Pamela Margaret McConnell (February 14, 1946 – July 7, 2017) was a municipal politician in Ontario, Canada. She served on Metro Toronto Council from 1994 to 1998, and on Toronto City Council from 1998 until her death in 2017. McConnell received an award from the Duke of Edinburgh in 1997 for her work with inner city youth, and received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013. In 2018, Toronto Mayor John Tory announced the creation of the Pam McConnell Young Women in Leadership Award for women between the ages of 19 and 26. In addition, the Pam McConnell Aquatic Center in Toronto is named after her. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) created the Award for Gender Equality in International Development and named it the Pam McConnell Award. Early life McConnell was born on February 14, 1946, in England; her family emigrated to Canada in 1954 when she was 9 years old. She was a teacher before entering politics by being elected as a Toronto Board of Education school trustee in 1982. She held that position until 1994. She played a prominent role in advocating for adult literacy programs. In 1988, she became vice-chair of the Toronto School Board and, in 1992, became its chair. Political career In 1994, she left the school board and was elected to Toronto City Council in a close race. With the amalgamation of Toronto with five suburban municipalities in 1997, she was forced into a tough election. With wards electing two councillors each, she faced fellow New Democratic Party (NDP) incumbents Jack Layton and Peter Tabuns, edging out Tabuns for the second councillor position by just over two hundred votes. With Tabuns and Layton nominated as the "official" NDP candidates by the ward's NDP association, McConnell's decision to run caused her to be estranged from her fellow NDPers for a period, and she supported Liberal-backed Barbara Hall as a candidate for Mayor of Toronto in the 2003 municipal election against New Democrat David Miller. She maintained her membership in the NDP, however, and became more active with the party since 2003. She was a Miller ally since the election and, served as chair of the Toronto Police Services Board from 2004 to 2005 overseeing the selection of a new police chief, Bill Blair. She also served as vice-chair of the board. McConnell has also been an advocate of children's issues on city council. McConnell