Ausma Malik

Ausma Malik (born ) is a Canadian politician elected to represent Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York as councillor on Toronto City Council in the 2022 election. Malik was appointed as statutory deputy mayor of Toronto in 2023.

Malik became the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman to be elected to public office in Canada when she served as a Toronto District School Board trustee from 2014 to 2018, and is also the first Toronto city councillor to wear a hijab. In August 2023, Mayor Olivia Chow appointed Malik as one of four deputy mayors of Toronto for the Toronto City Council 2022–2026 and as statutory deputy mayor.

Early life and career Ausma Malik was born in to Pakistani immigrant parents as the third of four children and was raised in Mississauga, Ontario.

At the University of Toronto, Malik participated in student activism. In 2007, she was a member of the Canadian Federation of Students's Task Force on the Needs of Muslim Students, which published a report on failures to properly accommodate Muslim postsecondary students in respect to food choice, prayer space, religious holidays, and racial abuse.

Before entering politics herself, she worked on education policy for the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP), as a labour organizer in the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario, and as a staffer at the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Her election made her the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman elected to public office in Canada. During a ward trustee candidates debate, a small group of men interrupted her closing remarks by shouting that she was a "Jew hater" and "Hezbollah terrorist", eventually forcing her to abandon her closing statement and leave through a back door.

During the 2018 Toronto municipal election, Malik registered to run in one of the downtown wards being split from Trinity—Spadina. Incumbent councillor Joe Cressy planned to jointly campaign with her while running in the other half of his old ward, but Premier Doug Ford reduced the number of wards from 47 to 25. This eliminated the ward Malik planned to run in, and she ended her campaign. Malik did not run for re-election as a TDSB trustee and her term ended in 2018.

Toronto City Council

Joe Cressy, who was elected to represent the new Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York in 2018, did not run in the 2022 Toronto municipal election. On October 24, 2022, Malik was elected to Toronto City Council.

Malik is the first Toronto city councillor to wear a hijab.