Tuesday 14 February
Senators Don Meredith, Mobina Jaffer, and Marie-Françoise Mégie joined forces to host a Black History Month celebration at the Parliament of Canada, Sir John MacDonald Building. It was an occasion attended by over one hundred guests drawn from Ottawa’s rich diverse population. Highlight of the evening was the unveiling of the 2017 Black History Month stamp featuring, Mathieu Da Costa, a relatively unknown but remarkable trail-blazing Black man who lived 400 years ago. Da Costa was a free man who worked as an interpreter for Europeans who were trading with Indigenous people in the New World in the early 17th century. Historians agree that he was the first person of African descent in Canada whose name has survived in the historical record.
Photo credit: Yasmina Proveyer