Rooted in Kingston

Melissa Reid's family has been building Kingston for more than 140 years.

In the late 1880s, the Reids left the shipyards of Glasgow for Kingston. They came with skills, not money. Robert George Reid was born here on February 1, 1917. He married Norma Brooks, daughter of William Brooks.

The Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul raised Melissa's great-aunts Edna and Mary Margaret Galt at St. Mary's Orphanage in Kingston. The Sisters ran the city's social safety net in the early twentieth century — they caught the children the rest of the system couldn't. Edna later married Malcolm "Mack" Galt, who served in the military.

Melissa's great-grandmother, Françoise (Frances) Marie Paul-Snow, taught French, wrote for local heritage media, and founded Salon Brisebois — an intellectual gathering place whose legacy continues today through the Room Salon Brisebois. With Jean-Louis Brisebois, she also cofounded DB Mechanical (Kingston) Ltd. She looked at a city that gave her community no space to thrive and, instead of waiting for permission, built that space from scratch.

Her son — Melissa's grandfather, Denis Brisebois — led DB Mechanical as President and served as National President of the Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada from 1992 to 1993. In November 2025, the MCAC awarded him their Life Member Award for "personal leadership and outstanding contributions." He was also the driving force behind the Centre culturel Marie-Garin, which laid the groundwork for what is now ACFOMI — the French-Canadian cultural association serving Kingston and the Frontenacs.

In February 2025, Melissa Reid founded POET — the Peer Outreach Empowerment Team. She runs it from Belle Park. She cofounded Kingston Food Rescue, which delivers meals to the same site. She holds certifications in Program Evaluation for the Homelessness Sector; Data Collection for Homeless Services; Low-Barrier, Gender-Focused Housing Approaches; Harm Reduction & Overdose Response; and Trauma-Informed Outreach.

It is the standard she was raised on: if you have the capacity to build, you have the duty to maintain.