Liberal Greg Fergus made history on October 19, becoming the first African Canadian member of Parliament in the National Capital region, when he snatched the riding of Hull-Aylmer from veteran incumbent NDP MP Nycole Turme, at the just concluded Federal election. Made up of the former cities of Aylmer and Hull, the riding has had Liberal representatives (apart from the three-year conversion of former MP Gilles Rocheleau to the Bloc Québécois in 1990) for more than a century, until Turmel crushed incumbent Marcel Proulx. The riding has about 91,000 eligible voters, with French the primary language in about 80 per cent of the homes.
Greg Fergus has solid experience in the political field. He has worked as a policy advisor and senior policy advisor in a number of ministerial offices. He has also worked at all levels of the Liberal Party of Canada, including as National Director, where he introduced change and innovation that made the party more efficient, restoring it to today’s modern appeal.
Greg readily gets involved in his community. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Aylmer Arms Residence and a member of the parish council for a parish within his riding. In the past, he has been vice president of a neighbourhood association; he has also been involved with elementary and secondary school committees and sports teams and with organizations defending regional interests.
Greg holds two Bachelor’s Degrees – one in Social Science and one in International Relations. He has also undertaken studies at the master’s level in international relations. Over the past 25 years, he has worked in both the private and public sectors, with not for profit organizations and in the academic sector.
Other Black candidates in the national capital region
Other black candidates in the National Capital Region didn’t fare so well. In Ottawa West Nepean, Conservative candidate, Somali-born Abdul Abdi, came in second to the winner, Liberal Anita Vandenbeld, while Nigerian-Canadian John Akpata, representing the Marijuana Party, failed for the fifth time to win a seat at Ottawa Centre, won by Liberal Catherine McKenna.
Actually, he’s not Haitian: he’s Montreal-born and his family is from the British West Indies (Jamaica and Montserrat), not Haiti.
But good on him for his victory!
Lincoln Alexander was the first black man to serve as a member of parliament. He was a conservative member voted in I. 1968.
Greg Fergus was the first Black member of Parliament elected in the national capital. Lincoln Alexander was the first elected Black member of Parliament in the entire country.