When Michaelle Jean, the black governor general of Canada, presided over the Winter Olympics opening ceremony Feb. 12 at British Columbia Place Stadium in Vancouver, it was a significant moment in the history of African Canadians. Jean, 52, went to Canada as a child with her family as a Haitian refugee after her father was tortured by the notorious henchmen of President Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier. She is a former TV journalist and was appointed by Queen Elizabeth in 2005. Blacks in Canada have a long history, dating to the Underground Railroad days when runaway slaves crossed the border seeking freedom.

Harry Jerome, the African Canadian Olympic track and field star, is frozen in bronze with a statue in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. (Photo by George E. Hardin)

My wife and I visited Vancouver in 2008, our second visit there in two years. We attended a Canadian Football League game at B. C. Place Stadium, which became the venue for some of the Olympic events.

Black athletes generally have not been well represented in the Winter Olympics, with its snow and ice sports. However, one who has attracted significant attention is Shani Davis, the speed skater from Chicago. He won the gold medal in the 1,000-meters at Torino, Italy in 2006, becoming the first black gold medalist at a Winter Olympics. He repeated at Vancouver by winning gold again in the 1,000 meters and silver in the 1,500 meters.

Blacks in Canada have contributed significantly to the nation. As for athletes, perhaps the best known is Harry Jerome, the African Canadian track and field star. On our trip we saw the B. C. Sports Hall of Fame, located inside the B. C. Place Stadium. Jerome is among the sports figures featured. He represented Canada in the Olympics in 1960, 1964 and 1968, winning the 100-meter bronze medal in 1964. Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Jerome died in 1982 of a brain aneurysm at age 42. An annual track classic bears his name and the Harry Jerome Sports Centre honors his memory. His sister, Valerie Jerome, also represented Canada in the 1960 Olympics, and their grandfather, John Howard, represented Canada in the 1912 Olympics.

There is a statue of Harry Jerome in Stanley Park, the 1,000-acre preserve named for Lord Stanley, Canada’s first governor general and the man for whom the Stanley Cup was named. We had a splendid lunch at The Fish House in Stanley Park, an elegant restaurant with a simple name.

Besides Vancouver, some Olympic events were held in the nearby resort town of Whistler, B. C. We took a leisurely ride from Vancouver to Whistler aboard the Mountaineer, an excursion train that coursed through soaring mountains, towering forests and flowing waterways. We did not go skiing, whitewater rafting or mountain biking but we walked a lot – good exercise at high altitudes. The closest we came to being involved in a vigorous sport was having a picture made at the Olympic press office – which was already open in 2008 – seated in a stationary bobsled.

On a historic note, Anderson R. Abbott was the first African Canadian physician. According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Abbott was in “the select group who stood vigil over the dying President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865” and he was “presented by Mary Todd Lincoln with a shawl her husband had worn to his first inauguration.” Abbott later became president of Wilberforce Educational Institute.

Other well-known African Canadians include Oscar Peterson, the jazz pianist, Elijah McCoy, inventor of an automatic steam engine lubricator, and R. Nathaniel Dett, the composer. With Dett there is a Tennessee connection. He once taught music at Lane College in Jackson.

(George E. Hardin worked as a photographer, reporter and editor, and in public relations during a long career before he retired. His column appears every other week.)