Multiculturalism

Cecil Foster is internationally acclaimed author and public intellectual in the areas of multiculturalism, race, ethnicity, immigration and social identities. His fiction captures in particular the human condition of Black and immigrant peoples in the Americas. A leading expert on multiculturalism, Foster is quoted extensively in popular and social media and his work is widely referenced in academic and mainstream publications globally. Foster speaks frequently on multiculturalism and related topics, primarily in Canada and the United States, relating these topics to peoples of Caribbean descent living in North America. Foster’s most recent book is the best-selling They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porter and the Birth of Modern Canada—a subject for the recently announced groundbreaking series by CBC TV and BET+ streaming. Foster is a professor of transnational studies at the University of Buffalo, State University of New York and splits his residences between Buffalo and Toronto.

Praise for They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada"Foster had the courage to examine the realities of race in this country long before it was commonplace to do so ... Canadian multiculturalism rests on the shoulders of the sleeping car porters."—Globe and Mail"In [They Call Me George] ... Foster aims to restore the identities of the Black men who once worked on Canadian railroads. In the process, he also excavates a chapter of Canadian history that has been largely erased from the collective memory: the role that Black train porters played in furthering social justice and shaping Canada into the country it is today."—Toronto Star"Foster has dissected the myth of Canadian tolerance, born of our history as a haven for refugee slaves—exposing instead a past in which the English and French elites fought to create a white nation ... Blacks and other Canadians of colour are not merely the beneficiaries of multiculturalism; they are its architects."—Donna Bailey Nurse, Literary Review of Canada"Informative and well-written ... We owe a debt of gratitude to [the porters], and to Foster for his masterful and insightful research and writing."—Daily Nation (Barbados) "An excellent, well-written, and historically accurate volume."—UK Barbados Nation"A bold book by a self-assured scholar who has rewritten our conventional history ... says Foster: 'This important piece of Canadian history has yet to be fully told.' They Call Me George is [his] effort to do just that."—Winnipeg Free Press"Mr. Foster’s well-written book about black train porters contains a wealth of information that is illuminating, revealing and, at times, disappointing. The beauty of the Canadian railroad had its ugly side, too."—Washington TimesPraise for Cecil Foster"Cecil Foster is a wise man with a flair for storytelling and writing that enters the heart.”—Quill & Quire (Starred Review)“Foster’s story of a West Indies community in transition is a marvelous read, filled with humour, sorrow, and wit, and told with the deft and gentle touch of a master storyteller.”—Thomas King“Cecil Foster kicks up one hell of a class-war fuss and proves he’s got stuff enough to show those mediocre storytellers how it’s really done ... Unforgettable.”—Toronto Star“I don’t know when I’ve read a more evocative book about black men. Read it and you will see the world differently.”—Vancouver Sun“Foster brings historical depth to his work and shows that the social and political recognition of blackness and multiculturalism is itself a contingent moment in history.”—George Dei, University of Toronto