National Post (National Edition)
ON THIS DAY
February 1, 1996 – Canada officially celebrated Black History Month for the first time. The idea came to Canada from railroad porters who picked it up in the United States. By 1979, the Ontario Black History Society had petitioned the City of Toronto to mark February as Black History Month. The House of Commons followed in 1995, passing a motion introduced by Jean Augustine, the first Black woman elected to the House of Commons.