another trini in the world

Dominic Kalipersad (October 28, 2021)
​Trini-Canadian Marci Ien has been appointed a cabinet minister in the Justin Trudeau government. And she is the only Black woman in the cabinet.
Ien is now Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth. She is expected to play a key role on advising Trudeau on anti-Black racism.
The Toronto Centre MP is the daughter of well-known educator Joel Ien and accountant Vilna Ien who migrated to Canada in the 1960s and settled on Ontario Street in Toronto South. He father attended university there, then worked as a teacher, principal, and superintendent in Toronto schools.
Ien, who was born on July 29, 1969, in Toronto, told The Caribbean Camera last year, “Sixty years ago, this was the place that they landed in. I was born right here. Canadian yes, but, I had a Trini upbringing. What is happening in the Caribbean has not been lost on me.
“Relations between Canada and the Caribbean are different since my parents came here. So, I want to look at the issues (immigration, visas, trade and aid) and bring them with me to Ottawa.”
Ien is an award-winning journalist who was elected in a by-election in 2020. In a career spanning 30 years, she won several awards including for a news serial on the underground railroad. She spent 15 years on Canada AM as the first Black woman to co-host a morning show in the country.
Before becoming an MP she worked as a mentor with underprivileged youth in Toronto and La Loche in northern Saskatchewan and travelled internationally with Journalists for Human Rights and World Vision.
She is a graduate of Ryerson University and returned to the university as a distinguished visiting professor.