Joël Beddows

The City of Ottawa’s open data file of nominated candidates (workbook of August 29, 2026), sheet CEPEO, shows Joël Beddows in Zone 9 with a nomination filed on June 10, 2026 and no withdrawal. The other nomination in the zone is Zakaria Iltireh, filed on August 21, 2026. CTV News Ottawa’s guide to the school board races lists Zone 9 as Wards 14, 15, 17 and 18. The board’s election page names the area of its sector 9 for 2026 as Somerset, Kitchissippi, Capitale and Alta Vista.

The board’s Gouvernance page lists Joël Beddows as trustee for sector 9, named as Somerset, Kitchissippi, Capitale and Alta Vista, and names two schools in it: École élémentaire publique Louise-Arbour and École élémentaire publique Marie-Curie. The City’s 2022 results sheet for CEPEO Zone 9 gives him 1,230 votes, Marielle Godbout 960 and Mahdi Djama Aouled 350, out of 2,540 votes counted, so he received 48.4%, she 37.8% and he 13.8%. The board’s release of October 25, 2022 lists him as elected, with no word of re-election, and says the board’s table was made up of seven re-elected members and five new ones. Its release of November 16, 2022 says that five members were sworn in for a first term and shows him in the photograph of members.

The board posts the minutes of its Council meetings as PDF files on its page of Council and committee meetings. The minutes of the ten meetings from September 23, 2025 to June 16, 2026 name him as present at every meeting except March 24, 2026, when he was absent. The minutes record that he told the board beforehand and that Council approved the absence by resolution. The minutes record who moved and who seconded each motion and whether it was adopted. They name how each member voted only when a member asks for a recorded vote, which happened once, on March 24, 2026, when he was absent.

On November 18, 2025 the minutes of the annual organization meeting list him as a member of the Indigenous education committee and of the real estate committee, and as a substitute member of the committee for suspension appeals and expulsion hearings. On October 28, 2025 Council named him, with Marc Roy and Denis Labrèche, to the committees that choose names for the new Orléans-Sud elementary and secondary schools. On April 28, 2026 he presented the Indigenous education committee’s report of March 31, 2026 and moved the motion to receive it, to add two members to the committee and to adopt its meeting dates for 2026-2027. The minutes show it as adopted.

He moved or seconded motions on school building and attendance areas. On February 24, 2026 he moved Resolution 16-2026, seconded by Pierre Tessier, which approved the school attendance area of the new secondary school in Rockland and changes to the areas of four other schools from the 2027-2028 school year. On April 28, 2026 he moved, seconded by Denis Labrèche, that scenario 3 for the school attendance area of the new Leitrim elementary school, with changes to the areas of École élémentaire publique Michel-Dupuis and École élémentaire publique Le Prélude, go to the community for final consultation. On May 26, 2026 he moved, seconded by Philippe Landry, the final approval of that area from the 2027-2028 school year. On May 26, 2026 he also moved, seconded by Pierre Tessier, a motion to receive a report on school development charges in the Kingston area and to let management keep using those charges as the main source of money to buy future school sites.

On April 28, 2026 he moved Resolution 51-2026, seconded by Denis Labrèche, which adopted changes to the policy on the health and well-being of students and repealed the earlier policies on food and drinks in schools and on prevalent medical conditions. On December 2, 2025 he raised a question of procedure and proposed that the recommendation on representation at the Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l’Ontario be split into two resolutions, one for each member. He then moved, seconded by Denis Labrèche, the resolution that named Samia Ouled Ali as representative, and seconded the one that named Jacinthe Marcil. Both were adopted. On June 16, 2026 he seconded Gilles Fournier’s motion to approve the balanced budget for 2026-2027 of $385,496,680.

The minutes record several of his interventions. On October 28, 2025 he asked that his remarks on the media coverage report of September 23 be added to the minutes. The minutes note that, after checking with him, the wording of September 23 reflects his remarks accurately. That wording says that a member pointed out that the report left out unfavourable media coverage of École élémentaire publique Louise-Arbour at the start of the school year. The director of education answered that the report collects the positive media coverage that the board asks for in his performance evaluation, and another member added that the association of public school boards already sends members a full press review. Also on October 28, 2025 he raised a question of procedure on whether the chair and vice-chair sit by right on all Council committees. Management answered that the board’s policy on naming schools sets the membership of the naming committees and gives them no such seats. On May 26, 2026 he asked that the minutes of April 28 show that a request for a more detailed report on the reclassification of secretarial positions had been made by formal resolution. Management answered that no formal proposal had been put to Council or voted on, and that the request had been made by some members and accepted by management. The minutes of April 28 were not changed.

ONFR reported on April 5, 2024 on a Wednesday evening meeting in Little Italy, Ottawa, about a French-language secondary school for the downtown area. It names him as school trustee among those present, with Ottawa-Centre’s provincial and federal elected representatives and nearly forty parents. The article ends with a quotation of him, which reads in translation that the City is absent from the project. VoteMate lists him with no profile and no promises. The City’s list gives no website or social media account that voche.me could read, and voche.me found no campaign statement from him and no complaint or allegation about him in the sources read.