Claudette Millar (February 3, 1935 - February 10, 2016) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, most noted as the first mayor of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Biography

Millar was born February 3, 1935, in Belleville. She grew up primarily in Kitchener after relocating there with her family as a child. She obtained her pilot and driving licenses at age 16. Following graduation from Kitchener Collegiate Institute, Millar went on to study at

Millsaps College Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History The college was founded in 1889–90 by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webste ...

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...

. She graduated in with a Bachelor of Arts. Millar was elected mayor of Preston in 1969, becoming Canada's youngest mayor at 35. When Preston, along with Galt, Hespeler and Blair, was amalgamated into Cambridge in 1973, Millar was elected the city's first mayor. She served two non-consecutive terms: from 1973 until 1974 and again from 1978 to 1988. As mayor, Millar was noted particularly for her work in preserving the city's cultural and environmental heritage. She opposed the construction of a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

bypass which would have disrupted parkland in the city, including the Dumfries Conservation Area and the Rare Charitable Reserve. She was a three-time

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser (Ontario MPP), John Fraser since August 2022. The party esp ...

candidate for the electoral district of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, losing to

Monty Davidson Montgomery Bryden "Monty" Davidson (23 October 1935 – 26 March 2017) was Canadian politician. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the riding of Cambridge from 1975 until 1981. Background Monty Davidson w ...

in the 1975 election and the 1977 election, and to

Mike Farnan Michael Liam Farnan (born January 29, 1941) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1995, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae. Back ...

in the 1987 election. She sought the Liberal nomination for Cambridge again in the 1999 election, but lost to Jerry Boyle. Following the end of her term as mayor, Millar was appointed to the

Ontario Municipal Board The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters sp ...

. In 2003 she returned to municipal politics, winning election to a seat on

Waterloo Regional Council The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumfr ...

. In that role, she was instrumental in bringing the Toyota plant to Cambridge. She held the role until announcing her retirement in 2014. In 2015 Millar was inducted into the Region of Waterloo's Hall of Fame. Millar died February 10, 2016, of stomach cancer after a brief stay at a

Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Welli ...

hospice. She was buried at the Blair Cemetery in Cambridge, Ontario. In November 2017,

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

announced the naming of a recently opened residence building as Claudette Millar Hall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millar, Claudette 1929 births 2016 deaths Mayors of Cambridge, Ontario Women mayors of places in Ontario Ontario Liberal Party candidates in Ontario provincial elections