Brenda Paris facts for kids

Brenda Mae Paris is a well-known politician and activist from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is an important leader in Montreal's Black community. She has run for a spot on the Montreal city council two times.

Early Life and Community Work

Paris grew up in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighborhood. She studied social sciences at Concordia University. She also became a certified Family Life Educator. This means she learned how to help families with different life challenges.

Paris worked for many years at Dawson College, helping students. She retired from this job in 2007. She also served on several important committees for the government of Quebec. One of these was the Conseil des relations interculturelles, which deals with different cultures. In the early 2000s, she was the leader of Montreal's Black Community Resource Centre. This center helps Black English-speaking people in Montreal.

In 2002, Paris was chosen to be a director for the Montreal Transit Corporation. This company runs the city's buses and subways. She represented the people who use public transit. Later that year, she joined a special group that looked into issues of diversity on public transit. This group was formed after some people reported unfair treatment by transit police. She stayed on the transit board until 2009.

Paris has also been a leader for the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada. This group supports immigrant and visible minority women across Canada.

Political Career

Paris first ran for a seat on the city council in the 2005 Montreal municipal election. She was a candidate for the Montreal Island Citizens Union (MICU) party. She ran in the Saint-Henri–La Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles area. At the time, she was the only candidate of African descent for her party. She believed that Mayor Gérald Tremblay was helping more people from different cultures get jobs in the city. She lost the election by a small number of votes to Line Hamel.

After the election, Paris joined the main committee of the MICU party in 2005. She became the president of the party in April 2006. She was re-elected in 2007, after the party changed its name to Union Montreal.

In 2009, Paris left Union Montreal and joined another party called Vision Montreal. She was worried about some "questionable deals" linked to Mayor Tremblay's party. She then ran for borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in the 2009 Montreal municipal election. Even though she was a well-known candidate, she finished third. Michael Applebaum won the election. Some people thought she didn't do well because of the leader of Vision Montreal, Louise Harel. Harel supports Quebec becoming its own country, while many voters in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce want Quebec to stay part of Canada.

During the 2009 election, Louise Harel said that Paris was one of her main English-speaking advisors. The next year, Harel gave Paris important roles in Vision Montreal. Paris became the party's spokesperson on public transport and public safety. She was also in charge of talking with Montreal's English-speaking communities. She held these jobs until March 2011.

Electoral Record

Paris has run in several elections. Here are some of her results:

• In the 2009 Montreal municipal election, she ran for borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
• In the 2005 Montreal municipal election, she ran for city councillor in Saint-Henri–La Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles.