A Nigerian lady, Uzoma Asagwara has done what no black race could do in Canada for the past 150 years. Asagwara broke the jinxed as emerged the first black to be elected to Manitoba Legislature in Canada.
Uzoma Asagwara is a Canadian politician elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 2019 Manitoba general election. They represent the electoral district of Union Station as a member of the Manitoba New Democratic Party.
No black person had ever been elected to the Manitoba Legislature in the 150-year history of the province, until Nigerian psychiatric nurse, Uzoma Asagwara broke the jinx on Tuesday in Canada.
She won the Union Station seat for the NDP. The first-generation Canadian whose parents are Nigerians. She is a longtime community activist in Winnipeg’s core.
Prior to their election, Asagwara worked as a psychiatric nurse specializing in adult and youth mental health and addictions.
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They have a history as a grassroots community activist, educator, entrepreneur and mental health advocate. Until her election, she served as a member of the Women’s Health Clinic board of directors.
Asagwara was also a member of the Canadian national women’s basketball and acts as a mentor for youth athletes in downtown Winnipeg.
In 2014, Asagwara founded Queer People of Colour Winnipeg, a Winnipeg-based initiative that creates safer spaces for and increases the visibility and representation of queer and transgender people of colour.
Asagwara, alongside Jamie Moses and Audrey Gordon are the first three Black Canadian MLAs elected in Manitoba.They are also the first queer black person to win a seat.