Mr. Speaker, as Black History Month comes to a close, I rise in this place to speak about the memory of Alfred M. Lafferty. In 1856, Mr. Lafferty was accepted at Trinity College, University of Toronto. In 1872, he was appointed Head Master of the Guelph High School, now the GCVI, becoming the first public school headmaster of black descent in Ontario.
A decade before, Guelph was the final stop for blacks fleeing slavery in the south using the Underground Railroad. Mr. Lafferty's appointment in 1872 was at a time when the United States was looking at military reconstruction in the American south to attempt to force reconciliation, but peaceful progress proved far more effective and enduring, thanks to trailblazers like Alfred Lafferty.
We must embrace our diversity to complete the unfinished work left behind by Mr. Lafferty and other leaders in the movement to achieve true equality.