Meet the municipal candidates for Ward 12 Rideau-Vanier

October 1, 2026 Content Manager

IMAGE and the Lowertown Echo collaborated to reach out to all six candidates for Ward 12 Rideau-Vanier municipal councillor with a series of questions. The first two broad questions were answered by five of the six candidates in time for our deadline. Answers appear in alphabetical order and may have been cut to comply with the word limit requirement. No replies were received from the sixth candidate, Eric Smith.

Julie Fiala Chartrand

Julie Fiala Chartrand, Ph.D, is a proud Franco-Ontarian artist, museum curator and volunteer. She piloted a free university project near Chandigarh, India, and hosted a dialogue about public safety in Hyde Park, Leeds. She worked as a housing consultant and was a board member for the Vanier Community Association.

Why do you want to be the councillor for Ward 12 Rideau – Vanier?

As an artist and curator, I believe in the importance of care; to curate means to care for. When we beautify our lives, we help create the world we want, and the community we need to grow. My dad recently reminded me of the Benedictine saying, “listen with the ear of your heart.” This has always been the way I operate. When we die, it doesn’t matter what we did or the wealth we had. What matters is how we cared for others. I pledge to be a councillor for every person and to improve your quality of life.

What do you think are the most important issues affecting Sandy Hill and Lowertown, and how do you propose to deal with them?

I want to focus on stewardship to improve City services (OC Transpo, parks, culture facilities; recycling, solid waste management; the Social Housing Registry, and affordability; basic health and dental care). It is by addressing the needs of the most vulnerable that we begin to build a better world. We must deal with heavy topics like homelessness, mental health and addiction. Considering the bleakness coming from the USA, I think it is time for artists to contribute to building this better world. As Ottawa Life Magazine argues, we need to build communities – not just homes. A roof is simply not enough!

Lyra Evans

Lyra Evans is a multi-award winning 2SLGBTQIA+ community leader for over 15 years, former non-profit executive director, and twice elected public school board trustee. She has a diversity of lived experience, including being homeless for years as a teen, and overseeing large public budgets in excess of one billion dollars.

Why do you want to be the councillor for Ward 12 Rideau – Vanier?

I look around the ward, and see things are getting worse, not better. I have a long history of improving things, particularly for marginalized identities and amplifying other peoples’ voices. My experience as a formerly homeless teenager, followed by my working with homeless teens and youth at the Youth Services Bureau, have given me a great deal of insight into how to start to solve the problems affecting the neighbourhood. I have enjoyed bringing the concerns and needs of the community to the school board over the past eight years and want to carry that passion into the future.

What do you think are the most important issues affecting Sandy Hill and Lowertown, and how do you propose to deal with them?

1) Homelessness, which is improved by matching the off-ramps from homelessness to the care and support necessary to get people out of the cycle of homelessness. Specifically, supportive or wraparound housing for those who need it.

2) Affordability of housing, which is improved by increasing the vacancy rate through building more city-owned and affordable housing, and making it easier for individual owners to turn single occupancy homes into multi-residential units.

3) Transit, which is solved by increasing reliability through a spare driver and bus program, reversing cuts-by-inflation, and changing the expectation that it is 50% fares, 50% city funding.

Brian James Paquette

I am an Ottawa native, martial arts instructor, entrepreneur, personal trainer, and youth mentor. As the owner of multiple academies, I’ve dedicated years to empowering people through fitness, leadership, and self-defence. My community work focuses on supporting youth and families while building confidence, resilience, discipline, and stronger, safer communities across Ottawa.

Why do you want to be the councillor for Ward 12 Rideau – Vanier?

As a local small business owner, father and Ottawa native, I have seen the incredible highs and lows of our ward. It has grown tremendously in both splendour, nightlife, arts, culinary offerings, yet sadly also grown in homelessness, addiction and violence.ÊI long for a Ward 12 where all are thriving and safe.ÊRunning for council is but one of several ventures I am undertaking to do my part to manifest this ideal.

What do you think are the most important issues affecting Sandy Hill and Lowertown, and how do you propose to deal with them?

I believe we should be compassionate toward people who are struggling, uncompromising about public safety, and accountable to taxpayers. Public safety isn’t an either-or choice between policing and social services. We need effective enforcement when crimes are committed and effective treatment when addiction or mental illness drives the problem. We must respect people’s rights while protecting residents, businesses, and vulnerable people from violence, exploitation, and disorder. Compassion cannot mean abandoning public safety. I believe in safer streets, responsible spending, practical solutions for homelessness and addiction, and a government that listens and answers to the people it serves.

Stéphanie Plante

A proud francophone, Stéphanie has called Ward 12 home since 2004. She lives in Sandy Hill with her family. Stéphanie was a surrogate for a gay couple in 2017and believes that LGBTQIA+ rights are human rights. Stéphanie is a basketball referee who loves coffee, audiobooks, reality TV.

Why do you want to be the councillor for Ward 12 Rideau – Vanier?

I have lived in Rideau-Vanier since 2004 and am raising my family here. This is my community, and I understand both what makes it special and the pressures our neighbourhoods carry. Since my election in 2022, we have accomplished a great deal together, from securing investments in parks, recreation and affordable housing to improving road safety and advancing the revitalization of the ByWard Market. We have also brought greater attention to challenges that have been allowed to fall disproportionately on downtown communities. I have the experience, relationships and determination to turn the work we started into lasting change.

What do you think are the most important issues affecting Sandy Hill and Lowertown, and how do you propose to deal with them?

Sandy Hill and Lowertown are asked to absorb a disproportionate share of the city’s shelters, social services, traffic and public-safety pressures. These are compassionate communities, but compassion cannot mean expecting the same few neighbourhoods to carry responsibilities that belong to the entire city and region. We need to distribute housing and services more fairly across Ottawa, while improving the management, security and funding of existing facilities. I will continue pushing for permanent and supportive housing as an alternative to large emergency shelters, along with properly funded mental-health and addiction treatment. The downtown truck route is another longstanding injustice; I support the proposed eastern interprovincial crossing.

Michael Karl Sewanaku

Born here. Lived in Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) on Bernard Street through high school and university, also stayed with my sister above Eastview Pizza in Vanier. My father relied on OCH on Rochester St. Earned three uOttawa degrees, then worked as labourer in Ft. McMurray before earning JD and MD.

Why do you want to be the councillor for Ward 12 Rideau – Vanier?

Over the past 10 years, homelessness and rents have become absurd, the OCH waiting list has become unacceptable, and OC Transpo became unreliable. Yet in Canada’s capital, where all federal MPs convene, every level of government has failed to act with urgency. Same politics, same problems. I want to bring a different approach. I’ll assemble the best team possible, calculate the true cost of homelessness in Rideau-Vanier, and demand adequate funding. If governments still refuse, I will live on the street in protest while using $1,900 of my monthly councillor’s salary to help someone else get off the street.

What do you think are the most important issues affecting Sandy Hill and Lowertown, and how do you propose to deal with them?

The most urgent issues are homelessness, affordability and crime. You can see the issues by standing at Nelson and Rideau or speaking with local businesses. These problems cannot be solved with slogans. I will assemble the strongest team possible, gather reliable data and press all levels of government for the funding and cooperation needed for housing, prevention, treatment and public safety. Governments can’t claim to keep people safe by building jails while failing to build housing. If they still refuse to act, I am prepared to live in a tent in protest. This political nonsense must stop.

Vote! Votez!

Advance Voting Day
Friday, October 16, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Sandy Hill Community Centre

Election Day
Monday, October 26, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Not sure of your polling station? Search online at: https://elections.ottawa.ca/VotingLocation/VotingLocation

For more coverage of Ward 12 candidates:

Action Sandy Hill and the Lowertown Community Association are jointly hosting a public forum that will include candidates for Ward 12 Councillor as well as school board trustees. The first hour will be a meet and greet to talk to school board and councillor candidates. The second hour will have remarks from councillor candidates and questions from the audience.
October 4 – Ward 12 Public Forum 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Lowertown Community Centre (aka “Patro”), 40 Cobourg Street.
Search YouTube for the Rogers “The Local Campaign” Ward 12 debate.
CTV News Meet the Candidates coverage: www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/meet-the-candidates-for-councillor-in-ward-12-rideau-vanier/
The non-partisan civic organization OPEG (Ottawa Public Engagement Group) asked candidates two questions:
1) Articulate a public position on engagement—not a generic statement about “listening to residents” but how and when residents will have influence over the decisions that affect them;
2) Explain how residents will influence decisions—not just be consulted but influence. Replies from mayoral and municipal councillor candidates can be found on its website: https://www.ottawapublicengagementgroup.ca/election-2026/responses