Hazel McCallion (née Journeaux; February 14, 1921 – January 29, 2023) was a Canadian politician who served as the fifth mayor of Mississauga. First elected in November 1978, McCallion was mayor for 36 years until her retirement in 2014, making her the longest-serving mayor in the city's history. She was a successful candidate in twelve municipal elections, having been acclaimed twice and re-elected ten other times. Her supporters gave her the nickname "Hurricane Hazel" because of her outspoken political style with reference to the hurricane of 1954, which had a considerable impact. When the 1979 Mississauga train derailment occurred early in her tenure, she helped oversee evacuation of 200,000 residents from the resulting explosion, fire, and spill of hazardous chemicals.
Before marriage, McCallion played professional women's ice hockey while attending school in Montreal, then worked for engineering firm Canadian Kellogg, and was transferred to Toronto in 1942. She moved to Streetsville in 1951, and left the business world in 1967 to pursue politics. She served as mayor of Streetsville from 1970 to 1973, prior to its amalgamation into Mississauga. Following her tenure as mayor of Mississauga, McCallion remained an active public figure, serving as the first chancellor of Sheridan College, on the Greater Toronto Airport Authority board, and as a special advisor to the Ontario government.
McCallion received multiple honours including the Order of Canada in 2005, the Order of Ontario in 2020, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, and honorary doctorate of law degrees from the University of Toronto, and Ryerson University. She died at 101, and was given a state funeral on what would have been her 102nd birthday.
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