Black Ice tells the story of a Nova Scotia hockey league plagued by institutional racism
CBC
Herb Carnegie is a name every hockey fan in Canada should know.
Carnegie, a Toronto-born hockey player of Jamaican descent, was widely considered one of the great players of the 1940s. But Carnegie never played in the NHL because he was Black, according to the new documentary Black Ice. He faced racism at every turn throughout his career.
In an interview with Hockey Night in Canada back in 2009, Carnegie explained why he never played for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"I was good enough for the Leafs. [Because] according to Conn Smythe, 'I would take Carnegie tomorrow for the Maple Leafs if someone can turn him white.'"
He played for Shawinigan and Sherbrooke of the Quebec Provincial League and was named most valuable player three times. In 1948, Carnegie tried out for the New York Rangers — he was offered contracts three times, all of them less than he was earning in the Quebec league.
It was only until this past June he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builder Category for founding one of Canada's first hockey schools, Future Aces.
Carnegie died 10 years earlier, in March 2012, at the age of 92. He never got to experience that moment of recognition. His story is an all-too familiar one in hockey.
His story, along with other players past and present, highlights the institutional racism in the sport and how it affected players then and how it affects them now.
This compelling documentary is based on the book Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925 by George and Darril Fosty.
This past weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival Carnegie's story, along with many current racialized players, was showcased in the premiere of the film.
Oscar nominee Hubert Davis directed the film — NBA superstar LeBron James, Toronto rapper Drake and Maverick Carter are executive producers.
It tells the history and stories of the Coloured Hockey League in Nova Scotia in 1895 and brilliantly weaves in many of the same systemic ant-Black racist issues that past players faced and current players in hockey face today.
"My first reaction was that I didn't believe it. I had never even known we had a Coloured Hockey League," Davis told The Canadian Press during an interview at his Toronto office. "I grew up in Canada, but I never thought of these stories involving Black players as particularly Canadian."
At times the narratives and videos are intentionally uncomfortable, challenging mainstream ideas of what hockey means to Canadians and how it's not a safe space for everyone.
