Community activist Will Prosper joins Projet Montréal to run for mayor in Montréal-Nord

Projet Montréal has recruited well-known community activist and former police officer Will Prosper to run for mayor in Montréal-Nord.

In an announcing his candidacy Wednesday, Prosper criticized the current borough mayor, Christine Black, a member of Denis Coderre's party, for not doing enough to address inequality in the borough.

"Montreal North should be at the forefront of so many issues, and we don't see that because we have politicians that take that population for granted," he said.

Alongside his party's leader, Valérie Plante, Prosper called for more investment in community organizations and services.

And he blamed Coderre, who was a federal MP in the area for more than a decade, for many of the community's current problems.

Black, the mayoral incumbent, was quick to slam Projet Montréal for aligning itself with Prosper, a vocal critic of Montreal police.

"As gun violence escalates in Montreal, the Plante administration is all about police disarmament and defunding. Mr. Prosper is its most fervent activist," said Christine Black in a statement Wednesday.

"This hidden agenda is worrying."

Black was first elected mayor of Montréal-Nord in a 2016 by-election.The borough has been run by Denis Coderre's Ensemble Montréal since 2013, with Black then beating Projet's star candidate Balarama Holness in 2017.

Holness, a lawyer, activist and former member of the Montreal Alouettes, is now running for for Montreal mayor against Plante while flying his own party banner — Mouvement Montréal.

And Prosper is stepping up to the plate against Black in one of the city's poorest and most racially diverse boroughs.

Former RCMP officer turned activist

Prosper was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer for five years. More recently, he has advocated for a reduction in the Montreal police service's budget.

A documentary filmmaker, Prosper grew up in Montréal-Nord and has made several films about the borough. He has also played a role in civil rights groups over the years.

In 2009, Prosper co-founded Hoodstock, a hub of activism and community support, the year after unarmed teenager Fredy Villanueva was shot and killed by police.

Both he and Plante said Projet is not looking to cut police funding.

"We're not about defunding at all, not me and not Will, that is not the priority right now," Plante said.

"There's a community approach that we need to engage a little bit more also, when it comes to police, something that will better the relationship between the citizen and the police."

Black says police part of solution

Black, for her part, said Ensemble Montréal believes police must be part of the solution.

"There is also an urgent need to invest in the community, which the Plante administration opposes," she said.

"In Montréal-Nord, during her tenure, the Plante administration refused to fund a sports centre for neighborhood youth," she said, noting her party pushed for a $3 million investment.

Currently Montréal-Nord, Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, Saint-Léonard and Anjou all share one sports centre despite having a combined population of more than 300,000.

Black has been lobbying for a sports centre so Montréal-Nord can be like most other boroughs and municipalities on the island — providing indoor space to swim and play sports all year round. 

However, the push for a sports centre dates back decades, well before Coderre was elected mayor of the city in 2013.

Prosper himself is no stranger to criticizing Plante's leadership, having accused her of failing to successfully run a diverse slate of candidates. Now, he says he's convinced Plante is taking steps in the right direction.

For example, Projet is running Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, a Black woman, for mayor of the city's largest borough, Côte-Des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce.

Katahwa, a nurse by training and manager at the West Island health agency, said this week "there are a lot of things to do and we have to stop wasting time."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.