February is Black History Month, a time to reflect on Canadian History!
by Waheed Khan
Black History Month is a time to honour, celebrate, and reflect on the deep and lasting impact of Black Canadians on Canada’s history, culture, and progress.
The presence of Black people in Canada stretches back centuries — from Black Loyalists who helped establish early communities, to freedom seekers who arrived through the Underground Railroad in pursuit of dignity, safety, and freedom. These historical events remind us that Black Canadians have long been central to building Canada, often hidden from the limelight.
Many Black Canadian trailblazers played a critical role in breaking barriers in Canadian public life. Anne Cools was born and raised in Barbados and immigrated to Canada with her parents at the age of 13. She went to Concordia University (known as Sir George Williams University at the time). Discrimination against Black students was illegal, but not uncommon. In 1968, six Black students filed a claim of discrimination against Professor Perry Anderson, alleging that he deliberately failed Black students. When the University rejected the claim in January 1969, Black students organized a civil disobedience campaign. Ms. Cools participated in the protest and was one of 97 students arrested. She refused to plead guilty to be set free, preferring to serve two months in jail. She received a pardon from the National Parole Board of Canada in 1981. In 1984, she became the first Black person and the first Black woman to be appointed to the Senate of Canada.
Senator Donald Oliver, appointed in 1990, became the first Black male senator, serving for 23 years and contributing significantly to public service, economic development, and advocacy for equity and inclusion within Canada’s parliamentary system. In 2012, he announced on the floor of the Senate the founding of the Community of Federal Visible Minorities – CFVM. “The CFVM seeks to help create a barrier-free, inclusive, and representative federal public service where visible minorities can individually and collectively realize their professional aspirations, based on the principles of merit and in full respect of their rights,” he said.
It is also an opportunity to honour notable acts of courage by ordinary working-class people who stood up to mighty organizations for their rights. Gloria Clarke-Baylis, a nurse and civil rights pioneer who had immigrated from Barbados, challenged racial discrimination by a prospective employer under Quebec’s Respecting Discrimination in Employment Act, which came into effect in September 1964. After fighting the employer for about a year, Ms. Baylis won the case on October 4, 1965. However, her fight continued for eleven years against the employer, who appealed the decision, arguing that the legislation was unconstitutional. Her final victory came on January 19, 1977 when the Québec Court of Appeal upheld the original decision. Ms. Baylis laid the groundwork for human rights protections in Canada and strengthened the broader struggle against systemic racism.
History is still being made, and the struggle for true equality continues. In December 2020, Nicholas Marcus Thompson, a social justice advocate and a union activist, filed Black Class Action lawsuit against the federal government for systemic workplace discrimination against Black Canadians. The lawsuit claimed a “widespread practice of Black employee exclusion,” with particular focus on the federal government’s decentralized staffing model implemented in 2005, which enabled subjective decision-making (aka “best-fit”) that disadvantaged Black employees, and sought $2.5 billion in reparations.
The Government fought the lawsuit, and the Federal Court of Canada dismissed its certification in March 2025, ruling that the lawsuit did not meet procedural requirements. However, the Government has taken some positive steps. It accepted the demand of Black employees to be treated as a distinct group for tracking representation at all levels in the Federal Public Service and allocated $50 million to support an Action Plan for Black Public Servants.
Black History Month also calls us to situate Black experiences within a wider anti-racism and human rights framework. Anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Indigenous racism, and other forms of hate are interconnected and undermine the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Combating one form of racism requires confronting all forms of discrimination, exclusion, and dehumanization.
Let us carry these commitments forward — in February and throughout the year.
Waheed Khan is the President of the Community of Federal Visible Minorities, a Member of the Advisory Council of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, and a Member of the Executive Council of Canada Pakistan Association.