Catherine McKenney (born June 3, 1961) is a Canadian politician who served on

Ottawa City Council The Ottawa City Council (french: Conseil municipal d'Ottawa) is the governing body of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is composed of 24 city councillors and the mayor. The mayor is elected at large, while each councillor represents war ...

from 2014 to 2022, representing

Somerset Ward Somerset (Ward 14) is a city ward in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It covers the neighbourhoods of Downtown Ottawa, Centretown, Lebreton Flats and most of Centretown West. It is Ottawa's smallest and most dense ward. It is represented on O ...

. McKenny did not seek re-election as councillor in the 2022 Ottawa election, instead running for mayor of Ottawa and finishing second. Before running for office, they worked as an advisor and political staffer.

Early life and education

McKenney was born in

Fort-Coulonge, Quebec Fort Coulonge is a village in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality in western Quebec, Canada, at the mouth of the Coulonge River. It is the francophone centre of the otherwise largely (57%) anglophone Pontiac MRC, with 79.6% listing Fren ...

, the child of a forester and stay-at-home parent. The family would then move to

Sturgeon Falls, Ontario West Nipissing is a municipality in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, on Lake Nipissing in the Nipissing District. It was formed on January 1, 1999, with the amalgamation of seventeen and a half former town, villages, townships and unorganized communi ...

, where McKenney went to elementary school. In grade 9, McKenney moved to

Pembroke, Ontario Pembroke is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario at the confluence of the Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley. Pembroke is the location of the administrative headquarters of Renfrew County, though the city itself is pol ...

when their dad got a job at

Algonquin College Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology is a publicly funded English-language college located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The college serves the National Capital Region and the outlying areas of Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec, and Ups ...

. McKenney had two children in their early 20s, working in fast food and as a photographer's assistant to support them. McKenney moved to Ottawa at the age of 26, where they completed a

Bachelor of Social Science The academic undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Social Science (BSS, B.Soc.Sc., or B.Soc.Sci.) requires three to four years of study in the social sciences at an institution of higher education, primarily found in the Commonwealth of Nations. ...

at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

in 1993. After graduating, McKenney lived in Kanata and had a job reading news articles on television for people who are blind.

Political career

Prior to holding elected office, McKenney worked as a staffer in the offices of city councillors Diane Holmes and

Alex Munter Alexander Mathias Munter (born April 29, 1968) is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), and a former elected official and business owner in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Advocacy Thr ...

, and federal

members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members oft ...

Ed Broadbent John Edward "Ed" Broadbent (born March 21, 1936) is a Canadian social-democratic politician, political scientist, and chair of the Broadbent Institute, a policy thinktank. He was leader of the New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 200 ...

and

Paul Dewar Paul Wilson Dewar (January 25, 1963 – February 6, 2019) was a Canadian educator and politician from Ottawa, Ontario. He was the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Ottawa Centre. Dewar was first elected to ...

. They supported Jim Watson in the 2014 mayoral election. McKenney was first elected in the 2014 municipal election to represent Somerset Ward, which consists of

Centretown Centretown is a neighbourhood in Somerset Ward, in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is defined by the city as "the area bounded on the north by Gloucester Street and Lisgar Street, on the east by the Rideau Canal, on the south by the Que ...

Centretown West Centretown West is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It lies to the west of Bronson Avenue, east of the O-Train Trillium Line, north of Carling Avenue, and south of Nanny Goat Hill , which is an escarpment to the north of Somerset Stre ...

, and the

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buildi ...

. During the 2022 Canada convoy protests, McKenney criticized inaction by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and the

Ottawa Police Service The Ottawa Police Service (OPS; French: ''Service de police d'Ottawa'') is a municipal police force in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OPS serves an area of 2,790 square kilometres and 1,017,449 (2021 census) people alongside several other police f ...

. McKenney virtually joined an Ottawa City Council meeting from the streets of the occupation. In December 2021, McKenney announced that they would be running for mayor in the

2022 Ottawa municipal election The 2022 Ottawa municipal election was held on Monday, October 24, 2022, to elect a mayor, city councillors, and trustees to the English and French public school boards and the English and French Catholic school boards in Ottawa, Ontario, ...

Personal life

McKenney is queer and is the first non-male openly-LGBT person to serve on Ottawa's city council. They are

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typicall ...

and use they/them pronouns. They have three children.

Electoral record

2022 Ottawa municipal election

2018 Ottawa municipal election

2014 Ottawa municipal election

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenney, Catherine 1961 births Ottawa city councillors Living people LGBT municipal councillors in Canada People from Outaouais 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century LGBT people Non-binary politicians People from West Nipissing People from Pembroke, Ontario University of Ottawa alumni