Vana Nazarian, mother of three, will occupy Montreal city council seat with newborn in tow

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Four days after giving birth to her third child, Vana Nazarian achieved victory on Sunday, garnering nearly double the votes of her closest rival to become Montreal councilor for the Saint-Laurent district of Côte-de-Liesse. .

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“I feel like I have so many blessings,” Nazarian, 33, told the Montreal Gazette in a telephone interview Tuesday, with her newborn, Mickaël, gurgling in the background.

Nazarian was among an unprecedented number of women who ran for municipal office in Quebec this fall. More than half of Montreal’s 65 city council seats were won by women in Sunday’s elections, and women will be mayors of five of the 10 largest cities in Quebec.

Women, especially those with young children, have long been underrepresented in city councils. But that is changing.

Nazarian was six months pregnant when the mayor of the Saint-Laurent district, Alan DeSousa, asked her to participate in Denis Coderre’s Ensemble Montréal.

Nazarian admits that he hesitated.

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“I said, ‘You know Alan, are you aware that I’m very pregnant? You see it? And he said, ‘I’m very aware, but women have children every day, and I don’t see it as a problem, if you can bring something to the table.’

Nazarian had 10 years of experience in politics, as a political attaché to the chairman and vice chairman of the Coderre executive committee from 2013 to 2017, and most recently as an advisor to the Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy. She was on maternity leave from that last job when DeSousa approached her to run for city council.

That was in early August. The deadline for Nazarian was November 23. The election was on November 7. She took a few days to discuss it with her husband. Then he said yes and got to work.

“In the beginning, I did a lot of door-to-door campaigns, but at a certain point it was heavier and more difficult to do. After seven hours door-to-door, it took me two days to physically recover. “

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So he took the phones. In the end, even that was too difficult. “I was starting to get out of breath. I would have difficulty speaking due to the pressure of the baby, especially in the last days.

He ended his campaign by sending text messages. Many of them. “I would send messages to friends, family, neighbors and ask them each to speak to 10 people they knew.”

A week before the election, Nazarian began to have contractions. He went to the hospital on Wednesday and Mickaël was born early Thursday morning.

Nazarian credits DeSousa, her fellow candidates, and an army of volunteers, many of them young mothers, for helping her win.

“I have to say that I am fortunate to have a supportive family, a supportive husband,” who are there to help care for her other two children, Armen, who is six years old, and Rouben, who is one year old. last month.

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But most of all, she says, she gives credit to the people who voted for her, who realized that all demographics should be represented in a town hall, including pregnant women and young mothers.

“You tend to think that people would be worried (that she was pregnant), but no. People were very positive about it, ”he said. “And at the end of the day, if we want, as a city, for young families to stay in Montreal, we have to make their voices heard,” he said. “We need them to be represented.”

Nazarian says he plans to go to work immediately after his oath, working from home for now. Your priorities will include improving road safety in the neighborhoods of your district, where there are many young families.

But for now, you’re taking a few days off and welcoming your baby into your busy world.

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Election results: Côte-de-Liesse city councilor (Saint-Laurent district)

Total votes: 9,911 (29.65% of 33,431 registered voters)