Carter, George

George Carter was born August 1, 1921 in Toronto, Canada, and was the first of 14 children of John Carter and Louise Braithwaite Carter, who were from Barbados.  Carter excelled in sports as a cricket player, and he was a strong student as well. He was also very social and from an early age he understood the importance of networking, building relationships with many people he would know throughout his life.  He also connected with the Universal Negro Improvement Association and was inspired by visiting speakers such as Marcus Garvey and A. Phillip Randolph.  In 1944, Carter received his B.A. from Trinity College, University of Toronto. In that same year, he went into the Canadian army. While he did not serve overseas, he was sent to numerous camps, such as Ipperwash, and was selected for officer training.  He was instrumental in creating the Toronto Negro Veterans Association after the war.  After his military service, Carter went on to Osgoode Hall from 1945-48 to study law. After completing his education, he became one of Canada’s first black lawyers. He was appointed as a judge in the 1970s, the second native-born, black Canadian to be so honoured.  In that regard Judge George E. Carter was instrumental in establishing legal aid services and in the formation of the Adoption of Coloured Children agency.  He was interviewed for this project in February 2015 by Scott Masters and Kathy Grant.