Thank you very much, colleagues.
Lincoln Alexander served our country in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. After the war, and in spite of all social barriers that discouraged black Canadians from doing the same things as white Canadians, Linc graduated from McMaster University and then went to law school at Osgoode Hall. He was named Queen's Counsel in 1965, and later became Canada's first black MP, cabinet minister, and lieutenant-governor, among other things.
Linc was the son of a maid and a railway porter. While he respected their jobs, he didn't want to be limited to those jobs, and he didn't want anyone else to be limited to those jobs because of their skin colour either. He listened to the advice of his mother and he worked hard to get an education, and then to represent his community in Parliament. Linc was elected to the House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative in the 1968 election in Hamilton West. Before Hamilton West was redistributed into three other ridings, including the riding I represent, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, Hamilton West was also the seat held by Ellen Fairclough, who was appointed by Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker as the first woman cabinet minister. As Diefenbaker's immigration minister, Ellen Fairclough reformed our immigration system and dismantled the “white Canada” policy, which is exactly what it sounds like. Diefenbaker was also one of the people who worked hard to convince Linc that he should run for Parliament in Hamilton West. We have a very inclusive community and I'm proud that we are able to be part of Lincoln Alexander's story in Hamilton.
Senator Meredith, again, thank you very much.
I wanted to begin with a question. After Linc retired from politics, he served as the chair of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and also as the chancellor at the University of Guelph from 1991 to 2007. He was the longest-serving chancellor in that school's history. It was an appropriate job because Linc understood the value of education, which was why he titled his biography, Go to School, You're a Little Black Boy, repeating the words his mother had said to him when he was a child.
When his party formed government in 1979, Lincoln became Canada's first black cabinet minister. What impact has that had on Canada since then, to this date?