Woman of influence
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| Photo courtesy Toronto Star |
Jean Augustine was a qualified
teacher from Grenada, but had to work as a domestic and shoe clerk before
earning her certification to teach in Ontario in the sixties. While she
eventually reached the position of elementary school principal in Toronto, it wasn’t
until she entered politics that Augustine truly came into her own as a Canadian
multicultural icon.
Augustine was the first African
Canadian woman elected to the Parliament of Canada, representing the
Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding in Ontario. She also played major roles as
parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and a deputy speaker
(the first African Canadian to occupy the speaker’s chair). Another milestone
to her list of accomplishments was being the first black woman in the federal cabinet.
In her role, she spearheaded a campaign to have February recognized as Black
History Month in Canada to educate all Canadians about black heritage.
She not only strove to make a
difference for Canada’s black community, but for other ethnic groups and women
as well, in her role as secretary of state and later as minister for
multiculturalism and status of women.
Now in her seventies, Augustine
is Ontario’s fairness commissioner, a role created in 2007 to advocate for
Canadians with foreign professional credentials. Last year, she released
Clearing the Path: Recommendations for Action in Ontario’s Professional
Licensing System, outlining 17 specific recommendations to help foreign-trained
professionals get certified in their respective fields. The recommendations
stemmed from three years of research on 36 regulatory bodies, qualifications
assessment agencies and immigrant applicants themselves.
“We have seen some progress ...
but in too many cases, the system is still needlessly complex, costly and time
consuming,” Augustine said.
The commissioner’s
recommendations set out targeted, ongoing actions for regulatory bodies,
qualifications assessment agencies, the provincial and federal governments and
for applicants themselves. This January, her office released a list of new
progress made by some licensing boards in Ontario to help immigrants better
integrate.
SOURCE: Canadian Immigrants
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