Hamilton's first Black City Councillor Matthew Green is now a Member of Parliament
October 30, 2019
As one of the few racialized pupils at Barton Secondary School, Grade Four student Matthew Green was excited to be selected to attend a National Child Day event at the Hamilton Convention Centre.
Seeing the stately dignity and imposing presence of a Black man who stood out among the dignitaries made his day.
The late Lincoln Alexander was Canada’s first Black Member of Parliament and federal minister and Ontario’s first Black Lieutenant Governor.
“I remember asking my mother (Susan Scharf-Green) who this man was and she said he was the Lieutenant Governor of the province,” said Green. “I didn’t know what that meant, but when she said he’s a politician, I said that’s what I want to do because I had never seen a Black man carry that kind of power. That was the moment when I knew it was possible for me to be a politician.”
In the October 21 federal elections, he held the Hamilton Centre seat for the New Democratic Party (NDP) securing 46.26 of the votes.
Kristin Roe, the Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton Manager of Equity, Inclusion & Community Development, said Green’s tenacious work in the community will serve his constituents well at the federal level.
“This is a vote for reconciliation, equitable representation, affordable housing and a commitment to fighting climate change,” she noted. “How very lucky are we that Hamilton’s federal representative will be part of a critical conversation of values our country desperately need.”
Evelyn Myrie and Green have worked on several community initiatives over the years and it was under the auspices of his office at City Hall that the Evelyn Myrie Political Action Award was created.
It’s presented annually at the John Holland Awards ceremony that Myrie co-founded in 1996.
“Matthew is a principled person who works hard and demonstrates great compassion for people,” she said. “He’s a big believer in bringing young people to the table and he’s dedicated to addressing social injustice for all. He walks the talk.”
Matthew Green and Evelyn Myrie have worked on several community initiatives in Hamilton (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Green is the second Black Canadian to represent Hamilton in the House of Commons after Alexander who was the Hamilton West representative for 22 years before resigning in 1980.
He attributed the victory to his desire to build deep relationships in his community.
“As New Democrats, we don’t have deep pockets like the Liberals and Conservatives,” said Green who was Hamilton’s first Black City Councillor. “We rely on people power politics. Once I returned to this area after being away for four years in university, I wanted to make sure I made a meaningful contribution to my community. That began in earnest 15 years ago.”
The former John Holland Awards Gala Co-chair said Acadia University, where he graduated with a Political Science degree in 2003 and was captain of the football team as a free safety, prepared him well to take his place with the other 337 Members of Parliament.
“Very few people have the privilege to use a Political Science degree in Politics,” said Green whose paternal grandfather and father (retired high school teacher Raymond Green who resides in Brantford) relocated from Owen Sound. “University prepared me for critical thinking, critical analysis, community organizing and activism. People coming from marginalized communities face profound injustice daily. You have a choice on how you want to react to that. Some of us go along to get along and others just turn the cheek. A lot of us are in survival mode. I am the type of person when I see a problem, I want to address it immediately. For so many people in the Black community, activism is a method of survival.”
As a Member of Provincial Parliament and Ontario’s NDP deputy leader, Jagmeet Singh took on ‘carding’ before becoming Canada’s NDP leader in October 2017.
That stance prompted Green – who was stopped and questioned by police in 2016 while he was on his phone in broad daylight -- to become a party member two years ago. The officer accused of conducting the improper street check was last year found not guilty.
“Jagmeet had the courage when I was a City Councillor to speak out against racial profiling and street checks,” he said. “I not only supported him, but I became a party member. The intersections of race and class are so critically important. When we are talking about issues around poverty, housing, minimum wage, health care and good jobs, we are not just talking about class issues, but race and gender issues. We have watched decades of liberalism unfold in our community that have resulted in disproportionate policing in Black communities versus the actual servicing of Black communities. We have watched austerity and tax breaks for the ultra-rich and elite come on the backs of social programs and services that many of us still overwhelmingly rely on and seek, be it child care or recreational facilities. I believe the NDP is the only working-class party in the country that addresses the critical needs of our community in caring and compassionate ways.”
Matthew Green is the second Black Canadian to represent Hamilton in the House of Commons (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
With dramatic decreases in employment income for young people between the ages of 20 and 24 after the 1980s and 1990s recession in Hamilton and Ontario, there was a time when Green thought he would never return to his birthplace after leaving the province for university.
“The University of British Columbia and Acadia were my choices and the only reason I went to Acadia was because Sonny Wolfe (the football coach) recruited my mother,” he pointed out. “I graduated early from high school and spent a semester in Costa Rica working in the hotel sector. While I was away, he was constantly on the phone with mom. I am so grateful that he did because I learnt work ethic and how to strategize while playing football and getting a world-class education.”
After a year at McMaster University pursuing Economics studies, Green spent six years as the National Lacrosse League Rochester Knighthawks Strength & Conditioning coach before making history as Hamilton’s first Black City Councillor in October 2014.
As the Ward Three Councillor, most of his time was spent fielding calls from constituents facing housing challenges.
“It soon became apparent that I was treating the symptoms of a system that’s rigged and working only for the ultra-wealthy and the corporate class and that workers, working-class people and racialized people were, by and large, being purposefully left out of the economy and key decision-making institutions,” said Green who served with Mount Olive Lodge and as a board member of the Hamilton Community Foundation, Empowerment Squared, Ottawa St. Business Improvement Association and the Downtown Rotary Club. “When I ran for City Council, I wanted to make a difference at the street level. But what I found out was that I could take 100 calls a day dealing with people who are about to be evicted, racist practices and policing and then I would wake up the next day and go and do the same thing.”
While at City Hall, he passed the Blue Dot Motion, making Hamilton the first city in the province to adopt an environmental bill of rights, fought for improved consumer protections for residents by taking on the payday loan industry’s predatory lending practices and made Hamilton the first Ontario City to license payday loan outlets.
Green made the decision to run federally when self-educated high school dropout and former Cabinet Minister David Christopherson announced on July 5 that he was retiring from federal politics after 15 years.
“I could either stay in the localized dynamic of City Council or enter into a national discourse about the profound inequality,” he said. “I chose to do the latter. My predecessor has been a mentor and very supportive. In fact, he was gracious enough to let me know before he made the announcement that he wasn’t running.”
Instead of seeking re-election last October, Green gambled on himself and took an Interim Executive Director position with the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion.
“I could have stayed on as a City Councillor and if things didn’t work out in the federal elections, I could have returned,” he said. “I didn’t think that was ethical and I stepped down knowing I was taking a chance while creating an opportunity for another person to run.”
Hamilton Centre is in great hands with Matthew Green as their federal representative (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Four days after his election win, Green was at A.M Cunningham Junior Public School, trying to inspire young people.
“I have spent all my time in leadership engaging with really young people and encouraging them to be part of the political process,” said the married father of a three-and-a-half-year son. “I am not going to stop now.”
Green, who has an Executive Education & Governance for Non-Profits certificate from Harvard University, is the only new MP of Black and Caribbean heritage. He joins Liberals Ahmed Hussen, Hedy Fry, Emmanuel Dubourg and Greg Fergus who were re-elected.
The Liberals will form a minority government with 157 seats. The Conservatives picked up 121, the Bloc Quebecois 32, the NDP 24, the Green Party three and the Independents one.
