By Gerald V. Paul

Adaoma Patterson, Canadian born of Jamaican parents, is the newly minted NDP Brampton West Riding Association candidate for the federal election.

She posted on Twitter: “Tired of the smears and spin from Stephen Harper’s Conservatives? Join the #NDP Truth Team: ndp.ca/truthteam#cdnpolitics.”

A veteran volunteer, she praised her Jamaican-born parents. Her father Horace Patterson was a founding member of the African-Caribbean Association of Manitoba. At 18, she got her feet wet politically when she was elected a youth representative to the National Council of Jamaicans and Supportive Organizations in Canada.

“Congrats Adaoma Patterson. It has been 30 years since Rosemary Brown’s attempt for leadership,” posted columnist and community leader Samuel Getachew.

She told The Camera that “our campaign team is ready to go. I am committed to the advancement of social justice and progressive public policy, among other things.”

A United Way of Peel Region allocations committee member and poverty reduction adviser, she stressed leadership is not only about an organization but about the community.

The 2010  DiverseCity Fellow and 2014 JCA Volunteer of the Year awardee said among those present at the nomination meeting were Dr. Mary Anne Chambers, former minister at Queen’s Park, Deputy Ontario NDP Leader MPP Jagmeet Singh and Chris-Beth Cowie, a youth entrepreneur.