Article 2 / 8 , Vol. 47 No. 2 (Summer)

Reaching a Critical Mass: A Roundtable with Black Parliamentarians

In our democracy, a parliamentarian has a duty to represent the interests of all people in a particular constituency or district. But parliamentarians who belong to communities that extend beyond their electoral district often find they assume a secondary responsibility to bring attention to community interests and/or share some common experiences with other parliamentarians who are part of these communities. In this roundtable, Canadian Parliamentary Review Intern Kaitlin Gallant spoke with three Black parliamentarians to discuss their experiences campaigning, as members of legislatures and political parties, and about the value of Blacks caucuses and multiparty organizations such as the Canadian Congress of Black Parliamentarians. *Responses from two separate telephone conversations were compiled into a transcript which was then reviewed and revised by all participants.

Participants: Patrice Barnes, MPP, Tony Ince, MLA, David Shepherd, MLA Moderated by Kaitlin Gallant

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Selflessly Stepping Aside: One MPP’s Kindness for Another’s “Double Crown”

Ontario’s first two women Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) faced a dilemma. Who would be sworn in first? The woman whose last name gave her priority? Or the woman who, if sworn in first, would be known as the first woman parliamentarian elected federally and provincially in Ontario? This is the story of one woman’s selflessness and two women’s pathbreaking achievement.

Kaitlin Gallant