- Source: Rosemary Brown (Canadian politician)
Rosemary Brown (née Wedderburn; June 17, 1930 – April 26, 2003) was a Canadian politician. She was the first black woman elected to the provincial government of British Columbia.
Early years
Rosemary Brown was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1930. She came to Canada in the year 1951 to attend university. She proceeded to earn a Master of Social Work at the University of British Columbia. As a student at McGill, and later the University of British Columbia, she faced pervasive discrimination. It was through adversity that she found her purpose as a leader against racism and sexism. She helped to found the British Columbia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (BCAACP) in 1956 to help advocate for housing, employment and human rights legislation.
Political history
Brown served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the British Columbia legislature as a part of the New Democratic Party from 1972 to 1986, making her the first Black Canadian woman to be elected to a Canadian provincial legislature.
During that time, she advocated for Canadian minorities and changed the legislature to uphold equality. She worked on improving "services for the elderly, the disadvantaged, immigrants and people with disabilities" as well as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race or sex.
In 1975, she became the first black woman to run for the leadership of a Canadian federal party (and only the second woman, after Mary Walker-Sawka), finishing a strong second (with 40.1% of the votes on the fourth and final ballot) to Ed Broadbent in that year's New Democratic Party leadership election.
After departing politics, she became a professor of women's studies at Simon Fraser University. In 1993, she was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and served until 1996. In 1995, she was awarded the Order of British Columbia and in 1996 was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Brown was sworn to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada as a member of the Federal Security Intelligence Review Committee, responsible for overseeing the actions of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, a role which she held from 1993 to 1998. She also served on the Order of Canada Advisory Committee from 1999 until her death in 2003.
Honours and awards
National Black Coalition Award, 1972
United Nations Human Rights Fellowship, 1973
YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, 1989
Order of British Columbia, 1995
Order of Canada, 1996
Government of Jamaica Commander of the Order of Distinction, 2001
Canadian Labour Congress Award for Outstanding Service to Humanity, 2002
15 honorary doctorate degrees from Canadian Universities including UBC, 1995.
Death
She died of a heart attack aged 72, in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2003.
Legacy
Canada Post featured Brown on a Canadian postage stamp released on February 2, 2009.
On June 17, 2005, a park in Brown's former provincial riding of Vancouver-Burrard was dedicated to and named for her.
In 2017, Vancouver city council voted to name a lane in Vancouver's West End "Rosemary Brown Lane."
In 2021 a new public school in the Durham District School board in Ontario was named Rosemary Brown Public School.
A recreation centre in Burnaby, British Columbia was named in honour of Brown & was completed in April 2024. It is located on the corner of 10th Avenue and 18th Street. The 8,500 sq.m (92,000 sq.ft) recreation centre accommodates ice sports as well as lacrosse, ball hockey, inline hockey, community events and city-run activities. It also displays a public art piece, "Gliding Edge", by local BC artist Jinn Anholt.
Bibliography
Brown, Rosemary. Being Brown: A Very Public Life. Toronto: Random House, 1989.