Diane Deans
Lifetime Contribution
Diane Deans was a city builder, a voice for her community, and a promoter of a strong Ottawa economy. She was also a leader in community and social development, environmental protection, and public health. She provided a strong woman’s voice on numerous public issues and was a mentor to the next generation of women leaders.
Ms. Deans retired from municipal politics in November, 2022 having served the residents of Gloucester-Southgate Ward and the Ottawa community for 28 years. During her eight consecutive terms on Council she made many lasting contributions to the City. She succeeded in building strong, healthy, livable communities, with supporting infrastructure, and achieved this while working to keep taxes affordable for the residents of Ottawa.
Diane became interested in politics at a young age when her mother held tea parties inviting neighbours to meet with local political candidates. These events inspired her early interest in public policy and politics. While earning a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Guelph, she joined the Canadian Federation of Students – the national voice for university students. Two years later, Diane became its National Director, working to ensure students’ issues were heard by all levels of government. Following graduation her keen interest in politics led Diane to work on Parliament Hill as a researcher and media advisor. When she left her Parliament Hill job to stay at home and raise her daughter, her active involvement in her daughter’s school activities became an opportunity to learn about community issues and concerns first-hand from other parents. Desiring to contribute more to the community, Diane decided to run for municipal politics and won a hard fought race to become an Ottawa City Councillor in 1994.
Diane Deans’ achievements during her years in office were impressive. She campaigned for, and was successful in, securing the funding for the construction of a large district branch of the Ottawa Public Library (OPL) to serve what was deemed as an underserved area by OPL statistics. The Greenboro District Library became a reality thanks to her relentless work during financially restrictive years at the City.
At the same time, Diane was effective in building healthy communities by ensuring that the City budget had the funding for parks, play equipment, water play facilities, new and improved roads, sidewalks, planting of trees, safety lighting, pedestrian crossings and traffic signals. Diane Deans also secured the funding for the design and construction of the expansion of the Greenboro Community Centre. Together with the adjacent library, this complex continues to be an important hub for the community.
In addition, Diane promoted environmental causes throughout her career, most notability in the establishment of the Greenboro Turtlehead Nature Area, an environmentally sensitive area.
In 2001, the province of Ontario mandated the amalgamation of eleven municipalities in the Ottawa –Carleton Region, forming the new city of Ottawa. As a result, Diane was selected as Chairperson of the committee that oversaw the harmonization of all eleven by-laws into newly unified by-laws for the City. This massive and critical city-building exercise involved the review of each former municipality’s by-laws, the review of municipal best practices country-wide, public consultation and Council approval for each new by-law, ranging from snow clearing to animal control to property standards and more.
Diane showed her deep concern for public health when, in 2001, she voted in favour of one of the most forward thinking social policy issues before Ottawa City Council – the Smoke Free bylaw. At the time, this was a highly controversial policy, but Ottawa became the first major Canadian city to successfully ban smoking in places of work and in public spaces, thereby protecting residents from the harm of second-hand smoke. Other municipalities across the country eventually followed Ottawa’s lead.
Diane was a trailblazer. She set the record as the longest serving woman on Ottawa City Council, having held public office for 8 consecutive terms for a total of 28 years. During this time, women Councillors comprised approximately only one quarter of Council.
Today, Diane Deans remains a role model, having mentored many women to become involved in politics and in their community. She was a mentor for Councillor Jessica Bradley, whom Diane had hired to work in her office. She was the first on City Council to celebrate International Women’s Day by holding an annual event to inspire and recognize the amazing women in Ottawa and, she worked tirelessly to advance gender equity at City Hall. In 2018, she championed and presented a motion to Council for the creation of a Women and Gender Equity Strategy that would look at all municipal issues through a “gender lens,” ensuring concerns and perspectives of women are taken into account in the development of City policies and programs. Today, this is standard practice.
Working closely with Ottawa Fire Services, Diane oversaw the launch and the promotion of Camp FFIT (Female Firefighters in Training), a program for young women ages 15 to 19, thus encouraging them to pursue careers in the Fire Department. This program became more inclusive, inviting young women, non-binary and transgender youth from all social backgrounds to participate.
Diane Deans was the Chairperson of the City’s Community and Protective Services Committee until becoming the first woman to lead the City’s Police Services Board in 2018. She also sat on the Transportation Committee, the Finance and Economic Development Committee, Member Services Committee, and the Ottawa Community Lands Development Corporation. She was also Co-Chair of the Seniors’ Roundtable.
Among her many accomplishments, Diane was instrumental in having the City of Ottawa hold surplus land in the Albion/Heatherington community, one of the areas she represented. She also worked closely with the Boys and Girls Club to secure the site for its new Clubhouse location.
Diane has been recognized for her outstanding contributions as recipient of the City Manager’s Award for her leadership; as honorary Co-Chairperson of the City of Ottawa’s United Way Campaign; the Ottawa Public Library’s Order of Friendship Award; and, the Consumers’ Choice Woman of the Year Award. However, the most significant award Diane could ever achieve was the overwhelming support of the constituents that she represented for 28 years.
During her tenure on Ottawa City Council she was called the voice of reason and the conscience of council. She always advocated for a more progressive Ottawa and fought for good governance through accountability and transparency on city-wide issues. She was also known to be a champion for those in need, and a passionate, courageous and caring person.
In 2024, upon her death, Ottawa City Council voted to have the Greenboro Community Centre named after her for her outstanding commitment and contributions to her ward and to the City of Ottawa.
