“I want to support Esquimalt and Colwood in continuing to be places where people and their families feel welcome, safe, and are able to thrive.”

Sidney Coles is a journalist, communications professional, researcher, and former public servant running to represent Esquimalt-Colwood. Her career has focused on environmental justice, human rights, Indigenous issues, gender equity, and building stronger, more inclusive communities.

Based in Victoria, Sidney has worked as a freelance journalist since 2021, including two years as a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Capital Daily. Her reporting has appeared in Ricochet Media, the Watershed Sentinel, Canada’s National Observer, the Toronto Star, the Hamilton Spectator, and Women and Climate, with a particular focus on climate change, environmental justice, and Indigenous land rights in British Columbia.

Sidney has also worked closely with Indigenous leadership in British Columbia. As External Communications Manager for the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, she supported communications on land governance, resource development, and Indigenous rights. Earlier in her career, she worked internationally on climate and gender equity, including evaluating environmental grant-making across sub-Saharan Africa and advising on gender and resource governance initiatives.

Her public-service experience includes senior policy and program roles with the Ontario government. At the Ministry of Education, Sidney evaluated programs supporting Indigenous children and youth and children in care. At the Ministry of the Status of Women, she helped manage an employment program designed to reduce barriers facing Indigenous, racialized, and newcomer women entering skilled trades, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Sidney has also worked in humanitarian and international development settings, including with Doctors Without Borders in the Democratic Republic of Congo and on a psychosocial support initiative for refugee mothers and young children in Türkiye.

She holds two PhDs from the University of Toronto. She completed a PhD in Comparative Literature in 2008 and a PhD in Applied Psychology and Human Development in 2024, with research focused on women’s empowerment and the gendered impacts of mining in international development. Sidney was also nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship at McMaster University and held a Junior Fellowship at Massey College.

As a reporter in the Capital Regional District, Sidney has developed a close understanding of the challenges facing local municipalities and communities. She is running to bring that experience to public life with a focus on evidence-based policy, environmental responsibility, reconciliation, accountable government, and ensuring Esquimalt-Colwood remains a place where people and families can feel welcome, safe, and able to thrive.