FORMER 13-YEAR MP JEAN AUGUSTINE with Liberal MP Marci Ien, a former broadcaster. Courtesy photo.
The life of iconic former teacher and politician Jean Augustine has now been documented in film.
There was a red carpet premiere at the Scotiabank Theatre on April 2 for the documentary ‘Steadfast: The Messenger and the Message,’ based on the life and exploits of Augustine.
FORMER MP Jean Augustine represented Etobicoke Lakeshore for 13 years.
The film by Fahim Hamid Ali tells the heartwarming story of the Honourable Dr. Jean Augustine, the first Black Canadian woman to serve as a federal Minister of the Crown and Member of Parliament.
She is noted for bringing forward a motion in Parliament to recognize February as Black History Month.
The House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month in Canada in December 1995. Augustine introduced the motion that the House of Commons carried unanimously.
“We continue to use this opportunity to recognize and amplify the achievements and importance of Black Canadians and their communities,” according to a release.
Augustine has long ties to South Etobicoke and is founder of the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment, which runs many programs for teenage girls.
The former MP was born in Grenada and arrived in Canada in 1960 through an immigration program that brought 3,000 women from the Caribbean to Canada to work as domestics.
She later pursued a career in education, eventually becoming an elementary-school principal.
Augustine said people suggested she consider a career in politics but she was reluctant at first: ‘politics was often portrayed as a corrupt old-boys’ club, and as a Black woman, the idea of running seemed almost unimaginable to her and others then.
“We didn’t have people who were conscious of the fact that [Black women] needed to be there,” she said in an interview. “There were people in the community at the time saying, ‘What do you think you’re doing? Can you see anybody out there that looks like you?’ We did not, as a community, have the confidence that the system was ready for us.”
In 1993, Augustine made history as the first Black woman to be elected to Parliament. She served as an MP for Etobicoke Lakeshore for 13 years.
She was appointed as Ontario’s first-ever fairness commissioner in 2007 and held that role until retiring in 2015. Her career inspired Black women across the country to get involved in politics.