Uncovering Burnaby: A history-making and record-setting athlete's connection to Burnaby

Longtime Burnaby resident Barbara Howard dedicated her life to teaching and volunteering.

But she also broke records and made history.

Howard was the first female Black athlete to compete and represent Canada on a world stage, and her life was full of incredible accomplishments that broke barriers on and off the track.

She was born in 1921 in East Vancouver, was raised in the same neighbourhood, and was the youngest (and fastest) of five siblings.

During her time at Britannia High School, Barbara quickly rose up the ranks as a top competitor and was known to be one of the fastest female runners, not just in BC, but in the world.

In 1938, at just 17 years old, Howard clocked 11.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash for the Western Canada British Empire Games trials, beating the previous record time by one-tenth of a second.

Her record-breaking achievement landed her a trip to compete at the British Empire Games in Sydney, Australia.

To get there, Howard travelled by boat, and it was her first time ever leaving Vancouver.

Howard’s journey to the Land Down Under made her the first Black Canadian female to represent the country in an international competition. She also gained popularity in Australia, and was featured on newspaper covers.

On the track, Howard helped secure a gold and silver medal for Team Canada in relay events. As for her own individual effort in the 100-yard dash, she finished sixth, which was disappointing for her, notes the CBC.

But she was away in a new country for the first time, far from home, and competing on a world stage came with a lot of pressure.

Still, Howard was ready to push herself further and run at the 1940 Tokyo Olympics.

But the Second World War intervened with the games, and they were cancelled. When the Olympics returned a decade later, “her sprinting career was over,” noted Jason Beck of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

Howard pursued a career in teaching. She graduated from UBC in 1959 and she made history again as the first member of a visible minority to be hired by the Vancouver School Board.

Her teaching career spanned four decades at elementary schools in Vancouver.

She was a Burnaby resident since 1956, according to local historian Eve Lazarus.

She retired in 1984 and spent her time giving back to the community. Howard volunteered for Burnaby’s United Church and was a member of Confederation Centre where she had many different roles, including running peer counselling courses, exercises class, and giving seniors hand massages, according to the Burnaby Now.

Towards the end of her life, Howard finally received the recognition she deserved for her athletic endeavours.

She was inducted into the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame in 2011, and both the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

She was also the recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2013.

Howard died in 2017 at the age of 97.