Carney says ‘inequalities persist’ in speech marking Black History Month

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says the history of Black Canadians is one of “injustice met with resilience.”

Speaking at an event marking 30 years of Black History Month in Canada on Wednesday night, Carney said that while Canadian principles now celebrate diversity, the country hasn’t always lived up to that promise.

He acknowledged in his speech at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., that slavery existed in the colonies that would become Canada, and even when that dark period ended, segregation did not.

“It’s a story that must reckon with both the shadow and the light. The challenges of Black history are not chapters we can consign to another country’s past,” Carney said.

The prime minister went on to celebrate Black Canadian trailblazers like activist Kay Livingstone and journalist Carrie Best for breaking barriers and helping to write Canada’s story.

Carney said “inequalities persist” today with Black entrepreneurs underrepresented as business owners in Canada, and one in three Black Canadians facing food insecurity.

Carney said Ottawa is committed to empowering Black Canadians, citing spending measures in the fall federal budget supporting Black entrepreneurship and mental health and well-being programs aimed at Black Canadians.

“Thank you for including me in this mission, this mission we take together. Onwards, upward, together we climb,” Carney said to cheers, quoting Livingstone.

Carney was speaking at the federal government’s official reception marking Black History Month, which this year honours “Black brilliance across generations.”

Jean Augustine, Canada’s first Black female member of Parliament and the person who introduced legislation in the House of Commons recognizing February as Black History Month, spoke before Carney and called on the crowd to “carry forward the legacy of inclusion and justice.”

Augustine said that when she passed the motion, many saw Black History Month as merely symbolic, but she said the recognition matters.

“A country’s calendar is a statement of values,” she said.

“To mark February as Black History Month was to say that to every child sitting in a classroom, to every public servant drafting a program, to every artist and every historian and archivist that those stories are not marginal. They are part of the core.”

Augustine ended her speech saying that Black history is Canadian history, it is not only for Black people, and it should not be celebrated only in February but 365 days a year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2026.