You might not have heard of Celina Caesar-Chavannes yet; other than Trudeau, Canada doesn’t have a ton of well-known Members of Parliament, and Canadian politics isn’t usually considered the most exciting thing. But Celina is not your typical politician—she’s one of the only 88 women and 47 visible minority MPs in the 338 seats in Canada’s House of Commons. With recent articles about her in O, The Oprah Magazine and Chatelaine, among others, she’s starting to get the recognition she deserves.
Celina has been breaking glass ceilings for years already. She earned a degree in biology from the University of Toronto in 1998, then went on to earn an executive MBA from the University of Toronto and a second MBA in healthcare management from the University of Pheonix, and work as an entrepreneur before her start as a politician. It almost goes without saying that she’s super smart and driven, but what makes her so badass and inspiring is her constant perseverance and relentlessness in speaking out about issues that matter to her.
Celina first ran in a by-election in 2014. She lost. Despite this, she didn’t give up—she ran again in the 2015 election and won. Since then, she’s used her voice and role to speak up about issues and topics that aren’t always talked about in politics, like race, body shaming, mental health, gender. She’s been continually recognized for her work and abilities, serving as Parliamentary Secretary (which is similar to an assistant minister) to the Prime Minister from 2015 to 17, and now as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development.
She hasn’t shied away from topics that may be controversial or cause some to disagree with her. A few months ago, she gave a speech in the House of Commons about the body shaming women are subject to in all walks of life. Her hair in braids, she spoke of how black women and girls have been subject to shaming for their natural hairstyles, saying, “Irrespective of her hairstyle, the size of her thighs, the size of her hips, the size of her baby bump, the size of her breasts, or the size of her lips, what makes us different makes us unique and beautiful.” She also wrote an honest and unfiltered essay on her struggles with depression for the Huffington Post, giving a frank account of her own experiences and encouraging others to talk about mental health and seek help.
She’s also spoken out about the racism she’s encountered, even on Parliament Hill: things like not being let into the office building she has worked in for years, having women tell her not to steal their wallets off of a bathroom counter. She wrote a Facebook post about the microaggressions she deals with, and why she will keep going and not let these stop her, saying “I will stand for future generations [of] women, in order to ensure that they never have to feel the humiliation and pain, hidden behind this smile. I stand because we need more women in positions like these to change the status quo. Glass ceilings do not get broken by sitting on the sidelines and watching. They break when you stand up.” This February, for Black History Month, she wrote another essay for the Huffington Post, “Dear Sisters, I See You: A Love Letter To Black Women.”
As most outspoken women do, she has faced a considerable amount of hate, sexism, and racism. Several Twitter exchanges have brought her attention, such as one in which she called out a reporter who seemingly claimed systemic racism didn’t exist in Canada, and another where she told MP Maxime Bernier to “check your privilege and be quiet” after he spoke about identifying Canadians by race being “divisive” and going against ideas of “not seeing colour.” (She later apologized and invited Bernier to talk with her about the issue in person.) These tweets and other instances of her calling out racism have caused right-wing news site Rebel Media to call her “Canada’s Most Racist MP” and journalist Brian Lilley to say she “sees racism everywhere.” Overshadowing the hate and negativity she has received because of this, there were hundreds of tweets in support of her, with fellow politicians and Canadian citizens tweeting #HereForCelina. With these supporters behind her, she persists.
Some have said Celina will be a one-term MP; that she will not get re-elected due to her outspokenness. Yet this isn’t stopping her—she has continued to fight against racism and sexism, and speak about important issues. It’s obvious, regardless of the results of the next election, she is not stopping anytime soon.