Growing up in the only Black family in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Donald Oliver felt duty-bound to honour his great-grandparents, who had fled slavery in the US. His childhood, surrounded by music, family, and respected, hard-working role models, was idyllic. His family’s fundamental family creed was “work hard, be humble, love the Lord, and do all you can to help other people.” Donald Oliver would go on to embody those values in a big way. In his long-anticipated memoir, Oliver, now retired, looks back at a life lived in service to others. In his own careful and thoughtful words, he examines his days as a lawyer, an outspoken social activist, and a teacher, and of course he reflects on his twenty-three years of service as a member of the Senate of Canada. A diplomat to his core, Donald Oliver has dedicated his life to rooting out the systemic racism that has stalled the growth of Canada’s Black citizens—his work a testament to the truth that Black Lives Matter. Now, through dozens of black and white and colour images, and thorough intimate, personal reflections, A Matter of Equality: The Life’s Work of Senator Don Oliver examines the legacy of the first man, and the second Canadian, to bring the Black experience directly to the upper house.

The Honorable Donald H. Oliver, CM, ONS, QC, retired as a member of the Senate of Canada in 2013 after twenty-three years of service. He now resides at his beloved farm in Pleasant River, Queens County, Nova Scotia. Oliver rose to serve with distinction as Deputy Speaker in the Senate of Canada, as Chairman of six standing committees of Parliament; as Chairman or Deputy Chairman of seven inter-parliamentary associations; and as a ubiquitous spokesperson for diversity, pluralism, fairness and equality, for which he was awarded five Honorary Doctorate degrees from Canadian Universities.

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