TimminsToday asked each of the candidates to submit a bio to introduce themselves to the voters. Here's Ward 5 candidate Caroline Martel's:
Having lived in Timmins her entire life, Caroline’s life has been rich in lived and learned experiences of growing up in rural Northern Ontario. Her passion for serving her community, politics and advocacy was ignited at a young age, when she began delivering the newspaper (but not without first reading it).
After becoming a young single parent, she decided to study and work in the social services field hoping to be a part of creating positive changes on a larger scale. She graduated from Northern College and began working tirelessly as an advocate in the sector. Early on she noticed many gaps and barriers in services and ways in which our leaders had been failing us as a community, so she continued learning and unlearning ways to best support our community. She returned to school on nights and weekends while continuing to be inspired by the people she works with to fight harder for the unheard. Both her and her daughter will be graduating in the spring, from Algoma University and Theriault, respectively.
When asked why she was running for council she said that now more than ever women need to be represented at all levels of government. She believes decisions are being made by folks who are too far removed from the complex and ever-changing situations that they are working to address and that as a community we need fresh, new perspectives and leaders at city council who are not afraid of the difficult work needed ahead of us as we rebuild a safer Timmins that everyone can be proud of.
She says the only way for her to describe Timmins right now would be to say that it feels like she’s “watching a house burn down, knowing everyone I love is in that house and I can’t do anything about it”. In terms of safety, “we can’t afford to wait another four years”, adding that “we have a lot of catch-up work to do, especially after being set back in many ways during the pandemic”.
She decided to take an unpaid sabbatical and step away from her career as the manager of programs and services with a local social service agency, overseeing one of the women’s shelters, the sexual assault centre and Second Stage Transitional Housing units to channel her passion for serving her community in a different way.
If elected, Caroline intends to continue her tireless work collaborating with other leaders, many of whom she has built long relationships with, to tackle issues such as safety, housing, and the overdose crisis.
She wants to ensure residents can be closely connected to their council representatives and be informed with the truth — she’s hoping you will say hello when you see her! You can also contact her at [email protected].
The municipal election is on Oct. 24. The other Ward 5 candidates are Steve Black, Rick Dubeau, Veronica Farrell, Andrew Marks, James McMahon, Kristin Murray, Cory Robin, Neil Siblall and Ed Stecewicz.
