Michael Karl Sewanaku

The City’s list of certified candidates shows Michael Karl Sewanaku’s nomination for Councillor in Ward 12 Rideau-Vanier dated August 19, 2026. The list shows no date for a Contribution Rebate Program registration, and gives a website and an Instagram account. CBC News of August 25, 2026 says he was one of four people who signed up to run just days before the deadline. In the CTV News Ottawa questionnaire he says he has not held elected office, that he brings experience from medicine and law, and that he has lived in Ottawa for over 30 years.

In the NCR NOW questions he says he was born and raised in Ottawa and has been enrolled at the University of Ottawa for a total of nine years. He says he holds three University of Ottawa degrees in biochemistry and related sciences, a law degree from Osgoode Hall and a medical degree, that he trains in family medicine, and that he worked as a labourer in Fort McMurray before law school. He says he lived in Ottawa Community Housing in his teenage years and early university, and that the stability helped him finish school. His campaign website signs his name with the letters MD and JD. These are his own statements, and voche.me has not checked them with the schools, the licensing bodies or any employer.

His campaign website says he will not solicit or accept financial contributions, and asks supporters to give to the Partage Vanier Food Bank or another community group instead. It names four themes: Housing First (an approach that gives a person a home first and adds support afterward), affordability and accountability, reliable transit and transparency, and safety and services. He says City Hall should invest in housing, transit and basic services before committing hundreds of millions of dollars to projects like Lansdowne 2.0.

His housing plan has five steps. Within 60 days of taking office he would ask Council for a public report on the cost of homelessness, with a first estimate by month six. He would ask the provincial and federal governments, in public, for funding where the City is paying their share. By months nine to twelve he would seek a Council plan, covering several years, with costs, homes, rents and move-in dates. He says he has filed access-to-information requests about the University of Ottawa’s ties to a student housing company. His last step says that if the evidence shows a need and governments still refuse to commit enough, he will set up a tent and live on the street himself as a lawful, visible protest. voche.me has not checked the cost figures on his website.

His property crime plan asks for secure parcel delivery lockers at City properties and community centres, a public guide to police tools such as camera registration and free bike registration, a public breakdown of how police time is spent, public reporting of the full wait for help, a six-month trial against repeat bike, parcel and break-in thefts, and police positions added where the evidence shows a gap. In the CTV News Ottawa questionnaire he says he would need to review OC Transpo’s full budget before choosing a fare increase or decrease, says of the police budget that he does not know enough, and would support an infrastructure levy (an extra property tax charge for roads and sewers) if it rests on a clear, affordable plan and every dollar goes to infrastructure. He names housing, affordability, reliable transit, safety and basic City services as the biggest issues in the ward. The sources voche.me read hold no complaint or allegation about him.