Ausma Malik

Ausma Malik was born in to Pakistani immigrant parents as the third of four children and was raised in Mississauga, Ontario. At the University of Toronto, Malik participated in student activism. In 2007, she was a member of the Canadian Federation of Students's Task Force on the Needs of Muslim Students, which published a report on failures to properly accommodate Muslim postsecondary students in respect to food choice, prayer space, religious holidays, and racial abuse. Before entering politics herself, she worked on education policy for the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP), as a labour organizer in the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario, and as a staffer at the Stephen Lewis Foundation. == Municipal politics ==

School trustee In 2014, Malik was elected as a Toronto District School Board trustee for Ward 10 with 37% of the vote. Her election made her the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman elected to public office in Canada. During a ward trustee candidates debate, a small group of men interrupted her closing remarks by shouting that she was a "Jew hater" and "Hezbollah terrorist", eventually forcing her to abandon her closing statement and leave through a back door. During the 2018 Toronto municipal election, Malik registered to run in one of the downtown wards being split from Trinity—Spadina. Incumbent councillor Joe Cressy planned to jointly campaign with her while running in the other half of his old ward, but Premier Doug Ford reduced the number of wards from 47 to 25. This eliminated the ward Malik planned to run in, and she ended her campaign. Malik did not run for re-election as a TDSB trustee and her term ended in 2018. Toronto City Council Olivia Chow at the 2024 Toronto Pride Parade Joe Cressy, who was elected to represent the new Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York in 2018, did not run in the 2022 Toronto municipal election. On October 24, 2022, Malik was elected to Toronto City Council. Malik is the first Toronto city councillor to wear a hijab. == References ==