Marion Dewar

Marion Dewar was mayor of Ottawa, Canada, from 1978 to 1985, and a member of the Parliament of Canada from 1986 to 1988.

She was born Marion Bell in Montreal in 1928, and was raised in the town of Buckingham, Quebec, just outside of Ottawa. Originally a public health nurse, she married civil servant Ken Dewar in 1951. She became an Ottawa alderman for Britannia Ward in 1972, and was elected Deputy Mayor in 1974, a position she held until 1978. In 1977 she ran unsuccessfully for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the provincial election in the riding of Ottawa West.

She was elected mayor in 1978. She is a committed peace activist pushing for nuclear disarmament, and personally picketing the American embassy after the invasion of Grenada. Dewar appeared in the 1985 documentary Speaking our Peace. As mayor she convened a convention on the issue of homosexuality six months after taking office. In 1979, she helped launch Project 4000 with the aim of finding sponsors for 4,000 Vietnamese refugees in Ottawa. Ottawa today still has a large Vietnamese community.

In 1985, she became president of the federal New Democratic Party. She was elected to the House of Commons in a 1987 by-election in the riding of Hamilton Mountain, replacing NDP incumbent Ian Deans. She had been invited to the riding in the hopes that a star candidate would keep the riding in NDP hands, but faced a strong competition for the nomination from future MP David Christopherson. She was defeated in the 1988 general election, losing to Liberal Beth Phinney by only 74 votes.

Continuing to play a prominent role in the NDP, she was one of the leading backers of Audrey McLaughlin's leadership bid. In the 1993 election, she attempted to return to Parliament for the riding of Ottawa Centre, but lost by a wide margin to Liberal incumbent Mac Harb in an election where the NDP fared poorly across the country.

In 1995, she became chair of Oxfam Canada. She also served as the chair of the Ottawa-Carleton Police Services Board which oversaw the merger of the Ottawa, Nepean, and Gloucester police forces into a unified organization. However, in December 1995, she, along with the other three provincially appointed members of the board, were fired in mid-term by the new government of Mike Harris who disagreed with their political views. (The three Ottawa City Council appointees to the OCPSB, however, were not dismissed.) Dewar and fellow board member Judy Hunter sued the government for unfair dismissal. In a precedent-setting case, the court ruled in their favour, and again on appeal.

In 2002, Dewar was made a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour.

She has five children, and a number of grandchildren. Her son, Paul Dewar, was elected to Parliament in the 2006 federal election, winning the Ottawa Centre riding for the NDP.