Lanier Phillips,was an American with an amazing story tied to Canada. In 1942, Phillips was a U.S. Navy seaman whose life was changed forever by the kindness he experienced from the people of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland.

John Ware looms large in the small field of Black history in Alberta. He was a big man, a cowboy who played an important role in the early days of the ranching industry. Born into slavery in the southern United States, John Ware came to Alberta after the US Civil War and the emancipation of slaves. He died in 1905. Today he’s remembered as a larger than life figure, and

Liverpool, England was one of the major ports in The Slavery Triangle. Today it is home to the International Slavery Museum. Admission is free, to the permanent and temporary exhibits, but in Britain they celebrate Black History Month in October.

There’s Oscar Peterson Boulevard and Oscar Peterson Public School in Mississauga, Ontario; Oscar Peterson Square in downtown Toronto; and, in his hometown of Montreal there’s the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. And, that’s not to mention the 16 honourary degrees between Canada and the United States. The man who wrote the Canadiana Suite received the nation’s highest honour when he was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 1984.

Black History Month, like The Blues, evolved out of the black experience in the United States. And they both shared the global spotlight on February 21st, when President Barack Obama, once again got into the groove, this time with some of the icons The Blues. It happened during the final song of a concert at the Whitehouse honouring the genre. It was one of a series, organized by First Lady

The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean served as Canada’s 27th Governor General until 2010. A woman who has on more than one occasion been ‘the first’, she was then designated the UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti. This summer she will also serve as the Grand Témoin de la Francophonie at the Olympic Games in London. It is her responsibility to enforce compliance with the Olympic Charter, which ensures the official language