Donald Willard Moore

Donald Willard Moore (1891–1994), known also as "Uncle Don", was a Black Canadian civil rights activist who fought to change Canada’s immigration laws. He is known for his involvement in several civil rights organizations and for leading a delegation in Ottawa that successfully managed to push the Government of Canada to revise discriminatory immigration laws affecting non-white immigrants.

Early life and education Donald Willard Moore was born in Saint Michael, Barbados on November 2, 1891, to Charles Alexander Moore, a cabinetmaker and member of the Barbados Harbour Police Force, and Ruth Elizabeth Moore. Moore had learned the skills of a tailor in Barbados and had begun to ply his trade. In 1913, when he was 21, Moore emigrated to New York City, and then moved again to Montreal shortly afterwards. Moore attempted to find work as a tailor but could not work in that field due to racism.

Moore's work brought him to Toronto by the spring of 1913. He enrolled at the Dominion Business College at 357 College Street. During his time at the college, Moore completed courses necessary to enroll in the dentistry program at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After saving enough money, Moore entered the dentistry program at Dalhousie in 1918. However, Moore caught tuberculosis during his dentistry education and had to leave his studies, abruptly ending his plans to become a dentist. Moore spent 18 months in a hospital recovering from tuberculosis.

in 1920, Moore started working as a tailor at Occidental Cleaners and Dyers, eventually buying the business after saving enough money. Moore became heavily involved in the local Black and West Indian communities. He served as the secretary of the Black Community Church of Canada, and opened up the church gym to Black youth for activities such as rollerblading and boxing that were otherwise inaccessible for them due to racism. Moore's business became important to the local West Indian community, becoming the founding place for the Toronto chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Moore would continue to administrate his business until retirement in 1975. Additionally, Moore's dry-cleaning business became a gathering spot for the UNIA. In 1944, Moore became a founding member of the first Black credit union. in response to the Government of Canada's increasingly strict immigration measures against Black people. Moore became the association's first director, with his dry-cleaning and tailoring business becoming the NCA's first headquarters . In 2000, Moore was honored by city of Toronto with a commemorative plaque in front of 20 Cecil Street, the former gathering location for the Negro Citizenship Association.

Donald Moore Community Services Inc., a Barbadian-Canadian organization that helps immigrants adapt to Canadian life was re-named from Barbados House Canada Inc. in honor of Moore's activism and work in the Canadian Caribbean community. Moore had been a supporter of Barbados House since its inception. Starting in 2013, Donald Moore Community Services Inc. started a new initiative called the "annual Donald Moore Appreciation Brunch" in which members would select to honor a person of Caribbean heritage who was deemed as upholding the principles of Donald Willard Moore.

Moore's friend and fellow civil rights leader Bromley Armstrong described Moore as “the leader, the gentle giant, the man with the iron fist in a velvet glove”.