Article content

A woman who was once homeless in Ottawa is believed to be the first openly transgender school trustee to be elected in Ontario and possibly in Canada.

Lyra Evans, 26, will become the school trustee for a downtown Ottawa district after garnering 55 per cent of the votes cast Monday as part of Ontario’s municipal elections.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Meet Lyra Evans, believed to be Canada's first openly trans school trustee Back to video

Evans says she felt compelled to join the race after the Doug Ford government it would revert Ontario’s sex-education curriculum to the 1998 version.

“I was outraged. I was disappointed they were going to be doing this to students who, I think, should be learning the things the 2015 curriculum teaches,” she said in an interview Tuesday.

“So I got engaged because I wanted to be a voice for people who didn’t feel like their voices were being heard.”

But the journey to her election victory has been far from easy.

Evans became homeless while still in high school and struggled for several years — couch surfing or living in the streets.