Eli El-Chantiry (born April 23, 1957 in

Kab-Elias Qabb Ilyas (; ALA-LC: ''Qab Ilyās'' / Lebanese Arabic: ) also spelled ''Kab Elias'', ''Qab Elias'', ''Qob Elias'', ''Qoub Elias'') is a municipality in Zahle District, in eastern Lebanon. Qabb Ilyas is 15 kilometers from Zahleh and from the Leb ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

) is a former Canadian politician. He was an

Ottawa City Council Ottawa City Council () 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 wards throughout the city. Council member ...

lor from 2003 to 2022 and served as chair of the

Ottawa Police Service The Ottawa Police Service (OPS; French: ''Service de police d'Ottawa'') is the municipal police service of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as well as most of the north east Ontario side of the National Capital Region. As of 2022, this police service ...

s Board. He was born in

and moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with his family at age eighteen. After attending the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

, he became a businessman, owning the Lighthouse Restaurant in

Constance Bay Constance Bay is a population centre in West Carleton-March Ward in the rural northwest of the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Prior to amalgamation in 2001, the community was part of West Carleton Township. It is situated 25 km northwest ...

in West Carleton. El-Chantiry ran for city council in the 2003 Ottawa election to replace retiring

Dwight Eastman Dwight Eastman was the last mayor of West Carleton Township, Ontario, West Carleton Township before it was amalgamated into the new Ottawa, City of Ottawa. Eastman served as mayor of West Carleton from 1995 until 2001. He was elected in the 2000 Ot ...

. He won, defeating retired schoolteacher Adele Muldoon by 29 votes. After the 13 June 2007 decision by Ottawa Mayor

Larry O'Brien Lawrence Francis O'Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917September 28, 1990) was an American politician and commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1975 to 1984. He was one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strat ...

to resign as Chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, El-Chantiry was nominated as the board's new leader, an appointment to be confirmed later in June 2007. Following a public complaint on Eli El-Chantiry's 2014 campaign spending, his financials are audited. The audit firm found a “clerical” error in his expense filings and a problem with the accounting of his nomination fee refund. Also, there was a question of Eli El-Chantiry not accounting for reused campaign signs in 2014, but the auditor couldn't determine a value for the signs. The committee let him off the hook. Again, embattled and at the centre of several police services gaffes over the years, Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof publicly demanded El-Chantiry's resignation in March 2016. In the 2018 Mayoral campaign, Eli El-Chantiry endorsed Jim Watson for mayor in the

2018 Ottawa municipal election The 2018 Ottawa municipal election was a municipal election that was held on October 22, 2018, to elect the mayor of Ottawa, Ottawa City Council and the Ottawa-Carleton Public and Catholic School Boards. The election was held on the same day as ...

. Later in July 2018, in a recorded conversations between Ottawa Police Association president, Matt Skof, and an anonymous source, it was alleged Eli El-Chantiry was the target of an undercover bribery sting.
OPP investigate recordings about Ottawa police board chair
As Chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, in June 2018, Eli El-Chantiry announces the selection of Uday Jaswal, formerly of Durham Police Services, as Deputy Chief for Ottawa Police Services, "Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, said Jaswal beat out four other competitors, who were shortlisted for the job as part of a country-wide search." aswalmet all the criteria," said El-Chantiry. "He's a young, innovative thinker. He's educated, bilingual." In October 2018, El-Chantiry is voted in for the fifth time as councillor for Ward 5. El-Chantiry ceased to be a member or chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board in January 2019, being beat out by the first ever female police services board Chair. On February 16, 2022, El-Chantiry became chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board in the midst of historic civil unrest in the city as a result of the

Freedom Convoy 2022 The Canada convoy protest, known as the Freedom Convoy (French: ''Convoi de la liberté'') was a series of protests and blockades across Canada in early 2022, initially organized to oppose COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck dr ...

. City council voted to overhaul the police board and remove chair Diane Deans as a result of the handling of policing of the

Canada convoy protest The Canada convoy protest, known as the Freedom Convoy (French: ''Convoi de la liberté'') was a series of protests and blockades across Canada in early 2022, initially organized to oppose COVID-19 vaccination in Canada, COVID-19 vaccine man ...

in Ottawa which began in late January 2022.

References

External links

City biography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chantiry, Eli Lebanese emigrants to Canada Ottawa city councillors 1957 births Living people Businesspeople from Ottawa People from Zahle District University of Ottawa alumni