Dawn Black (born April 1, 1943) is a politician in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. Born ''Dawn Whitty'', Black became involved in politics from a young age, she became an assistant to New Democratic Party

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Pauline Jewett.

Member of Parliament

She was elected as the MP for

New Westminster—Burnaby New Westminster—Burnaby is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997 and since 2015. History The 1988–1997 edition of this riding was created in 198 ...

in the 1988 federal election, succeeding the retiring Jewett. As an MP, one of her most notable achievements was proposing a

private members bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

that made December 6, the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, a permanent day of remembrance and action against violence against women. She also led the opposition to the Tories' anti-abortion measure and proposed an anti-

stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

measure, which was later adopted by Parliament.

Elections

In the 1993 election, she lost her seat to Reform Party candidate

Paul Forseth Paul Eugene Forseth (born December 10, 1946) is a Canadian politician, who was a Member of Parliament for British Columbia from 1993 to 2006. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament for New Westminster—Burnaby in the 1993 federal el ...

. She lost to him again in the 1997 election, but defeated Forseth in the 2006 election. Black was the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

's defence critic.

Afghan issues

On April 5, 2006, during the first

question period Question Period (french: période des questions), known officially as Oral Questions (french: questions orales) occurs each sitting day in the House of Commons of Canada, in which members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (i ...

of the 39th Parliament Black asked

Gordon O'Connor Gordon James O'Connor, (born May 18, 1939) is a retired Brigadier-General, businessman, lobbyist, and was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2015. He served as Minister of National Defence (2006-2007) and then Minister of Nat ...

, then Minister of National Defence, to renegotiate the prisoner transfer agreement with the Afghan government. O'Connor refused saying "Mr. Speaker, we have no intention of redrafting the agreement. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent are charged with ensuring that prisoners are not abused. There is nothing in the agreement that prevents Canada from determining the fate of prisoners so there is no need to make any change in the agreement." Black was prominent on the issue, which eventually saw the resignation of Gordon O'Connor and the negotiation of a new transfer agreement.

Move to provincial politics

In March 2009 she announced she would step down as MP in order to run for the BC NDP in the upcoming BC provincial election, aiming to succeed ailing NDP MLA

Chuck Puchmayr Charles Puchmayr (born 1953 or 1954) is a Canadian politician, who was an MLA for New Westminster in British Columbia from 2005 to 2009. He is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party. Prior to his election to the legislature in t ...

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

. She stated she would remain in federal office long enough to draft a private member's bill restricting the use of civilian armoured vehicles, a significant issue in a city dealing with gang violence. Following her departure from federal politics, she was handily elected to the BC Legislature. Black is currently a board member at the

Broadbent Institute Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank founded by Ed Broadbent. History Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank. It was founded by Ed Broadbent, the leader of the ...

, a social Democratic

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

Interim Leader of the BC NDP

Black was unanimously nominated by the provincial caucus to be the interim leader of the BC NDP on January 19, 2011. The Provincial Council ratified the decision one day later. NDP President Moe Sihota said "With Dawn’s record of service as an elected official and her deep roots within the party, she’s the right choice to lead the party and the caucus before the new leader takes on". Black said after the nomination: "I've done a lot of tough things in my life - I've travelled to Afghanistan...The challenge is to prove to British Columbians that we're working together. Everybody made a commitment today to expose the broken promises of the Liberal government."

References

External links

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Dawn Black
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Dawn 1943 births Living people British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Canadian Anglicans Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Female Canadian political party leaders Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia New Democratic Party MPs People from New Westminster Politicians from Vancouver Women MLAs in British Columbia 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians