Marlene Green

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Marlene Green (November 9, 1940 – October 31, 2002) was a Canadian community activist, educator, and NGO worker. She was born in Dominica and moved to Canada in the late 1960s as part of a large Caribbean immigration wave. In 1968 she worked with Black youth on social justice issues, including the fight against apartheid in South Africa. In 1969 she started the Black Education Project in Toronto. The group aimed to fix racial inequalities in schools and in public life. It offered Black history education, after‑school programs, summer camps, tutoring, and resources for parents, and it encouraged change from the ground up. Green also helped raise funds for students involved in the Sir George Williams affair and supported Black Power movements in Trinidad in 1970. In the early 1970s she became the Toronto Board of Education’s community relations officer, running trainings on racism. In 1979 she co‑authored a report highlighting racist disparities in education. She helped establish the Brotherhood Community Center Project to provide space for other Black‑led social justice groups. Later she did international development work, leading at CUSO and coordinating projects in Africa and the Caribbean, including Grenada. She was evacuated from Grenada in 1983 after the U.S. invasion following Maurice Bishop’s execution.