Gary Malkowski

Gary Malkowski (born July 26, 1958) is a former Canadian provincial politician. He represented the riding of York East in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party. He was Canada's first deaf parliamentarian, and the first deaf parliamentarian in the world to address a legislature in a sign language, specifically American Sign Language.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Malkowski went to E. C. Drury School for the Deaf, in Milton, Ontario. He was further educated at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Social Work, and a Master of Arts degree in Rehabilitation Counselling. He was cited in "Who's Who in American Universities and Colleges" for his work in advancing student rights. After graduating, he worked as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor and Deaf Culture Instructor for the Canadian Hearing Society, as well as teaching continuing education courses in politics and culture for deaf adults at George Brown College. In 1989, he was presented with a Community Action Award by the Ontario government.

The NDP won an unexpected majority government in the 1990 provincial election, and Malkowski defeated Liberal incumbent Christine Hart by 789 votes in the Toronto area riding of York East. When Bob Rae's government took office following the election, the very first law passed was to permit Malkowski's sign language interpreters to stand on the floor of the legislature. Malkowski was named parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Citizenship on October 1, 1990.

In 1993, Malkowski became parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education and Training. In 1994, he introduced the Rae government's Ontarians with Disabilities bill, which aimed to improve service accessibility for people with disabilities. In doing so, Malkowski became the first politician in the world to introduce a piece of legislation in sign language. Unfortunately, however, the bill did not pass.

In the 1995 election, the governing NDP were reduced to just 17 seats, and Malkowski lost to Progressive Conservative John Parker by 3,263 votes. He has not sought a return to politics since this time.

He is now vice-president of consumer, government and corporate relations for the Canadian Hearing Society. In this role, Malkowski opposed disabilities legislation proposed by the Mike Harris government in 1998 as ineffective.

Author Richard Medugno has published a biography, "Deaf Politician: The Gary Malkowski Story" and a play, "Bigger Dreams", about Malkowski. In 2004, Malkowski began a campaign to have major theater companies install closed-captioning services for deaf patrons.