Captain George Borden, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1953-1985.Supplied/Supplied
George Borden was a few months shy of his 18th birthday when he and his two older brothers joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. He had to get his parents’ permission, because he was technically still a minor.
Growing up in a poor community in Nova Scotia where the only job prospects for young Black men seemed to be working in the local coal mine or as a porter on a train, Mr. Borden and his brothers saw the air force as a gateway to a better life.
“Even though we had four years of army cadet training, we all went air force because we wanted technical trades that we could use afterwards,” Mr. Borden told The Globe and Mail in November.
Although he chose the air force for pragmatic reasons, his family had a long history of military service. Mr. Borden’s great-grandfather served in the First World War as part of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canada’s first and only segregated military unit. Three of his uncles served in the Second World War.
Educating people about Black Canadians’ contributions to the military, and to the culture of Nova Scotia, would become Mr. Borden’s lifelong passion.
“It really resonated with him, the fact that if we want people to know the contributions we’ve made to Canadian society and to history then we need to make sure that it’s recorded,” says Mr. Borden’s nephew, Craig Smith, an officer with the RCMP and president of the Black Cultural Society for Nova Scotia.
Mr. Borden died on Nov. 29, a few weeks shy of his 85th birthday, of an infection.
George Borden in his home in Dartmouth, N.S., on Nov. 8, 2020.Darren Calabrese
George Augustus Borden was born in New Glasgow, N.S., on Dec. 17, 1935. His father, Hector, worked in the coal mine. His mother, Ethel, was a homemaker. George was the third of their 18 children.
The Borden family were devout churchgoers who deeply valued the arts and playing sports.
George’s younger brother, Walter, would become one of Nova Scotia’s most renowned actors. His sister, Gloria, founder of the Halifax Recreational Amateur Boxing Club, was the first female boxing promoter in Canada.
George discovered his love of writing in Ms. Horne’s high-school English class. He was an avid reader throughout his life, devouring military history and works by Black authors. George Elliott Clarke was a particular favourite.
Mr. Borden wrote poetry throughout his life, including a poem titled The Black Soldier’s Lament, which is read aloud every year at Remembrance Day ceremonies in North Preston, N.S.
“It’s become etched as part of the recognition that’s given to Black military heroes,” Mr. Smith says.
Mr. Borden’s years in the military solidified his desire to champion the contributions of Black Canadian servicemen and woman. He spent 32 years in the air force, first as a physical training instructor and then moving on to roles in administration and management, eventually attaining the rank of Captain.
He met his wife, Lovelette, while the two were stationed in Halifax in 1975.
When Lovelette, who worked as a clerk in the military, was transferred to Trenton, Ont., a year later, she thought she’d never see Mr. Borden again. But he was transferred to Trenton soon after.
“He sort of followed me every where I was,” Mrs. Borden says.
The two were married in a small ceremony in 1991.
By then, Mr. Borden was deeply involved in the cultural life of Nova Scotia.
He had co-founded the Black Hall of Fame, Nova Scotia, in 1978. That same year, he began writing a column for The Ebony Express newspaper called Blacks in the Canadian Military, in which he profiled various service members.
The year before he retired from the Armed Forces in 1985, Mr. Borden was seconded to the Black United Front to help reorganize the Black nationalist organization based in Halifax.
That job saw him working closely with Edmund Morris, who at the time represented Halifax in the provincial government. Mr. Borden so impressed Mr. Morris that when he retired from the military, Mr. Borden went to work for Mr. Morris as his executive assistant, making him the first Black executive assistant to a provincial cabinet minister in Nova Scotia’s history.
Mr. Borden would go on to become the executive director of the Black Cultural Society of Nova Scotia, an organization originally founded by his uncle, William Pearly Oliver.
Mr. Borden’s chief passion was always the No. 2 Construction Battalion. He wanted Canadians to know the battalion’s role in the First World War, and wanted the federal government to apologize for how Black servicemen who wanted to serve their country were treated.
“He’s always been a champion of the No. 2 Battalion,” says Kathy Grant, a long-time friend and public historian.
When Kevin Junor was sent to Halifax to research the battalion as the lead on a project for the Canadian Armed Forces looking at policies and procedures to address discrimination, he was told by several people to meet with Mr. Borden.
“He was just that guy that made you feel welcomed. He made you feel at home,” Mr. Junor says. “He always looked for that opportunity to be a role model.”
Mr. Borden’s legs were amputated due to complications from diabetes in 2017.
He pulled through the experience thanks to his bright outlook on life, wife Lovelette says. “He got up in the morning with a smile on.”
Proof of his disposition could be found simply by looking at the vanity licence plate on his car: “ALL JOY.”
Even in his 80s, Mr. Borden was pursuing projects dear to his heart, including writing a CD of spirituals that was released in 2019.
His motto expressed his lifelong dedication to service: “For all that you get out of life, you owe it to put something back in.”
Mr. Borden leaves his wife, Lovelette, his son, Tab, and daughter, Barbara.