Former Prime Minister of Canada John Diefenbaker once said, "Canada is rather a garden into which have been transplanted the hardiest and brightest flowers from many lands, each retaining in its new environment the best of the qualities for which it was loved and prized in its native land." This quote represents the fundamental structure of Canadian identity and the great importance of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.

Without the contributions of black Canadians, Canada would cease to be the great country and cultural mosaic that it is today. Not only did black Canadians work hard to make Canada a welcoming place for everyone, but they worked against the prejudice and disbelief of many.

One African American woman who is a testament to this is Rosemary Brown. I first heard of Rosemary Brown when watching the documentary "Being Brown: A Very Public Life." In 1950, Rosemary Brown migrated to Canada from her native country, Jamaica, in order to attend McGill University in Montreal. When Rosemary Brown migrated to Canada, she experienced culture shock. In Kingston, she had led a sheltered and privileged life because discrimination towards blacks was non-existent, as they were the predominant culture in Jamaica. However, when she came to Canada for school, she was upset at the treatment of the Afro-Canadian minority. At one point, she was forced to room alone because white students had refused to be her roommate.

Her experiences of this ill-treatment had a lasting impact on her, and she was motivated to make a change and eliminate these barriers among specific groups in Canada. After graduation, Brown was determined to fight till the end for the equality and rights for women, members of visible minorities and the disadvantaged.

She married and moved to British Columbia, where she took a job as a social worker and as a counsellor at Simon Fraser University. Soon after, she made the decision to run for elected office. This was a risky and major task for Brown due to the contemporary attitudes towards women and African Canadians at the time. From 1972-1986, she served in British Columbia's legislative assembly as the New Democratic Party representative. She also decided to be the first women to run for the leadership of the NDP federal political party. Despite losing the election, she played an integral role in the actions of the party, from starting a committee that would eliminate sexism in school textbooks and the curriculum to introducing legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex or marital status. By introducing new legislation and committees, she directly contributed to the increase in the number of women represented on boards, commissions and directorates.

Brown's contributions did not stop after her retirement from politics in 1986, and she continued to champion equality for all until her death in 2003. She was a professor of Women's Studies at Simon Fraser University in 1987, and the executive director of MATCH International Centre from 1989 to 1993. Also, in 1989, she became the chief executive officer of MATCH International in Ottawa, a non-governmental development agency that helps fund projects run by feminist groups in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America to empower women. She also served as chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission from 1993 to 1996, and was a member of various boards, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Review Committee (1993-1998). By the end of her career, she had a total of 15 honorary doctorates from Canadian universities, the Order of British Columbia (1995) and the Order of Canada (Officer, 1996).

The actions of Brown have inspired me to make change in the world. After watching the documentary and learning about Brown's achievements, I was inspired in 2011 to join my fellow classmates in attending an Integrity Conference at Bill Crothers H.S. to deepen my understanding of equality among different groups and, specifically, different students. Currently, I am a representative of student council at my high school, representing the ideas of my classmates and speaking out for the wishes of individuals who are not often heard, similar to Brown's political career. Brown has further motivated me to work hard despite the lack of belief from others and to make the impossible, possible. She left a lasting impact on not only minorities and women, but individuals who live every day facing prejudice and ill-treatment to hope for a better future.