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John Horgan issued the following statement today:

“Today we begin Black History Month, a time to honour and celebrate the stories, experiences and accomplishments of Black Canadians here in British Columbia and across the country.

“Black history is foundational to our province’s history.

“We think of the contributions the jurist Mifflin Wistar Gibbs made to our province in the 1860s, as a Victoria city councillor and as a delegate to the Yale Convention—which guided us toward confederation in 1871. And we remember how, a century later, Rosemary Brown led the fight on issues of housing, employment and human rights in, and outside of, the B.C. legislature. These are just two of the many Black British Columbians who helped make our great province what it is today.

“This month, I encourage everyone in British Columbia to take part in community events for Black History Month and learn about the significant efforts made by Black British Columbians to better our province.

“It is the people of this province that make it strong. When we come together and celebrate our diversity, we are not only standing up to racism and discrimination, we are also building a better, stronger British Columbia.”

Another former B.C. MLA, Emery Barnes, was elected speaker of the B.C. legislature in 1994, becoming the first person of African ancestry to rise to this position in Canada.

And the first governor of Vancouver island and later governor of the colony of British Columbia, Sir James Douglas, was born to a Scottish father and a mother of mixed race from Barbados.