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Meet the Branch town councillor headed to the United Nations
Mallary McGrath, who sits on an all-female council is the Atlantic Canada representative for a session on the status of women. Branch Coun. Mallary McGrath is going to New York next month for a United Nations conference. (Submitted by Mallary McGrath) A member of an all-female town council in Branch, N.L., is heading to New…
Mallary McGrath, who sits on an all-female council is the Atlantic Canada representative for a session on the status of women.
A member of an all-female town council in Branch, N.L., is heading to New York to represent Atlantic Canada in the United Nations next month for a special session on women.
Mallary McGrath will be attending the United Nations' 64th session of the commission of the status of women, which will be hosting women from around the world.
“I'm very excited to be there as a woman from a rural community … and ultimately just share my own experiences with leaders from quite literally all over the world,” said McGrath.
McGrath was elected to council in 2012 when she in her early 20s, and in the 2018 election, all town councillors elected were women. Her experience and perspective, in combination with her time as the director of Planned Parenthood NL, made her the chosen candidate when the Atlantic Council for International Co-operation started looking for a representative.
The meeting in Manhattan will focus on a review and appraisal of implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which McGrath calls a “blueprint for advancing women's rights.”
There are a lot of women starting to show up in the room, and I like that.– Mallary McGrath
McGrath said the idea of female leadership, especially in rural areas, is nothing new. In Branch, she grew up under a series of consecutive female mayors, so joining town council didn't seem like an insurmountable task.
Although she's sometimes in the minority on council duties, she says, things are changing.
“When I travel to Municipalities [NL] events there are definitely a lot of middle-aged men … but in my experience, even in this past decade, when I've been going to these events there are a lot of women starting to show up in the room, and I like that.”
Bringing a unique voice to the U.N.
There are two issues in particular that McGrath wants to highlight when she goes to Manhattan.
“In Newfoundland and Labrador, unfortunately there is a lot of violence against women. We've seen this, and that's not to say it's particularly in Branch, but just in our province we see that a lot,” she said.
“And of course in Canada we have a large missing and murdered Indigenous women's population.”
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
With files from The St. John's Morning Show
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