Rawlson King

Rawlson King is a Canadian politician, who was elected to Ottawa City Council in a by-election on April 15, 2019.[2] King is the city's first-ever Black Canadian city councillor.

Rawlson King
Ottawa City Councillor
Assumed office
April 16, 2019[1]
Preceded byTobi Nussbaum
ConstituencyRideau-Rockcliffe Ward
Personal details
BornToronto, Ontario, Canada

To advance anti-racism and race relations initiatives in 2020, King was appointed Council Liaison for Anti-Racism and Ethnocultural Relations Initiatives.

King is Chair of the Built Heritage Sub-Committee and serves on the Standing Committee on Environmental Protection, Water and Waste Management, and on the boards of the Ottawa Police Service, Crime Prevention Ottawa, Ottawa Community Housing Corporation, Ottawa Community Lands Development Corporation and Quartier Vanier BIA.

Previously, King was a long time community volunteer, where he served as president of the Overbrook Community Association, a board member at the Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre, and co-chair of the Ottawa Police Service Community Equity Council.[2] He holds both a bachelor of journalism (with concentration in legal studies), and a M.A. in communication from Carleton University.

King identified his early priorities as developing a poverty reduction strategy for impoverished neighbourhoods; working to improve roads, public transit and social services; and improving the relationship of people of colour with the police.[3]

In his bid for election, King was endorsed by a number of high-profile progressives in Ottawa, including NDP MPP Joel Harden, city councillors Catherine McKenney and Shawn Menard, and former city councillor Clive Doucet.[4]

He succeeded Tobi Nussbaum as councillor for Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward.[5] King had previously run in Rideau-Rockcliffe in the 2010 municipal election and ran for a trustee seat on the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board in the 2018 municipal elections. He was unsuccessful on both occasions.

King's parents were teachers from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and his father was born in Aruba.[6]

Electoral record

2019 Rideau-Rockcliffe By-Election Results
Rideau-Rockcliffe (Ward 13)[7]
Candidate Votes %
Rawlson King152918.36%
Jamie Kwong140616.88%
Penny Thompson85110.22%
Marc Dorgeville7949.53
Sheila Perry7428.91
Maurice Lamirande7088.5
Johan Hamels6657.98
Kasia Adamiec5076.09
Chris Penton4415.29
Oriana Ngabirano2472.97
Patrick Mayangi1351.62
Miklos Horvath891.07
Peter Heyck580.7
Peter Jan Karwacki480.58
Jerry Kovacs460.55
Idris Ben-Tahir350.42
Bruce A. Faulkner290.35

2018 Ottawa municipal election
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (Zone 12)[8]
Candidate Votes %
Sandra Schwartz (X)7,26574.31
Rawlson King2,51125.69

2010 Ottawa municipal election
Rideau-Rockcliffe (Ward 13)[9]
Candidate Votes %
Peter D. Clark272225.84%
Maurice Lamirande183517.42%
Sheila Perry170916.22%
Bruce Poulin169516.09%
Richard Cannings133312.65%
Corry Burke4384.16%
Rawlson King3803.61%
Pierre Maheu2242.13%
Harley Collison1291.22%
James Parker690.66%

References
  1. "'Ecstatic but exhausted': Rawlson King ready to get to work as Ottawa's first black city councillor". Ottawa Citizen,April 17, 2019.
  2. "Rawlson King wins Rideau-Rockcliffe byelection". CBC News, April 15, 2019.
  3. "Rawlson King vows to take on poverty in Rideau-Rockcliffe". CBC News Ottawa, April 16, 2019.
  4. https://www.rawlsonking.ca/endorsements
  5. "Rawlson King deviendra le premier conseiller municipal noir à Ottawa". Ici Radio-Canada Ottawa-Gatineau, April 15, 2019.
  6. "Ottawa has first Black councillor". Ron Fanfair. June 6, 2019.
  7. "2019 Rideau-Rockcliffe By-Election Results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
  8. "2018 Election Results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
  9. "2010 municipal elections results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
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