It’s official. For the first time in eight years, Montreal will have a new mayor: Soraya Martinez Ferrada.
The leader of Ensemble Montréal has made history by becoming the first person of Latin American heritage to claim the city’s top job.
From her Chilean roots to her political experience, here’s some info for you to learn more about Montreal’s next mayor.
Fleeing a dictatorship
Born in 1972, Martinez Ferrada is originally from Santiago, Chile, putting her on a short list of Montreal mayors born outside of Canada.
She and her family moved to Canada as political refugees in 1980 when she was only eight years old, fleeing the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, who took power after leading a coup that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende.
Martinez Ferrada, pictured at age eight, with her grandfather standing before Saint-Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. (Soraya Martinez Ferrada Instagram)
“One childhood memory that I have of the dictatorship was seeing the military in the schoolyard that were forcing us to sing the new national anthem after Pinochet had changed it,” Martinez Ferrada told Radio-Canada’s Ça nous regarde in September 2023.
In a video she posted to her Instagram account in February, Martinez Ferrada recounted how she and her family — including her mother and grandparents — attended welcome classes to learn French shortly after arriving in Quebec.
From community work to municipal politics
Martinez Ferrada’s professional experience is rooted in the cultural and community sectors.
From 2002 to 2005, Martinez Ferrada worked at the TOHU, a performing arts venue located in Montreal’s east end, and created its first cultural and socio-professional integration program. She returned to the TOHU in 2014 as director of partnerships and philanthropy.
In 2005, she was elected as a city councillor for her home district of Saint-Michel before being appointed as a member of the executive committee.
WATCH | Soraya Martinez Ferrada celebrates historic win:
Martinez Ferrada celebrates breaking ‘another glass ceiling’
During her victory speech, Martinez Ferrada thanked her predecessor, Valérie Plante, for breaking the glass ceiling for women in Montreal politics. She then pointed out that she broke ‘another glass ceiling’ by becoming mayor herself.
Highlights of her term as councillor include the transformation of the Miron quarry into Frédéric-Back Park and the burying of electrical wires under Jarry Street.
In 2007, she left disgraced former Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay’s Union Montréal party, citing irreconcilable differences over his leadership.
Martinez Ferrada also served as chief of staff to Louise Harel, former Parti Québécois cabinet minister and Vision Montréal leader, who was head of the official opposition at Montreal city hall at the time.
Martinez Ferrada is seen here during Question Period in the House of Commons on Feb. 15, 2024 when she was Canada’s tourism minister. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)Ties to federal politics
Martinez Ferrada planned Mélanie Joly’s 2015 federal election campaign. She went on to serve as a senior adviser to Joly, then federal minister of Canadian Heritage.
In 2019, Martinez Ferrada became the first Liberal MP for the riding of Hochelaga in 35 years after defeating the Bloc Québécois candidate by a tight margin.
She took on several roles in federal politics, including parliamentary secretary to the ministers of housing and transport.
In 2023, she was appointed as tourism minister and the minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.
She has praised former Liberal MP and current Quebec Liberal Leader Pablo Rodriguez, calling him her “political mentor.”
Following in his footsteps, she resigned from Trudeau’s Liberal government in February, leaving behind her positions as cabinet minister and Liberal Party national campaign co-chair.
Shortly after, she announced her run for the leadership of Ensemble Montréal — the party that once bore the name of former federal cabinet minister and former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre.
No one ran against her and she won the race by acclamation.
As Canada’s tourism minister, Martinez Ferrada attended a housing announcement in Montreal alongside Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante on Aug. 30, 2024. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)City hall homecoming
Martinez Ferrada’s election win marks her return to municipal politics, the level of government where she started her political career.
Like the other candidates, she’s repeated promises to make housing more accessible, tackle homelessness and improve mobility.
She’s often said her experience in federal government would help her navigate Montreal’s relationship with Quebec and Ottawa to ensure housing gets built.
“You have to sit down with all levels of government and the private sector,” she told Radio-Canada in February.
“We have to have a conversation, we have to bring people together. We can’t be pointing the finger.”
During the campaign, she repeated the message that her administration would listen to Montrealers unlike — according to her — the Plante administration.
She’s often had to defend herself against accusations that she is against bike paths due to her plan to temporarily halt the construction of new paths and audit the ones already in place.
Martinez Ferrada also emphasized that she would also focus on improving the co-ordination of construction sites across the city.