Yvonne Atwell

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Yvonne Atwell (born 1943) is a Canadian hospital administrator and provincial politician. She is the first Black woman elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.

Early life[]

Atwell was born in East Preston, Nova Scotia,^[1] in 1943. She left the province seeking work opportunities elsewhere.^{[citation needed]}

Career[]

Atwell worked for 20 years as an administrator at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, becoming head of Patient Services. She returned to Nova Scotia in 1984.

She has been the president of the Black United Front and the , a chair of the Indigenous Black and Mi'kmaq Program at Dalhousie University, a member of the 's small business committee, and a member of the executive board.

In 1996 she ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party. She won a seat in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1998 for the riding of Preston, becoming the first black woman MLA in the province.^[2] She lost her seat in the 1999 provincial election.

She is currently^[when?] the director of the African-Canadian Employment Clinic in Halifax. She is also currently the Vice President of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

References[]

• Williams, Dawn Who's who in Black Canada 2: Black Success and Black Excellence in Canada : a Contemporary Directory (2006) ISBN 0-9731384-2-4
• Nova Scotia Legislature Hansard, May 26, 1998
• Yvonne Atwell, Women Social Activists of Atlantic Canada, University of New Brunswick

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