Dawn Black (born April 1, 1943) is a politician in
British Columbia,
Canada.
Born
Dawn Whitty, Black became involved in politics from a young age, she became an assistant to
New Democratic Party Member of Parliament Pauline Jewett.
Member of Parliament
She was elected as the MP for
New Westminster—Burnaby in the
1988 federal election, succeeding the retiring Jewett. As an MP, one of her most notable achievements was proposing a
private members bill that made December 6, the anniversary of the
Montreal Massacre, a permanent day of remembrance and action against violence against women. She also led the opposition to the Tories' anti-abortion measure and proposed an anti-
stalking measure, which was later adopted by Parliament.
Elections
In the
1993 election, she lost her seat to
Reform Party candidate
Paul Forseth. She lost to him again in the
1997 election, but defeated Forseth in the
2006 election. Black was the NDP's defence critic.
Afghani issues
On April 5, 2006, during the first
question period of the 39th Parliament Black asked
Gordon O'Connor, then
Minister of National Defence, to renegotiate the prisoner transfer agreement with the Afghan government. O'Connor refused saying "Mr. Speaker, we have no intention of redrafting the agreement. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent are charged with ensuring that prisoners are not abused. There is nothing in the agreement that prevents Canada from determining the fate of prisoners so there is no need to make any change...
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