Dr. Jill Andrew launches campaign for re-election as NDP candidate for Trinity-St Paul’s

BY PAUL JUNOR

Dr. Jill Andrew has been very busy as the MPP for Toronto-St. Paul’s. As the first Black and Queer person who was elected in 2018 to the Ontario Legislature, she has become a strong proponent and advocate for a wide range of issues. These issues involve: social justice, gender equity and economic equality. She has been a powerful voice and vocal instrument that speaks truth to power. She speaks to issues of gender, race, the housing crisis, healthcare inequities, funding for arts and culture programs, education, long-term care and affordable rent. She can be seen on the picket line marching with workers who have their rights and contracts trampled on.

Dr. Andrew cares deeply about her constituents as she knows many of them by first name. She personally fights for many tenants in her riding who are facing evictions due to bad faith landlords and those who are on disabilities and facing financial challenges due to inadequate government help.

Prior to her entry into the Ontario political landscape, Dr. Andrew was an outstanding: educator, equity and body-image consultant, former columnist, speaker and writer. She has a stellar academic background: a Child & Youth Worker diploma from Humber College, a Bachelor of Education (BEd) from York University, a Masters degree in women and gender studies from the University of Toronto New College and a PhD from York University’s Faculty of Education. Her doctoral thesis examined the trifecta of racism, sexism and fat hatred that Black women encountered in the Greater Toronto Area. The focus was on:

• Their strategies of both accommodation and resistance
• Systemic and policy reform necessary to facilitate change against anti-Black racism
• Gendered violence and weight discrimination

Dr. Andrew is the co-founder of #SizeismSUCKS and Body Confidence Canada, which support body diversity. It gives out the Body Confidence Canada Awards and raises consciousness of this important societal issue through the Body Confidence Awareness Week. She is a community co-owner of Glad Day Bookshop, which is one of the oldest LGBT bookstores in Canada.

Dr. Andrew has earned many awards over the years which include:

• Patrick Solomon Memorial Award
• Lifetime Advocacy Award from the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention
• 2022 Viola Desmond Alumni Award
• Commfest’s 2022 Making a Difference Award
• 2018 Person of the Year INSPIRE Award
• Nancy Ruth Award

She has been named in 2021 as one of Toronto’s 21 Most Inspirational Women by Post City Magazine and in 2023 as one of Myseum Toronto 52 Women Who Transformed Toronto. She received recognitions in 2023 for her activism from: CUPE, OFL and CBTU during Black History Month.

In her time in Ontario politics, Dr. Andrew was named Best MPP- First Runner Up by NOW Magazine Reader’s Choice Awards, as a first time MPP. She successfully introduced the Private Member’s Bill 61, which led to the establishment of the first week in February as Eating Disorders Awareness Week.