A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE BY A CANADIAN

BLACK WOMAN IN CANADIAN POLITICS

Wednesday, February 21, 2024 

10:00 a.m. on ZOOM* 

* This is part of the History Interest Group's program. To join this group contact the convenor. If you are not a member of CFUW but would like to join us, email cfuwkanata.president@gmail.com  to request a link to our ZOOM meeting. We always welcome new members. 

Senator Bernadette Clement 

Senator Clement was appointed to the Canadian Senate in June 2021. She is currently a member of the Standing Senate Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Transport and Communications, and Official Languages. She previously served on the Senate Committee on Rules, Procedures, and the Rights of Parliament. 

Senator Clement is proud of her complex intersectional identity: her francophone mother grew up in Manitoba and her centenarian anglophone father grew up in Trinidad. As a bilingual Canadian, Senator Clement is a proud advocate for this country’s linguistic plurality – French, English, and Indigenous language rights and revitalization.

Senator Clement has been practicing poverty law for over thirty years at the Roy McMurtry Legal Aid Clinic in Cornwall, Ontario, on the traditional territory of the Mohawk people of Akwesasne.  She continues to practice law, focusing on representing injured workers.

Senator Clement was the first woman to be elected as Mayor of Cornwall, Ontario, and the first Black woman to serve as a mayor in Ontario. Prior to this, she served three terms as a city councillor.  

Enthusiastically involved in her community, she has been a member of numerous organizations and continues to be a strong voice for inclusion and diversity. In her role as a Senator, she represents Ontario with a special place in her heart for Eastern Ontario and Franco-Ontarians.

Senator Bernadette Clement (sencanada.ca)

A Personal Perspective by a Canadian Black Woman in Canadian Politics

Senator Clement is a member of Independent Senators Group. 

She will share her personal story, the obstacles she has encountered, and the goals she has for the future in Canadian Politics.