Rosemary Brown (politician)
| The Honourable Rosemary Brown PC OC OBC | |
|---|---|
 | |
| MLA for Vancouver-Burrard | |
|
In office 1972–1979 Serving with Norman Levi | |
| Preceded by | Harold James Merilees, Bert Price |
| Succeeded by | riding dissolved |
| MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds | |
|
In office 1979–1986 | |
| Preceded by | Raymond Loewen |
| Succeeded by | David Mercier |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Rosemary Wedderburn June 17, 1930 Kingston, Jamaica |
| Died |
April 26, 2003 (aged 72) Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Political party | New Democratic |
Rosemary Brown, PC OC OBC (née Wedderburn; June 17, 1930 – April 26, 2003), was a Canadian politician.
Early years
Rosemary Brown was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1930, and moved to Canada on 10 August 1950 to study at McGill University in Montreal. She served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the British Columbia legislature from 1972 to 1986, making her the first Black Canadian woman to be elected to a Canadian provincial legislature.
Political history
In 1975, she became the first black woman to run for the leadership of a Canadian federal party (and only the second woman, after Mary Walker-Sawka), finishing a strong second (with 41+% of the votes on the fourth and final ballot) to Ed Broadbent in that year's New Democratic Party leadership convention. After departing politics, she became a professor of women's studies at Simon Fraser University. In 1993, she was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and served until 1996. In 1995, she was awarded the Order of British Columbia and in 1996 was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Brown was sworn to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada as a member of the federal Security Intelligence Review Committee, responsible for overseeing the actions of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, a role which she held from 1993 to 1998. She also served on the Order of Canada Advisory Committee from 1999 until her death in 2003.
She died of a heart attack on April 26, 2003 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Canada Post featured Brown on a Canadian postage stamp released on February 2, 2009.
Bibliography
- Being Brown: A Very Public Life (1989)
References
- Documentary - For Jackson: A Time Capsule From His Two Grandmothers (Biography of Rosemary Brown)
- Rosemary Brown
- Rosemary Brown