Markham announces vacancy for Ward 7 Councillor

By David Yin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

The City of Markham announced a Ward 7 Councillor’s vacancy on May 27 at a council meeting, after the previously elected councillor, Juanita Nathan, left her seat to join the Parliament of Canada.

Nathan resigned from her Ward 7 Councillor position on May 14 after being elected Member of Parliament for Pickering-Brooklin during the 2025 federal election.

According to Section 263 (1) of Ontario’s Municipal Act, 2001, Markham City Council must appoint a new councillor themselves or hold a by-election and let residents decide. Council must choose a selection process by the next council meeting on June 24, in accordance with Section 5 of Markham’s Council Vacancy Policy.

Afterwards, council must either appoint a new councillor or declare a by-election through a by-law by July 26, as stated in Section 263 (5) of the Municipal Act. If choosing a by-election, council will hold the election after July 26.

Kimberley Kitteringham–City Clerk and Legislative Services Director at City of Markham–estimated that a by-election would cost the city $300,000.

The new Ward 7 Councillor will remain in office until Nov. 14, 2026.

During the meeting, Markham’s remaining members of council–as well as several Ward 7 residents–discussed how to fill the Ward 7 vacancy. One of them was Nimisha Patel, runner-up for Ward 7 Councillor from the 2022 municipal election.

Despite Mayor Frank Scarpitti’s repeated instructions to focus all deputations on the selection process itself instead of individual people, Patel spent most of her speech advocating for herself for the position.

“For 18 years, Ward 7, Markham has been my home, and as a resident and a neighbour, I understand the concerns and growing needs of our area,” Patel said.

“I advocated for many positive changes and have taken on a variety of leadership to support the community: From being co-chair of Ward 7’s largest residence association; a committee member for the Neighbourhood Watch Lead Team; lead for the Community Safety Committee; chair of our local elementary and secondary school councils–as well as the virtual one during the pandemic; team member of multiple school committees–including working on the Active School Travel and Safety Project with the City of Markham and York Region; board member of a local community centre; member of a local writing association; launching the slowdown for a safety initiative in collaboration with Mayor Scarpitti, bylaws, and the York Regional Police; organizing multiple community and fundraising events to bring a community together; [and] advocating for safe crossings near parks, businesses, and schools.”

Patel said she organized a petition with 641 signatures–611 of them being from Ward 7–during the May 24-25 weekend.

Among the six other resident speakers, five of them advised the government to appoint the 2022 election runner-up, who was Patel. Many speakers said a by-election would cost too much time and money.

“Why is the person who came second in the votes in 2022–who is experienced and very qualified–not being elected as our interim ward chair…?” Gillian Wannop said.

“If we want to do this in a more expedient way and in a way that still has our democratic right of vote to be heard, I believe that it should be the second runner-up,” Angelica Gutierrez said.

Only one speaker–Aranee Murugananthan–advocated for a by-election to reflect Ward 7’s residents over the council.

“I do understand the concerns around the cost, but I don’t want everyone to forget the democracy that comes with it and not to undermine what this represents for the community,” she said.

Members of the Markham City Council shared many of the same thoughts with the resident speakers.

Mayor Frank Scarpitti and Ward 6 Councillor Amanda Yeung Collucci expressed support towards appointment because of the financial and temporal costs of holding a by-election. However, Regional Councillor Joe Li and Ward 3 Councillor Reid McAlpine expressed support towards a by-election due to its transparency and adherence towards democracy.

Residents can fill out a Request to Speak Form to present at a future Council Meeting: https://www.markham.ca/about-city-markham/city-hall/council-and-committee-meetings/request-speak-form.