Point of Interest
Daurene Lewis Plaza
285 St. George Street
About
Artist:
Born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia in 1943, Daurene Elaine Lewis was a descendant of freed Loyalist African Americans who settled in Annapolis Royal in 1783.[1] She was a descendant of Rose Fortune, a Virginian who became the first female police officer in North America. Daurene’s first formal political involvement was in 1979, running for town council in Annapolis Royal. Her issues included increasing awareness of the area’s history, and attempts at community revitalization. She was appointed as deputy mayor in 1982 working alongside Mayor George Richardson.
In 1984, Lewis was elected mayor of Annapolis Royal, making her the first female black mayor in Canada.
In 1994 Lewis was added to the Black Cultural Centre Wall of Honour. In 1995, she was recipient of the United Nations Global Citizenship Award. In 1998 she received the Progress Club of Halifax Woman of Excellence award for Public Affairs and Communication. In 2002, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada and received the YWCA volunteer award. She received both the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Daurene Lewis passed away in hospital in Halifax in 2013.
In 2018 the Town of Annapolis Royal renamed the plaza outside of Town Hall in her honour with a ceremony to unveil the bronze sculpture by artist Ruth Abernethy.