peters was accepted into the jet pilot training program and completed the course with top honours, becoming the first Canadian-born Black jet fighter pilot. He would have a distinguished career in the Canadian Armed Forces as well as the broader realm of aviation. Based in Saskatchewan, his skills were put to good use as a flying instructor. He also flew the C-100 “Canuck” fighter/interceptor in a number of air shows. In the early 1970s he was involved in organizing the famous Snowbirds air demonstration squadron, which flew the iconic CT 114 Tutor jet. In addition to being the first human rights officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, Walter Peters was an advisor to the United Nations Security Council in New York. In 1983 he briefed the Security Council on the shooting down, by the Soviet air force, of a Korean civilian airliner with the loss of nearly 300 lives. He retired from the RCAF with the rank of Major in 1984 and worked until 1988 with Transport Canada. Many testify to his importance as a role model for both visible minorities and all members of the RCAF. Walter Peters was the first president of the New Brunswick Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.
(Photo courtesy of Catherine (Peters) Jones)
Seamour Tyler
Seymour Tyler
A soldier, railwayman and farmer, Mr. Tyler was born in Saint John on February 22, 1897. He enlisted in the Canadian army in 1915 and spent most of the First World War with the Canadian Black Devils from Winnipeg as a bugler. Prior to the war, he played in the Saint John Brass Band and organized the first boy scout bugle band in Saint John. After the war he started a trucking business in Saint John, but later decided he wanted to become a farmer, so moved to the Ripples area, but he maintained his ties with the military.
In the years prior to the Second World War, he belonged to the York Regiment Matilda, and just before the Second World War the regiment was amalgamated with the Carlton Light Infantry to form the Carlton York Regiment. When the Second World War broke out the Carlton York Regiment was named part of the first contingent to be sent over seas and Bugle Sergeant Tyler was with them. He was awarded the Silver Bugle by his regiment in 1939 for 21 years of service. When the ship landed in Scotland, he led the parade to where the first Canadian contingent met future Governor General Vincent Massey and Canadian Commander major General A.G.L. MacNaughton. One of Mr. Tyler’s treasured memories was his visit with King George VI, and another with Queen Elizabeth during the first inspection after arrival in Britain. However, his career in the Second World War was cut short in 1941 when his leg was broken in seven places during bombing attacks in the Battle of Britain and was sent home.
He became known to thousands of Canadians who traveled on the CPR where from 1941 to 1959 he served as a porter on the Saint John to Montreal, Saint John to Boston, Toronto to Regina and many other runs. When he returned to the family farm in Minto, he became friend and confidant to many and distinguished himself as the most honoured member of the Black community in new Brunswick for the work he did to promote the pride, unity and dignity of his race through education.