Feb 3, 2024
Black History Month Fact #2
Jean Augustine, elected in 1993, was the first black woman to serve in Canadian Parliament and later became Canada's first Fairness Commissioner.
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from Poland
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Russia
Black History Month Fact #2
Jean Augustine, elected in 1993, was the first black woman to serve in Canadian Parliament and later became Canada's first Fairness Commissioner.
YES!
❥ shroomyronpa 2/4
↳ laina king - ultimate party planner. ↳ daisy mckinnon - ultimate cowgirl. ↳ haruhi watanabe - ultimate gardener. ↳ jean augustine - ultimate acrobat.
The trailblazing MP came to Ottawa to make change where she knew it mattered. Over 13 years in federal politics, she paved the way for so many others.
When Jean Augustine arrived on Parliament Hill to be sworn in as an MP representing Etobicoke-Lakeshore in 1993, she was accompanied by two busloads of supporters there to witness her oath. But she also brought along, and kept with her throughout her 13 years in federal politics, a much bigger, albeit invisible, contingent: students (especially those who really needed what school could offer them), women blazing difficult career trails, single mothers and Black Canadians.
Those people she knew or had worked with or had been herself shaped the roadmap for what she worked to accomplish in the House of Commons.
“All the things that I’d been doing over the years, it seemed to me that resolutions to a lot of those situations had to be in the political arena,” says this year’s Lifetime Achievement recipient for the Maclean’s Parliamentarian of the Year Awards. “That it was people in power places that were making decisions that affected the lives of so many.”
She became an MP in her 50s, with a long career in education and community activism behind her, so she didn’t arrive in Ottawa chasing cabinet positions, Augustine says, but rather looking to craft real change in small, focused areas where she knew it mattered.
There are two accomplishments she readily points out as her proudest moments. The first was working with Sheila Copps to remove the rule that restricted statues on Parliament Hill only to dead monarchs or nation-building prime ministers; that change paved the way for Augustine to bring forward, as chair of the National Liberal Women’s Caucus, the motion that resulted in the Famous Five statue commemorating the women who fought the “Persons Case” for political equality. The second pride of her career was advancing the motion in 1995 that established February as Black History Month in Canada.
Augustine was elected as Canada’s first Black female MP, and in 2002, when she was named secretary of state for multiculturalism and status of women, she became the first Black woman in cabinet. She was always conscious of that extra mantle and the expectation of carrying the concerns, aspirations and potential of her community with her every time she walked onto the floor of the House of Commons.
Continue Reading.
Tagging: @politicsofcanada
Black History Month, Canada:
Jean Augustine is Canada’s first Black Woman to serve as a federal Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister. She belonged to the Liberal Party of Canada. She was elected and served in the House of Commons from 1993 to 2006.
She is the sole person responsible for the federal government recognizing Black History Month in Canada. That legislation passed 305-0 in 1995.
More information on her, here:
Jean Augustine - Wikipedia
The reason that Black History Month is celebrated in Canada is thanks to Jean Augustine, the first black woman to be elected to Canada’s Parliament.
She was first elected in 1993, and served as a Liberal MP until 2006.
Read more about her, here:
Jean Augustine (b. 1937) is the first African-Canadian woman to serve in the federal Cabinet of Canada, and to be elected in the Canadian House of Commons. She also served as Minister of State for multiculturalism and the status of women.
She was born in Grenada, but moved to Canada and studied Education at the University of Toronto. She began her political career in 1993 as the first African-Canadian woman in the national Parliament. In 2007 she was named the first Fairness Commissioner by the Government of Ontario.
FEBRUARY 13 - JEAN AUGUSTINE
The first Black woman elected to the parliament of Canada. In 1995, she motioned in the House of Commons for the country to officially recognize February as Black History Month. The motion was passed unanimously.
In March 2007, Augustine was nominated by the Government of Ontario to become the first Fairness Commissioner - a position created to advocate for Canadians who received professional credentials from foreign countries.
A scholarship fund at Toronto's George Brown College was established in honor of Augustine, in order to provide help for single mothers.