Young mother of three reflects on challenging, rewarding path to Montreal’s city council

Vana Nazarian was six months pregnant when she was asked to run with the Ensemble Montreal team in this year’s municipal elections.

While hesitant at first, the young mother with nearly 10 years of experience in politics put together a campaign.

Three months later, she was elected to Montreal’s city council in her Saint-Laurent borough of Côte-de-Liesse – just days after giving birth to her third child.

“I am a mother of three beautiful boys. So I have a six-year-old, a one-year-old, and then our surprise of this year who was born two weeks ago,” said Nazarian.

“With the recent elections, so many women being elected all over Quebec, so I think it’s a great thing to be witnessing.”

Montreal city councillor Vana Nazarian, pregnant with her third child, while running an election campaign for city council. (Credit: Vana Nazarian)

Entering her third trimester, Nazarian was asked by Saint-Laurent borough mayor Alan Desousa to run in Montreal’s municipal elections. She was skeptical at first.

“I said ‘Alan, you do see that I’m very much pregnant right?’ He said, ‘well yeah, women are pregnant every day, women have children every day, so I don’t see how that’s going to be a problem if you’re going to bring something to the table.’”

After discussing the offer with her husband and family, she decided to seize the opportunity. Campaigning with her team – going door to door, making calls – she felt everyone cheering her on.

“I had like this army of volunteers working from all over the place, all over the city,” said Nazarian.

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On election day, incumbent Mayor Valerie Plante of Projet Montreal defeated former mayor Denis Coderre of Ensemble Montreal.

But Nazarian was one of 17 Ensemble Montreal city councillors elected.

“A family of immigrants, you know, it’s a very special feeling after a lot of hard work, and a lot of being part of the community, trying your best to be involved in every way, and then something like this – it’s very rewarding.”

Nazarian is one of the many women that campaigned in this year’s election – 35.5 per cent of candidates were women, a 4.2 per cent increase from 2017. In Montreal, more than half of the 65 city council seats are now held by women.

“I think it’s important to have a woman’s point of view,” said Nazarian. “And I think it’s also important to have a young family’s point of view, a young mother’s point of view. Because if we want young families to be staying in Montreal, we probably should have their voices heard on council.”

Though Nazarian says there were times when the campaign was physically and emotionally challenging, she wouldn’t change a thing.

“Definitely, if you have an opportunity such as this one, I say go for it.”