Area resident Jean Augustine is being recognized for being a national trailblazer.

Augustine, the former four-term MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, is being presented on October 25 in an online event at 2 p.m. with a Key to the City of Vaughan as well as having a building and park named the Jean Augustine Complex and the Jean Augustine District Park.

“Ms. Augustine is a passionate educator, lifelong public servant and a national trailblazer,” says Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua. “She is Canada’s first female African Canadian Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister.”

Bevilacqua announced in a Council meeting last June that Augustine would be receiving the Key to the City and the complex and park will be named in her honour.

The former politician and school principal immigrated to Canada in 1960 from her native Grenada. She earned a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Toronto.

“Jean Augustine is certainly most deserving of this recognition,” he said. “Her story is one of courage, hope and perseverance, and I am blessed to bear witness to her outstanding achievements.”

Augustine was elected Member of Parliament in 1993 for the constituency of Etobicoke-Lakeshore, serving four terms until 2006.

In 2002, she was appointed Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Status of Women), and in 2003, she became Minister of State (Multiculturalism and Status of Women), later serving as assistant deputy speaker of Parliament until her retirement in 2006.

Augustine was nominated by the Government of Ontario in 2007 to become the first Fairness Commissioner, a position created to advocate for Canadians with foreign professional credentials. She retired from the position in March 2015.

In 2008, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education was established in the Faculty of Education at York University. Augustine also served as the National President of the Congress of Black Women of Canada. She has received multiple awards and recognitions for her work.

The tireless community worker is a Member of the Order of Canada and a recipient of multiple honorary doctorates. In 2014, she was the keynote speaker at the City of Vaughan’s International Women’s Day event, and, in 2019, met with her former seatmate in the House of Commons, Mayor Bevilacqua, to discuss issues of diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism.

Augustine is also involved in the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment, on Portland St., and has had a fundraising beer named after her by Great Lakes Brewery, with funds going to help the girls.

The event can be seen October 25 at 2 p.m. on vaughan.ca/live.