|
If Olivia Chow is enjoying the national spotlight today, it is only partly because she is the wife of NDP leader Jack Layton. Truth be told, in Toronto at least, Chow's public profile has always been sky high - as is evidenced from her being voted best city councillor by Now magazine readers seven years running.
Chow, who quit after 14 years as city councillor in November 2005 to run in the federal election, emigrated to Canada from Hong Kong when she was 13 years old.
At the time, she only spoke Cantonese. Not only did she learn and master English after moving to Canada, she got herself an all-round education.
She studied fine arts at the Ontario College of Art and Philosophy at the University of Toronto while working as a volunteer counsellor in crisis intervention in the emergency ward at Toronto General Hospital - a hint of the multi-tasking that has made her such an effective leader.
Chow earned an Honours BA in fine art from the University of Guelph in 1979, and supported her career as a sculptor by working for a number of social service agencies.
She gained a taste for political life in 1981 while working as a constituency assistant in the office of Dan Heap, New Democrat MP for Trinity Spadina. Four years later, in 1985, she stood for her first election, while still in her twenties. She ran for school board trustee, and won.
Popular on the school board, Chow was elected to Toronto city council in 1991. Ward 20, in the riding of Trinity—Spadina, has long been home to a diverse group of communities in the core of Canada's largest urban centre. Chow was re-elected to city council by wide margins ever since 1991.
Following the amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto, she and her husband Jack Layton were prominent members of the city council. Layton left his seat on council to become federal leader of the National Democratic Party.
Chow is renowned for her trademark bicycle, decorated with flowers and bright colours. While a councillor, she rode every day to Toronto City Hall, and carless commuting is consistent with her environmentalist values.
Chow has been voted "Best City Councillor" on numerous occasions by Toronto's left-wing alternative weeklies Now Magazine and Eye Weekly. She maintains generally strong popularity in the city as an honest and hard working political veteran.
Outside of politics too, Chow has shown herself as a brave woman. Following a successful personal battle with thyroid cancer early in 2005, Chow has become a spokesperson for cancer awareness and health related issues, with an emphasis on women's health and awareness.
Her commitment to the community has always been evident. Both before and during her spell in public life, Chow taught English as a second language to immigrants - as well as Cantonese to children of immigrants. She has been a leader in the Chinese and immigrant community, a leader in advancement of rights for minorities and for women, a commentator for weekly program on various Chinese radio programs and CFRB and on Fairchild radio, and a lecturer at George Brown College, for the Counselling and Advocacy for Assaulted women and Children program, and a tireless fundraiser for charities.
Chow and Layton live in Chinatown in Trinity Spadina, with children Sarah and Michael Layton, Olivia's mother Ho Sze and their cat Maue - in a house that they recently transformed with a "green" renovation.
|
Features 
