Surrounded by an enthusiastic group of activists and supporters, Projet Montréal launched its campaign in Montreal North today. Party leader and mayoral candidate Richard Bergeron introduced the Projet Montréal team in the borough:
-Ronald Boisrond, candidate for Montréal-North borough mayor;
-Judith Houedjissin, candidate for city council, Ovide-Clermont district;
-Nicolas Bergeron, candidate for borough council, Ovide-Clermont district;
-Hugues Surprenant, candidate for city council, Marie-Clarac district;
-Saïd Ghoulimi, candidate for borough council, Marie-Clarac district.
“Our candidates are solid people, deeply involved in their communities,” said Richard Bergeron. “I am completely confident in their capacity to govern the borough in an efficient, transparent and progressive way.” The young and dynamic team is keenly aware of the urgent need for action in order to calm tensions between youth and police in
the borough, and determined to create jobs for Montrealers, both young and less young, in the north of the city. The Projet Montréal team also commits to offering seniors in the borough adapted transport to facilitate their travel.
Well-known in the community, Ronald Boisrond is, among other things, the writer/journalist behind La couleur du temps, the acclaimed documentary which anticipated the August 2008 riots in Montreal North. “I plan to invest all my energy into making Montreal North a place where harmony reigns and people are proud to call home,” said the candidate for borough mayor. “Projet Montréal has the necessary freshness and vision to bring about real change and I call on the citizens of Montreal North to support us wholeheartedly.”
Brief Bios of the Candidate
Ronald Boisrond, candidate for borough mayor, moved to Montréal-Nord with his family in 1970. After receiving a B.A. in Political Science at UQAM, Mr. Boisrond worked for several years at the SAAQ as a specialized clerk. In 1991 he began working for the city of Montreal and soon made an impression for his evenhanded work fighting against urban
pollution and for equal opportunities for women and cultural minorities. In 1998 he gained a certificate in Information Studies and Journalism from the University of Montreal, which enabled him to work in local community television, where he covered municipal politics and the urban environment. From 2001 to 2005, he was a writer and researcher for the Noir de Monde program on CH-Montréal.
In 2007, as political attaché to the provincial MNA from Viau, Mr. Boisrond was mandated to deal with one of the most pressing problems of the area, public security. One of his most important achievements was setting up a summit between local community organizations which brought the community together and enabled substantial new financial aid to be given to those organizations. In November 2008, after making La couleur du temps, he was approached by the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM north section) to create a special committee to repair the troubled relationship between the police and the youth of Montréal-Nord. Several propositions passed by this committee have already been undertaken in order to deal with this difficult problem.
Judith Houedjissin, city council candidate for Ovide-Clermont district, was a member of the Assembly of Young Parliamentarians of Bénin and a journalist, working as a political reporter with several Bénin media outlets. The initiator of several projects for development in the area of child poverty, the political scientist and researcher developed a rich experience in citizen participation, and political analyses as well as in teaching. Ms Houedjissin arrived in Montreal in 2000 to pursue her university studies in political science and to settle here permanently. She is carrying out research on international financial institutions, security, sustainable development, and strategies to counter poverty and promote human rights. Holder of bachelor’s and master’s Degree in Political Science from UQAM, she just completed a graduate degree in Public Management at the École Nationale d’Administration Publique de Montréal. In 2008 she published an article in éditions L’Harmattan, intitled Les Administrations publiques Africaines – sortir de l’inefficacité : le cas du Bénin.
Hugues Surprenant, city council candidate for Marie-Clarac district, has practised criminal and penal law as a defence attorney since 2002. He recently led a training session in international penal law during a three-week mission in Haiti sponsored by the organization Lawyers Without Borders Quebec (ASFQuébec). Previously, he was both a researcher at
the Centre for Research in Public Law (CRDP), affiliated with the law faculty of the Université de Montréal, and a teaching assistant in the same faculty. Keenly interested in public-security and justice issues, his graduate studies have focused on judicial socialization as a form of citizenship education (Master’s in Sociology of Law) and on the development of cultural rights as fundamental rights..
Nicolas Bergeron, borough council candidate for Ovide-Clermont district, has a master’s degree in international studies from the University of Chile and is an advisor on international affairs for the Department of Immigration and Cultural Communities. His work has taken him for extended periods to many of the world’s major cities, including Hong Kong, Mexico City, Abu Dhabi and Port-au-Prince and has given him a keen understanding of the important issues associated with urban development. A member of Projet Montréal from its earliest days, he was one of the party organizers in Ville-Marie Borough in the 2005 election.
Saïd Ghoulimi, borough council candidate for Marie-Clarac district, settled in Montreal in 2000 and is a married father of three children. Of Moroccan origin, since coming to Quebec he has worked with the Popir housing committee in St-Henri, as a community organizer in Ahuntsic and later as an environmental advisor at the l’Éco-quartier Saint-Michel. In 2004 he took part in the consultations which led to the founding of Projet Montréal and became a party member. With a degree in local development and land planning from UQAM and a degree from Morocco’s Mohamed V university, he published in 2004 a study on local development in Morocco. In 2005 he was elected to the governing board of St-Gertrude School in Montreal North. The same year he ran as a Projet Montréal candidate for city council in the Ovide-Clermont district.
Since 2006, Saïd Ghoulimi has taught phys ed for the Montreal School Board. He is also a parent-volunteer at the
Montreal North judo club La voie souple and at the Montreal North gymnastics club, Gymkhana.
