ByBlacks took another approach to find who the Black candidates are and what they stand for in this election climate. So here’s a culminating list of mayoral and councillor candidates. School board trustees are not included in this list. See you at the polls on October 24.

Toronto

Mayoral Candidates

Chloe Brown

Brown has worked as a policy analyst across various sectors. Brown’s platform includes fostering ecosystems for personal mastery, environmental sustainability, and work-life balance. It also includes creating stable tax rates by transitioning from property taxes to a land value tax model and restoring democracy to public board leadership using community investments in workforce development.

Kevin Clarke

Clarke is an advocate for the unhoused and the founder of the People’s Political Party (unrelated to Maxime Bernier’s national party). In past elections, Clarke believes in increasing housing programs and bike lanes and tackling police brutality.

Cory Deville

Deville is a serial entrepreneur, creative and social freedom fighter. His platform centres on housing affordability, mental health, and entrepreneurship.

D!ONNE Renée

Renée previously ran for office in 2014 and 2018. Renée believes in community wellness like fare-free TTC, mandating accessible housing and child care centres in condo developments, and accountability with the city’s employees.

Knia Singh

Singh is a father, lawyer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, musician, academic, and more. Singh says, “we should be able to achieve minimal unemployment and homelessness, considering the enormous resources we have at our disposal.”

Reginald Tull

As an at-risk youth advocate, Tull is an entrepreneur and author who believes in social justice, affordable housing, improving living conditions for tenants, and reducing gun violence in the city.

City Councillor Candidates

Charles Ozzoude

Ozzoude, a health equity researcher, is running for Ward 1 Etobicoke North. His focus includes supporting immigrants to establish themselves in Canada and improving community health services for our seniors, youth, and newcomers.

Amber Morley

Morley is a health Promoter focusing on the issues of food security and health equity and running for Ward 3 Etobicoke-Lakeshore. Engaged in the community for over 20 years, Morley is campaigning for safe streets, climate action, and resilient neighbourhoods.

Gabriel Takang

Takang is running for Ward 5 York South-Weston and has served the African-Caribbean community for the past 15 years. Takang’s platform focuses on childcare services, mental health resources for youth, transit and subway security, and more.

Amanda Coombs

Coombs is a mental health advocate and Toronto Community Crisis Service access facilitator for the Gerstein Crisis Centre. She is running for Ward 7 Humber River-Black Creek, and her platform is focused on combating gentrification, accessible recreational spaces for youth, and culturally competent resources.

Rocco Achampong

Achampong has practised law for over a decade and is running for Ward 10 Spadina-Fort York. He is fighting for property tax freezes, heritage preservation, and accessible childcare spaces.

Karlene Nation

Nation is running for Ward 10 Spadina-Fort York. Her platform is focused on increasing support for people with disabilities, supporting small businesses by lowering business taxes and removing red tape, and fast-tracking affordable housing by changing zoning laws.

Colin Johnson

Johnson is an activist on an array of issues relating to HIV, harm reduction, 2SLGBTIQ+, and anti-Black racism, and is running for Ward 13 Toronto Centre. Johnson’s platform centres on public safety and inclusivity, reenvisioning the shelter system and advocating provincial funding for businesses impacted by Ontario Line Construction.

Chris Moise

Moise has had his share of titles as a former TDSB trustee, vice-chair of TDSB, health care worker, and police officer. He is running for Ward 13 Toronto Centre and is also a small business owner in the area he is running for. Moise plans to create a new 3-digit emergency phone number (988) for health & wellness-related calls, build and maintain public washrooms and other amenities, and preserve the Church Wellesley Village by designating it a cultural district.

Denise Walcott

With a public and policy administration background, Walcott is running for Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth. Walcott focuses on helping businesses recover by finding more staff, increasing foot traffic, reducing speed limits on residential streets, and working on plans to reduce traffic.

Angela Lindow

Lindow is running for Ward 14 Don Valley North. Her platform intends to take a closer look at issues surrounding job opportunities, rent affordability and availability.

Michael Thompson

Thompson has been the incumbent for Ward 21 since 2003 and is the deputy mayor of the east area of the city. Thompson’s platform focuses on the arts with initiatives like Scarborough’s photo and talent contest. Thompson also envisions a night economy, advocating for inclusive and safe nightlife for local businesses, restaurateurs, venue operators, residents and more. Thompson is seeking re-election.

Jamaal Myers

Myers is a community advocate, lawyer, and coalition builder. He is running for Ward 23 Scarborough North. His focus includes transforming the TTC by reversing service cuts, lowering fares, and ensuring pedestrian safety by creating an integrated and safe transit, walking and biking network.

Ajax

 

Arthur Augustine

Augustine is an entrepreneur and businessman residing in the Town of Ajax for over 36 years and is running for mayor. If elected, he plans to dish out better marketing strategies to attract businesses, reduce the wait time for affordable housing, and limit increases in property taxes.

Phiona Durrant

Phiona Durrant, founder of the Aurora Black Community Association (ABCA) is running for mayor. She’s a local business owner (Coconut Village Spa) and has been living in Aurora for 16 years. 

Her priorities include affordable housing, enhancing the transit system, commuter safety and accessibility.

Local Councillor Candidates

Liliane Niyongabo Kisoro

Kisoro is running for local Councillor of Ward 3.

Pickering

Local Councillor Candidates

Damian Williams

Williams is running for city Councillor in Ward 3. Williams is passionate about getting local businesses needed investments from the city, opening an inquiry to reduce car thefts in Pickering, and implementing youth outreach programs.

Whitby

Local Councillor Candidates

PG Case

Case is the co-founder of DurhamONE, a not-for-profit organization devoted to amplifying the voice of Durham residents in matters such as economic development, safety and community engagement. He is running for local councillor of East Ward 4.

Brampton

Local Councillor Candidates

Stacey Ann Brooks

Brooks is running for Wards 1 and 5. Her platform wants to tackle increasing healthcare facilities, lobbying to attract a university, and preserving heritage properties.

Jermaine Chambers

Chambers is running for Wards 2 and 6. Chambers has a lengthy background in banking. Chambers wants to tackle community safety, accountability for Brampton City Hall, and helping first-time home buyers if given a chance.

Carmen Wilson

Wilson is running for Wards 2 and 6. Her platform focuses on maximizing job creation, developing a full-time mental health and addiction facility, and hiring more police for community safety.

Cleopatra Gooden-Simms

Gooden-Simms is running for Wards 3 and 4. She is a devoted mother, wife, activist and community leader. Her platform will focus on reducing crime, alleviating poverty, and improving access to housing and employment generation.

Carla Green

Green is a passionate humanitarian who loves people and enjoys working with families in her community. She is running for Wards 3 and 4. She focuses on more subsidies for low-income earners, youth programs, and frontline nurses and staff.

Donna Williams

Williams is running for Wards 7 and 8. She has over 20 years of experience developing and managing operations within the Commerce, Energy, Real Estate, Government, and Not-for-Profit sectors. Williams' focus includes more bylaw officers, community outreach to promote bylaw awareness and a second emergency room at Peel Memorial.

Cindy-Ann Williams

Williams is a community activist and is running for Wards 7 and 8. She plans to reduce the council to 9 seats to save 2.4 million over four years, reduce pot shops from opening to make room for public resources, and increase speed bumps for residential areas.

Michael Farquharson

Farquharson has an extensive record as a community advocate and is running for Wards 7 and 8. He plans to redesign major roadways with HOV lanes, prioritize public transportation and vehicles with two or more occupants, and delegate more police patrols on streets overnight.

Janice Gordon-Daniels

Gordon-Daniels is running for Wards 9 and 10. She plans to prioritize the call for transparency, integrity and duty of care.

Regional Councillor Candidates

Idris Orughu

Orughu is running for Wards 1 and 5 and has worked with all levels of government and community members. He has been a strong voice in his clean-up-Brampton initiative before making it an election issue. Community involvement and Civic Duty are important areas to him.

Keba Tamara Thomas

Thomas is running for Wards 2 and 6. She plans to engage community residents and businesses with real opportunities and possibilities.

Andria Barrett

Barrett is running for Wards 3 and 4. Barrett works in corporate wellness and is a small business advocate. She plans to hire more by-law officers to enforce property standard complaints, clean up communities, and increase support for mental health.

Mississauga

Mayoral Candidates

Bobbie Taffe

Taffe is excited to guide Mississauga into a new diverse era and is humbled to be given the chance to run and be counted as a woman, human, and Black Afro-Caribbean female of Jamaican Heritage.

Local Councillor Candidates

Winston Harding

Harding is running for Ward 3. He plans to increase farming lands for food production, funding for vulnerable populations, and more diversity for city hall.

Martin Reid

Reid owns a health and wellness business and is running for Ward 9. His platform includes:

• Supporting local businesses in the recovery stage
• Increasing local partnerships to keep the community healthy and active
• Cultivating stronger neighbourhood connections with the help of safe city resources

Brennan Bempong

Bempong is the youngest candidate, running for Ward 10 within the city. ByBlacks spoke with Bempong earlier this year. He plans to implement a community engagement check-in every three weeks to prioritize accountability, open up community centres for parking, and develop a space where residents can study, exercise, and socialize with other community members.

Hamilton

Mayoral Candidates  

Solomon Ikhuiwu

Ikhuiwu is an author, faith-based motivational speaker, and visionary running for Mayor of Hamilton. He plans to address Hamilton's opioid epidemic, deliver homeless transition plans, and investigate the ongoing LRT project.

City Councillor Candidates

Maxwell Francis

Francis is the founder of True Hamiltonian, a clothing line centred on residents' love for their city, and is running for Ward 4. He hopes for the continued development of Kenilworth as the next great Hamilton shopping district with a proportionate amount of green space and affordable housing.

Sonia Brown

Brown is running for local Councillor of Ward 8. Issues on her radar are high taxes impacting senior residents living on their own with a fixed income, cleaning up community creeks and spaces, and tracking unnecessary spending.

Kojo Dampte

Damptey describes himself as a change-maker, community builder, civic leader, musician, and educator. He is prone to increasing funding for organizations serving and working with Indigenous peoples, establishing better storm management fees to address rainwater overflow that causes flooding, and expanding recreational sports programs for youth. He is running for local Councillor of Ward 14.

Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge

Local Councillor Candidates

Obinna Obi

Obi is a community support worker running for local Councillor of Ward 4. Obi's platform focuses on subsidizing the cost of housing, tackling the need for childcare facilities and waiting lists, and mental health services.

Colleen James

James is the founder of Divonify Incorporated, a consulting firm specializing in equity, diversity, and inclusion, running for Regional Council in Kitchener. James has 15 years of municipal government experience, including nearly a decade as a staff member at the Region of Waterloo, working directly with the regional council as a Research Assistant.

Her top three issues are housing, affordability, and access to services. In her first 100 days, she says her priorities are: building trusted relationships; having equity-informed community discussions, listening and collaborating; empowering and amplifying; taking meaningful action and being accountable.

Ayo Owodunni

Ayo Owodunni is a Senior Manager at the Black Professionals in Tech Network, running for a Ward 5 councillor seat in the City of Kitchener. His key issues are road and traffic safety, low taxes, and housing affordability. If elected, his first priority will be to ensure a fiscally responsible 2023 budget

Erick Takor

Erick Takor is running for the Ward 1 seat in the City of Cambridge. Takor has been involved in the formation and leadership of multiple community-based organizations around the GTA for over 15 years as the founder and former president of MECA Toronto (a cultural org) and Camer SC (a soccer club). He was also a member and former chairperson of the St. Gabriel Catholic School Council in Cambridge. Takor’s priorities are housing affordability, property taxes and fiscal responsibility.

Peterborough

Mayoral Candidates

Stephen Wright

Wright is a 17-year resident of Peterborough and identifies as a community builder and advocate. He is running for mayor of Peterborough. He aims to push for a Peterborough airport to expand its tax base, reinvent the downtown core to increase density, and solidify a climate action plan.

City Councillor Candidates

Chante White

White is running for the city council of Ward 1 Ontonabee. She has spent years volunteering within the community and advocating for youth. Her platform consists of tackling the opioid crisis in the community, helping the resilience of small businesses, and fighting for inclusivity.

Charmaine Magumbe

Magumbe, a community leader, is running for city council of Ward 2 Monaghan. Her priorities can be organized into three sections: equity, environment, and economy. This includes promoting neighbourhood associations within each ward to encourage people to build connections in their neighbourhoods, protecting green spaces, and diversifying their tax base by working more closely with local economic development professionals.

Ottawa

Mayoral Candidates

Ade Olumide

Olumide, a democracy rights defender who has worked globally, is running for mayor of Ottawa. Olumide’s platform focuses on free transit through a four-year hiring freeze, implementing a hydro affordability motion, and reducing the root causes of homelessness.

Bernard Couchman

Couchman, an experienced marketing expert, is vying for mayor of Ottawa for the third time. He says his leadership style is not about mandates but about having options and choices. He believes in working with the province and the federal government to expedite the cash flow to the ground floor to the people that need it the most.

Local Councillor Candidates

Taayo Simmonds

Simmonds is the managing lawyer at Simmonds Law, a civil litigation law firm with offices in Ottawa and Toronto. He is running for city council for Ward 3. He plans to fight for better bus routes within our community, fight for the Greenbank Road Realignment and Southwest Transitway, and fix the vacant unit tax.

Rawlson King

King is an entrepreneur and communication professional with over 20 years of private sector experience in various industries. He is running for city council in Ward 13. King was elected the first-ever Black city councillor in a historic by-election held in April 2019 in Ward 13 Rideau-Rockcliffe. He plans to secure the creation of an Anti-Racism Secretariat for the city, allocate 2.66 million for safety, accessibility and energy efficiency improvements in social housing, and add new or increased service on routes 15 and 27.

Yvetter Ashiri

Ashiri is a mother, public servant, and community organizer. She is running for city council in Ward 19. Her platform aims to develop a local food strategy to give our farmers more opportunities to provide food to residents, advocate for speed calming measures like lower speed limits and automated speed enforcement, and support a shift to clean, renewable energy city-wide.

Thunder Bay

Local Councillor Candidates

Adetunde Ogunberu

Ogunberu is a business owner, father, and husband running for city Councillor at large. He is dedicated to working towards the effective delivery of civil services for the community, supporting initiatives that address the needs of the people, and ensuring the development of the community by actively contributing to strategies aimed at increasing Thunder Bay's prosperity.

This is a growing list. If we missed any candidates, please shoot us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.