Government of Canada Encourages Canadians to Participate in Black History Month

• Since acquiring AIC Limited in 1987, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Lee-Chin has built the organization into one of Canada's leading mutual fund companies, with assets exceeding $12 billion.



• Joe Whittaker, owner of Reliable Tube Edmonton Ltd., built a one-man operation into a $20-million-a-year business.



• Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré is Quebec's first Black judge, and she has received an honorary doctorate from the Université du Québec à Montréal for her work in the field of human rights.



• Author Austin Clarke's ninth novel, The Polished Hoe, won the 2002 Giller Prize and the Regional Commonwealth Writers Prize for best book in 2003.



• In 1968, World War II veteran Lincoln Alexander was elected the first Black Canadian Member of Parliament. He went on to become Canada's first-ever Black Cabinet Minister in 1979, and in 1985 was appointed as Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario.



• Julius Alexander Isaac was named Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada in 1991, becoming the first Black Canadian Chief Justice in the country.

• The first person of African heritage to set foot in what would become Canada arrived on our shores some 400 years ago. It is believed that in 1604, Mathieu Da Costa arrived with French explorers Pierre Du Gua de Monts and Samuel de Champlain. Da Costa, a free man, worked as an interpreter, providing an invaluable link with the Mik'maq people encountered by the Europeans.



• Slavery existed in Canada from around 1628 until it was abolished in 1793 in Upper Canada, and throughout the British Empire in 1833. The first recorded enslaved African in Canada was Olivier LeJeune, who took the name of his owner, a priest.



• In 1779, in an effort to win the War of Independence (1775Ñ1783), the British government invited all Black men, women, and children to join the British cause and win their freedom. Many accepted the invitation. As a result, 10 percent of the United Empire Loyalists that arrived in the Maritimes were Black.



• In 1793, the Abolition Act was passed in Upper Canada, now Ontario. This law freed slaves aged 25 and over and made it illegal to bring slaves into Upper Canada. As a result, Upper Canada became a safe haven for African peoples fleeing slavery.



• During the War of 1812, the Coloured Corps fought in the Battle of Queenston Heights, a decisive engagement with the Americans. The Coloured Corps was established thanks to the efforts of Richard Pierpoint, a Black Loyalist and a true Canadian hero.



• In 1833, the British Imperial Act abolished slavery throughout the Empire, including Canada. Between 1800 and 1865, approximately 20 000 Black people escaped to Canada from the United States via the Underground Railway.



• In the 1840s, one of Toronto's most successful business people was James Mink, owner of the Mansion Inn and Livery. Mink, the son of former slaves, owned stagecoaches that carried people and mail between Toronto and Kingston.



• In 1857, William Hall of Nova Scotia became both the first Canadian and the first person of Black ancestry to receive the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration in the British Empire.



• During the First World War, patriotic Black Canadians attempted to join combat units but were not permitted to do so; however, they still contributed to the war effort. In 1916, a segregated battalion of Black men, the Number 2 Construction Battalion, was formed and was responsible for the crucial work of building bridges, digging trenches, and clearing roads.



• In the Second World War, Black Canadians succeeded in their efforts to join the combat units in the armed forces, and they went on to serve with distinction in all services.

• According to the 2001 Census, there are 662 210 Black Canadians living in Canada

• The majority of Black Canadians live in five Canadian cities: Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Vancouver, and Halifax. According to the 2001 Census, these cities are home to approximately 78.4 percent of all Black Canadians.

• According to preliminary findings of the Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS) published in September 2003, almost half of the Black Canadians who responded (49 percent) say they have experienced some form of discrimination or unfair treatment in the past five years.



• The objectives of the EDS were to better understand how people's backgrounds affect their participation in the social, economic, and cultural life of Canada, and to discover how Canadians of different ethnic backgrounds interpret and report their ethnicity.



• The survey, a joint initiative of Statistics Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage, selected some 42 500 respondents from the 2001 Census who had self-identified as being a visible minority, and asked them a series of questions about their lives in Canada.



• More information on the EDS is available at http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/030929/d030929a.htm

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