Michaëlle Jean was governor-general of Canada, UNESCO special envoy for Haiti and secretary-general of La Francophonie.
Several weeks ago, more than 1,500 participants – including 600 young people – gathered at Montreal’s Palais des congrès for the 4th National Black Canadians Summit, dedicated to the eradication of racial discrimination.
One word echoed throughout the gathering – vigilance – as ominous winds blew from our southern neighbour. We watch with deep concern as Donald Trump and his administration systematically dismantle hard-won social justice gains in the U.S. – gains that matter to us in Canada as well.
U.S. federal government agencies are eliminating official observances that honour the histories and struggles of marginalized communities: Black History Month, National Native American Heritage Month, Asian Heritage Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, Women’s History Month, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth – the commemoration of the abolition of slavery on June 19, 1865 – and Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Mr. Trump’s obsession is nothing less than the erasure of history. As an autocrat, and someone who enjoys the trappings of one, he believes history begins and ends with him. His vision of a “great” America rests on forcing the country into submission to his dogmatic bluster and deep-seated hatred of others. His list of scapegoats is long. He is ruthless. His driving force: a feverish thirst for conquest, imperialist and neocolonial ambitions, expressed through bizarre pronouncements.
He wants to seize Greenland, take control of the Panama Canal and transform Gaza – now an open-air graveyard, the scene of carnage where hundreds of bodies still lie beneath the rubble – into a luxury seaside city, after first deporting the two million traumatized Palestinians who still live there to Jordan and Egypt. Yet Amman and Cairo, along with the broader Arab world, have unanimously condemned this cruel project of ethnic cleansing and land dispossession.
Mr. Trump has no more regard for Canadian sovereignty. His plan? To make Canada the 51st U.S. state – beginning with economic destabilization through punishing tariffs. He will not relent. “Mr. Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country. And it is a real thing,” declared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before 200 leaders from business, trade, public policy and labour at the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit.
What Mr. Trump underestimates is our capacity to unite and fight back. He disregards – or refuses to acknowledge – the depth and reciprocity of our nations’ ties and how much the U.S. economy depends on Canada. His aggressive tactics could well backfire.
Canadians – political and economic leaders alike – are already mobilizing strategically, as never before. Civil society is equally alert.
It is deeply alarming to watch Mr. Trump’s far-right administration, under the rule of the billionaire Elon Musk, ruthlessly dismantling public institutions, policies and all programs dedicated to equity, diversity and inclusion. Black and Indigenous communities – historically and still today the most marginalized in Canada – are rallying around these core values, essential for a just and inclusive society. These principles are the foundation of shared prosperity and sustainable human and economic development. Our communities are gravely concerned – not just about tariffs, but about the broader existential threat looming beyond our borders. We fear that this dehumanizing, polarizing and destructive trend in the U.S. will spill into Canada.
At this 4th National Black Canadians Summit, our voices intertwined more than ever with those of Indigenous peoples. Our shared history is undeniable, our common resolve steeped in that memory. Colonialism inflicted the same dispossession and the same violence upon us. We suffered the impact of segregation systems. Racism continues to strike with relentless force. Together, we demand the eradication of racial discrimination in all its insidious forms.
What we demand is truth. We know from experience how fragile progress can be, how quickly decades of hard-fought gains can be erased when vigilance falters. Peril always lurks, waiting to pounce at the first sign of weakness.
We refuse to stand idly by as an ideology takes hold that negates our lives, our struggles, our histories. More than ever, we are uniting – our cultures, our drumbeats, our strategies. We are standing together to defend our rights, our progress, so that our humanity prevails.
After Montreal, Winnipeg will host the 5th National Black Canadians Summit in September, 2026, at the invitation of Premier Wab Kinew – the first and only Indigenous leader of a Canadian province. He has entrusted his Deputy Premier, Uzoma Asagwara – an African descendant and Manitoba’s Minister of Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care – with extending this historic invitation, words that resonated powerfully at the Palais des congrès.
Together, we are stronger. Our voices will not be silenced.