Happy Black History Month, honourable senators.

The African Canadian Senate Group, under the patronage of our Speaker, invites you to an exhibit highlighting the achievements of Black inventors in Canada. I’m sure some of you have already seen it.

I’d like to thank the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for their hard work in putting this exhibit together to highlight the excellence and innovation of Black and African-Canadian scientists. We worked well together, and CIPO representatives are in attendance in the gallery.

The seven people featured in the exhibit hold patents. These inventors have made their mark in a wide range of fields, including high tech, industry, research and medicine.

Alan Emtage designed the world’s first search engine. He was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame as an innovator.

Alexandra Merkx-Jacques, a trained molecular microbiologist, has contributed to environmental microbiology, algal biofuel and immunotherapy.

Samuel Pierre is a professor at Polytechnique Montréal and is internationally recognized for his role in the field of information and communication technologies.

Frantz Saintellemy, Chancellor of the Université de Montréal, is an internationally recognized deep-tech expert and social entrepreneur.

Evelyne Nyairo, founder of Ellie Bianca, created a luxury skin care brand that innovates while caring for the environment.

Dr. Bernard Thébaud, a neonatologist and pediatric professor at the University of Ottawa, is a pioneering clinician-scientist whose work centres on advancing stem cell and gene therapies to combat lung diseases.

Dr. Juliet Daniel is a pioneering cancer biologist to whom we credit finding the missing puzzle piece explaining higher breast cancer mortality rates in Black women.

The exhibit highlighting these Canadian innovators is open to the public throughout the month of February. It is located in the Senate foyer.

If you haven’t seen the exhibit yet, I would invite you stop by and have a look.

Thank you.