Marvin Rotrand (born 1951) is a former

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, last sitting as an independent. He previously served as a member of

Montreal City Council The Montreal City Council (french: Conseil municipal de Montréal) is the governing body in the mayor–council government in the city of Montreal, Quebec. The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the ...

, representing the district of

Snowdon Snowdon () or (), is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park (') in Gwynedd (historic ...

. Rotrand served on Montreal city council from 1982 until 2021, and was its dean for several years; he worked full-time in his duties. Rotrand is currently serving B’Nai Brith Canada as its national director of the League of Human Rights.

Background

Born in Montreal, son of a

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

survivor, Rotrand holds a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in history from

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène ...

and a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order for ...

from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. Prior to becoming a city councillor, he was a high school history teacher. Rotrand was a member of the Montreal Citizens' Movement (MCM). He left for the

Coalition Démocratique A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

in 1989. Latterly a member of Gerald Tremblay's Union Montréal political party, Rotrand quit to sit as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

on November 15, 2012, following the corruption allegations against the party in the Charbonneau commission hearings. In the election of November 3, 2013, he was elected as a councilor for

Coalition Montreal A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

- Equipe Marcel Cote, of which he eventually became interim leader. From 2002 to 2017, he also served as the Vice-Chair of the ''

Société de transport de Montréal The Société de transport de Montréal (STM; en, Montreal Transit Corporation) is a public transport agency that operates transit bus and rapid transit services in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Established in 1861 as the "Montreal City Passenger Ra ...

'' (Montreal Transit Commission) and the president of its finance committee and of its customer service committee. Rotrand was evidently removed from that position without notice on an order from then-mayor

Denis Coderre Denis Coderre (born July 25, 1963) is a Canadian politician from Quebec. Coderre was the member of Parliament for the riding of Bourassa from 1997 until 2013, and was the Immigration minister from 2002 to 2003 and became the mayor of Montr ...

. During a municipal council meeting, Coderre confirmed the dismissal of Rotrand who had decided not to join the Équipe Denis Coderre party. Coderre replaced Rotrand with Elsie Lefebvre, who had also won the last election under the Coalition Montréal party, but left it to join Coderre's party. Both Coderre and Lefebvre lost in the subsequent election. Rotrand was the only member of Coalition Montréal elected. In January 2019, with steps being taken to dissolve Coalition Montréal, Rotrand announced that he would sit as an independent. Rotrand was restored in 2017 to the STM's board of directors by then-incoming mayor Valerie Plante. In 2018, Rotrand was ousted from the Société de transport de Montréal board, and stated that his termination may be due to opposition to Plante’s Projet Montréal administration. Rotrand was awarded a prize by the Canadian Urban Transit Association for Distinguished Service to Transit in Canada.

References

External links

Marvin Rotrand (Union Montreal)CDN-NDG Borough councilSTM Profile: Marvin Rotrand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotrand, Marvin Living people Montreal city councillors Jewish Canadian politicians Sir George Williams University alumni McGill University alumni Société de transport de Montréal 1951 births Anglophone Quebec people People from Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce 21st-century Canadian politicians