Carolann Wright is a Canadian activist and politician. Born in Nova Scotia, Wright lived in Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood in the 1980s, where she was chair of the community residents association. Wright was born the eldest of eight children in Beechville, Nova Scotia, a small Black community outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia where her family had lived since the 1800s. After attending

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

, she moved to Toronto in the 1970s to study commerce at York University. As a result of a failed relationship, she ended up homeless and living in a homeless shelter before re-establishing herself in the Regent Park neighbourhood of Toronto. She ultimately graduated from York, and found a job as a community worker running computer literacy classes for underprivileged children. She ran against sitting mayor Art Eggleton in the

1988 Toronto municipal election The 1988 Toronto municipal election was held to elect members of municipal councils, school boards, and hydro commissions in the six municipalities that made up Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The election was held November 14, 1988. This e ...

, placing second with 17% of the vote. Her campaign was organized by the Basic Action Poverty Group, a group of church and community workers, and supported by "Reform Toronto", a coalition of community activists that included sitting city councillor Jack Layton and Metro Toronto councillor

Roger Hollander Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

and former councillors

William Kilbourn William Morley Kilbourn, CM, FRSC (1926–1995) was a Canadian author and historian in Toronto, Ontario. Kilbourn's topics cover history, biography, religion and the arts, with a focus on Toronto; he penned over a dozen books. He was mar ...

and Allan Sparrow/ She ran on a platform of raising welfare payments by 25%, an amnesty for illegal apartments, more rooming houses. She was the first woman of colour to run for the office, and the last prominent contender until Olivia Chow ran in 2015. Wright's campaign was endorsed by Reform Toronto and the Basic Action Poverty Group. Wright ran on advocated raising increasing welfare payments by 25%, licensing more

rooming house A rooming house, also called a "multi-tenant house", is a "dwelling with multiple rooms rented out individually", in which the tenants share kitchen and often bathroom facilities. Rooming houses are often used as housing for low-income people, as ...

s in the city, and legalizing "illegal" apartments in subdivided houses Two years later, she ran in the

1990 Ontario general election Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

against Ian Scott for MP of St. George—St. David, losing the election by 65 votes, after a recount. In the mid-1990s, she left Toronto and moved back to Nova Scotia where she has worked for a series of community organizations in Halifax, and is currently director of community economic development and strategic engagement for African Nova Scotian communities for the Halifax Regional Municipality's economic development organization, Halifax Partnership.

References

Living people Ontario municipal politicians Canadian women activists Candidates in Ontario provincial elections York University alumni People from the Halifax Regional Municipality Black Canadian activists Black Canadian politicians Black Canadian women 20th-century Canadian politicians 20th-century Canadian women politicians 1957 births {{Toronto-stub