I rise today to say it’s an honour to represent the people of Ajax.

February is Black History Month. It’s a recollection of our collective past and present achievements and a celebration of Black excellence.

Earlier this month, I was honoured to be a part of the 16th annual Durham Black History Month event, the largest put on by Cultural Expressions Art Gallery. Esther Forde and her team did an amazing job. Every year, this event presents the Madiba Award, named in honour of Nelson Mandela. This year’s Madiba Award was presented to Adam Brown.

Adam was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disorder that affects peripheral vision, depth perception—and profound night blindness. Adam has led an amazing life despite his vision challenges. He took to TikTok with a lighthearted, self-revealing appeal to the public to join with him to reach out to their local MP to encourage the government to fully fund the treatment which would help thousands of men, woman and children with RP not to go blind over their lifetime. Almost three years later, with over 450,000 likes and 15,000 letters sent to the Ontario government, the gene therapy Luxturna was fully approved.

I would like to personally thank Adam for his advocacy and leadership in trying to make life better for thousands of Ontarians.

There’s no better moment than now to celebrate and remember the numerous ways in which Black people have continued to shape Ontario culture, economics and society.