3 Blacknificent and Inspirational Canadian Women to Know

Every February we celebrate Black History Month, a month to honour and remember Black civil rights leaders, artists, politicians, athletes, and more who have made significant contributions to Canada’s history. A month to unify Canadians by educating ourselves about our past, continuing to break down misconceptions and stereotypes, and by celebrating Black history that is being made today!

The 2023 theme for Black History Month is: Blacknificent A theme aiming to capture their extravagantly bathed success and history contributions made to Canada. This years Black History Month we are showcasing 3 Canadian Black women, whose accomplishments surpass and continue to transcend history.

Hon. Dr. Jean Augustine

Minister of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women

We wouldn’t be able to start a list of powerful Black Canadian women without the Honorable Dr. Jean Augustine, who is the reason we recognize February as Black History Month in Canada! Dr. Augustine immigrated to Canada in 1960. In 1971, her capacities and work ethics were recognized by political leaders and she was appointed Canada's Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women, making her the first Black woman in Cabinet. In 1993, she went on to become the first Black woman elected to Canada’s House of Commons, where she successfully advocated to acknowledge February as Black History Month in 1993! While she’s retired from her political career, her impact continues to be felt through the multiple scholarship funds she supports for single mothers pursing post-secondary education.

Dr. Jean remains involved with community activities including co-chairing the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women recognition and database, and the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment. She also funds three annual scholarships – at George Brown for single mothers; at Centennial College for young entrepreneurs; and at Humber College for students in the community studies program.

Dr. Jean Augustine is the proud mother of two daughters, and grandmother to two grandsons.

Claudette McGowan

CEO, Protexxa

Claudette McGowan is a global information technology leader with more than 20 years of success leading digital transformations, optimizing infrastructure and designing new approaches that improve service and cybersecurity experiences. She has worked in the technology industry for several organizations such as Deloitte, Metropolitan Police Services, North York General Hospital, Bank of Montreal and TD Bank. At BMO, Claudette served as the Chief Information Officer, Enterprise Technology Employee Experience, and at TD she was the Global Executive Officer for Protect Fusion & Cyber Experience.

Claudette is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Protexxa, a Canadian-based cybersecurity software and services company. Not only is she a force within the technology space but she has contributed philanthropically. Her commitment to community is evidenced by her multiple board/council appointments for leading organizations such as SickKids Hospital Foundation, CILAR, Elevate Technology Festival, Women in the Economy Task Force, and the U.S. Consul General of Toronto U.S. & Canada Innovation Council.

Claudette is an active member of the Canadian innovation ecosystem. She is the Founder of the Black Arts & Innovation Expo, and the Chair of the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR), a group of senior business leaders committed to fighting systemic racism within the innovation economy. McGowan recently co-led the launch of Phoenix Fire & The Firehood, a multi-million dollar women-focused angel fund and network for women in technology.

She has received many accolades, such as WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award and has interviewed Michelle Obama. And she writes children’s books in her spare time. In June 2022, Claudette was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Carleton University in recognition of her distinguished career as a global information technology leader.

Amanda Parris

Host and Producer for CBC

Amanda Parris is a Canadian broadcaster and writer. An arts reporter and producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, she hosts the CBC Television series Exhibitionists, The Filmmakers and From the Vaults, and the CBC Music radio series Marvin's Room.

On top of the many hats she wears, she’s also a play-and screenwriter at night. Amanda co-created the multi-award winning alternative education organization ‘Lost Lyrics’. She also created The Ride or Die Project, a multi-platform initiative that traversed the fields of theatre, fashion and blogging to produce creative content inspired by the stories of women who live by a ride-or-die philosophy. Amanda studied acting with The Lee Strasberg Institute of Film and Theatre as well as Theatre Ontario and York University.

Her additional projects include being the founder of the critically acclaimed multi-arts collective T-Dot Renaissance. In 2011, I brought together over 22 artists across a variety of mediums to produce the multi-arts installation Diasporic Journeys.  Also in 2011, I was invited to be the Artistic Director of Wombmanifesto, the first ever celebration of women and trans people in Hip Hop culture at the Manifesto Festival. As a theatre actor, her credits include the 2015 workshop of I Cannot Lie to the Stars that Made Me, the 2014 and 2012 productions of Aneeemah’s Spot and the 2011 production of The Whores. She has also spoken at U.N. conferences in Durban, South Africa and Naples, Italy.

Impressed yet? There’s more: Her most recent play, Other Side of the Game, received the 2019 Governor General’s Award for drama.

In 2022, Amanda received the inaugural Changemaker Award from the Canadian Screen Awards for her efforts to call out systemic racism and discrimination in the Canadian media community. She has been named a Rising Screen Star by Now Magazine, one of Grenada’s Top 40 individuals under the age of 40, one of Toronto’s Most Inspiring Women by Post-City, and received the Rising Star Award from AfroGlobal Television.

Over the years Amanda has become a much sought after moderator and interviewer, known for her compelling long-form conversations with some of the most innovative cultural leaders of our time including Spike Lee, Roxane Gay, Wesley Morris, Esi Edugyan, Mahershala Ali, Lena Waithe Philip Akin, and Samantha Bee.

Three Blacknificent women driving change, achieving their successes in Canada. This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means – there are countless Black Canadian women and non-binary people continuing to achieve great things, challenge outdated societal and cultural norms and undoubtedly make our country a better place. We celebrate them today, this month and year round!