Jean Augustine

Jean Augustine was born Jean Simon on 9 September 1937 in the village of Happy Hill, near St George's, Grenada, the daughter of Olive and Ossie Simon, a sugar cane plantation worker. She was raised largely by her grandmother, who was the biggest influence in her life. She was already a qualified teacher when she left Grenada for Canada around 1959 to 1960 under the Caribbean domestic scheme.

In Toronto she could not work as a teacher at first, and took work as a nanny and as a clerk, before earning an Ontario teacher's certificate. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree and a master's in education from the University of Toronto, and became an elementary school principal in the Metropolitan Separate School Board. She also served as national president of the Congress of Black Women of Canada and, from 1988 to 1993, as chair of the Metro Toronto Housing Authority.

In 1993 she was elected to the House of Commons for the Toronto riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore, becoming the first Black woman ever elected to Canada's Parliament. She said she had not run as a Black politician but as a competent woman who was Canadian. She won four elections in a row and served until 2006, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, and as Deputy Speaker.

Augustine's best-known achievement came in December 1995, when her motion that the House take note of the contributions of Black Canadians to the settlement and growth of Canada passed unanimously, designating February as Black History Month. The first Black History Month was celebrated in February 1996. She also won unanimous support for the motion to erect the Famous Five monument on Parliament Hill.

In 2002 she became Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women, the first Black woman in a Canadian cabinet, and in 2007 she was named Ontario's first Fairness Commissioner. She has received seven honorary doctorates, and is a Member of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She founded the Jean Augustine Centre to support girls and young women, and a girls' leadership academy in Toronto bears her name.