BEHIND THE news of the sudden passing of Mrs. Rosemary Brown, the first black woman elected to the Canadian legislature, lies an inspiring story of a daughter of the Jamaican soil who made outstanding contribution to another country and, in the process, brought honour to the land of her birth.
When Mrs. Brown, at the age of 72, died of a heart attack in Vancouver, British Columbia, a week ago Saturday, she left a void in Canadian and Jamaican society alike. In a remarkable career as a social worker and legislator, she spanned the disparate cultures of her native and adopted lands and did so with consummate ease and grace.
The story of her success in Canada is the stuff of which immigrant dreams are made. Like many of our people, it was the quest for higher education which took her to Canadian shores. After studies at McGill and the University of British Columbia led to degrees in social work, she wanted more and so, with courage and determination, she entered a field hitherto regarded as closed for people of colour and certainty for those of immigrant stock. On the ticket of the New Democratic Party, she ran and was elected to the British Columbia Legislature in 1972 and proceeded to serve as parliamentarian until 1986 when she left to become Professor of Women's Studies at another Canadian education institution, Simon Frazer University.
It is symbolic that Mrs. Brown chose the then relatively new field of women's studies upon which to expend her energy because the lot of immigrant women as newcomers to the society was not easy, not even for persons like herself who came from a background of having some privilege. Her achievements as a legislator included a drive to eliminate sexism in textbooks, a matter which might be regarded as esoteric but which went to the heart of the treatment accorded minorities and women alike. She is credited also with introducing legislation against discrimination on the basis of marital status or gender. Her acumen and keen spirit enriched other areas of Canadian life, including a five-year term on the Canadian Security Intelligence Review Committee and Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Committee. She was also a founding member of the Vancouver Status of Women Council.
In recognition of her distinguished service, she was given the National Coalition of Canada award among others and fuller afield, a Human Rights Fellowship from the United Nations. The Government of Jamaica in 2002, paid fitting tribute to her with the conferral of the Order of Distinction, Commander Class, in recognition of the honour which she brought to herself and the nation which gave her birth. The life and worth of a Rosemarie Brown is a fitting inspiration, a cause for celebration and a point for reflection on how well Jamaicans have served not only their homeland but the wider world.
In contemporary times, when news of our extended family abroad is marred so often by reports of aberrant behaviour, especially by those of recent migrant vintage, it is good to recall the stewardship of a Rosemary Brown who brought true meaning to the ancestral saying: "We lickle, but we tallawah."
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
