Jennifer French

Jennifer French is the first woman to hold the Ontario provincial seat for the riding of Oshawa as a Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP).

She made history in Oshawa when she won the provincial election against the 19-year Conservative incumbent, Jerry Ouellette, in 2014. 

French was re-elected in 2018 and again for a third term in June 2022.

Jennifer French's journey to Queen's Park

French was born in Winchester, a small town in eastern Ontario, in 1978. She grew up with her younger brother and was raised by her father, who worked corporate jobs, and her mother, who took time off to raise her children. 

Her mother was a teacher prior to French’s birth, and when she returned to her career, she worked at a nursery school caring for children.  Her father, now retired, remains busy doing hobby farming.

French’s childhood was filled with figure skating, swimming lessons, and family camping trips.

"With my dad's job at the time, we moved around a bit, and I had an opportunity during high school to be a misplaced Canadian and live in the States," French said. "Every once in a while, I have a bit of an accent from my high school days in southern California."

While moving around, French became adept at meeting new people, making connections and learning from others. French said they travelled a lot, not because her father's job required it, but like French, her father just loved to travel.  

French didn’t come from a partisan background. Her family wasn't political when she was growing up. She said no one would have been able to tell how they voted back then. "But my mother had been a teacher, and I grew up with stories about kids that may or may not have had all they needed. I think my mother was a very fair and kindness-minded individual,” she said.

“I don't know that I decided to get into politics so much as I wanted to be in the room where decisions were made.”

During her time as an elementary school teacher at Glen Hill Public School, located in an economically disadvantaged area of south Oshawa, she noticed inequalities in the opportunities some students had over others.

"There weren't a lot of opportunities for some of my kids or students, and they had a pretty uphill battle ahead of them," French said. 

She started to notice the role the government played in those decisions and how those decisions could lead to what French calls fairness or, conversely, inequalities for students. She began to see how provincial politics could play a role in leveling the playing field for people who face barriers in society, especially in education. "When I started to realize that fairness is political, that's when I got more involved with the local labour council, my local union, and then looked around and realized that a lot of the people I was spending time with and learning from, and kind of accidental mentors, were New Democrats," French said.

From unions to the campaign trail

French was involved in the Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario’s (ETFO) fight over Bill 115, also known as the Putting Students First Act, which gave the provincial government power to set additional rules for local school boards when negotiating with unions.

"Unions were my base," she said. "I was committed to public education and saw unions as an important equalizer."

At the time, there was a Liberal government provincially. "They kicked teachers in the teeth and stole our sick leave and all sorts of things with Bill 115, and it wasn't fair. It wasn't right, and flash forward, (it) was ruled unconstitutional.”

The bill was found to violate the collective bargaining rights of teachers and school staff in 2016. After the fight over Bill 115 ended, French continued to be involved with ETFO.

She was also active in the Ontario Labour Union and the Durham Region Labour Council.

"And that's sort of what started the partisan piece. I realized, someone needs to be in that room, sharing the voices of our community," she said. "And so I put up my hand, and they (the NDP in the riding of Oshawa) picked me. It all happened so quickly." From her work with the unions, she realized how much work was involved in fighting for what she calls fairness.

She began working with the local labour council with people across the community regardless of the workplace. She found the people she supported through the unions had common problems: health and safety issues, fairness issues, and other challenges.

The work the unions were doing to make workplaces a better and safer place for people resonated with French. 

"As I started to be surrounded by workers and people doing the heavy lifting, especially in the health and safety area, I realized I was in the right room.”

Representing the Oshawa riding in Queen's Park

Now that the people of Oshawa elected French, she needed to learn the ropes quickly. As she was learning how to be an MPP, there was no shortage of challenges she needed to address in her new role. 

"If I had known how big the job was, I might have had the sense not to put up my hand,” she said. “But I would've missed out. And I'm very glad to do the work. But it is a remarkable thing to be elected, chosen by your community, and so humbling and a pretty exciting way to start that next chapter, you know, with the support of your community." 

As someone who's never been a politician in office, some of the early challenges were about building capacity to do the job. "I don't just mean staffing up and getting the office operating. You have to build the plane while you're flying," she said.

Deciding which ribbon-cutting event to go to and which to miss were some of the challenges, as French didn't want to miss anything.

"Each person who calls in the middle of a crisis or a concern unfolding, you can't tell them, ‘I haven't dealt with that yet, I’ll call you back in a few weeks.’ Because real life is unfolding,” she said. “I think in the earliest days, we wanted to not drop any of the balls. We wanted to make sure that we were serving people. You couldn't just say, 'Hi, I'm new at this. Can I have a few weeks to get my feet under me?'”

“Right out the gate, it was up to my eyeballs in all aspects.”

French still finds time for her family despite keeping busy at Queen's Park. She recently married her husband, Jon Arnold, in November 2023.

Highlights of Jennifer French's time as MPP

French was proud to be part of an effort to preserve Duffin's Creek, after the Ontario government authorized the construction of a warehouse and other facilities on the coastal wetland area. The construction effort meant opposition from environmental activists, Indigenous groups and the local community. "I wasn't the reason we had success there, but I was a part of that in partnership with the community," French said. "Even though that's not a Jennifer French win, [I was proud] to be a part of a movement." French put forth a private member's bill to take the tolls off Hwy 412 and 418. Eventually, the government took the tolls off those highways, something the provincial NDP had been pushing for "a long time.” "Every time I drive on the 412 or for 418 without the tolls, I have a quiet sense of satisfaction that I worked with the community and amplified their voice in their call for that initiative," she said. She worked with Kevin Flynn, the Minister of Labour for the then-Liberal provincial government, to help the  widows of miners  who had died of occupational disease in Sudbury, who she said were "being targeted by lawyers" and were at risk of losing their pensions. "I have a few pieces of private member's legislation or bills with my name on them right now. One of them, anti-scab legislation, we had debated. Unfortunately, it was defeated. So we will continue to push for that," she said. She's also interested in the future of electric vehicles and ensuring that Oshawa has the necessary infrastructure.

Advice for young women and people looking to pursue politics

French encourages young people to pursue politics if they are passionate about helping their community. She says if someone is looking into a political career, they should speak with someone like her who's doing the work.

There are more jobs in politics than just the person you see on the TV or in the houses of parliament. Many essential jobs are behind each politician, such as researchers, speech writers, caseworkers, and assistants. 

"If I had known what this job was, I might have thought it was too big for me or been overwhelmed. And it probably is too big for one person. But you have a team, and each day is a new chance to either do better, learn something or re-approach a challenge," she said. Without the team behind a member of parliament, politicians wouldn't have the information they need to help their community to the best of their ability.

"We need different experiences to reflect the folks across our communities better. Get out of your own way. You don’t know until you try."

Thank you to Jennifer French.