Dr. Jean Augustine Speaks with Chancellor Nick Saul About Her Legacy
Dr. Jean Augustine spoke with Chancellor Nick Saul during a Charter Day event on Oct. 9. (Photos by Will Dang)
By Joe Howell
“I came to Canada with one small suitcase, two suits and maybe about $10,” Dr. Jean Augustine said at the Charter Day Chancellor’s Council Luncheon on Oct. 9. “I ended up in the highest decision-making body in the country, that place built by men to do ‘men’s work.’”
Dr. Augustine was recounting her journey from Grenada, where she was born in 1937, to becoming the first Black Canadian woman elected as a Member of Parliament and appointed as a federal cabinet minister.
“I learned very early that one had to roll one’s sleeves up and participate, be part of the community and give back,” she said.
Nick Saul, chancellor of Victoria University, was on stage with Dr. Augustine in Alumni Hall. “You rolled your sleeves up big time,” he said. “You’ve been a trailblazer in so many ways.”
After immigrating to Canada, Dr. Augustine earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from the University of Toronto. She worked as an elementary school teacher and principal, honing her leadership skills while serving on the boards of the Hospital for Sick Children, the Stephen Lewis Foundation and more, before entering politics.
Among her many accomplishments in government is having the month of February officially recognized as Black History Month.
Vic U is raising funds to create the Dr. Jean Augustine Professorship in Transformative Education in the Education & Society program and the Vic One Education stream, in recognition of Dr. Augustine’s lifelong commitment to equality, social justice and inclusive education.
“This professorship honours me, and I feel humbled by it,” said Dr. Augustine. “The fact that it will stay in perpetuity when so many things are fragile and passing, and that it’s here in this place of learning and teaching, makes me very happy.”
Dr. Augustine and Saul’s conversation at the Chancellor’s Council Luncheon was part of Vic U’s annual Charter Day celebration, which marks the day the university was founded by royal charter from King William IV in 1836.
Zinzi de Silva Vic 0T8 attended the luncheon, and remarked how much it meant to hear from Dr. Augustine, who was a major inspiration to her own entry into public service. De Silva, a former VUSAC president who now works in the Ministry of the Solicitor General’s public safety division, said Dr. Augustine demonstrated that “a Black woman can represent Canada at the highest level.”
De Silva spoke of her grandmother Mairuth Sarsfield, who left the Jim Crow South and eventually became a public servant in Ottawa, working for the UN and being named a member of the Order of Quebec.
“Without people like Jean and my grandmother I wouldn’t have become the first Black woman elected as VUSAC president,” said de Silva, who is also a member of the fundraising committee for the professorship. “They gave me the confidence to feel like we have a seat at the table.”
To support the creation of the Dr. Jean Augustine Professorship in Transformative Education at Victoria College, please visit here.