Interview with Dr. Murchison Callender

All right. Today is June 29th, 2023. This is the Oral History Project Phase 2 interview with Murchison Callender. The interviewer is Jemal Jones. So welcome, Murchison. Thank you for taking the time to be here with me to take part in this interview.

Thank you for inviting me and I'll try to do my best to answer your questions.

I'm curious about you as a child. If you can, could you tell me a little bit about your family, your family background, where you were born, those sorts of things?

Okay. Well, I am the eldest of four children of my parents. Father, George Elton Callender and my mother, Dorothy Agatha Wilson Callender. I was born in the twin island of Trinidad and Tobago in a little village called Sainte Madeleine Village. My father at the time worked for the Usine Ste Madeleine Sugar Estate. At that time, obviously, we were a colony of the British Empire, and he was an accountant there. Following that, he went -- he worked as a civil servant with the Trinidad and Tobago government. My mother was an educator. She had her own business school. And in those days, as they call it, commercial school, where they taught accounting typing, shorthand, those sort of things. She was also a music teacher and very much involved in the community. In the church she played for the choir and did a lot of good things in the community, providing free education for some underprivileged kids who eventually became very prominent in this society as accountants and various things like that. By the way, as a background, my mother -- my father was taught by my mother because she taught at the commercial school or business school in San Fernando before opening her own school. He did the course through correspondence. Today, we talk about online courses, but he did the correspondence accountancy course through England, the London School of Commerce. That's how he became an accountant for the government. He did audit books for various companies, societies, and other groups that the government would send him to do the auditing. About myself, what I consider -- oh, I went to a primary school and high school in the city -- Southern City, San Fernando. The high school was run by the Presentation Brothers of Ireland, it was called the Presentation College. It was considered one of those elite schools at the time. In those days, if you -- if your parents couldn't afford to send you to those schools, then you had to pay for the private school. There were no government secondary schools. They were mainly private secondary schools. At the school there, I was -- I had to work hard to be successful. I wasn't a genius, but I had some great teachers there at the school. My best subjects were in the sciences, my worst subjects were like English literature and math. I don't know what else you want to know about me in terms of background in school. Yeah.

I would ask, what's -- do you have a close relationship with your siblings?

Yes. Very close relationship with my siblings. As a matter of fact, they're all here in Canada now. I was the first in my family to go to university and my brothers followed suit. My sister went to business school in England, but she has passed since she came to Canada. She also worked at the University of Waterloo when she moved to Canada, I think, mechanical engineering department. Since she passed, it's just two brothers I have with me. They both followed me here to Canada. I came here as a student in -- I give the date, 1958 -- September 5th, 1958. I can never forget that. Arriving on a flight from Trinidad, my first time flying here in an airplane and arrived here in Canada in the cold weather. To me, it was very cold [laughing]. September 5th, and since then, I have been here. I did my undergraduate program at Sir George Williams University, which is now Concordia University in biological sciences, and went on to do some postgraduate work at the Royal Victoria Hospital, -- what was this institute called? Well, University of McGill. What else would you like to know--?

I'm curious about that first flight over and you landed in Canada. Where did you and your family like make home? Where was home for you when you arrived?

Home was always and still is Trinidad and Tobago, even though I've been living here since then. I have gone back on vacation, but I have never spent more than two or three months in Trinidad at a time. Mostly since I have retired, I've been going back twice a year. I've lived here most of my life starting in 1958, coming here as a student on a student visa. Not being allowed to work while I studied, I had to get a special permit before I wanted to work in the summers. I could not have afforded to go back to my home once the semester was finished or when -- once school year was finished. I had to find jobs, and in order to do that, I had to go through the immigration department, get a work permit in order to work for the summer.

When you say when you were here at home, I guess home in Canada, was it Kitchener, Waterloo for you or was that somewhere else, another city?

Oh, no, I started in Montreal. I'm sorry.

That's okay. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:33.000 Yeah. I started in Montreal first, where I was at Sir George Williams University. I was there for five years before moving to Ontario, and I was married by then. We were in Toronto for about three years, and then we moved here with the school -- to the School of Optometry, where I finished my optometry program.

Your whole higher education, Montreal, Canada -- or sorry, University of Waterloo, did you know always that you wanted to become an optometrist or was it something else?

No. Optometry was never there for me. I mean, I remember at home I never had to wear glasses at that time, but I knew of friends who had gone to see an optometrist to have their eyes checked, but that was about it. Optometry came later on. I was more interested in human physiology throughout my high school career. The sciences were things like human physiology, biology, that sort of learning. Once I did my bachelor's degree, in which I did many courses in the biological sciences: vertebrate anatomy, invertebrate zoology, comparative physiology, ecology, psychology, neurology, those sorts of things, biochemistry, solidified what I wanted to do. I wanted to do research along the lines of human physiology. My parents were hoping that I would go into medicine because I had this interest in science and always doing things like photography and working with things, but my interest is more in terms of research. It started in high school and then when I got my first job out of having completed my high school, I went to work for the Trinidad, Texaco Oil Company as a research assistant. I worked at their pilot plant lab in which we looked at fractionation of crude oil and some of the byproducts that were formed. I was interested in that part of the chemistry, which was more organic type of chemistry, but I knew that that couldn't be a career for me. I wanted to be on the human side dealing with the human aspect of it. That is how I came to Canada and to Montreal and to Sir George Williams University.

Were there any mentors that sort of like pushed you in the field -- towards the field of optometry or did you have a mentor that you looked up to during your graduate studies?

No. There were no mentors. When you say mentors, do you mean Black mentors or just mentors in general?

Mentors in general.

There were mentors in -- yeah, people who I admired in terms of starting in high school. My biology teacher, the chemistry teacher, the physiology teacher. They captivated my interest in doing things. As far as the arts, literature was not -- it was my poorest subject. Shakespeare and all the works of Shakespeare, it was not as fascinating as going into the lab and working on a rat or something, trying to find out what's going on in terms of the limbic system or the blood circulation or something to that effect. Yeah.

Okay. Well, thanks so much for telling me a little bit about your sort of like childhood and getting to the point in your career where you became an optometrist. Can you walk me through a little bit about your progression to become an optometrist? What does that entail?

Okay. I started off at McGill and I was doing research on diabetes. And we were looking at the Guinea pig as the model in looking at the physiological -- pathological, physiological complications associated with diabetes. One of the pathophysiological complications would be in the eye, -- you get cataracts or you can have problems like retinal detachment, but I was more interested in the crystalline lens and the cataract formation. About that time, my wife to be was vivisiting her cousin in Montreal, and that cousin was my roommate. She had just been fitted with contact lenses, a hard contact lens, which is the original PMMA, which is polymethyl methacrylate material. I was fascinated that she was able to see with this little plastic lens, which is about 8.3, 5 millimeters, but she had some discomfort and her eyes were red. That triggered my interest as to how can someone design or fit a plastic material on the eye to provide good vision, but this plastic could cause some physiological complication like a red eye. So based on that and on the research I was doing, which was also in the eye -- excuse me for a sec.

Okay.

[Break] I went to my supervisor and I said, "what I'm doing is interesting, but I think I want to sort of focus on this part of it in terms of the optical aspect of vision and the eyes." The fact meant that I had to do medicine and then a prolonged, a long period of study to become an ophthalmologist in order to go back and do research; I looked at optometry as an option. There still are only two schools in Canada, the school in Montreal; the University of Montreal, which is French. Then at the time, there was a College of Optometry in Ontario, which I applied to and I got in. I had more than the requirements because I had a first degree and I was researching another area. At that time, I think the entrance requirement was Grade 13 to get into the Optometry program. I had more than the requirements. I applied and I thought I would get credit for some of my background in biochemistry and physiology, but they wouldn't allow it. My optics was minimal just based on what I had in the high school. I started the optometry program, which was at the College of Optometry in Ontario. Then the college moved to the University of Waterloo in 1967 and I was in the first graduating class out of optometry in 1968 from the University of Waterloo. So there, it started. I became an optometrist and I was looking at the options now, practice versus research. Practice had some hurdles.

Such as?

Overt type of discrimination, and I’ll give you some examples. I was in a class of 24 graduates, and of the 24 graduates, only two of us did not get offers to associate with an established practice. I was a little curious about that, but the two people who didn't get offers or didn't get the type of offers the others got were me from Trinidad and a Jamaican of Chinese descent. That was a little strange, but (I) accepted it. That was the first bit. The second incident, when I did get an offer to visit a practitioner. I was visiting this practitioner. My wife and I visited the practitioner who had advertised for an associate. I had dinner with him and went to his office. I looked at the office and everything was fine. We had a very nice chat, and we came back home, and I thought, well, maybe this might be a place to go. Within a couple of weeks, I did get a letter from him, which stated to quote the letter, which I ripped up anyway after, I was a little upset. It said that the Practice -- I'm trying to get the exact words now. But in essence, it said that I would not fit into the community in his type of practice, and that was it. That was a subtle way of saying yeah (you don’t belong), and I felt that was not good. I mean, I was -- I knew I was one of the best or well-trained optometrists and I think I would've been a credit to the community by having the most recent (training as) -- a more recent graduate coming into the practice. And this practitioner at the time, probably graduated back in the early '50s. With my knowledge, experience and background, I thought it would be an asset to the community. That would be one of the subtle hurdles. Another one would be possibly the director of the school at the time when I said I wasn't given an offer. (He) said to me that, he had helped or sponsored a student out of Africa to do optometry. The person came here, did the optometry program, but he was upset that the person didn't go back to Africa to practice. Instead, the person stayed here in Canada and went into a commercial type practice. Then he said to me, "well, you know, in your case, maybe that's what you have to do." I was a little surprised and shocked that here we are talking about professionalism. Why would he suggest that's my only option? Again, that was a subtle type of discrimination in my early, you know, entrance into the -- into optometry, but I was more interested in research. Eventually, I was offered like assistant optometrist in the optometry school involving teaching and involving the clinical aspects of optometry. My employment (was considered) a part-time optometrist, but I was working five days a week and I had no benefits from the university. I was just considered a part-time person. It turned out that that should not have been the way and there was a practitioner -- not a practitioner, but a professor who had just come back from United States. He just got his PhD from Indiana University and he saw my interests and he saw that I was very much a researcher. He felt and I hate to use the word he used at the time, but he felt that I was overtly discriminated against. Then he sought to it (fair treatment), and in his way of being very adamant that I be given a full-time position with all the benefits from the university. I then became a lecturer in the School of Optometry and that was my first foot into the academic environment with some benefits in terms of livelihood and better salary. Then I moved through the ranks there.

Sounds. Well, one, I'm happy that you persisted. Then second, it sounds like it was really a great thing to have someone who stood up for you.

Yes.

What did that mean for you at the time and what does that mean for you now?

Oh, it certainly meant a lot because I have seen through the 50 odd years of being there that I have been able to not only accomplish my desires in terms of research, but also to help build a faculty and to help produce some of the best or well-trained optometrists here in Canada that are providing first class treatment and services to the Canadian public. That makes me feel good about it and what I've done, and that's in the area of clinical teaching. In terms of research, I have contributed quite a bit. During my progress from a lecturer to assistant professor I was also doing graduate work in the department of biology again in my -- to get my master's in physiology towards a PhD. I was also doing contract research. About that time, the first soft contact lens material was developed by Professor Wichterle [Otto Wichterle] Czechoslovakia [now Czechia]. He was a polymer chemist and this material was the HEMA or hydroxyethyl methacrylate material, was a soft water loving material for fitting -- for making contact lenses. That was the first soft contact lens developed. The patent was bought out by Bausch and Lomb of the United States and the patent also involved the design and making of the contact lens, the soft contact lens. I was one of the few consultants asked to look at the material and look at the lens design to validate that the lens was fit for human eyes and that it provided the optics that's required to correct vision.

Wow. Sounds like quite a contribution to the field of optometry and just vision in general. Yes.

Following that, there were several other materials developed. Hydrogel materials, or water loving materials developed. As a matter of fact, one of the materials was developed right here on campus at the University of Waterloo by a Professor, a polymer chemist named Ken O'Driscoll, Professor O'Driscoll. A Bionite material was a material I worked on plus other materials and working with the manufacturers in terms of designing the soft contact lens we know today. The work became overwhelmingly successful and I was deluged with contracts to do clinical studies on various lenses that were coming on the market, plus care solutions that were available. At the same time, I was doing my graduate work. I was doing the teaching of the course, and I was Director of the Contact Lens Clinic. The Director of the School at the time thought that it would be a good idea to start a Centre of Contact Lens Research and we hired someone who was working at the time with the Centre for Contact Lens Research at the University of New South Wales in Australia. He was brought here and made Director and we started the Centre for Contact Lens Research. The Centre got Senate approval in 1988 and has since progressed and grown to an extent that is one of the most sought after or best recognized research centres in the world.

Wow.

MC: The centre's name has been changed recently to the centre -- it's CORE, Centre for Ocular Research and Education. It is doing very, very well. I'm proud of the fact that the initial work, which was done by me, a founding member of the Centre for Contact Lens Research, and it has mushroomed and grown to such an extent where we are having young graduate students doing research in the centre and providing knowledge to the world about new materials, solving complications with lenses and eyes, the incompatibilities and compatibilities working across campus with others -- other groups in chemistry, in physics to help the university. As a matter of fact, I think optometry coming to Waterloo has created a name for itself as a world class university.

It sounds like so much of what you've done is contributed to a legacy here at UWaterloo with the centre, the research around contact lenses. Would you consider what you have done part of your legacy? Another way of asking that is, have you thought about that word, legacy, and yourself?

I haven't really thought of it, but I think only history would tell. I mean, if it's documented like in your case and people, young researchers are researching a Black optometrist or Black professor would get some information. But for me, at the time, I didn't consider myself as a Black professor. I just considered myself a professor interested in research and interested in doing something for society, for the world, in a world class university.

I appreciate that distinction.

Yeah.

I'm also hearing that, I'm thinking what it means or what do you think it means for other aspiring Black optometrists to see you as one of the firsts in North America to climb the ranks, and establish a long-lasting career. What do you think it signifies for them?

I think it signifies an opportunity to pursue a career in this area. Throughout my career in optometry, I have mentored hundreds, thousands of optometrists who are practicing here in Canada and around the world. And there have only been a handful who were Black; that's of some concern to me. I think part of it is related to Black kids not seeing Black scientists, or clinicians, or doctors as mentors. It starts at high school from what I have observed. I have grandkids and the Black kids are channeled to non-academic programs. They also don't see people who look like themselves as teachers, as mentors to mentor them. Sadly, there are also the socioeconomic problems with some of our Black community wherein they don't have the type of funding or money to send a gifted Black kid to an optometry program, which is going to cost maybe $100,000 a year. Many want to think in terms of going to a trade or some other type of program, but I think it is changing with our community as it grows. We have community groups now for example, the Canadian Caribbean Association, KW Region and the Congress of Black Women, the KW chapter offering scholarships to students. Most of the students who have gotten scholarships so far, and they have been giving scholarships for about 20 years, have been students who are inclined towards the technical aspects like computer science, maybe law. A couple may have considered medicine. Most of them, nursing. …Went into nursing. Most of the scholarships winners are usually female and the female students tend to look at nursing, and other type of careers. I'm hoping now that with the two groups looking at giving scholarships to students in the health sciences, medicine, optometry, it would help to create some avenues for some gifted Black kid to get into the program.

I hope so too. I guess --do you think as we're heading in the right direction. Can we improve upon in the University of Waterloo to help support Black students into this field? If there could be one change that you would make, what would it be?

Change I would make. The program is a tough program and it's -- we have maybe 400 applicants for 100 places. I don't really believe in affirmative action that you have so many places for Blacks, so many for others. We are a multicultural society and I think we need to tease out those kids who are inclined. Who are bright kids, that can compete with other kids in order to get into the program. Giving scholarships would help, but the scholarship obviously would have to support the student for that period of the four years in the program, which is a considerable amount.

I'd like to ask, have you been noticing the work on campus that we've been doing or I should say the university has been doing to address anti-Black racism? Have you noticed it and what are your thoughts on that?

I have been reading. I get the bulletins and I think the president has made the right decision in terms of inclusion and getting all these groups together to have a place that's comfortable for all members. Students, faculty, staff, to work in an environment that's all inclusive. I've noticed that in the history department, there's a professor there, Chris Taylor.

Oh, yes, Dr. Christopher Taylor. Yes.

Yeah. He has been given a position of vice president, vice something.

Associate Vice President.

I can't remember his exact title now. I think I have it written down here someplace.

I've got it. It's the Associate Vice President of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Antiracism Office. Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's good and I think he is doing a fantastic job in terms of developing a course in the history department on Black Studies. He's also working with the community. They had a Black film festival sometime in January and he helped sponsor this film festival, which I think will grow and which also helps to make the community aware of the support that the university gives in terms of providing information, counselling for the Black community in our community, that is. I also noticed that there's some encouragement to invite Black kids on campus and there is a course that's going to be put on sometime in August by Sankofa.

Yeah, there's Sankofa Pathways Program. Yeah.

They're going to bring in Black kids from Toronto and from the local area and provide them -- give them a course about various aspects of university career and courses at the university. They would get credit for having completed that course, which would be an incentive for more Black kids to be part of our community on the campus here. Most of our Black students are from the Caribbean and obviously they're paying foreign students fees, which means that either they're on scholarships or that their parents have provided them with the funding to get their degree here at Waterloo. The local kids or the second-generation kids, may not have that same sort of background of help in terms of funding to get them into a university program. The university is very much involved with the community, and I think with the programs that are being done by Chris and others would help to foster a greater relationship and hopefully mentor some of the Black kids that are in our community to consider careers that may involve a university degree or college degree, like Conestoga College to pursue higher education.

As we're winding down and getting towards the end of the interview, I'm curious to know what makes Waterloo unique in your mind?

Oh, the university, when you say Waterloo?

Yes, yes. Sorry. The University of Waterloo. Yes.

It's an all-inclusive, very diverse group of people from all backgrounds, all races working together. Over the years I've collaborated with people in biology, and people in physics. We are all here trying to develop and create a better world as scientists and I think it's great. The university is known throughout the world. Any place I go, and I mention University of Waterloo, they talk about the Computer Science Centre, they talk about Blackberry[laughing]. Things like that. Not much about optometry, except if you are in the area of optometry. If I say I'm an optometrist and I'm a professor at University of Waterloo, they'll know who I am. I have benefited and I think the university has benefited from my contribution along with my other colleagues from the Optometry and Vision Science School here at Waterloo.

You did mention the president earlier. I'm interested to get your thoughts on his major project, which is Waterloo at 100. My question to you is, what do you hope to see where we'll be at 2057?

I wouldn't be around[laughing], but our outward look in terms of development, inclusiveness, working as a group, working with other groups. I think it augurs well for when we have our centennial. We have to go from strength to strength and I think it's going to be one of the greatest or the greatest of all the universities. I may be biased in this respect, but I think Waterloo has done a tremendous job. The alumni are all around the world, I think have all contributed to this world in making it a better place. Making, the computer science and all the technology, robotics, which we are heading into. We are going to be a nation of robotics eventually.

And hopefully, people still too.

I hope those people are. [ Laughter ] 00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:56.000 Yeah, It's great. I think it's a great university to work with and it's a great university, a great community socially, academically, in all aspects. It's an all-inclusive university as far as I'm concerned from my about 55 years of being here.

And great contributions of being here, I shall say.

Yes.

So, at the end here. How important do you believe it is to tell stories such as recording this interview? How important do you think that is?

Very important because it is documented. It's on tape. It's audio/visual. We don't know much about the history of the Blacks in Canada. We hear about the Underground Railroad, but it's only now that we are finding out there have been some very influential Blacks who have come from the United States to Canada and made a contribution to Canada. It's only with the history and the research that's being done now that we are finding out about some of these people. Obviously, their names are now being uncovered. They did great things but were never written in history books. Our students are reading history about Canada, know very little about the First Nations, very little about the Blacks who have also contributed to development of this great nation called Canada.

I'm hoping that this project is a way to preserve some of those histories. With that, is there anyone else that you feel that we should interview? Someone that you know that could offer an important perspective?

Personally, in terms of?

Black. A person being like another Black staff, faculty, or student who we should interview in this process.

I don't know of anyone else here right now. Most of the people that I began working with back in '68 have passed. I think there's still one person who is still around. What's his name? Economist. He's retired. I may have his name someplace here.

If you can't remember, we can always just -- you can always send me an email.

Oh, Karl Bennett.

Karl Bennett?

Professor Karl Bennett.

Okay.

He's still alive. All the others I worked with have passed on. There was Fletcher [Dr. Leonard P. FLETCHER] in economics. There was [inaudible] Alpha Michael Charles. in biology. Sociology, there was -- oh, what was that guy's name? Amoroso. Professor Amoroso from Trinidad [Dr. Donald M. Amoroso].

Okay.

But these have all passed on and I don't -- there should be some records of these people around campus and what they have done.

Sure. There's some interesting projects that could be underway to research some of their contributions and their time here at U Waterloo.

Yes.

Is there anything else that you feel that you --

It was Leonard Fletcher who passed too. Leonard Fletcher, Economist. I think he passed away last year, but those were the people. There was a guy named -- chemical engineering from Barbados. What was his name? Barbados. I know he helped with the community, the soccer program of the young Black kids. His name, I may have it someplace here. Oh, Jim Ford. Professor Jim Ford. (There was also Cedric Grant, in the political science department. He was professor of international and Caribbean affairs. He went on to become The Ambassador of Guyana to the NY, USA and later High Commissioner to UK)

Yeah.

Yeah, but all these guys have passed on.

Okay. Is there any final thoughts that you have or anything else that you would like to share that we didn't cover?

I think we covered everything. We covered most of the questions you've asked, and I've tried to answer. I can't think of any with respect to the optometry program. We talked about the Centre of Contact Lens Research. No. I would like to see more Black students in optometry, and as I said, only about a handful in my career.

Well, I hope that this interview can serve as a promotional campaign of great work that has come before them. Sometimes people don't feel like having to forge the path, and it's easier to follow a path. So hopefully, this can be something that folks do stumble upon, or they are directed towards it and they can learn and feel like they can be inspired. I'm hoping that's what this does. I'm hoping that you feel that this interview can inspire. I really do want to thank you for your time here today and I will be in touch with you very soon.

Well, thank you for inviting me and I hope I have helped to make a contribution to your work and I look forward to seeing the results. Thank you.