Meet Aida

Community service was part of Aida Kostuck’s life long before she ever thought about running for Council.

Aida grew up in the Philippines as the eldest daughter in a family of six children. Her parents raised their family with three simple rules: go to school, work hard and be kind

Aida was an honour student, graduating at the top of her class in Manila. After coming to Canada, she continued her education and graduated with honours from certificate programs in Social Service Work at Seneca College and Law Clerk studies at Centennial College.

Her parents also taught those lessons by example.

When someone in their community died, Aida’s father would go from neighbour to neighbour collecting money to help the family with funeral expenses. Her mother would clean the family’s home and prepare food, while Aida helped by looking after the children.

Her father repaired fences and roofs, helped settle disagreements between neighbours and visited people who were sick. Her parents donated food and clothing and did whatever small things they could to make life a little easier for someone who was struggling.

Service to the community was simply a way of life.

Starting again in Canada.

When Aida’s father lost his job, her family made the difficult decision to immigrate to Canada from the Philippines in the late 1970s.

They left behind family, culture, language and the life they knew. As they established themselves in Canada, they began creating a new sense of belonging by participating in social and cultural gatherings and, once again, helping friends and neighbours whenever they could.

Years earlier, Aida’s husband Henry’s family had made a similar journey. The Kostuck family immigrated to Canada from France after WW2, where Henry’s father served in the French National Army. They bought land in Queensville, where they farmed corn and vegetables and raised animals.

Henry grew up with fond memories of spending time in Queensville with his grandparents, aunts and uncles. Those family connections were part of what eventually brought Henry and Aida to East Gwillimbury.

Aida is proud to call Queensville home.

Turning service into a life’s work.

The lessons Aida learned growing up continued to shape her education and working life.

Aida worked for two years with a law firm, reviewing corporate merger documents and patent and trademark applications to ensure they were complete and correct. She also spent five years in the banking industry as part of a team reading and proofreading financial regulations and legislation.

During her 29 years with the provincial non-profit organization, Aida’s responsibilities included supporting veterans, veterans’ families, healthcare organizations and young people. As a Charitable Foundation Coordinator, she worked on budgets, reviewed applications and assessed needs. She participated with others in decision making about where funding would be applied and administered the approved funds for hospitals, long-term-care facilities and fire departments across Ontario. She also advocated on behalf of veterans and veterans’ widows to secure pensions and benefits they were entitled to and completed benevolent fund applications on their behalf. She also supported young people through bursary, public-speaking, literary and poster programs.

Across these roles, Aida’s work required careful reading, attention to detail, listening, collaboration and sound judgement. In her non-profit work, she also learned to weigh individual needs against available resources and to participate in decisions where different perspectives had to be considered.

Looking back on those 29 years, that work gave Aida a deep sense of purpose. It reinforced something she had learned much earlier—that helping people and contributing to a community mattered deeply to her. It also inspired her to continue serving closer to home in East Gwillimbury.

Making East Gwillimbury home.

In 2018 Aida ran for Council.

Although she wasn’t elected, her interest in serving the community continued. In 2019, she began serving on Town committees, including the Diversity & Inclusivity Advisory Committee.

She has also served on the Heritage Advisory Committee, an area particularly important to her because of her passion for preserving East Gwillimbury’s history and the character of its beautiful older homes and neighbourhoods.

Her Town committee and community involvement included:

  • Appeals Committee
  • Diversity & Inclusivity Advisory Committee
  • Heritage Advisory Committee
  • North Union Community Group
  • Queensville & Sharon Community Group
  • Friends of the Library
  • Community Clean-Up Program

In 2022, Aida ran again for Council and continued to be involved in the community.

She continued to serve.

Why I’m running.

My many years of community service, my passion for helping others and the work ethic I inherited from my parents are the building blocks for why I’m running for Council.

My parents taught me to serve. I see serving on Council as another way to continue that service, this time as a representative of the people of Ward 2.

I enjoy helping people and I listen carefully. I also understand that serving a community means being prepared to make difficult decisions and stand behind them.

That’s why I’m running.