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. 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 for 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.

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.

In March 2009 she announced she would step down as MP in order to run for the BC NDP in the upcoming BC provincial election, aiming to succeed ailing NDP MLA Chuck Puchmayr in New Westminster.^[1] She stated she would remain in federal office long enough to draft a private member's bill restricting the use of civilian armoured vehicles, a significant issue in a city dealing with gang violence.^[2] Following her departure from federal politics, she was handily elected to the BC Legislature.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Parliament of Canada biography
• Dawn Black