By Kezia Royer-Burkett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Masha Brar is running to become the next city councillor for Burlington’s Ward 2. She sat down for an interview on Pages of Me Podcast: Election Edition, and she spoke about more than politics. Brar discussed her journey to Canada, her family, her experiences rebuilding her life, and the values that she says have shaped the way she approaches public service.
“I’m a lawyer by trade. I’m looking to become the next councillor for Ward 2. I’ve been very passionate about doing something for society and giving back to society,” Brar said. “That is one thing that really motivates me, helping people and trying to be a better person for everybody around me, and learning as much as I can.”
Brar also described herself as someone with interests that extend well beyond her legal career and political aspirations.
“There is a poet inside of me, and there is a person who tries to do many, many things,” she said.
Brar grew up primarily in New Delhi, India, where public service was part of her family life. Her father was a senior police officer, while her mother was a homemaker who also pursued small business ventures and continued taking courses.
“I’ve seen that aspect of public service throughout,” Brar said of her father. She recalled that politics and current events were frequent topics of conversation at home, joking that she would tell people she did not need to read the newspaper because she already knew what was happening from conversations with her family.
Her own journey to Canada began with a desire to provide a different future for her son. Brar said that after her son was born in 2014, she and her husband began thinking about what kind of life they wanted to give him.
“With the amount of pollution and the kind of different things that were happening in India at that time, we weren’t happy,” she said. “I told my husband, ‘I think Canada would be good for us, and we should just go there.’”
The family moved to Canada in 2017, eventually settling in Burlington after her husband found work with IKEA Burlington. Brar said the city quickly became home.
“Since then, 2018, we’ve just been here. This has been home, and we absolutely love it,” she said. “The people are absolutely amazing.”
Brar said she and her family have felt welcomed and engaged in the community, describing the relationships she and her son have developed in Burlington as an important part of their experience living in the city.
For Brar, the values she hopes to bring to public life begin with lessons she has also tried to instill in her son. When asked what she hopes he carries with him when she is not around, she pointed to something she believes matters more than professional success or financial achievement.
“When he was a kid, and you know, like all parents and people will ask children, what do you want to be when you grow up? And he would say, ‘I don’t know,’” Brar recalled. “And I would say, ‘Do you want to be a good person and a kind person?’ And he’s like, yes. So I said, ‘That’s it. That’s your answer.’”
Brar said she wants her son to remember that being a good and kind person should remain important throughout his life.
“Sometimes we earn more, sometimes we earn less. That’s okay. That’s fine. That’s part of life,” she said. “There will be 100 different problems, some together, some coming one after the other. That’s part of life. But who we are from inside is what really matters.”
That emphasis on kindness and understanding is also something Brar says would shape her approach as a city councillor.
She said one of her priorities would be making meaningful engagement with residents a central part of her approach as councillor.
“I want them to feel that they’ve been heard and understood,” Brar said. “Not just that, you know, they’re talking and, okay, yeah, Masha’s listening, but she’s not understood our point of view.”
Brar believes her legal training has helped her understand the importance of considering the experiences of other people. She said lawyers are trained to understand the culture and background of the people they are working with, something she believes is equally important in politics.
“We all come from different backgrounds. Culturally we might be different. Our thoughts are different, but essentially the needs that we have are same or similar,” she said. “It’s just how we are getting there that might be different.”
For Brar, understanding those differences is an important part of creating policies and communicating decisions in a way residents can understand.
She said one concern she has heard repeatedly from residents is that they do not feel sufficiently involved in decisions affecting their communities. She pointed to issues including traffic, taxes, and the cricket pitch at Central Park as examples of conversations she has heard from residents.
“The point of not being heard is something that I’ve been hearing from everyone,” Brar said. “They feel that, okay, the city just wants to inform us, and that is it. That is the level of engagement. They’re not ready to hear our side. They’re not ready to engage with us.”
Brar also said residents have told her that another challenge is the way information is communicated. With laws, regulations and other decisions from different levels of government affecting residents, she said there can be a disconnect between what governments decide and how residents understand its impact on them.
Brar said she would want to help bridge that gap between City Hall and residents, bringing information back to the community in a way that is accessible and understandable.
“I would want to do things which are going to be of benefit for the city for the long term, while also trying to maintain what we have, like the core of Burlington,” she said.
She acknowledged that not every decision would make everyone happy, particularly in municipal politics where competing priorities can make consensus difficult.
“I understand that there might be some decisions with which people are not happy, which is very fair because we cannot make everybody happy,” Brar said.
For Brar, the goal would be to balance maintaining what makes Burlington unique with preparing the city for the future.
Willingness to advocate is something Brar says she would not shy away from if elected. When asked how she would compete with louder voices around the council table, she said she does not necessarily want to be the loudest person in the room, but she would be prepared to raise her voice when she believes it is necessary.
“I would not want to have to be one of the loud, loud, loud voices, but if it’s needed, I can assure you that I can be the loudest voice possible,” Brar said. “When it comes to advocating, I will not be taking a step back. If we have to do something, we have to do it, and if we need to make a bang, we will make a bang.”
Brar described the current chapter of her life as her “learning and giving back era,” a reflection of both her experiences before coming to Canada and the journey she has been on since arriving.
“I think learning never stops. So we are always in a learning era,” she said. “With that, it’s the giving back time.”
Brar said her family arrived in Canada with little financial support and began building a new life from the ground up. She recalled working minimum wage jobs and gradually building her career, contrasting that experience with the more privileged circumstances she had known earlier in her life. She said the experience taught her the importance of building an identity and a life based on her own work and accomplishments.
“I have achieved a lot and received a lot during this process,” Brar said. “It is very important to give back and to just be there for everybody and help as many people as we can.”
As Burlington heads toward the 2026 municipal election, Brar said she hopes residents will make the effort to participate, regardless of which candidate they support.
“So, for everyone who’s listening to this, please go out and vote,” Brar said. “And even if you don’t want to vote for me, please go out and vote. Just make your voice count because we do not want democracy to be diminished. We want it to be thriving forever,” she said.
For Brar, the campaign is ultimately about more than winning a seat at City Hall. It is about bringing the lessons she has learned through her career, her family life, and her experience building a new life in Canada into public service, with listening, understanding and giving back at the centre of her approach.
To watch the full episode of the Pages of Me podcast, click here to go to the Burlington Local-News.ca YouTube channel or watch below.
