New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. Tommy Douglas had a novel vision for the role of government, believing that it had the responsibility to improve the lives of ordinary people. Under his leadership, the political landscape of Canada was forever changed. In 1961, during his tenure as the Premier of Saskatchewan, he introduced the “universal health insurance system” that would eventually be adopted across Canada. In 2004, Tommy Douglas was recognized as “The Greatest Canadian of all time” by voters across Canada.
- Quan Nguyen
Anne Cools
First Black Female Senator in
North America
“At the end of the day, it is what you do for society and for people that counts. It is our duty to be humane and it is our duty to correct wrongs when we see wrongs and it is our duty to always offer a better way.”
As an immigrant to Canada, from Barbados, Anne Clare Cools was raised to value education and public service. As both a female and Black Canadian, she was subject to discrimination throughout her lifetime. While majoring in sociology at McGill University, Cools began what would become a long career of advocacy and political involvement, as she would actively protest against on-campus racism and American involvement in the Vietnam War. After moving to Toronto, she began work as a social worker supporting female victims of domestic violence. Winning the Liberal candidacy nomination for Rosedale (in Toronto) in 1979, after originally being passed over for a white male candidate, Cools had set out to fulfill her own advice to young Canadians: seeking a position as an elected official, despite her ethnicity. Although she narrowly lost to the Progressive Conservative candidate during the following two federal elections, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Prime Minister at the time, recognized her tenacity and recommended her to Governor-General Edward Scheyer, as a nominee for the Senate. In1984, Cools was appointed to the Senate where she continued to advocate, most notably, for familial issues. As the first Black Canadian to be appointed to the Senate of Canada and the first female Black senator in all of North America, Anne Cools has become an inspirational symbol of racial and gender diversity for our country.
- Samara Mathew