Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante has been named to a global mayors' task force aimed at helping cities recover from COVID-19.
Plante is the only Canadian named to the 11-person panel, which also includes the mayors of Hong Kong, Lisbon, Melbourne, New Orleans and Freetown, Sierra Leone, among others.
In a news release, Montreal says the group's goal is to accelerate cities' economic recovery with a focus on public health, reducing inequality and fighting climate change.
The task force is an initiative of the C40 Cities network, which focuses largely on issues related to climate change.
Montreal is a Canadian hotspot for COVID-19, with over 12,800 cases and 1,078 deaths as of Thursday morning.
Plante says in a statement that her city has been hard-hit economically by the virus, and improved resilience will be key to recovery.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2020.
The Canadian Press
