Religion Roman Catholic Profession School principal | Role Canadian Politician Name Jean Augustine | |
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Jean Augustine
Jean Augustine PC CM CBE (born September 9, 1937) is a Grenadan/Canadian educational administrator, advocate for social justice, and politician. She is the first African Canadian woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons and the first to serve in the federal Cabinet.
Contents
- Jean Augustine
- Interview with hon dr jean augustine
- Background
- Federal politics
- Later life
- Honours and awards
- References
From 1993 to 2006, Augustine was a Liberal member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore in Ontario. She served as a member of Cabinet (2002 to 2004). Before her election, she had been a school principal. Augustine served as the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien from 1994 to 1996; she was Minister of State for multiculturalism (and the status of women) from 2002 to 2004.
Interview with hon dr jean augustine
Background
Augustine was born in 1937 in Grenada, but immigrated to Canada in 1960 under the West Indian Domestic Scheme. She studied at the University of Toronto where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Education. After university she worked as an elementary school principal with the Metropolitan Separate School Board in Toronto.
She has become engaged in numerous organizations for education and social justice, serving with the National Black Coalition of Canada, the Board of Governors of York University, the Board of Trustees for The Hospital for Sick Children, the Board of Directors of the Donwood Institute, the Board of Harbourfront, and Chair of the Metro Toronto Housing Authority. She was also named National President of the Congress of Black Women of Canada in 1987.
Federal politics
In the 1993 federal election, Augustine became the first African-Canadian woman elected to the Parliament of Canada; she served three terms as Chair of the National Liberal Women's Caucus. In February 2002, Augustine was elected Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. While in office, Jean Augustine was solely responsible for championing legislation to recognize February as Black History Month in Canada with a unanimous vote of 305-0. This bold statement allowed Canadians to honour their black history during the same time that their American cousins previously have been doing for generations before.
She also was the first African-Canadian woman appointed to the federal cabinet. On May 26, 2002, Augustine was appointed Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women). In December 2003, she was re-appointed to the new Cabinet as Minister of State (Multiculturalism and Status of Women). In 2004, she was appointed to the position of Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole, making her the first African Canadian to occupy the Speaker's Chair in the Canadian House of Commons.
Augustine was the founding chair of the Canadian Association of Parliamentarians on Population & Development, chair of the National Sugar Caucus, chair of the Micro-credit Summit Council of Canadian Parliamentarians, chair of the Canada-Slovenia Parliamentary Group, and chair of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Group.
On November 28, 2005, Augustine announced her intention to retire from the House, saying that she would not be a candidate in the 2006 Canadian election. She endorsed Liberal Michael Ignatieff to succeed her.
Later life
In 2007, Augustine was nominated by the Government of Ontario to become the first Fairness Commissioner, a position created to advocate for Canadians with foreign professional credentials. Augustine retired from the position of Fairness Commissioner in March 2015.
In 2007, Augustine donated her personal records to the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections at York University. "Pushing buttons, pushing stories" is a digital archive of Augustine's personal political buttons.
In 2008, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education was established in the Faculty of Education at York University.