Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Matthew shares a story in common with many Saultites.
The son of an immigrant, Matthew’s mother, Franca Coccimiglio, moved to Canada from Calabria, Italy, in the late 1960s. His dad, Greg, grew up in southern Ontario and came to Sault Ste. Marie to study at Sault College. Greg worked at St. Mary’s Paper and Algoma Steel over a 40 year career. Franca and Greg raised Matthew, and his siblings, Steven and Nadia, in Sault Ste. Marie’s west end.
Matthew attended Notre-Dame-des-Écoles elementary school, St. Mary’s College high school, then completed his undergraduate degree at Algoma University. At Algoma U, Matthew was elected to the Student Union and proudly participated in Algoma’s pursuit of independence from Laurentian University.
After his undergraduate studies, Matthew attended the University of Ottawa where he obtained his law degree. Upon graduating in 2012, Matthew began working at the Wishart Law Firm, where he has continued to work since that time. In 2019, Matthew completed his Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School through distance education.
Always passionate about his hometown, Matthew was elected to City Council in 2014, and 2018, and was elected Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie in 2022. His time on City Council was focused on aggressively pursuing new ideas at City Hall.
He and his wife, Jenna, were married in 2015. In 2018 they welcomed their first son, Hudson, and in 2021, their second son, Maxwell. They all live in Sault Ste. Marie, at the top of Pine Street hill, with their dog, Maple.
Matthew is fluent in English, French and Italian.