Toronto, Ontario
Public Affairs professionals is running for councillor of Ward 9-Davenport
Tony A. San Juan, OCT
Filipino-Canadian Grant Gonzales, a public affairs professional who worked on advocacy, community engagement, and public policy issues for public, private, and non-profit organizations, is running for Councillor of Ward 9- Davenport, the City of Toronto on the coming October 24, 2022, civic elections. Ward 9-Davenport includes the areas South of Eglinton Ave. West, from East of Old Weston Rd. / Lansdowne Ave. and West of Ossington Ave. to Queen St. West, Toronto.
A holder of a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree from Carleton University, Grant is a lifelong resident of Davenport. He was born and raised in Brockton Village and currently lives in the Junction Triangle, Toronto. He attended kindergarten at Brock Public School and elementary at St. Helen Catholic School and St. Luigi Catholic School.
In his community work, Grant has served as the President of the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood and Community Health Centre and on the Centre’s Board of Directors for over 7 years. He promotes excellence in health care and community programming, especially for Davenport’s low-income and vulnerable communities.
As a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, Grant currently serves as Co-Chair of Pride Toronto, where he fights against hate and discrimination. He oversees the governance of an organization that brings in millions of tourists, creates thousands of jobs and generates hundreds of millions of dollars for the city’s economy every year.
Grant’s civic engagements include being a Co-Founder of the Filipino Canadian Political Association and a former member of the University of Toronto’s Governing Council. He is a 2021-22 CivicAction DiverseCity Fellow and is recognized as an emerging, diverse city-builder in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
Being a son of Filipino immigrants and unionized workers, he understands firsthand the struggles facing working and middle-class residents in Davenport, who said that “despite their hard work, are up against the affordability crisis that is pricing them out of the city and the communities we call home”. His mother is a Personal Support Worker at a retirement home and his late father worked in metal spinning.
According to Grant, his “call to public service is inspired by his family’s journey” to settle and thrive in Canada as well as his determined “aspiration to serve the public”. Grant is running for Toronto City Council “to ensure all Davenport families can build financially secure, healthy, green, and vibrant lives”. Let us give him our unequivocal help and utmost support. Kailangang-kailangang tulongan at ihalal natin siya! Should he be elected, Grant will become the first Canadian-Filipino Councillor in the City of Toronto.
If you need help you can count me in. Senior Filipino resident of junction triangle for 28 years.