Surnames A to D |
- Anderson Abbott - the first Black person born in Canada to receive their diploma in medicine.
- Wilson Ruffin Abbott – father of Anderson Abbott, successful businessman in Toronto and elected to Toronto city council
- Zanana Akande – first black woman to be appointed to Ontario’s Cabinet
- Lincoln Alexander - the first Black Canadian member of Parliament, Cabinet minister and lieutenant-governor; Lincoln Alexander Day – January 21st
- Bromley Armstrong – activist and Canada’s first anti-discrimination laws
- Jean Augustine – educator and first black woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons
- Donovan Bailey – two-time Olympic champion and founder of Bailey Foundation
- Carrie Best – civil rights activist and co-founder of The Clarion
- Elladj Blade - Black figure skater
- Bonga Family - best-known Black fur-trading family due to the number of surviving documents about them
- Leonard Braithwaite – lawyer and politician, the first Black Canadian elected to a provincial legislature
- Hugh Burnett – civil rights activist and creator of the National Unity Association
- Ethelbert (Curley) Christian - First World War veteran, quadruple amputee, helped create the Canadian Forces assistance program for disabled veterans
- Devon Clunis – Inspector General of Police for Ontario, Canada’s first Black police chief
- Anne Cools – advocate against domestic violence, first Black member and longest serving member of the Senate of Canada
- Vanessa Craft – award winning journalist & novelist; first Black Editor-in-Chief of ELLE magazine
- Andre De Grasse – Olympic medalist, sprinter
- Ernest Melville Duporte – Canadian entomologist and professor at McGill University Eldridge Eatman - one of the greatest sprinters (raced against a horse and a train) in New Brunswick’s history
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Surnames E to J |
- Eldridge Eatman - one of the greatest sprinters (raced against a horse and a train) in New Brunswick’s history
- Rose Fortune – successful businesswoman (luggage carrier and ‘wake-up calls’) and considered Canada’s first policewoman
- Mayann Francis – first woman to hold the provincial ombudsman position in Nova Scotia and fought to advance diversity and equality in Canada
- Mifflin Gibbs - politician (first Black person elected to public office in BC), judge, diplomat, banker, entrepreneur
- Hartley Gosline - RCMPs first official Black Mountie
- Kayla Grey – sports broadcast journalist
- Stanley Grizzle – railway porter, soldier, civil servant, citizen judge and activist for the rights of Black Canadians
- William Hall - the first Black, the first Nova Scotian, and the first Canadian naval recipient of the Victoria Cross
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Josiah Henson - born enslaved, escaped to Dresden, ON and founder of Dawn Settlement
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Barbara Howard - athlete, first Black female athlete to represent Canada in international competition, and educator, first Black person hired by the Vancouver School Board
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Jarome Iginla – NHL player, first Black male athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympic games and first Black to win the Art Ross trophy, Maurice Richard trophy and Ted Lindsay award
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Albert Jackson - born enslaved, escaped and was the first Black mail carrier in Toronto
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Angela James – led the Canadian women’s hockey team to four world championships in the 90s, second Black athlete to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
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Feguson Arthur Jenkins - arguably the best Canadian-born baseball player and the first Canadian elected to the Baseball Hall of Harry Jerome Jr.
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James Robinson Johnston – Nova Scotia’s first black lawyer
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Lenny & Gwen Johnston - co-owners of a bookstore (1968 - 2000) with books by Black people about Black people
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Surnames K to P |
- Boston King - former slave who settled in Nova Scotia and then later helped to bring Black Loyalists to Freetown in Sierra Leone
- Violet King - first Black Canadian to obtain a law degree in Alberta, the first Black person admitted to the Alberta Bar and the first Black woman to become a lawyer in Canada
- Andrea Elaine Lawrence (halfway through article) - first Black female to enlist in RCMP
- Michael Lee-Chin - billionaire business and philanthropist
- Olivier Le Jeune - first recorded slave to be born in New France
- Ray Lewis - sprinter, first Canadian-born Black athlete to earn an Olympic medal
- Kay Livingstone - founded the Canadian Negro Women’s Association in 1951 and organized the first National Congress of Black Women in 1973
- Elijah McCoy - engineer and inventor, with over 50 registered patents,
- James Mink – started first public transit system (coach service) in Toronto and Kingston with his brother, George becoming the wealthiest Black people in Canada in 1850s
- Dwayne Morgan - Spoken word, poet and author
- Donald Willard Moore - community leader and civil rights activist, worked with immigration laws
- Kardinal Offishall - Canadian rapper, singer and song writer
- Sarah Onyango – translator and community radio (CBC and CTV) personality
- Willie O’Ree - first black hockey player to play in the NHL, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, his number has been retired by the Boston Bruins (second video)
- Oscar Peterson – pianist, composer and educator
- Richard Pierpoint - former slave, petitioned for an all-black unit and fought with the Coloured Corp in the Battle of Queenston
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Surnames Q to T |
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Surnames U to Z |
- John Ware - is a legend in Alberta, known as one of the best cowboys in the West
- Portia White - first Black Canadian concert singer to win international acclaim
- Andrew Wiggins – NBA player, second Canadian to be taken number one overall in draft
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