Dawn Arnold makes history as Moncton's 1st female mayor

Dawn Arnold made history on Thursday night as she was sworn in as Moncton's first female mayor in the 161 years since it was incorporated in 1855.

The swearing-in ceremony for the new Moncton council started with a musical introduction from the all-female a cappella group Riversong.

Former lieutenant-governor Hermngilde Chiasson, a poet and filmmaker, used a brief speech at the ceremony to note the significance of this new council.

"It is not always easy to make history, but I have no question that Dawn, you will make us proud," he said.

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Arnold spoke briefly about the significance of being the city's first female mayor.

"I was running along the river front on the weekend and I saw the Salter monument," she said in reference to Joseph Salter, the city's first mayor.

"And it's pretty profound that since 1857 every single name that's there is a man.I'm pretty happy that there will be a female added to that list now."

Arnold said she would like to encourage young women to make their voices heard in municipal politics.

Coun. Paulette Thriault, the only other woman serving on the 11-personcity council, said she would like to see more women running in municipal politicsin the future.

"I would have loved to see more women," Thriaultsaid.

"Unfortunately there's only the two of us, but I think in the years to come we'll probably see many more women get involved.This is good for Moncton."

Former Moncton mayor George LeBlanc, who served two terms as mayor, decided not to run in May's mayoral election.

Arnold defeated Brian Hicks, who served for 17 years as a councillor, for the city's top political job on May 9.

New priorities

With the official ceremonies now over, the new council can get down to work.

Arnold said the council will be determining its priorities for the coming years before the end of June.

The new mayor said there are two issues in particular that she would like to address as soon as possible.

"There's certainly been a lot of talk about booting [in parking lots] lately so I think we'll get on that and cutting the red tape," she said.

"I think those will be two priorities that we'll be moving ahead on really quickly."

She also stressed that citizens needed to be responsible for their city, and gave the example of taking public transit or cycling to work and supporting local businesses.