Trailblazer into Government

Zanana Akande: The First Black Woman Cabinet Minister

Zanana Akande was elected to the Ontario legislature in September 1990 and became the first Black woman cabinet minister in Canada.

In the interview, Sue talks to Zanana about her path to power, her accomplishments and her disappointments in office. It covers Zanana’s fascinating youth growing up in Toronto, her initiative to start the first journal by women of colour called Tiger Lily and her work to achieve the groundbreaking employment equity legislation in Ontario.

with Zanana Akande
interviewed by Sue Colley

Thank you…

This project has been made possible in part by Library and Archives Canada’s Documentary Heritage Communities Program.