Hunger strike ends, but James Russell is not giving up

Though he originally planned to remain chained in place until at least Saturday, James Russell ended his sit-in hunger strike just before 6 p.m. Tuesday evening. 

On Monday at noon, the 76-year-old Toronto film producer attached himself with a 10-pound chain and a padlock to the historic plaque at the Negro Burial Ground on Mississagua Street and vowed to stay there until Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa promises on camera that the town will unearth, clean and restore the headstones buried on the site.

But a family emergency forced him to rethink his strategy for convincing the town to foot the bill for the estimated $59,000 cost of the work, a figure arrived at after he enlisted Kitchener-based Archaeological Research Associates (ARA) to work up a quote. 

When he made the decision to leave Tuesday, he at first planned to wait until the evening’s council meeting was over to see if the subject of the restoration of the old cemetery was discussed. 

“But I really need to get home,” he told The Local 25 hours after he first arrived on site. “I had originally planned to hang in here until the bitter end, but this sort of takes precedence. The good news is, though, that if the town does not move forward with the motion tonight, I will be back.”

Russell unfastened his padlock from his wrist and the signpost, folded up his chair and walked over to his car that was awaiting him in the parking lot next to the Subway store. But first he made sure to devour a sub, his first solid food since last Saturday. 

“I’m energized by the amount of support I got today and yesterday,” he told The Local. “The people of this town have also wondered for years and years what the Negro Burial Ground is. People told me they were happy that this project could go forward, and that finally the town is going to be held accountable.”

Russell has been on a quest for over a year now to have the buried headstones, all likely marking the graves of Black parishioners of the old Baptist Church that used to sit on the now town-owned lot, lifted and restored. 

Though he first became familiar with the historic site in the mid-1980s while working as a photojournalist, it was in November 2021 that Russell first petitioned the town to allow him to conduct a ground penetrating radar survey of the old cemetery. 

Six months later, he hired Brampton-based Global GPR at his own expense to conduct the work. Their survey revealed 28 graves and 19 buried headstones on the historic site. Russell believes there may actually be more than that.

“All I want,” he said Monday, “is the town to do the right thing, to restore the names of the Black Canadian settlers who are buried here in unmarked graves. And I want them to restore the dignity to these folks.”

Russell spent Monday evening sitting in a camp chair. He was joined at around 6 p.m. his first night by NOTL councillor Maria Mavridis. The first-term representative quickly took out her phone and contacted some of her council cohorts to enlist a majority of them in backing her plan to support Russell’s quest for the town to fund the restoration. 

“I promise I will try to get this on the agenda for tomorrow’s council meeting,” she told Russell Monday. Russell said Tuesday afternoon before he left that he felt a glimmer of hope with Mavridis’ efforts but he wasn’t holding his breath. 

Also Monday evening, local resident Yvonne Bredow arrived with her own camp chair and some blankets, including extra ones for Russell, and accompanied him on his overnight stay.

Bredow, who has previously been vocal about the racism she has experienced while living in town, felt it was important for her to support Russell’s cause. 

“He is from Toronto,” Bredow marvelled, “and has come by here so many times over the years and decided to do something about this. Nobody in town will do anything about this, because they are scared of the repercussions. For James to have such passion for this, it says so much about him.”

Bredow and Russell spent the evening at the historic site. It was 6 C at 3 a.m., with the howl of coyotes off in the distance. Their plaintive wails, luckily, were out of earshot from the two protesters around the corner.

“All we saw was about four skunks,” Russell laughed. “And more than the temperature, it was the constant north wind that was challenging.”

On Monday, the town issued a press release attributed to CAO Marnie Cluckie. In the document Cluckie said the town is committed to honouring those buried at the cemetery and preserving heritage in Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

“Council has committed to a partnership with the community group known as the Friends of the Forgotten (FOTF) to restore and preserve this burial ground long term. Staff is working with the FOTF concerning next steps and is currently conducting a stage one Archaeological Assessment through funding raised by the FOTF community group. Once completed, the results will be shared with Town Council, and next steps will be determined.”

The press release went on to explain that all work on the site must be conducted in accordance with the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries’ current guidelines as well as the Funeral, Burials and Cremation Services Act. 

Friends of the Forgotten has a different vision for the site than Russell’s. Spokesperson George Webber said Monday that the group doesn’t see the need for costly excavation of the cemetery. Instead, they would like to have some kind of memorial erected to commemorate those who are buried there. And unlike Russell, the group is willing to raise funds from supportive citizens to back their vision as an alternative to forcing the town to pay for their vision.

Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa visited Russell late Monday afternoon, and Russell said what he heard from the mayor was that the town had recently struggled to approve a budget, with many projects underfunded or deferred, and there is no money currently in town coffers for the cemetery. 

“It’s sad,” said Bredow Tuesday morning about the town’s response. “They’re just giving a lot of lip service to this, hoping this will all go away. Just like racism issues in Niagara-on-the-Lake, sweep it under the rug and it’s gone. Nobody wants to deal with the issues that are here. They’ll find money for other things, but not for this site that needs to be looked into, needs to be repaired.” 

Throughout Tuesday morn-
ing a steady stream of people walked by, many averting their eyes from Russell, as The Local noticed during two visits. Some well-wishers did stop to show support, including Howard Bogusat, who walked the burial ground with Russell last May, and former Royal Canadian Legion Branch 124 president Stan Harrington. 

Around noon, activist and authentic racism educator Sharri Darlene from Niagara Falls heard about Russell’s protest and decided to pay a visit. 

“I took a drive down here and brought him some chicken broth,” said Darlene. “I didn’t even know about this place at all. I drove right past it on my way into the town, in fact I drove past it a few times. I stopped and asked people if they knew where the Negro Burial Ground was and no one knew.”

Darlene stood near the historic plaque and looked toward the numerous flags planted by Russell a year ago to mark the spots where graves were found by the radar. 

“Those are bodies there,” she said incredulously. “There’s only two stones above ground, and they both mark the graves of white men. These are our ancestors buried here. This is not okay to me. This goes back to hundreds of years ago when there was no regard for the Black body and Black pain.”

“For way too long they have neglected to do the right thing,” she told The Local. “There was no regard for these lives and that is not okay anymore. It’s time for white people to step up and do the right thing. If it was your ancestors you would want the right thing done.”

Of the town’s response to Russell, Darlene said, “they really just want him to go away. They think they have the sign up, that’s enough, go away. We’re not asking for a lot. This is wrong on every level, and Niagara-on-the-Lake should be ashamed of itself.”

As he walked back to his car, Russell said he would be listening to Tuesday’s council meeting during his drive back to Toronto. 

Mavridis did bring up the issue during the new business section of the Tuesday night agenda near the end of the council meeting, asking Cluckie to give the public a clear update on the burial ground in light of Russell’s protest.

Cluckie summarized what the town’s involvement in the situation has been since March 2022, and insisted that they’ve been following all the processes in the proper fashion, mentioning the BAO and the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, among other organizations.

“Through the latter part of 2022, staff was working with the BAO and Mr. Russell as well as the Friends of the Forgotten, who didn’t have their name yet and had joined on with Mr. Russell to work
on this initiative. We initiated the stage one archeological survey, and through the generosity of this community we had enough funds for that, so we hired ARA through the town.” 

“We received council’s endorsement to support the work of the Friends of the Forgotten in principle on March 21,” Cluckie continued, “and to continue to support their fundraising efforts. And we delegated along with other local municipalities about this issue at AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) We have a lot of priorities, and we wanted to find other sources to fund this.” 

She didn’t touch on any specifics about Russell’s belief that it should be the town funding the archeological research. When asked when the stage one assessment will be ready, Cluckie said it would be by the end of this month. 

“We are absolutely dedicated to this,” Cluckie concluded. “We just need to follow the appropriate process and honour it in the way that we should.”

Russell may have indeed returned to Toronto, but in light of what happened at council tonight, he holds open the likelihood of another trip to town with his chain and locks before the end of the month. 

“But I will not come back to the Negro Burial Ground,” he says. “I know where the Shaw Festival is, I know where the main street is, where the town hall is, and where the mayor lives. I’m leaning toward Queen Street, where there are lots of tourists and lots of residents. Maybe the old Court House steps.”

And chances are when he does return, he won’t be alone. 

“The young people I spoke to, who had no idea of the struggle I’ve been going through for the last year and a half,” he said, “all offered to put their heads together to come up with something if this town fails to do the right thing this time. We’ll be back, and in a big way.”