Edward Island 1986 – 25 January 1993 First Arab Canadian in Cabinet Pierre de Bané, 1968–1984, Liberal MP Matane, Que. (Palestinian) Larry Shaben, 1979–1984 first Muslim in a cabinet in Canada as Minister in the Alberta cabinet under Peter Lougheed and first Arab in Alberta's cabinet First Arab Canadian leaders of political parties Fonse Faour, Newfoundland New Democratic Party leader, 1980–1981 Joe Ghiz, Prince Edward Island Liberal Party, 1981–1993 Hassan Husseini, Communist Party of Ontario, 1998–2001 Lorraine Michael, Newfoundland New Democratic Party leader 2006–2015 First Arab Canadian Senator: Mac Harb, Liberal Senator 2003-2013 Armenian Canadians First Armenian Canadian elected to the House of Commons (first Armenian Canadian MP): Sarkis Assadourian Liberal MP (Syrian Armenian), Don Valley North, 1993–1997 and Brampton Centre, 1997–2004 Black Canadians Earliest Black Canadians elected in Canada: Wilson Ruffin Abbott, Elected to Toronto city council in 1840. Abraham D. Shadd, Councillor of Raleigh Township (from 1858) Abner Hunt Francis, Elected as councillor of Victoria in 1865, however, he resigned after being sworn in since he was not listed on the 1863 Assessment Role. Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, Councillor of Victoria (1867–1869) John Waters, Town Councilor, Town of Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake), 1874-1876, 1877-1880 James W. Douglas, Victoria City, British Columbia MLA, 1875–1878 (his paternal grandmother was part Black. As well, his mother was Cree.) Burr Plato, town council member, Town of Niagara Falls (from 1886); William Hubbard, City of Toronto city council member (from 1894) and a member of the Board of Control. To this day, by virtue of his being on the citywide elected Board of Control, the only visible minority ever elected citywide across Toronto. First Black candidate to run for the House of Commons: Bill White, Spadina, CCF (the forerunner to the New Democratic Party) 1949 First Black Canadian elected to the House of Commons: Rt. Hon Lincoln Alexander, Hamilton West, Progressive Conservative MP 1968–1984 First Black leader of a federal political party: Vivian Barbot, Interim leader of the Bloc Québécois, 2011 First Black leader of a provincial political party: Stuart Parker, Leader of the Green Party of British Columbia, 1993–2000 First Black candidate to run for the Ontario Legislature: Stanley G. Grizzle, York East, ran for the Ontario CCF (the forerunner to the Ontario New Democratic Party) in the 1959 provincial general election. First Black Canadian elected to a Provincial Legislature in Canada: James W. Douglas, Victoria City, British Columbia MLA, 1875–1878 First Black woman elected