Dominique Ollivier leads the way as Black women blaze trail to Montreal's city hall
CBC
Four Black women are set to make their debuts on Montreal's political scene, led by Dominique Ollivier, who will soon become the second-most-powerful elected official in the city.
Ollivier is Montreal's next executive committee president, marking the first time a Black person has held that role in the city.
Ollivier ran alongside Mayor Valérie Plante in the latest municipal elections, and secured the high-pressure gig by winning the city council seat in the Vieux-Rosemont district by a landslide.
"I won't lie. It felt a bit overwhelming," Ollivier said of her victory on Sunday. "It's not that I didn't think I could do it. All of my experiences have prepared me for such a job. But it was just the idea that, first of all, people of Rosemont put their faith in me and elected me."
Ollivier and her parents moved from Haiti to Quebec in 1964, first settling in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region before moving to Montreal about four years later.
WATCH | Dominique Ollivier explains significance of her election victory:
She has 30 years of experience in project management and communications, and is probably best known for her work as the commissioner and president of the city's public consultation body, the Office de consultation publique de Montréal, from 2009 up until September of this year.
She's also worked as a political aide for Parti Québécois governments of the mid-1990s, as well as the federal Bloc Québécois in the early 2000s.
At the age of six, Ollivier says her dream was to become the mayor of Montreal. Decades later, she's set to be the mayor's second-in-command.
As close as she is to the city's top seat, she's more eager to start her new job than think of what her future might hold.
"I think I'm getting a bit old now for those kind of dreams [of becoming mayor]. And, you know, I think that I'm achieving something that is as important and as interesting," she said, smiling from ear to ear.
"For me today, this election, and the fact that I'm not alone, that I'm coming with a lot of other people from different backgrounds, it's kind of the realization of an entire [lifetime]."
Ollivier is right. She's not the only one who made history during the municipal election.
After trailing in votes all Sunday evening in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Gracia Kasoki Katahwa roared back to eke out a comeback victory, becoming the first Black woman in the city's history to become borough mayor.
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