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Chatham-Kent elects 'historic council' with 7 women

People in Chatham-Kent have voted in seven women to sit on council, out of 18 available seats — a record 38.89 per cent.

In Windsor this year, voters elected one woman to take one of 11 spots. Sarnia saw one of nine. London had four of 15.

One of Chatham-Kent's councillors is Marjorie Crew, who is returning to office for the third time.

"I think that all of these women are very strong and have very good community background. I'm looking forward to working with all of them," she said. Crew is representing Ward 6, which covers Chatham.

She said at first she wasn't looking at how many women were being elected, as she was only focused on her results.

Then when numbers were starting to come in, she saw that in Ward 6 alone, people had elected three women.

"Oh my God, look at all the women that are coming through this mix," she recalls thinking when she saw what the results were starting to look like across the municipality.

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The other six women councillor-elects are Melissa Harrigan, Mary Clare Latimer, Jamie McGrail, Carmen McGregor, Karen Kirkwood-Whyte and Amy Finn.

Not only will council be more representative of Chatham-Kent, Crew said they could be role models for young women in the community.

She pointed to the backgrounds of some women elected to council, such as Finn who was a police officer and McGregor who was involved with several United Way campaigns in the municipality.

There's a also a new mayor and there's some age diversity across board as well, said Crew.

"It is a historic council for Chatham-Kent," she said. "What a good mix that we will bring to our community."

Vote for Marjorie Crew/Facebook
Vote for Marjorie Crew/Facebook

At 31, Harrigan is one of the younger members of the incoming council. She's also the first woman elected to represent Ward 1, which is comprised of the southwestern tip of Chatham-Kent.

"I think that difference of diversity and perspective will allow us to have different conversations," she said. "For me, as a young professional woman and also a mom, I have a different experience of Chatham-Kent than somebody who might be retired."

Harrigan said she received a few comments on the campaign trail from residents questioning if she would be able to balance taking care of her three kids with the demands of council.

"I always responded with, you know, the saying goes 'if you want something done, ask a busy person' — and that seemed to make everyone think twice about their thoughts," she said.