Former Jane & Finch resident Kristin Murray is Mayor of Timmins
August 17, 2022
Kristin Murray left Chapleau for Timmins to pursue post-secondary education with the intention of returning to the Arctic Watershed Township to use her acquired skills to enhance the lives of the area’s mainly indigenous residents.
Two decades later, she is still in the northeast Ontario City reaping the benefits of hardwork and the roots she planted in the city.
The product of a Cree First Nation mother and a father who migrated from Jamaica as a teenager is the first person of colour to hold the Mayoral seat in Timmins.
Murray grasps the significance of the appointment.
“Where I am located, you don’t necessarily see people around the decision-making tables that look like me,” said the mother of two daughters who was appointed to Timmins City Council in 2018 and served as Deputy Mayor. “The fact that I am in a place where people can see themselves and see some representation is huge. I really did not realize how much it mattered until I started receiving congratulatory messages, expressing how they feel and where they see me. To be honest, it’s is bigger than I thought.”
The Mayoral seat became vacant after George Pirie, who held it since 2018, was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in last June’s provincial elections.
Murray will serve in the role until the October municipal elections.
Unsure whether she will contest the Mayoral position, she plans to run for council to retain her seat.
“I am already seeing another side of people in the short time I have been Mayor,” Murray said. “When people see a Black person, a woman and someone who is Indigenous, there is a lot more judgment to the point where you feel that people want you to fail. I am seeing a nastier side of things. The other thing is I like to stay connected to community and I think I could do that best by being the Ward 5 councillor. In the Mayoral role, you are quite busy and involved in many activities. I don’t want to lose who I am in the sense of staying connected to the people around me. Also, one of my daughters is going off to pursue post-secondary studies soon and I have to take that into consideration. I am committed to the city one way or the other.”
In the meantime, she plans to address some of the social issues challenges that residents face in Northeastern Ontario’s fourth largest city.
“I have been on the frontlines working at the grassroots level,” Murray, who enjoys hunting and fishing and is a ringette coach, pointed out. “Like most Canadian communities, homelessness and addictions are major issues. We have had capable Mayors here who have brought a lot of business and opportunities to our city, but not from the lens that I can provide. In this role, I will hone in on how we can use strategic partnerships and creative solutions to get us in a better position.”
Her interest in public service and working at the grassroots level was inspired by her early beginnings in the Jane & Finch community where she was born and raised.
The family resided on Shoreham Court.
“That is where I gained a sense of the importance of community and that has stayed with me,” said Murray who left the area while in Grade Five at Gosford Public School. “When we relocated to Chapleau which is my mom’s First Nations home, I encountered the closeness of a small community with three First Nations Reserves. She started the Chapleau Aboriginal People’s Association and I volunteered with the organization and was involved in many community events.”
At age 17, she made the three-hour ride northeast to Timmins to study Social Service Work and Drug & Alcohol Counselling at Northern College.
“When I was leaving, I told a First Nations Chief that I was going to get educated and come back and help our people,” said Murray who returned to Chapleau last weekend for their 27th annual Traditional Gathering and Pow Wow. “There is this history of injustices and other challenges that people from Indigenous and Black communities are subjected to and I felt compelled to return and help. After I graduated, I got a job right away with an organization that helped me to stay connected to my community as well as 11 First Nations communities in the north.”
The holder of a Bachelor’s degree in Equity, Diversity & Human Rights from Laurentian University and a Leadership Certificate from St. Francis Xavier University, she worked in various social services roles with Indigenous organizations before her election to Timmins City Council four years ago when she defeated 11 candidates.
Kristin Murray is northeast Ontario’s second Black Mayor (Photo contributed)
Murray is northeast Ontario’s second Black Mayor and the eighth in Canada since Haitian-born Dr. Fermin Monestime broke the colour barrier in 1963, serving nine terms in Mattawa before succumbing to pancreatic cancer in 1977.
Quebec has had three Mayors of Haitian descent.
Rene Coicou, who died two years ago, held the position in Gagnon from 1973 to 1985 when the mining town was dissolved, Ulrick Cherubin served in Amos from 2002 until his death 12 years later and Michel Adrien has headed the Mont-Laurier municipality since 2003.
Daurene Lewis, who passed away in 2013, was Canada’s first Black female Mayor when she was elected in Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia.
Bernadette Clement was Cornwall’s Mayor for three years before her appointment to the Canadian Senate in June 2021 and Kassim Doumbia became New Brunswick’s first Black Mayor last year when he was elected in Shippagan, a small rural town on the Acadian Peninsula.
