Sophie Alison Kiwala (born 1962) is a former politician in
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 Ca ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. She was a
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
member of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...
from 2014 to 2018 who represented the
riding of
Kingston and the Islands.
Background
Kiwala was born and raised in
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...
. She moved to
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
shortly after finishing high school, and took courses at
Humber College
The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...
. In 1986 she married and moved with her husband to
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
in the 1990s. She returned to Kingston in 1998 to look after her ailing mother.
She studied political science at
Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to:
*Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada
*Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
**Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950)
**Queen's University of Belfast ...
. Later she worked as House of Commons Speaker
Peter Milliken's office manager and then as Chief of Staff to MP
Ted Hsu
Theodore Hsu ( /ˈʃuː/; Chinese: 徐正陶; born March 4, 1964) is a Canadian physicist and politician who has represented Kingston and the Islands in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 2022 as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party. B ...
for seven years.
Politics
Kiwala ran for the Liberal nomination after incumbent Liberal MPP
John Gerretsen
John Philip Gerretsen (born June 9, 1942) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2014 who represented the eastern Ontario riding of Kingston and the Islands. He ser ...
announced in 2013 that he would not be running for re-election. She defeated three other candidates for the nomination, including former Kingston mayor
Harvey Rosen
Harvey Rosen was the mayor of the city of Kingston, Ontario, Canada from 2003 to 2010.
Early life and education
Rosen was born in Kingston in 1949. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from York University in Toronto, and a Bachelo ...
. In the
2014 Ontario election
The 2014 Ontario general election was held on June 12, 2014, to elect the members of the 41st Parliament of Ontario. The Ontario Liberal Party, Liberal Party won a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, legislature, allowing its ...
, Kiwala was elected in the
riding of
Kingston and the Islands, defeating
New Democrat
New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...
candidate Mary Rita Holland by 6,022 votes.
During her tenure, she has served as a
Parliamentary Assistant to several ministers, most recently as PA to the
Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.
In 2014, Kiwala focused attention on the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. As part of her campaign to raise awareness, she publicized the ''Faceless Doll Project'', an art project which uses faceless female dolls to represent the missing women. On October 23, 2014 she read a Members' motion in the legislature calling on the Ontario Legislature to support the National Aboriginal Organisations' call on the Federal government to initiate a public inquiry to study the issue.
In July 2020, Kiwala revealed that she was running for the Ontario Liberal Party again with the nomination set to take place in 2022. This led to a race between Kiwala and her former colleague Ted Hsu. Among priorities for the office, she listed the Long Term Care Act and encouraging "a much more compassionate view of individual residents".
Election results
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiwala, Sophie
1962 births
21st-century Canadian politicians
21st-century Canadian women politicians
Humber College alumni
Living people
Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
People from Kingston, Ontario
Queen's University at Kingston alumni
Women MPPs in Ontario