Datasets

Until now, records on racial diversity in politics have been scattered and incomplete. Black Canadian achievements in many fields, including politics, are often marginalized, missing, or erased from the “official” historical record. Media coverage frequently ignores Black Canadian candidates, and electoral records provide no information on candidate race. These constraints make the completion of a complete list of Black Canadians in politics difficult. Without such a list, however, it is impossible to chart progress, highlight success stories, and identify barriers to election.

A central goal of this project was to create a comprehensive list of Black Canadians in politics. We focused most intensely on the past two decades but have also worked to identify trailblazers and “famous firsts.” We excavated electoral results, news stories, social media, and biographical records to identify more than 400 Black Canadians who have run for and served in elected office in Canada. This archive is an important start but also incomplete. If you know of a Black Canadian who should be added to our database, please get in touch.