Black Canadian

The term Black Canadian refers to Canadian citizens who are of African descent. Black Canadians for the most part have recent origins in the Caribbean region, and to a lesser extent Africa and even Latin America. Some Black Canadians, like those in Nova Scotia, trace their ancestry to freed black American slaves who fled to Canada seeking refuge from American slavery and institutional racism.

Notable Black Canadians, past and present

Actors and directors

• Clark Johnson, actor (')
• Kandyse McClure, actress (Battlestar Galactica)
• Tyrone Parsons, actor (Trailer Park Boys)
• Gloria Reuben, actress (ER)
• Alison Sealy-Smith, actress (This is Wonderland)
• Clement Virgo, director
• Stephen Williams, director
• Tonya Lee Williams, longtime actress on The Young and the Restless
• Maurice Dean Wint, actor

Athletes

• Donovan Bailey, first Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal in the 100m sprint (1996 Atlanta)
• Emery Barnes (see under Politicians)
• Herb Carnegie star of Quebec professional hockey league
• Anson Carter, NHL star
• Michael "Pinball" Clemons, Toronto Argonauts head coach, former star player and former president
• George Dixon, first black world boxing champion in any weight class
• Robert Esmie, Olympic gold medalist 4x100 relay (Atlanta 1996)
• Perdita Felicien, Olympic athlete
• Rick Fox, NBA player
• Glenroy Gilbert, Olympic gold medalist 4x100 relay (Atlanta 1996)
• Daniel Igali, Olympic gold medalist in wrestling (Sydney, 2000)
• Jarome Iginla, National Hockey League All-Star and Olympic Gold Medalist (Salt Lake, 2002)
• Harry Jerome, runner and first Canadian to hold an official world track and field record
• Ferguson Jenkins, Major League Baseball star and first Canadian elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Ben Johnson, Olympic sprinter disqualified in 1988 drug scandal
• Kirk Johnson, boxer
• Rocky Johnson, professional wrestler (also father of actor/wrestler The Rock)
• Jamaal Magloire, NBA player
• Willie O'Ree, first black hockey player in the National Hockey League
• Bruny Surin, Olympic gold medalist 4x100 relay (1996 Atlanta)
• Kevin Weekes, NHL goalie

Musicians

• Toya Alexis, R&B/pop singer and Canadian Idol season 1 finalist
• Lillian Allen, dub poet
• Gary Beals, pop singer and Canadian Idol season 1 first runner-up
• Jully Black, R&B/pop singer
• Kheaven Brereton, known professionally as k-os, hip-hop musician
• Divine Brown, R&B/soul singer and musical theatre performer
• Bruce B rapper, founder of RAW Records
• Choclair, rapper
• Jarvis Church, singer (The Philosopher Kings and solo) and music producer (Nelly Furtado)
• Deborah Cox, pop/R&B singer, holds the record for the longest-running #1 single ("Nobody's Supposed to be Here") in the history of Billboard magazine's R&B charts
• Robert Nathaniel Dett, composer
• Devon, hip-hop musician ("Mr. Metro")
• Alpha Yaya Diallo, musician
• Dream Warriors, rap duo
• Ghetto Concept, group from Rexdale, Ontario
• Orin Isaacs, bandleader (Open Mike with Mike Bullard, The Mike Bullard Show), musician and music producer
• Jacksoul, singer
• Molly Johnson, rock and jazz vocalist
• Danko Jones, rock singer and guitarist
• Kardinal Offishall, rapper
• Murray Lightburn, rock singer/songwriter (The Dears)
• Moka Only, rapper of the Swollen Members
• Maestro, hip-hop musician, first Canadian rapper to have a Top 40 hit
• Oscar Peterson, jazz pianist
• Prevail, rapper of the Swollen Members
• Rascalz, rap group
• Shakura S'Aida, jazz and blues singer
• Bobby Taylor and his band, The Vancouvers, a popular Motown act who were instrumental in getting The Jackson 5 signed to the label and produced the earliest Jackson 5 records.
• Thrust, rapper
• Jackie Washington, blues musician
• Portia White, singer
• d'bi young, dub poet

Politicians, public servants and soldiers

• Wayne Adams, Nova Scotia's first black MLA, Liberal
• Yvonne Atwell, Nova Scotia's first black woman MLA, NDP
• Jean Augustine, Member of Parliament and former cabinet minister
• Zanana Akande, former Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament and cabinet minister
• Lincoln Alexander, first black Member of Parliament in Canada and former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
• George Bancroft, educator, civil servant and Ontario Human Rights Commissioner
• Emery Barnes, first black Speaker of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly and CFL defensive end
• Rosemary Brown, British Columbia legislator, and the first black woman to run for the leadership of a political party in Canada (the federal New Democratic Party)
• Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament and cabinet minister
• Anne Cools, Canada's first black senator
• Alvin Curling, Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament and Speaker of the Legislature of Ontario
• Rob Davis, former York and Toronto city councillor
• Gordon Earle, former NDP Member of Parliament for Halifax West
• Jay Hope, senior officer in the Ontario Provincial Police
• William P. Hubbard, former Toronto alderman, controller and acting mayor
• Ovid Jackson, former Member of Parliament and former mayor of Owen Sound
• Marlene Jennings, first black woman from Quebec to be elected to Parliament
• Maka Kotto, black author and actor from Quebec elected to Canadian Parliament in 2004 (Bloc Quebecois, independentist party)
• Daurene Lewis, first black woman mayor in North America
• Howard McCurdy, Member of Parliament and the first black male to run for the leadership of a political party (the federal New Democratic Party)
• Burr Plato, town councillor for Niagara Falls (1886-1901)
• Calvin Ruck, senator
• Bev Salmon, former North York city councillor
• Michael Thompson, current Toronto city councillor
• Carol Wall, social activist and labour leader
• Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, first appointed black judge in the history of Quebec
• William A. White, only black officer of the No. 2 Construction Battalion

Writers, journalists and broadcasters

• Trey Anthony, playwright (Da Kink in my Hair)
• Arnold Auguste, Share newspaper publisher
• George Boyd, playwright
• Dionne Brand, author
• Austin Clarke, novelist (The Polished Hoe, Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack)
• George Elliott Clarke, poet and playwright (Whylah Falls, George and Rue)
• Afua Cooper, poet and historian
• Rita Deverell, broadcaster and journalist, founder of Vision TV
• Rosey Edeh, ET Canada reporter and former MSNBC meteorologist
• Natasha Eloi, science reporter
• Cecil Foster, novelist and academic
• Hamlin Grange, newspaper editor (Contrast), television reporter and news anchor and consultant
• Nalo Hopkinson, science fiction author
• Marci Ien, Canada AM and CTV Newsnet anchor
• Royson James, Toronto Star columnist
• Namugenyi Kiwanuka, Rogers Sportsnet basketball commentator and former MuchMusic VJ
• Darren Osborne, radio personality
• Mairuth Sarsfield, novelist (No Crystal Stair)
• Djanet Sears, playwright (Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God)
• Mary Ann Shadd, first female newspaper publisher
• Sylvia Sweeney, television broadcaster (W5)
• Ken Wiwa, journalist and author, and son of executed Nigerian political prisoner Ken Saro-Wiwa

Other historical figures

• Anderson Ruffin Abbott, became, in 1861, the first Black Canadian physician.
• Marie-Joseph Angélique, executed for setting fire to Montreal
• Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, African-American boxer controversially convicted of murder, now a Canadian activist and speaker
• William Hall, first Canadian and first black person to be awarded the Victoria Cross
• Josiah Henson, former slave, believed to be the inspiration for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
• Denham Jolly, entrepreneur and founder of Milestone Radio and Flow 93.5 Toronto
• Olivier Le Jeune, believed to have been the first slave purchased in what later became Quebec
• Lesra Martin, crown attorney and speaker, involved in his youth in freeing Rubin Carter
• Elijah McCoy, origin of "the real McCoy", inventor
• John Ware, former slave, Alberta cowboy