Sadaf Ebrahim Says Community Passion Fuels Her Campaign

By Charlie Senack, Barrhaven Independent

Community volunteer Sadaf Ebrahim is running for city council in Barrhaven West and hopes her commitment to the neighborhood will be noticed. 

The Order of Ottawa recipient has lived in Barrhaven since 2014 and has run a UPS store in the east end for 12 years. 

“I’m not a new face for the community, I’ve raised funds for so many organizations like mental health, for CHEO, the Ottawa Mission, and am involved as much as I can,” she told the Barrhaven Independent. “My passion and commitment is with the community.”

Ebrahim says with Barrhaven being one of the fastest growing suburbs, ward 3 will be faced with many key projects over the next few years. 

One of those projects is the Greenbank road realignment, which currently has a construction start time of 2030. The project would not be completed until at least 2032, a decade and a half after initially planned. 

“This thing is very important for all of us, but I’m not going to say if (I’m elected) it’s going to get done overnight,” Ebrahim said. “Definitely we could push more and reopen the plan to look at the date. Everyone wants it done as soon as possible.”

Ebrahim said she lives in Half Moon Bay and her son goes to St. Joseph High School. She takes that stretch of road everyday and feels it’s congested. 

But even more important, Ebrahim says, is making school zones more safe. 

“The number one thing I will do is try to reduce speeding in school zone areas for children,” she said. “Maybe a camera or more awareness signs. Yes the Greenbank Road realignment is important, but school zones are more important for me. We have seen cars stolen and all that so we need more policing so residents can feel safe.”

Ebrahim adds Barrhaven West needs to be served by a better transit plan to help move people around in a way that’s good both economically and for the environment. 

She said the community is in need of a diverse individual for the position along with  electing more women to council. 

For the first time in over two and a half decades, there is no incumbent running in Barrhaven West. Jan Harder announced in 2018 she would be retiring after her last term was up. 

Four names are on the ballot in Barrhaven West. They are: David Hill, Jay Chadha, Sadaf Ebrahim, and Taayo Simmonds. The other candidates have been profiled in previous editions of the Barrhaven Independent and can be found online at: BarrhavenIndependent.ca. 

The municipal election will be held on Oct. 24. In the first four days of advanced polling, 2,159 people cast their ballots at the Minto Recreation Complex in Barrhaven.