Lambert Reid is originally from St. Mary’s Parish in Jamaica. He first came to Canada in 1982 to help support his family and have a chance at creating a life for himself.
Lambert said the tears were of both joy and sadness. It was his first time leaving Jamaica. He’d signed on to take work as a seasonal farm hand in Wicklow. Reid said he had mixed feelings coming to Canada, on the one hand he was excited to have the work, which was in short supply at home, but he also felt home sick being so far away from his family.
Lambert was no stranger to farming having helped his family with their pigs, goats, cows and crops since he was a child. His hard work in Wicklow soon paid off as he eventually became a supervisor in 1993 and helped other seasonal workers adjust to working and living in Canada.
By 2008 Reid had a family of his own and learned that his daughter had been accepted into a medical program in the U.S. which meant he needed to find more money to support her dream. He decided to see if he could work year-round in Canada to earn the extra money. Reid applied for permanent resident status at that time and had some difficulties with agencies who were supposed to be working for him, but in the end, took advantage of him. He persevered though and did gain resident status and ultimately Canadian citizenship as he continued to support his family.
Reid believes strongly that it pays to do good and to help others. After a cancer diagnosis in 2014, and a relapse in 2017, he was proven right many times as he benefitted from the generosity of some of the same people he’d helped over the years.
Today, Lambert tells us he has no better joy than looking at where he began and where his life has taken him. Being with his children, two of which are engineers, another in military service and his daugther who is now a psychiatrist, fills his heart as do his eight grandchildren.
Reid told us that he fully endorses Black History Month as a way to remember the past.
The Government of Canada has a website dedicated to providing information on the organizations and educational resources on the history of Black communities in Canada. To learn more visit: Organizations and educational resources on the history of Black communities in Canada – Canada.ca. A special thanks to Al Seymour of the Cobourg Museum for his kind assistance with this story.
(Written by Joseph Goden)
