Soraya Martinez Ferrada will be sworn in as mayor of Montreal on Thursday. She is the first refugee to hold the position of mayor of the metropolis, and Montreal’s first Latina mayor.
Born in Chile, Martinez Ferrada arrived in Quebec as a political refugee at the age of eight after her family fled the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The trilingual mayor grew up in Montreal’s East End and calls herself “a daughter of Bill 101″ — the language legislation that required immigrant children to go to school in French.
“For the first time in its history, Montreal has elected a candidate of diversity to lead Quebec’s largest metropolis. … It’s a powerful message in a city where each child — whatever their language, history — can say, ‘here, I’m home’,” said Martinez Ferrada in her victory speech on Nov. 2.
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The leader of Ensemble Montréal was elected with 43 per cent of the vote. Her party’s victory signals a change in government for the metropolis after eight years under the Projet Montréal administration.
Martinez Ferrada has said her top priorities include tackling the issue of homelessness.
She is Montreal’s 47th mayor and only the second woman – after Valérie Plante – to hold the job.
“Valérie, I want to thank you, for your engagement. I want to thank you because you broke a very big glass ceiling for this city, for women,” Martinez Ferrada said during her victory speech on Nov. 2.
Plante, the longtime leader of Projet Montréal, did not seek a third term in office, citing the strenuous demands of public service.
Martinez Ferrada, a 53-year-old career politician, stepped down as a former federal Liberal MP and cabinet minister to make a move back to municipal politics earlier this year.
