The Strength of Her Story: Mothers Who Shaped Canada

Jean Augustine, a mother of two, was the first Black woman elected to Canada’s Parliament in 1993. Two years after her election, she introduced and passed the motion that officially recognized February as Black History Month across Canada. 

She went on to serve as Minister of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women, where she worked to increase women’s participation in politics and strengthen anti-racism policies in education and public service. Her leadership moved representation and inclusion from the margins into federal decision-making, opening doors for the Black women and racialized politicians who came after her.

Augustine has said that raising children while building a political career showed her how public policy often ignores women’s realities. This insight informed every policy she championed, from affordable housing to immigrant rights to women’s equality.

Beverley Jacobs, a mother and grandmother and a Kanien’kehá:ka woman from the Mohawk Nation, was the President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada from 2004 to 2009. During her tenure, she founded the Sisters in Spirit initiative, which documented over 580 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Her work exposed how systems failed Indigenous women. She traveled the country meeting with families, documenting their stories, and building an evidence base that could not be ignored. When she was told no, told to wait, told the evidence wasn’t sufficient, she kept fighting.

Her advocacy led to the 2016 launch of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Jacobs has spoken openly about the trauma this work carried, saying that her strength comes from her daughter and granddaughter. Today, as a law professor at the University of Windsor, her research and legal advocacy continue to shape Canada’s response to Indigenous women’s rights and safety.

Rosemary Brown, a mother of three, was the first Black woman elected to a provincial legislature in Canada. She won her seat in British Columbia in 1972, representing the New Democratic Party (NDP). She spent her political career fighting for gender and racial equality, pushing for employment equity and anti-discrimination legislation that laid the foundation for today’s policies.

In 1975, Brown ran for leadership of the federal NDP. She was also the first Black woman to run for leadership of a major Canadian political party. Though she didn’t win, her candidacy showed a generation of women what was possible. Brown balanced activism with family life. She often spoke about the double standards women of color faced in leadership. Her work inspired a generation of women to enter politics and demand space at decision-making tables.

Elsie Knott, a mother of six, and an Ojibwe woman from the Anishinaabe Nation, was the first woman elected as a First Nations Chief in Canada in 1954. She led the Curve Lake First Nation for 14 years. Her election broke gender barriers in Indigenous governance at a time when both Canadian law and some traditional structures excluded women from leadership.

Her leadership focused on practical improvements to community life. She worked on education, roads, and housing; changes that directly affected families’ daily lives. She saw leadership as an extension of caregiving. She believed every family should have what they needed to thrive. Her election opened doors for Indigenous women in politics across the country.

Michaëlle Jean, mother to her adopted daughter Marie-Éden, served as Canada’s 27th Governor General and was the first Black person to hold the position from 2005 to 2010. She arrived in Canada as a refugee from Haiti, speaking no English and decades later became the Crown’s representative in Canada’s highest office.

She used the role to champion marginalized communities in ways that made some traditionalists uncomfortable. She visited homeless shelters. She spoke openly about surviving domestic violence, breaking the silence that protects abusers. She traveled repeatedly to the Arctic to highlight Inuit community issues. She welcomed new citizens with warmth that made it clear: you belong here.

After her term, she served as UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti and Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. She has spoken about how motherhood deepened her commitment to building a more just world for all children.

Adrienne Clarkson, a mother to three daughters and a Chinese-Canadian woman born in Hong Kong, arrived in Canada in 1942 as a three-year-old refugee fleeing the Japanese invasion. Her family had lost everything and were classified as “enemy aliens” in Canada where Chinese immigration was banned. 57 years later, she became Canada’s 26th Governor General, the first racialized woman to hold the post.

She was one of CBC’s first racialized broadcasters in the 1960s, hosting programs that brought arts and culture to Canadian living rooms when television was overwhelmingly white. As Governor General from 1999 to 2005, she focused relentlessly on citizenship, not the legal status but what it means to belong. 

She navigated broadcasting and politics in an era when working mothers, especially racialized women, faced intense judgment in spaces not designed for them.

Olivia Chow, stepmother to Jack Layton’s children and a Chinese-Canadian woman born in Hong Kong, was elected Mayor of Toronto in 2023. She is the first person of Asian descent to lead Canada’s largest city. Her victory was the culmination of over 30 years of public service. She was a community organizer, advocating for immigrant rights and affordable housing and served as Toronto City Councillor from 1991 to 2005 and as Member of Parliament from 2006 to 2014.

She has spoken about how caregiving shaped her understanding of leadership. Leadership isn’t individual heroism, she believes. It’s showing up for people, building systems that support care, understanding that everyone needs help sometimes. As mayor, she focuses on affordability, transit, and inequality, showing that leadership builds over time and you don’t have to abandon your values to hold power.

Zanana Akande, a mother of three, was the first Black woman elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1990. Within a year, she was appointed Ontario Cabinet Minister of Community and Social Services and became the first Black cabinet minister in Canadian history. 

As Minister, she oversaw programs that directly affected Ontario’s most vulnerable residents including social assistance, disability supports and children’s services and understood that they were lifelines not just programs . Every time she walked into Cabinet, she showed Black Ontarians, especially Black women and girls, that they belonged at the highest levels of power. She spoke openly about balancing family and political life, refusing to pretend it was easy. Her four years in Cabinet opened a door that has stayed open for the Black women who followed.

Rachna Singh, a mother of two and an Indian-Canadian woman became British Columbia’s first South Asian woman to serve as Minister of Education and Child Care in 2022.

Before joining politics, she worked as a drug and alcohol counsellor and a support worker for women facing domestic violence. She was also a community activist and National Representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, advocating for workers’ rights and anti-racism initiatives. In 2020, she was appointed BC’s Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racism Initiatives.

Singh has spoken openly about how motherhood informs her understanding of leadership, stating that raising socially-conscious children while fighting for justice are achievements that often go underrecognized. She refuses to separate her identities as mother and activist, instead living what she calls “a layered life” where these roles strengthen rather than compete with each other.

Anita Anand, a mother of four and an Indian-Canadian woman who was born in Nova Scotia to Indian immigrant parents, became Canada’s first racialized woman to serve as Foreign Minister in May 2025 and is the third woman overall to hold this position. She also served as Minister of National Defence from 2021, becoming only the second woman ever to hold that position.

She was a law professor at the University of Toronto, where she held the J.R. Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance, before joining federal politics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as Minister of Public Services and Procurement, leading Canada’s procurement of vaccines and personal protective equipment and playing a critical role in the nation’s pandemic response. As Defence Minister, she prioritized tackling sexual misconduct and building cultural change in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Anand has raised four children while building her career in law and politics, navigating the highest levels of government in ways that show how motherhood and leadership can strengthen each other.

Rabia Khedr, a mother of four, and a Pakistani-Egyptian-Canadian advocate who immigrated to Canada at age four, is the National Director of Disability Without Poverty, CEO of DEEN Support Services and she also co-founded the Canadian Association of Muslims with Disabilities.

Khedr has served on the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Accessibility Standards Advisory Council of Ontario, and the federal Disability Advisory Group and through these roles, she has influenced national conversations on accessibility and inclusion, helping design programs that account for the needs of families, children, and people with disabilities.

She draws on her lived experience as a caregiver for siblings with intellectual disabilities, along with her own experience with blindness, to guide her commitment to building inclusive policies and programs. Her work has been recognized with honors including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Daniel G. Hill Human Rights Award.

Yonah Martin, a mother of one, is a Korean-Canadian woman who immigrated to Canada from Seoul at age seven. In 2009, she became Canada’s first Korean-Canadian Senator and the first Korean-Canadian parliamentarian in the country’s history.

As a Senator, her private member’s bill to designate July 27 as Korean War Veterans Day received Royal Assent and became law in 2013, honoring the sacrifices of Korean War veterans. She has served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and has been a strong advocate for veterans’ rights, multiculturalism, and strengthening Canada-Korea relations.

When her daughter Kiana was four years old and began asking questions about her mixed-race identity, Martin co-founded the C3 Korean Canadian Society in 2003 to create spaces where children could connect to both cultures. Her daughter’s questions about identity sparked her journey from educator to community activist to Senator, showing that sometimes advocacy begins with answering a child’s question about where they belong.

Vivienne Poy, a mother of three sons, is a Chinese-Canadian woman born in Hong Kong who came to Canada as a student in 1959. In 1998, she became Canada’s first Senator of Asian descent, and in 2002, she successfully tabled the motion to designate May as Asian Heritage Month in Canada.

As a Senator, Poy championed multiculturalism, women’s rights, Asian Canadian history, and immigration reform. She founded the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop to promote Asian Canadian literature and voices, ensuring cultural contributions were recognized nationally. In 2001, she was appointed to the Order of Canada for her work advancing Canadian culture and heritage. 

In 2008, she donated a kidney to her son Justin, an act that has been referred to as a tangible gesture of motherly love. Her decades of advocacy alongside her dedication to family show how motherhood and public leadership can coexist, shaping the perspectives she brought to Canadian policymaking.

Rechie Valdez, a mother of two, is a Filipina-Canadian woman born in Zambia who immigrated to Canada with her family in 1989. In 2021, she became the first Filipina-Canadian woman elected to Parliament, representing Mississauga-Streetsville. In May 2025, she was appointed Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism, becoming the first Filipino woman to serve in the federal Cabinet. 

As an MP, she has advocated for small businesses, women’s economic empowerment, and combating gender-based violence. As Minister of Women and Gender Equality, she has emphasized her commitment to ensuring “every woman being safe at home, at work, and in her community” through the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence. She has also encouraged parents to have conversations with children about fairness and inclusion, connecting her ministerial work to the values she wants the next generation to grow up with.

Dr. Cindy Blackstock, a self-proclaimed “single mother with no kids, except the 163,000-plus First Nations children” she fights for, is a member of the Gitxsan First Nation, a scholar, an activist, and an advocate whose decades-long fight for justice has transformed Canada’s social landscape. She is a caregiver to a generation.

As Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, Dr. Blackstock led the landmark human rights case that exposed and proved the federal government’s discriminatory underfunding of child welfare services for First Nations children. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled in her favour, marking one of the most significant victories for Indigenous children in Canadian history.

Her life’s work is guided by love as both an ethic and an action. She teaches that reconciliation must start with justice and that every child deserves equity, safety, and dignity. Through her roles as educator, researcher, and relentless advocate, she has shaped public policy, inspired new generations of changemakers, and reminded Canada that care itself is revolutionary.

Dr. Blackstock often says, “Love does not mean just saying sorry – it means doing better.” Her unwavering commitment continues to challenge us all to do exactly that.