---
title: "Ottawa's new council will have more women than men, first time since 2001"
description: "Thirteen of Ottawa's 24 councillors elected on 26 October 2026 are women, the first time since the city's 2001 amalgamation that women hold a majority of council seats."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/ottawa-2026/news/ottawa-council-women-majority-2026-10-27"
last_updated: "2026-10-28T17:57:30.148Z"
---

Ottawa's next city council will have more women than men for the first time since the city merged its former municipalities into one in 2001, CBC News reported on 27 October 2026, the day after voting day.

According to preliminary results, 13 of the 24 elected councillors are women. The other 11 seats went to men. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is also a man.

## Three new seats

Three women won seats that men held in the previous term: [Chelsea Walton](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/chelsea-walton) in Stittsville, [Joanne Chianello](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/joanne-chianello) in Kitchissippi, and [Erin Coffin](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/erin-coffin) in Kanata South.

Between 2006 and 2022, between four and nine women won council seats in any given election, CBC reported.

## What the councillors said

Chianello told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning: "I do think it's important that our city council reflects the community that it actually represents," pointing to Ottawa having more women than men in its population.

Walton told the same program she encountered some sexist comments during the campaign. "I think that we need a diverse range of voices around the council table and I'm thrilled to have so many women sitting there," she said.

Returning Alta Vista councillor [Marty Carr](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/marty-carr) said women on the previous council were overworked because committee assignments required meeting gender balance requirements. She called the preliminary results "an amazing development."

## Reaction beyond council

Laurel Gillespie, executive director of Equal Voice, a national group that advocates for more women in government, told CBC the results excited her. She noted that Canada ranked 72nd out of 183 countries in a recent ranking of women in national legislatures, down from 28th place in 2000.

The new council will take office after the City of Ottawa certifies the official results. Residents can visit the [Ottawa 2026 news page](/on/ottawa-2026/news) for updates as results are confirmed.

## Q&A

**Q: Which ward did each new woman win?**
Chelsea Walton won Ward 6 (Stittsville), Joanne Chianello won Ward 15 (Kitchissippi), and Erin Coffin won Ward 23 (Kanata South). All three seats were held by men in the 2022 to 2026 term, according to CBC.

**Q: Will the council count change once official results are in?**
The 13-to-11 split among councillors is based on preliminary results from election night. Mail-in ballots and any recounts could affect individual races, though large shifts in the overall gender count would require multiple races to change. The City Clerk will certify the official results in the days following the election.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/on/ottawa-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.