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Emery Barnes
Emery Barnes
31st Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
	In office; March 22, 1994 – May 27, 1996
Premier	Mike Harcourt; Glen Clark
Lieutenant Governor	David Lam; Garde Gardom
Preceded by	Joan Sawicki
Succeeded by	Dale Lovick
Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
	In office; March 17, 1992 – March 22, 1994
Preceded by	Austin Pelton
Succeeded by	Dale Lovick
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly; for Vancouver-Burrard
	In office; October 17, 1991 – May 28, 1996
Preceded by	Riding Established
Succeeded by	Tim Stevenson
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly; for Vancouver Centre
	In office; August 30, 1972 – October 17, 1991 Serving with Gary Lauk (1972-1986); Mike Harcourt (1986-1991)
Preceded by	Herb Capozzi; Evan Maurice Wolfe
Succeeded by	Riding Abolished
Personal details
Born	December 15, 1929; New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Died	June 1, 1998 (aged 68); Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Political party	British Columbia New Democratic Party
Occupation	Social Worker

Emery Oakland Barnes (December 15, 1929 – June 1, 1998) was a Canadian professional football player and politician.^[1]

Background

Born in Louisiana and raised in Oregon, Barnes was a gifted athlete, and was an alternate high jumper for the 1952 US Olympic Track and Field team. He played football at the University of Oregon (from where he received his B.Sc) and was selected by the National Football League's Green Bay Packers in the 1954 NFL draft (10th round, 207th overall). He played two games for the Packers in 1956, but had much more success in the Canadian Football League with the B.C. Lions. He played 3 years, from 1962 to 1964, for a total of 30 games and was a Grey Cup champion in 1964 (though an injury prevented him from playing in the Grey Cup game). He also received a Bachelor of Social Work degree from the University of British Columbia.

Political career

Barnes worked as a social worker before entering politics. An unsuccessful candidate in the 1969 provincial election, he was first elected to the British Columbia legislature in 1972, and re-elected five consecutive times, he served the people of British Columbia until 1996. Barnes and fellow NDP MLA Rosemary Brown were the first black politicians elected to a legislative office in British Columbia in the 20th century. He was particularly concerned with issues relating to social justice, human rights, and poverty.

Elected Speaker of the Legislature in 1994, Barnes was also the first black person to hold this position in any Canadian province.

The city of Vancouver has named a park after him in his memory, Emery Barnes Park at 1100 Seymour Street.

Barnes is buried in Robinson Memorial Park Cemetery, in Coquitlam, British Columbia. The headstone shows his full name as "Emery Oakland Barnes."

Constance Barnes, his daughter, was an elected member of the Vancouver Park Board and stood for the 2015 federal election with the NDP in the riding of Vancouver Centre.