Maria Saras-Voutsinas brings decades of community leadership to Toronto City Council race

TORONTO— Maria Saras-Voutsinas, longtime Executive Director of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC), is running for Toronto City Council in Ward 14, Toronto-Danforth, in the October 26 municipal election.

A journalist and community advocate, Saras-Voutsinas has spent more than two decades championing Canada’s ethnic and independent media, working closely with governments, public institutions and community organizations to promote media diversity, freedom of expression and greater recognition of multicultural journalism.

A longstanding friend and supporter of Horizon Media, Saras-Voutsinas has consistently recognized the important role of Armenian-Canadian journalism within Canada’s multicultural media landscape. Through her leadership at the NEPMCC, she has worked to strengthen the visibility and representation of community publications, including Horizon, while advocating for greater institutional support for ethnic media.

A longtime Toronto-Danforth resident who raised her family in the neighbourhood, Saras-Voutsinas is also a founding member of the Danforth Greektown Renewal Committee. Her professional experience includes years of engagement with municipal officials through the NEPMCC, which has maintained an office at Toronto City Hall for more than two decades.

Her campaign focuses on affordability, public safety, responsible municipal spending, improved city services and support for local businesses.

Saras-Voutsinas’s candidacy brings her longstanding involvement in community advocacy and multicultural representation into the municipal political arena, as Toronto residents prepare to elect their next city council on October 26.