(Note: with the approach of Remembrance Day the CCI will be posting some stories that are perhaps less well known)
“The Halifax Incident — Caribbean Volunteers and the Forgotten Casualties of War”
In early March 1916, more than 1,000 Jamaican men — enlisted as part of the British West Indies Regiment’s third contingent — boarded the SS Verdala bound for England, eager to serve in the First World War. But instead of reaching training camps in Britain, they were diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, the ship endured one of the worst blizzards the region had seen. The vessel, inadequately heated and ill-equipped for arctic conditions, left the men exposed to freezing temperatures and harsh wind. Over the following days, around 600 of the volunteers suffered frostbite — more than 100 so severely that amputations became necessary. The event, now known as the “Halifax Incident”, serves as a stark reminder that war’s toll extends beyond the trenches. These Caribbean soldiers volunteered to serve across the Empire, yet faced neglect in their journey, and paid a heavy price even before reaching Europe. Their story complicates the narrative of heroism: it forces us to remember not only those who died in battle, but those whose service was compromised by oversight, distance and colonial inequality. As we approach Remembrance Day, their tale invites reflection on the broader costs of war — and the many contributions of Caribbean men to the Allied effort.
(Source: Hyacinth Simpson, “The Halifax Incident”, Toronto Metropolitan University News, Feb. 20 2018.)
It is to be noted that Toronto Metropolitan University has recently announced that Prof. Simpson is among three TMU professors to have been named 2025-26 Massey College fellows – a prestigious honour that gives them a year to dive deep into research that matters.
Hyacinth Simpson: Uncovering Black Canadian history
Scholar and writer Hyacinth Simpson will use her fellowship year to advance research that deepens understanding of Black Canadian history and how Black Canadians are represented in national stories.
At Massey College, Simpson will work on two major projects.
She’ll complete The Halifax Incident, 1916–1917, a book exploring an important but little-known story of how a group of Jamaican soldiers of the British West Indies Regiment suffered frostbite while en route to England in 1916. They became central to the launch of Canada’s rehabilitation program for wounded veterans.
“As a Jamaican Canadian I have to tell this story!” says Simpson. “It’s one of many examples of the longstanding, sometimes fraught, relationship between the Caribbean and Canada.”
Her second project is a museum exhibition titled Black Canadian Women on the Home Front: War Work of the Female Relatives of the Men of No. 2 Construction Battalion. Simpson is collaborating with community partners and descendants of the battalion’s members to highlight how the women—mothers, wives, sisters and others—supported the unit and their communities during the war. The exhibition opens in 2026.
“It’s painstaking and necessary work,” Simpson says. “The Black archives are a rich resource for those of us doing this kind of research.”
For Simpson, this work is both academic and deeply personal. She sees her research as a means of amplifying Black voices and stories that have long been muted, and filling gaps in narratives of Canada’s past.
Simpson says, “This fellowship has come at the right time in my career as it’s giving me the time that I need to complete two major research projects and also an opportunity to develop a larger scholarly and professional network. In the vibrant research and social culture at Massey I’ve found an academic home away from home.”
Source: Toronto Met Today