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Lincoln Alexander, Canadian Trailblazer, Dies at 90

Lincoln Alexander, the son of a hotel maid and railway porter who became Canada’s first black member of Parliament and first black cabinet minister, died on Friday in Hamilton, Ontario. He was 90.

David C. Onley, the lieutenant governor of Ontario, announced the death.

Mr. Alexander was also Canada’s first black lieutenant governor, but when he was elected to the House of Commons in 1968, he said he had tired of being called “the first Negro” anything. He sought to speak for all victims of injustice, he said. Blacks make up 2.5 percent of Canada’s population...

Read entire article at NYT