List of the first LGBT holders of political offices in Canada

• Member of Parliament:
  • Male: Svend Robinson – elected 1979[9] [Came out: 1988]
  • Female: Libby Davies – elected 1997[10] [Came out: 2001]
  • Already out at first election: Bill Siksay – 2004[11]
• Senator:
  • Male: Laurier LaPierre – 2001[12]
  • Female: Nancy Ruth – 2005[13]

At least two federal MPs who predated Robinson, Heward Grafftey and Charles Lapointe, and one who was first elected alongside him in 1979, Ian Waddell, are known to have come out as gay or bisexual after their retirement from politics.[14][15][16]

As of 2015, seven of Canada's ten provinces have elected at least one LGBT MP to the House of Commons or had an LGBT senator appointed from their province.

• British Columbia
  • Male: Svend Robinson, MP (NDP) – elected 1979[9] [Came out: 1988]
  • Female: Libby Davies, MP (NDP) – elected 1997[10] [Came out: 2001]
  • Already out at first election: Bill Siksay, MP (NDP) – 2004[11]
• Nova Scotia
  • Scott Brison, MP (Progressive Conservative, later Liberal) – elected 1997[17] [Came out: 2002]
• Ontario
  • Mario Silva, MP (Liberal) – 2004[18]
  • Senator Nancy Ruth (Progressive Conservative, later Conservative) – 2005[13]
• Quebec
  • Senator Laurier LaPierre (Liberal) – 2001[19]
  • Réal Ménard, MP (Bloc Québécois) – elected 1993[20] [Came out: 1994]
• Saskatchewan
  • Sheri Benson, MP (NDP) – 2015[21]
• Alberta
  • Randy Boissonnault, MP (Liberal) – 2015[22]
• Newfoundland and Labrador
  • Seamus O'Regan, MP (Liberal) – 2015

• Federal cabinet minister: Scott Brison – 2004[17]

• Leader of a federal political party: Chris Lea (Green) – 1990[23]

• Mayor of any municipality: Maurice Richard served as mayor of Bécancour, Quebec from 1975 to 1985. Contemporary biographical sources indicate that he came out as gay sometime during his mayoralty, but are not clear about when; it is known, however, that he was out as gay by the time of his campaign for election to the National Assembly of Quebec in 1985.[4] After serving in the provincial legislature from 1985 to 1994 as its first openly LGBT member, he was reelected to another stint as mayor of Bécancour in 1995.
• Mayor of a major city: Glen Murray (Winnipeg) – 1998 (world's first)
• Transgender mayor: Julie Lemieux was elected mayor of Très-Saint-Rédempteur in the 2017 municipal election.

One mayor, Charlotte Whitton in Ottawa (1951–56, 1961–64), has been the subject of unresolved debate about her sexual orientation. Whitton spent much of her adult life in a Boston marriage-style living arrangement with another woman, Margaret Grier; in 1999, 24 years after Whitton's death, the National Archives of Canada publicly released many intimate personal letters between Whitton and Grier. The release of these papers sparked much debate in the Canadian media about whether Whitton and Grier's relationship could be characterized as lesbian, or merely as an emotionally intimate friendship between two unmarried women.[30] Whitton never publicly identified herself as lesbian during her lifetime, and thus could not be considered Canada's first out LGBT mayor regardless of the status of her relationship with Grier.

• First city councillor: At the last caretaker meeting of Tecumseh, Ontario's municipal council following the 1980 municipal elections, outgoing councillor and unsuccessful mayoral candidate Cameron Frye acknowledged that he was gay.[31] The campaign had been marked by rumours about Frye's sexuality, including the distribution of hate literature claiming that Frye would promote a "gay lifestyle" as mayor and would lead the town into "moral decay",[32] although Frye refused to confirm or deny the claims about his sexuality during the campaign.[33] Frye was first elected to the municipal council in 1972.[33]
• First city councillor already out at first election: Raymond Blain (Montreal), 1986

• City councillor in Edmonton:
  • Male: Michael Phair – 1992[34]
  • Female: Sherry McKibben - 1994[35]
• City councillor in Red Deer: Paul Harris - 2010[21]
• City councillor in Calgary: Jeromy Farkas - 2017[36]

• City councillor in Vancouver:
  • Male: Gordon Price – 1986[37]
  • Female: Ellen Woodsworth – 2002[38]
• City councillor in Esquimalt: Randall Garrison - 2008[39]
• City councillor in Cumberland: Conner Copeman - 2011[40]
• City councillor in Victoria: Sarah Potts-Halpin - 2018

• City councillor in Winnipeg: Glen Murray – 1989[41]

• City councillor in Halifax - Krista Snow - 2003[42]
• Municipal Councillor in Region of Queens - Brian Fralic - 2012[43]
• Mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality: Cecil Clarke - elected 2012[44] [Came out: 2018]

• Municipal councillor in Wabana, Bell Island: Donovan Taplin - 2013[45]

• Brant: David Bailey - mayor, elected 2018[46]
• Barrie: Keenan Aylwin - city councillor, elected 2018[47]
• Fort Frances: Douglas Judson - town councillor, elected 2018
• Goderich: Kevin Morrison - mayor, elected 2014[48]
• Hamilton: Aidan Johnson - city councillor, elected 2014[49]
• North Dundas: Eric Duncan - mayor; elected 2010, came out 2017[50]
• Ottawa:
  • Male: Alex Munter (Kanata) and Stéphane Émard-Chabot – city councillors, elected 1994[51][52]
  • Female: Catherine McKenney - city councillor, elected 2014[53]
  • Mayor: Jim Watson - elected 2010, came out 2019[54]
• Tillsonburg: Mark Renaud - city councillor, elected 2003
• Toronto:
  • Male: Kyle Rae – city councillor, elected 1991[55]
  • Female: Kristyn Wong-Tam – city councillor, elected 2010[56]

• City councillor in Montreal:
  • Male: Raymond Blain - 1986[57]

• City councillor in Prince Albert:
  • Male: Evert Botha - 2016[58]
• City councillor in Saskatoon:
  • Male: Darren Hill – 2006[59]
  • Female: Lenore Swystun – 2000[59]