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Arushi Nath. 13 years. Grade 8. Toronto.

Olivia Chow was sworn in as Toronto’s 66th mayor today (12 July 2023). She is the first racialized and only the third women Mayor of Toronto – a city whose 57% percent of the residents belong to a visible minority group.

The change was long, long overdue. I am proud to have played my part by volunteering and campaigning for Olivia Chow during weekends and after-school hours for the last month.

Toronto belongs to all of us. We live here. Go to school here. Take public transit and use public services: parks, libraries, community centres, water fountains, streets, bike lanes, and museums year-round.

We may be too young to vote, but we have opinions and a voice and do not hesitate to use it.

Our message to the elected officials is clear: 

• Create a kinder and more compassionate Toronto that works for everyone
• Use the public budget to improve and expand our public services to make the city affordable
• Fight for the interests of Toronto at all levels of Government
• Promote diversity, not divisions, to make our communities stronger and the city vibrant

We will keep making efforts for our voices to be heard by the elected representatives at the City Hall: the Mayor and the Councillors. We will keep reminding them they are there to serve the public and work for the public good.

We will keep doing this democratically through suggestions, dialogues, collaborations, deputes, and sometimes peaceful protests. And if those in power still do not hear us, we will organize and campaign to send elected officials to the City Hall that do. 

Today we made a celebratory bike journey with bells and whistles, organized by Cycle Toronto, with hundreds of other riders accompanying Olivia Chow to be sworn in as the Mayor of Toronto at the City Hall. It was a wonderful feeling to have a City Mayor who rides her bike daily to work and represents the shifting demographic of Toronto.

The journey does not end: making our city better will always be a work in progress, and we must keep participating.

Campaigning Summary for Olivia Chow and Some Reflections

13 June 2023, 6pm to 9pm: Broadview and Pape Station. Toronto – Danforth Ward

It was my first time campaigning for Olivia Chow. I had signed up at the Olivia Chow campaign website for a volunteering opportunity near the Broadview TTC Station.

On arriving at the venue using the TTC, I signed in and helped myself to some Olivia Chow signs and badges. I talked to those assembled. They came from so many different backgrounds: some were teachers, others were street nurses, recently housed, union workers, and youths snd families eager for a change at the City Hall.

The crowd became enthusiastic when Olivia Chow arrived to talk to the volunteers along with Toronto-Danforth Ward Councillor Paula Fletcher. She knew many of them. She gave a short talk about the importance of making cities affordable through better transit and public housing and thanked everyone assembled there for supporting her campaign.

The talk was followed by organizing for door-to-door campaigning. Everyone was paired up with a partner and given a clipboard with a list of addresses they should go to for campaigning, alongside a pack of pamphlets.

My addresses were closer to the Pape station. So we took the TTC down to the Pape station and started making the rounds of the houses. We knocked at single-tenant and multi-tenant houses, asked them if they knew about the upcoming Mayoral by-election and had decided upon a candidate. If not, we briefed them about Olivia Chow and gave them pamphlets that described her election mandate.

It was raining the whole time, so we had to juggle carrying umbrellas to keep ourselves and the campaigning material dry. After knocking over 130 doors, I took the TTC back to Broadview Station to return the list of addresses with my notes on houses knocked and the responses I got.

15 June 2023, 5pm to 9pm: Queen and John Street. Spadina – Fort York Ward

Today we went to support Olivia Chow during her last mayoral debate. We held up signs and cheered on the streets, talking to passersby while waiting for Olivia Chow to arrive at the CP24 building.

There were around 15 campaign volunteers. When Olivia Chow arrived, she acknowledged the volunteers and gave a short thanks to those assembled.

It was followed by partnering with another volunteer for door-to-door campaigning near Queen and John Street. This neighbourhood mainly consisted of individual houses, but there were a few low-rise buildings. We received a very high response rate of about 25% (the number of people who opened the door).

17 June 2023, 12pm to 3.30pm: Queen and University Street/ Grange Park. Spadina – Fort York Ward

I campaigned this time in the Queen and University area near Grange Park. We went to 4 different building complexes where we covered every floor. Time was of the essence since election day was coming up on 26 June. In our limited time, we had to move swiftly to cover as many houses as possible. While campaigning in buildings is often much faster than individual houses, as they are next to each other. We had a target of covering over 400 apartments.

We usually waited about 30 seconds in front of each apartment for the president to open the door. If there was no response, we dropped in a flyer and moved to the next unit. Finding the best way to keep the flyer was a fun challenge, and the position often changed as the designs of apartment doors changed with each building. Sometimes we would slip the flyer under the door and insert it between the door and the wall. The most difficult one was making it fit under the door handle.

It was a very hot day, but we made good progress on our target.

22 June 2023, 6.30pm to 9.30pm. The Concert Hall, 888 Yonge Street

I attended the second Olivia Chow rally at the Concert Hall. The first one had been held in Scarborough a few days before. Almost 400 supporters and volunteers showed up. The queue of people waiting to enter extended the entire block.

It was an enjoyable event happening during the Pride Festival week. I was excited to have been invited to be on the stage to join other volunteers who would be behind Olivia when she spoke.

The rally started with a dance performance and a few guest speeches, including by the Spadina Fort York Ward Councillor Ausma Malik. They shared their experiences working with Olivia Chow in different capacities and why they supported her candidature. Finally, Oliva Chow appeared on the stage, dancing her way, through the crowd. The energy in the room was terrific, and it was clear that a change would be coming soon in Toronto City Hall. It was a wonderful evening supporting Olivia Chow and an opportunity to meet other volunteers, including those with whom I had campaigned earlier.

25 June 2023, 1pm to 4.30 pm. Don Mills Area, Don Valley West Ward

It was the day before the election day. So the campaigning objective and process were slightly different. Today’s focus was reaching out to the supporters of Olivia Chow, reminding them of the election day tomorrow, the timings for voting (10am to 8pm) and where they could cast their vote.

To provide information on the voting timings (10 am to 8 pm) and the polling booths nearest to the location of the supporters, we used “vote-ats,” a customized version of the Olivia Chow flyer with polling booth information.

We assembled at the Oliva Chow downtown campaigning office on Bloor Street. Our primary target was the Don Mills area (Ward 25). Supporters there were very spread out, so we had to use a car to go from one house to the other. Here we went in a team of 4. One person drove, the other found the most optimal route to cover all the houses, and the other 2 (with me included!) got out of the car to distribute the vote-ats. We delivered the vote-ats without knocking on the door because of limited time and the large number of houses to be covered. It was interesting to see how the density of the houses decreased as we left the core downtown. The best part was that my campaigning team included Shelagh Pizey-Allen from the TTCRIders – a public transit advocacy group I am a member of and participate in their events.

26 June 2023 (Election Day), 3pm to 6pm. Trinity Bellwoods Area, Spadina – Fort York

Today was the voting day. It was also a school day. I could not vote, but I was excited to deliver last-minute support to the Olivia Chow campaign after school. Like during the weekend, our primary target continued to be supporters of Oliva Chow and reminding them to vote. They could still vote if they stood in line by 8pm at their designated polling booth. The real test of a successful campaign is always getting your supporters to vote.

The Olivia Chow campaign had houses in each ward where volunteers could go to collect their vote-ats for distribution or return their material. The house I went to collect my material was close to Trinity Bellwoods. Campaigning was done in a set of rounds. Each team was given a set of about 50 houses spread over a row of streets. Completing those houses took around an hour. We marked down all the houses that did and did not reply. Once we were done, we returned to all the houses that did not reply to try again. It usually went on for 2 or 3 rounds. It was a very intensive day, and I partnered with many volunteers to complete many rounds.

I volunteered till we had finished all the houses in our area.

26 June 2023 (Election Day Party), 8.30pm to 11pm. The Great Hall. Toronto

Once voting booths closed, all Olivia Chow volunteers and supporters were invited to assemble at the Great Hall to celebrate a great victory hopefully. At the beginning of vote counts, the polls were intense, with Ana Balow leading the race. Slowly Olivia Chow’s numbers started rising, first tieing with Bailao and then taking the lead as results from many downtown wards and advanced voting began to come in.

Chow won 37.2% of the vote, ahead of Bailão with 32.5%. She was declared the winner and Mayor-elect. The atmosphere at the Great Hall was jubilant. Our hard work had paid off. The venue and the overflow room were brimming with supporters.

Olivia emerged on the stage to give her victory speech. She took this opportunity to thank other Mayor contenders and the people of Toronto who supported her vision. She promised to work for all Torontonians.

Even though it was a long day, starting from going to school and ending at the Olivia Chow victory party, it was a good kind of day. It was an opportunity to meet all the fellow campaigners I had worked with over the past few weeks and celebrate our hard work had paid off.

29 June 2023. 1pm to 4.30pm South East of Toronto Centre Ward

Even after voting was done, there was still work to be done. All Olivia Chow signs had to be removed from houses and lawns. The municipal law stated that all Toronto mayoral by-election signs must be removed within three days of the election by 29 June 2023. The campaign volunteers went out alone this time. My target was in the southeast part of the Toronto Centre near Regent Park. I only had about 15 locations to visit, but they were all spread out. So I had to use public transit, which unfortunately is unreliable and slow, which was one of the reasons I campaigned for Olivia Chow to reverse the decline in public transit service.

Only houses were visited, as we only had to remove the publicly visible election signs. It was expected all other signs would be removed and properly disposed of by the homeowners or those living there.

I carried all the signs I collected to the Olivia Chow campaign office in downtown Toronto.

Table of My Key Activities Related To the Olivia Chow Campaign