Balarama Holness (born July 20, 1983), also known as Steven Holness, is a politician and former

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. He was originally signed by the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2008. He won a Grey Cup Championship with the Montreal Alouettes in 2010. He played

CIS Football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic confer ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. While studying law at McGill University, he ran for borough mayor of

Montréal-Nord Montreal North (french: Montréal-Nord) is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city of Montréal-Nord on Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. It was amalgamated into t ...

for

Projet Montréal Projet Montréal (officially Projet Montréal - Équipe Valérie Plante) is a progressive, environmentalist municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2004, it is led by Valérie Plante, and holds a majority of seats on M ...

in the

2017 Montreal municipal election Municipal elections were held in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 5, 2017 as part of the 2017 Quebec municipal elections. Voters elected 65 positions on the Montreal City Council, including the mayor, borough mayors, and city coun ...

but lost to

Christine Black Christine Black is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She has served as borough mayor of Montréal-Nord and as a member of Montreal City Council since winning a by-election in April 2016. Black is a member of Ensemble Montréal. Early c ...

. After the 2017 election, Holness launched a petition calling for the city to hold a public consultation on systemic racism and discrimination. Founder of a social justice lobby group "Montreal in Action," Holness was profiled on November 21, 2020, by the

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...

as "an inspirational view of a man confronting systemic racism." On May 20, 2021, he announced his candidacy for mayor of Montreal in the

2021 Montreal municipal election Municipal elections were held in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 7, 2021, as part of the 2021 Quebec municipal elections. Voters elected 103 representatives in a First-past-the-post voting, first-past-the-post electoral system. Th ...

as a candidate of the Mouvement Montréal party. Holness finished in third place with 7.23% of votes and Mouvement Montréal failed to elect any of its candidates. On June 7, 2022, Holness announced the creation of party

Bloc Montreal The Bloc Montreal (french: Bloc Montréal) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It represents the interests of Montreal residents. The party ran thirteen candidates in the Greater Montreal Area during the 2022 Quebec general election. Polic ...

, being a part of the

2022 Quebec general election The 2022 Quebec general election was held on October 3, 2022, to elect the members of the National Assembly of Quebec. Under the province's fixed election date law, passed in 2013, "the general election following the end of a Legislature shall b ...

. Bloc Montreal finished with only 0.2% of votes and it failed to elect any of its candidates, including Holness himself. Andrew Michael Holness, the current Prime Minister of Jamaica is his first cousin. Balarama's mother is a French-speaking Quebecer from Montreal. His daughter is named after

Marie-Joseph Angélique Marie-Josèphe dite Angélique (died June 21, 1734) was the name given to a Portuguese-born black slave in New France (later the province of Quebec in Canada) by her last owners. She was tried and convicted of setting fire to her owner's home, bu ...

, a Portuguese-born black slave in

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

Election Results

Source: Global News

References

External links

Montreal Alouettes bioOfficial website
1983 births Anglophone Quebec people Canadian football defensive backs French Quebecers Living people Montreal Alouettes players Ottawa Gee-Gees football players Players of Canadian football from Quebec Politicians from Montreal Canadian football people from Montreal Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Canadian sportsperson-politicians Black Canadian players of Canadian football Black Canadian politicians {{Canadianfootball-defensiveback-stub