For many Canadians, Lincoln Alexander was the first person of African ancestry that they saw in public office. A dignified lawyer and former Royal Canadian Air Force corporal, he became Canada’s first Black MP when he was elected in 1968 as a Progressive Conservative in Hamilton West. He won four more elections and became minister of labour in the short-lived Joe Clark minority government. This earned him the distinction of becoming the first Black Canadian in a federal cabinet.
Alexander stepped aside from federal politics in 1980 to become chair of the Workers’ Compensation Board of Ontario. From 1985 to 1991, he served as Ontario’s lieutenant-governor, becoming the first Black person to ever hold this position in Canada. It was a remarkable rise for the son of Jamaican immigrants. His mother worked as a maid and his father was a railway porter.
In 2014, Parliament passed the Lincoln Alexander Day Act, which is celebrated on his birthday (January 21) across Canada. Today marks the 103rd anniversary of his birth in Toronto.
The Lincoln Alexander Law School at Toronto Metropolitan University created this tribute to its namesake.
Six years after his term as lieutenant-governor ended, Alexander became the first chair of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. The federal government created the foundation to work toward the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, a cause dear to Alexander’s heart.
In his 2006 memoir, Alexander noted that he encountered enormous prejudice as a student at a time when Black people comprised “a sliver-thin portion of the city’s population”.
“My determination was fueled by my recognition from an early age that education was the path to limitless possibilities,” Alexander stated.
Alexander died on October 19, 2012.
Watch this Global News tribute shortly after Lincoln Alexander’s death.
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