Robert Sutherland

Who was Robert Sutherland?

Robert Sutherland, a native of Jamaica, was the first known graduate of colour at a Canadian university, and the first Black man to study law in British North America. A graduate of Queen's University. Sutherland qualified to practise law in Ontario under the then prevailing system of apprenticeship and examination. He studied at Osgoode Law School and practised law for 20 years in Walkerton, Ontario. Upon his death in 1878, Sutherland's left a large bequest to Queen's University, roughly equivalent to the institution's annual operating budget. This donation was the largest the school had ever received, saving it from financial catastrophe in a banking crisis.