These diverse, first-time candidates are looking to shake up municipal elections
CBC
As voters in municipal election races across Ontario look at what candidates are offering ahead of the Oct. 24 vote, CBC News takes a look at three candidates from diverse backgrounds running for the first time.
All three are running for council seats in different municipalities.
All three have roots outside of Canada and all three are parents and entrepreneurs running for office for the first time.
Back in 2016 when Khadijah Haliru was looking for a place to set up her businesses, her sights soon turned to small-town southwestern Ontario.
Originally from Nigeria, the mother of three had been living in Brampton for 10 years but soon settled on Ingersoll as a place where she wanted to set up shop. Through her company Brands by K, Haliru makes and bottles Hanak stew, a tomato sauce that is as much a staple of Nigerian cooking as pasta sauce is in Italian cuisine.
The area's abundance of farmland meant easy access to key ingredients for her product and she saw plenty of empty warehouses to set up shop. However, upon arrival she faced a lot of red tape and antiquated bylaws that made it difficult to find a space.
"We have a lot of spaces that are not rentable and I find that it's sometimes more comfortable for landlords to leave them empty than to rent it out or fix it up for someone to use," she said.
For a while Haliru did manage to rent a downtown storefront for another business she runs, selling a skin care product. However, when the city sold the building, the new owner made changes that made it difficult for her to stay.
She's now running for council to try and make Ingersoll a place more welcoming for new entrepreneurs.
"I see a lot of opportunities to improve the climate for newcomers and small businesses," she said. "There are a lot of newcomers to Ingersoll and they deserve a voice."
As a lifelong Woodstock resident born to Guyanese immigrants, Duane Kumala-Thomas grew up as one of the only Black students at school.
"In my high school, anytime you walked the halls and you see the photos of the past graduating classes, I am one of the first Black males to have graduated," he said.
Since his high school graduation in 2001, the 41-year-old father of two has seen Woodstock become a more diverse place with newcomers arriving from the Greater Toronto Area along with new arrivals to Canada.
Kumala-Thomas owns a downtown photography and framing studio and studied business at Fanshawe College and Humber College. He got into coaching kids sports, and through that founded a non-profit called Why Not Us? which helps mentor youth through arts and athletics.
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