Dawn Black

Born in Vancouver to John and Virginia Whitty, she married Peter Black in 1965, with whom she has three sons.^[1] She worked as an assistant to New Democratic Party MP Pauline Jewett of New Westminster—Coquitlam,^[2] as well as BC NDP member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Maillardville-Coquitlam John Cashore.^[3][4]

With Jewett declining to run in the 1988 federal election, Black received the NDP nomination to contest the newly established riding of New Westminster—Burnaby, and was elected the riding's MP.^[2][5] In the 34th Parliament she served as the NDP's critic for the status of women from 1989 to 1993, critic for child care from 1990 to 1993, and the party's deputy caucus chair from 1990 to 1991.^[5]

As an MP, one of her most notable achievements was proposing a private member's bill in 1991 that made December 6, the anniversary of the 1989 Montreal Massacre, a permanent day of remembrance and action on violence against women.^[2][6] 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 contested the newly established riding of New Westminster—Coquitlam—Burnaby in the 1997 election, but lost to Forseth again. In the 2006 election she contested the re-established riding of New Westminster—Coquitlam, this time defeating Forseth (now representing the Conservative Party).^[7] She was named the NDP's defence critic.^[5]

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 in the agreement."^[8] Black was prominent on the issue, which eventually saw the resignation of Gordon O'Connor and the negotiation of a new transfer agreement.

In the 2008 election, she defeated Conservative candidate Yonah Martin to retain her seat,^[9] and kept her post as the NDP's defence critic.^[5] In March 2009 she announced her resignation as MP to run for the BC NDP in the upcoming BC provincial election, aiming to succeed ailing NDP MLA Chuck Puchmayr in New Westminster.^[10] 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.^[11]

Following her departure from federal politics, Black was handily elected to the BC Legislature in May 2009.^[12]

Following the resignation of party leader Carole James, Black was unanimously nominated by the provincial caucus to be the interim leader of the BC NDP on January 19, 2011;^[13] the NDP's provincial council ratified the decision one day later.^[14] Black said after the nomination: "I've done a lot of tough things in my life - I've travelled to Afghanistan...The challenge is to prove to British Columbians that we're working together. Everybody made a commitment today to expose the broken promises of the Liberal government."^[15]

Her stint as interim leader ended upon the election of Adrian Dix in April 2011;^[16] she was subsequently named assistant deputy speaker by Dix.^[17] In August 2011 she announced she would not run again in the next provincial election; she continued to serve as MLA until the end of her term in 2013.^[18]

Black is a board member at the Broadbent Institute, a social democratic think tank.^[19]

Black endorsed Alberta MP Heather McPherson in the 2026 New Democratic Party leadership election.^[20]

There is a Dawn Black fonds at Library and Archives Canada.^[31]