Martine Musau Muele, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been chosen by Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante to become the new Chair of the city’s City Council. Her appointment will be ratified by the Montreal City Council at its meeting on Monday, November 29.
On the sidelines of the first regular meeting of the Executive Committee, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced that she was proposing the appointment of Martine Musau Muele as President of the City Council, whose first meeting of the 2021-2025 mandate will take place on Monday, November 29. She is the ninth person to hold the position and the first black woman to do so.
Members of the 101st City Council will vote on the Mayor’s recommendation at the first City Council meeting on November 29, 2010, in accordance with By-law 06-051 and the City of Montreal Charter.
Montreal City Council, which sits monthly, has 65 members including the 18 borough mayors, 46 city councillors and the Mayor of Montreal.
First black woman to hold this position
Martine Musau Muele will become the first black woman to chair Montreal City Council. “She is the best person to preside over the city council,” said Valerie Plante Thursday morning at the executive committee meeting. “She is a rigorous jurist. She specializes in ethics, administrative law, governance and citizen participation,” said Valérie Plante.
Martine Musau Muele was elected city councillor on November 7 in the last elections in the borough of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension, where she obtained nearly 69% of the votes.
A law graduate from the University of Ottawa, Martine Musau Muele was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 2010. A lawyer by profession, she is the founder of the boutique firm Muele, which specializes in public policy and administrative law. In addition, she has worked as a lawyer in private practice, providing front-line legal assistance to senior executives and elected officials on matters relating to municipal law, public contract law, public consultations, ethics and governance, and information and privacy law.
Director of Legal Affairs
In addition, between 2012 and 2019, Martine Musau Muele served as Clerk of the City of Amqui, a city in the Province of Quebec, as well as Director of Legal Affairs and Clerk of the City of Kirkland, a Quebec city in the Greater Montreal area. There, she practiced municipal law and acted as legal advisor to elected officials and senior management. Her experience includes overseeing the redesign of a linked city’s planning bylaws, helping to create transparent and effective public consultation frameworks, developing strategies for local governments on planning and development issues, contract management and ethics. She has also led training sessions for elected officials and municipal managers.
Subsequently, and until the last election, she was a commissioner of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), an independent organization that carries out public consultation mandates entrusted to it by the Executive Committee or the City Council of the City of Montreal.
Martine Musau Muele has also worked as a legal attaché for international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva and NATO in Mons, Belgium.
Martine Musau Muele was also a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for eight years. Passionate about the performing arts and film, she has also been an actress with a few roles in theater and television.
In 2018, Martine Musau Muele was one of eight winners named “JBM Lawyer of the Year 2018” awarded by the Young Bar Association of Montreal (JBM).
Qualities to foster constructive exchanges
“All of her qualities will ensure that she can skillfully lead the work of City Council and foster constructive exchanges. That’s what we want. I have every confidence in Martine Musau Muele,” said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante.
In Montreal, Martine Musau Muele is the third black woman to have broken the glass ceiling in the last elections. Gracia Kasoki Katahwa became the first black woman to become mayor of a borough and Dominique Ollivier is the first black woman to chair the executive committee of the City of Montreal.
