Balarama Holness (born July 20, 1983), also known as Steven Holness, is a politician and former

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

. He was originally signed by the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2008. He won a Grey Cup Championship with the Montreal Alouettes in 2010. He played

CIS Football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athlet ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Family and early life

Holness was born in Montreal to a Québécois mother and a Jamaican father. Andrew Michael Holness, the current

Prime Minister of Jamaica The prime minister of Jamaica () is Jamaica's head of government, currently Andrew Holness. Holness, as leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), was sworn in as prime minister on 7 September 2020, having been re-elected as a result ...

is his first cousin. His mother's

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

ism resulted in the name

Balarama Balarama (, ) is a Hindu god, and the elder brother of Krishna. He is particularly significant in the Jagannath tradition, as one of the triad deities. He is also known as Haladhara, Halayudha, Baladeva, Balabhadra, and Sankarshana. The fir ...

and a childhood at an

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. Aged nine he moved to

Boisbriand Boisbriand () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, at the entrance of the Lower-Laurentides in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the north shore of the Rivière des Mille Îles in the Thérèse-De Blainville Regional County Municipality. Alth ...

, where he was required to use the name "Steven", which he maintained in his pro football career. His daughter is named after

Marie-Joseph Angélique Marie-Josèphe dite Angélique (died June 21, 1734) was the name given to a Portuguese-born black slave in New France by her last owners. She was tried and convicted of setting fire to her owner's home, burning much of what is now referred to as ...

, a Portuguese-born black slave in

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

Political career

While studying law at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, he ran for borough mayor of

Montréal-Nord Montreal North (, ) is a borough within the city of Montreal, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city of Montreal North on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. It was amalgamated into the City of Montreal on January 1, 2002. ...

for

Projet Montréal Projet Montréal (officially Projet Montréal - Équipe Luc Rabouin) is a progressive, environmentalist municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2004, it is led by Luc Rabouin and holds a majority of seats on Montre ...

in the 2017 Montreal municipal election but lost to Christine Black. After the 2017 election, Holness launched a petition calling for the city to hold a public consultation on systemic racism and discrimination. Founder of a social justice lobby group "Montreal in Action," Holness was profiled on November 21, 2020, by the

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...

as "an inspirational view of a man confronting systemic racism." On May 20, 2021, he announced his candidacy for mayor of Montreal in the

2021 Montreal municipal election Municipal elections were held in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 7, 2021, as part of the 2021 Quebec municipal elections. Voters elected 103 representatives in a First-past-the-post voting, first-past-the-post electoral system. ...

as a candidate of the Mouvement Montréal party. Holness finished in third place with 7.23% of votes and Mouvement Montréal failed to elect any of its candidates. On June 7, 2022, Holness announced the creation of party Bloc Montreal, being a part of the

2022 Quebec general election The 2022 Quebec general election was held on October 3, 2022, to elect the members of the National Assembly of Quebec. Under the province's Fixed election dates in Canada, fixed election date law, passed in 2013, "the general election following t ...

. Bloc Montreal finished with only 0.2% of votes and it failed to elect any of its candidates, including Holness himself.

Electoral record

Provincial

Municipal

References

External links

Montreal Alouettes bioOfficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holness, Balarama 1983 births Anglophone Quebec people Canadian football defensive backs Living people Montreal Alouettes players Ottawa Gee-Gees football players Players of Canadian football from Quebec Politicians from Montreal Canadian football people from Montreal Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Canadian sportsperson-politicians Canadian sportsperson-politicians from Manitoba Black Canadian players of Canadian football Black Canadian politicians Black Canadian sportsmen Politicians from Winnipeg