Sex work advocate Scarlett Gillespie, also known as Jelena Vermilion, is running for mayor of Hamilton in the upcoming municipal elections.

Gillespie is a community activist, organizer and the Executive Director of the Sex Workers’ Action Program (SWAP) Hamilton.

SWAP Hamilton works with sex workers of all walks of life, including those who are BIPOC, experiencing homelessness, undocumented, part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and more.

“I am running for mayor because I believe Hamilton needs leadership that understands the realities people are facing on the ground and is committed to building solutions that work for everyone,” she said in a statement.

Gillespie has used the name Jelena Vermilion for many years, which allowed her to “advocate safely in difficult and often hostile environments,” she said.

She said as she steps forwards as a candidate, she’s choosing to use her legal name publicly. 

People can officially sign up to run in the October municipal election for mayor, councillor or school trustee on May 1. Nominations close Aug. 21.

Priorities includes tenant protections

Gillespie said her platform will focus on priorities that include housing, tenant protections, climate justice, transparency at city hall, community-led initiatives and strengthening the arts sector. 

“Hamilton is a sanctuary city built by working-class and disabled people, artists, im/migrants, and labourers,” she said. “Our city government should reflect the full lived reality.”

Gillespie’s interest in housing issues partly comes from her own experience as a tenant. She has delegated several times to the board of directors with CityHousing Hamilton (CHH), which runs the apartment building in which she lives.

She told CBC her longtime advocacy for improvements to the building led to an eviction notice, which she is currently disputing at the Landlord and Tenant Board.

CBC News viewed the N5 eviction notice issued by CHH, which says Gillespie has “substantially interfered with another tenant’s or [the landlord’s] reasonable enjoyment of the residential complex and/or lawful rights, privileges or interests.”

Paralegal Stephanie Bent told CBC she is representing Gillespie at the LTB to fight the notice. “We have been privileged to help and Gillespie fight on and look forward to seeing how much more she can do for people whose voice is often muffled or ignored completely,” Bent said in an email statement.

Adam Sweedland, CEO of CHH, said in an email statement that he “cannot comment on individual tenant matters” but that CHH “respects the right of tenants to raise concerns about their housing.”

Gillespie said in an email to media that she has spent “many years working directly with people who often fall through the cracks of public systems,” adding that her experience in advocacy and community work translate directly to the mayoral role.

Her candidacy is a “break from traditional political pathways” and her commitment to those underrepresented in decision-making, she said.

Running against Ward 8 councillor, current mayor

Gillespie is also a researcher, a personal support worker educated in palliative, geriatrics and psychosocial-spiritual care, and an interdisciplinary artist, she said in her statement.

She has also been an advocate for the rights of transgender individuals in the city. In 2024, when she was the recipient of a YWCA Hamilton Woman of Distinction award, in her acceptance speech, Gillespie said she was proud to represent other sex workers, trans people and people who had experienced police violence.

Others who say they will also be running for mayor include president and CEO of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction Keanin Loomis, who lost against current Mayor Andrea Horwath in the 2022 municipal election, and Rob Cooper, councillor for Ward 8.

Horwath also confirmed she’s planning to run again.

The 2026 municipal elections will be held on Oct. 26.