Jean Augustine, politician behind Black History Month, featured in documentary premiering in Montreal

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    “It’s an immigrant story,” said Hon. Dr. Jean Augustine, the first Canadian Black woman elected member of parliament in 1993, on ‘Steadfast’, a film recounting her life in Happy Hill, Grenada to Canada’s Parliament Hill. Diona Macalinga reports.

    The ground-breaking Canadian politician who did so much to celebrate the country’s Black community is having her own achievements thrust into the spotlight this week.

    Jean Augustine, the driving force behind Canada’s observance of Black History Month, is being featured in a documentary premiering in Montreal Saturday.

    “Steadfast: the Messenger and the Message” follows the now 86-year-old’s path from the Caribbean island nation of Grenada to becoming Canada’s first Black woman elected to the House of Commons in 1993.

    “The message is really what Canada is about,” Augustine told CityNews.

    “We are a multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic, multi-religious society.

    “And if you can see that message reflected through the example of someone like myself who can come, start at the bottom, work my way in the society, and get myself to the position where I can give that message and be an example of that message.”

    In 1995 she led a federal motion to designate the month of February as Black History Month in Canada.

    “If we all tell our stories, if we all respect each other as a result of knowing each other’s stories, then I think we’re building the kind of Canada that we want,” she said.

    Augustine, who immigrated to Canada in 1960, was also the first Black woman to serve in the federal Cabinet.

    In her 12-year political career, she championed for women’s rights and the rights of Black Canadians. She is widely recognized for her efforts towards equality, multiculturalism and social justice.

    “I had this in my belly, that social justice gut that said this is wrong and we have to do something about it,” said Augustine.

    WATCH: Trailer for documentary “Steadfast”

    The documentary “Steadfast” features interviews from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the former prime minister of Grenada, the first Black Miss World, a Grammy-nominated singer and several Canadian MPs. The film was directed by Fahim Hamid Ali.

    “Jean has always been not only an inspiration to me, but someone who’s been valuable,” Trudeau says in the trailer for the doc.

    In the film there are re-enactments, with young Augustine portrayed by her niece Nawa Nicole Simon.

    “I tease her all the time because in the film, she would say ‘Yes, sir. Yes, ma’am’ and I said, I was never like that. I was never that humble,” said Augustine.

    Saturday’s premiere at Cinema du Musée – part of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts – will begin with a red-carpet gala and the national anthems of Canada and Grenada.

    Augustine will be in attendance and take part in a Q&A session after the screening.

    There will be a matinee showing of the film on Sunday.

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