My friends call me the Ebony Giantess. My name is Ebony Anne Washington. A six-foot-three, busty and big-bottomed, kind of chubby and dark-skinned Black woman living in the city of Ottawa, Ontario. I'm a third-year student at Delmar University in the capital city of Ottawa, in the province of Ontario. I major in Criminal Justice. Someday, I'm going to be a Police Officer like my father, Eric Washington. The Delmar University Campus is so cool. It's the most diverse school in the country and a place that I'm really proud to call my home. I stepped into the history books as the first woman in Canadian history to play football for the Delmar University men's varsity football team. Welcome to this sister's life.
Delmar University was founded as Delmar College in January of 1970 by Henry Joseph Delmar, a wealthy Haitian-born Canadian businessman and philanthropist. One of the first Black millionaires in the country. Educating the growing immigrant population has been his focus. That's why he built the school. He intended it as a school for the growing number of Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the city of Ottawa. Forty years later, Delmar University is a world-class school. We have about eleven thousand students, and fifty two percent of the student body is of African, Asian, Hispanic or Aboriginal descent. It's the only major university in all of Canada where Visible Minorities are the Majority.
Delmar University offers degrees in more than eighty fields. It's the only school in Ottawa founded by a person of African descent. It's an HBCU ( historically Black college or university) located in Canada. One of the whitest places on the planet. Just call us an oasis in the middle of a white desert. Over the years, many international students, coming from South Africa, Brazil, Japan and the Caribbean have made Delmar University their home. International students account for twenty two percent of the undergraduate student population of Delmar University. World Leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have spoken at Delmar University. The Prime Minister of Haiti has spoken to our graduating class. It was a great honor, considering nineteen percent of our student body is of direct Haitian descent.
Delmar University has produced Ontario's first ethnic minority Chief of Police, the first African-born Mayor of a Canadian town, and legions of sportsmen and sportswomen who've gone on to dazzle the NBA, NFL and NHL. Delmar University is a shining beacon of racial diversity in an otherwise stale and homogenous province. It's home to the Institute of Global African History, and one of the biggest libraries in the world. The school's seventh President, Dr. Carol Janviers, is a Haitian-Canadian immigrant. She earned her MBA from Delmar University in 1985. A lot of Canadians look at Delmar University students strangely but most of us don't care. I for one am proud to attend the only HBCU in Canada.
