David Reville

David R. Reville (born April 19, 1943) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1990 who represented the downtown Toronto riding of Riverdale. Between 1990 and 1995 he was an advisor to the government of Bob Rae.

Background

Reville was born in Brantford, Ontario. After graduating from Brantford Collegiate Institute in 1961, he attended Trinity College at the University of Toronto and proceeded to law school. It was expected that he would follow the career path of his father, an Ontario judge. Instead, Reville became manic-depressive and attempted to kill himself during his law studies.^[1] He was institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital and became a crusader for mental health reform upon his release.^[2]

During an interview with Canadian Press, Reville intoned, tongue firmly in cheek, "I became a New Democrat because I was mentally ill" and was bemused when his statement appeared as a headline in newspapers across the country. He was making the point that he had begun to learn something about powerlessness in hospital, and joined the NDP to fight for marginalized people.^[3] He once joked that he was the only MPP with a certificate to prove that he was sane.^[4]

Politics

Reville served on Toronto's city council from 1980 to 1985, and emerged as a popular alderman in the downtown area.^[5][6] He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1985 provincial election, winning an easy victory in Riverdale.^[7] He was re-elected in the 1987 election, defeating future Liberal Member of Parliament Jim Karygiannis by about 1,500 votes.^[8] Reville was an opposition MPP throughout his time in the house.

Later life

Reville did not seek re-election in 1990, arguing that he wanted to devote his time to more useful pursuits.^[11] After the NDP won a majority government in the 1990 provincial election, he served as a senior advisor to Premier Bob Rae.^[12]

In 1994, Reville was appointed chair of the Ontario Advocacy Commission but it was disbanded by the Mike Harris government less than two years later.^[13][14] In 2001, he received an award from the Council of Canadians with Disabilities. He ran a consulting company called David Reville & Associates specializing in social research and community development.^[15] In 2004, Reville began teaching for the School of Disability Studies at Ryerson University; one of his courses was called A History of Madness and the other Mad Peoples' History which received the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education Award of Excellence in 2011.^[16] He retired in 2014. That year, friends and colleagues honoured Reville by establishing the David Reville/Working for Change course bursary in Mad People's History; the winner is selected annually from the Working for Change community. Working for Change creates education and employment opportunities for people with mental health and addictions challenges. Reville was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by Queen's University in 2015.

Singing has been a big part of his life. He was a member, man and boy, of the choir at Grace Anglican Church in Brantford for 10 years. He sang at the Mariposa Folk Festival with the Spadina Road Tabernacle Band in 1980 and at Carnegie Hall with newchoir, Toronto's first rock choir in 2015. Since 2014, he's been a member of the Eastminster United Church choir in Toronto.

References

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history