Jennifer Keesmaat

Background

Keesmaat was the third of the four daughters of Irene, an artist, and Leonard, a builder and craftsman. Both her parents came to Canada from the Netherlands as young children. She was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario where she attended Calvin Christian School and then Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School. Keesmaat graduated from the University of Western Ontario in English and philosophy in 1993. She enrolled in York University in 1997 and then obtained a master's degree in environmental studies (politics and planning) by 1999. For a brief time, she worked as an executive assistant to Councillor Joe Mihevc and former Councillor Jane Pitfield, at the Toronto City Hall, during Mel Lastman's tenure as mayor.

Before becoming the chief planner of Toronto, she had worked on master plans in Toronto, Vancouver, Mississauga, Vaughan, Regina, Saskatoon, Lethbridge, Moncton, London and Halifax. Outside of Canada, she has worked in the United States, Ireland and Greece. Along with Harold Madi and Antonio Gomez-Palacio, Keesmaat is a founder of the planning and design firm Office for Urbanism. She is also a founding partner at DIALOG. She writes articles on planning-related topics, including recent editorials in the Toronto Star on the importance of complete streets and Complete Communities, and in The Globe and Mail on the need to change approaches to land use planning to ensure the liveability and sustainability of Canada's future communities. She has guest lectured at Ryerson University, York University, and the University of Toronto. She has also delivered the TEDx talks Own your City and Walk to School.

She became the chief planner of Toronto in September 2012. She is an advocate of density and walkability and has described mid-rise development, transportation, and waterfront as areas of focus. She has also been a strong proponent of a national urban agenda by calling for an expanded role of the federal government in supporting Canadian cities. Keesmaat took a strong stance on the Gardiner Expressway debate, and "her outspokenness got her into hot water with the mayor’s office. It was also reported that Keesmaat "put her hand over a CP24 camera and walked away from an interview when asked about tensions""

To discuss her plans, she hosts public roundtables, which are live-tweeted and broadcast on Rogers TV. The Feeling Congested Consultation, one of the first major projects launched by her as chief planner, uses a range of non-traditional online and offline consultation tools to reach the public.

She was named the ninth most influential person in Toronto by Toronto Life in 2014, and the 41st most important person in Canada by Maclean's in 2013.

Personal life

She is married to Tom Freeman, who runs FH Hospitality, a home-based sales firm that sells high-end fixtures and furniture to hotels. Together, Keesmaat and Freeman have two children, Alexandra and Luis.