Indigenous Politics: 2025 Federal Election Coverage #indigpoli

***COVERAGE WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN ON THIS ARTICLE WITH NUMBERS, AND OTHER INTERESTING RACES GOING ON ACROSS OUR TRADITIONAL TERRITORIES.

Indigenous Politics: 2025 Federal Election Coverage

(April 2024, Treaty 7 Territory) I do my best to cover every federal election from an Indigenous point of view. I am pleased to do my best to cover this short but lively election. Politicos always say this is the most important election. However, from my perspective, this is actually the most important election in a generation. Dealing with global turbulence brought on by the second term of President Donald Trump to issues at home from inflation, cost of living and housing, to the needs of First Nations and Indigenous people from Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast, many important matters impact our people. 

I am partisan in my own beliefs, but when it comes to party Leaders and party platforms, statements and policy announcements to looking at the ridings (electoral districts) that have the largest Indigenous populations, I try my best to cover it all. For now, I will cover known Indigenous candidates from each party, what the riding looks like in terms of an Indigenous (First Nation, Inuit & Métis) population and other related information in the 338 electoral districts. 

I will do my best to share more information about each Indigenous candidate, but it will take a while. Right now, I am keeping up with finding the candidates (with special thanks to all those individuals and organizations who provided tips). 

UPDATE April 14, 2025

There are 36 Indigenous Candidates for the 2025 Canada Federal Election. As the parties are working hard to fill their 338 slates, more Indigenous candidates may be out there. (Please let us know). Here is the breakdown:

The breakdown of 36 Indigenous candidates are:

• 13 LPC | 6 CPC | 14 NDP | 1 BLOC | 2 GPC
• 21 First Nations I 4 Inuit | 12 Métis
• 7 Incumbents (MPs running for re-election)

Feel free to share, and if you are a news agency or news organization, please acknowledge: Indigenous Politics (@indigpoli)

#indigcand2025 #indigenouscandidate #Indigpoli #cdnpoli

#canadaelection2025 #indigenous #Elxn45 #elxn2025

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Interview with CTV on our Indigenous Politics Blog and the 36 Indigenous Candidates that we have listed as of today. Interview: Monday, April 14, 2025.

By Joshua Fraser, Indigenous Politics (@IndigPoli) Founder and Blogger

I got an e-mail from CTV yesterday wanting to interview me on my blog, a producer saw my list on x/twitter and reached out to me with the request for an interview. So, I agreed to get up super early for a morning show segment.

I meant to start with "I am coming at you from Treaty 7 Territory", the traditional territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Tsuut’ina and Stoney-Nakoda Nations. But it was a short segment, and the journalist Jefferson went straight into the meat and potatoes of the interview, our IndigPoli Indigenous Candidates list.

RECAP - I discussed that we are now at 36 Indigenous Candidates for the 35th (2025) Federal Election. I let him know what the current stats are (below). He asked about the races I was watching. The are many interesting races across Canada that include Indigenous Candidates.

I chose to start with three Alberta candidates on top of my head, three candidates, all located in Treaty 6 territory, which included Conservative, Liberal and NDP candidates. I will do a deep dive and talk about the potential path to victory.

Then, I will then quickly talk about the other ridings and candidates I mentioned as well.

I will do a deep dive that I wasn't able to provide on the news segment.

• Former Enoch Chief Billy Morin running in Edmonton Northwest. Edmonton Northwest was created as a result of the 2023 redistribution, the results from the ridings from the last election were transposed into this newly recreated Edmonton Northwest electoral district. As a result, the Conservatives would take 19,045 votes or 43.10% of the vote. The following party, the NDP, would have taken 12,215 votes or 27.63% of the votes. This means it would have been a Conservative win under the current riding distribution. I know this is technical, but I am attempting to share the path to victory for candidates. Like the 2025 Conservative candidate Billy Morin. Currently (today), 338Canada has the riding as a toss-up between the Conservatives and Liberals. (04/14/2025)

• The second Alberta candidate I talked about was Blake Desjarlais, who is the incumbent for the riding. He was the first two-spirit person elected to the House of Commons in the 2021 Federal Election for Edmonton Griestbach. Desjarlais is Cree-Métis from Firshing Lake Métis Settlement just east of Edmonton. He beat two-term Conservative MP Kerry Diotte by taking 40.5% of the vote in 2021. Smart Voting currently has the riding as a toss-up between the NDP and the Conservatives. Blake performed well in the House of Commons, his high profile and incumbency factor may help him maintain his seat.

• The third Alberta candidate I talked about was the NDP's Katherine Swampy, who is running in a small-town rural split riding of Leduc-Wetaskiwin. Swampy is a former band councillor of the Samson Cree First Nation, which is connected to Esminsken, Montana and Louis Bull First Nations. There are also several Métis people living near and around Pigeon Lake. The provincial riding of Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin, which covers a portion of the federal riding, has the Alberta NDP at 6,795 or 41.51% and winning the riding under the provincial redistribution process. If Katherine can get the Indigenous vote out, along with building a coalition of new voters like first-time voters and gen-z, she could win the riding, but it will be a more challenging attempt to change some hard C conservative voters over to federal NDP.

Out of Alberta, I talked about Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty, who is a Liberal star candidate. She is the first Grand Chief of the Grand Council of Crees, she resigned from this post to run in the Quebec riding of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou. The riding includes several James Bay Cree First Nations, as well as up north, the Nunavik Inuit land claim region is an integral part of the riding. The total Indigenous population of the riding is 38%, based on the 2021 Census. In the past, the riding elected Cree First Nation NDP MP Romeo Saganash. Poll aggregator 338Canada has the riding as a toss-up between the LPC and BQ. For those who are into strategic voting, Smart Voting suggests electors vote for Mandy as well. 

Today there are 36 Indigenous Candidates, these are the individual people I feel comfortable putting on my list based on my research at this time. The breakdown of 36 Indigenous candidates are:

• 13 LPC | 6 CPC | 14 NDP | 1 BLOC | 2 GPC
• 21 First Nations I 4 Inuit | 12 Métis
• 7 Incumbents (MPs running for re-election)

Follow us on Socials, we will start profiling the Indigenous candidates on our list below and on our other social media:

• x/twitter 
• Facebook
• TikTok

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Indigenous Candidates - Federal Election 2025

Monday, April 14, 2025

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INDIGENOUS CANDIDATES

Here is a sample of the profiles, more to come of the Indigenous Candidates of our list that is updated regularly. 

WEBSITE

Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty was the first female Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) in the James Bay Region of Quebec. Her home community is Waswanipi. Chief Mandy has served her home community as well as the Grand Council of Cree in several roles. Before her roles with the Cree government, she was a successful entrepreneur and businesswoman. Mandy successfully pursued an educational path that included a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Sciences and another in Public Affairs and Policy Studies from Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs. 

She is running in the Northern Quebec riding of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou which has several Cree communities, further north is the Inuit homeland of Nunavik where several towns and villages that Inuit people call home. NDP MP Romeo Saganash was the MP for the riding for two terms. 

WEBSITE

Former Chief Bill Morin was a Councillor and then Chief of the Enoch Cree Nation, he was the youngest Chief in the history of the Nation. He has several accomplishments through his terms on the Enoch Band Council including including his leadership in securing funding of 1.5 Billion for a Natural Gas Plant and creating the first urban reserve in Edmonton. He also worked in the Government in the City of Edmonton and the Province of Alberta. He is a graduate of the Civil Engineering Technology and Bachelor of Technology Management programs at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). He also holds an Honourary Bachelor of Business Administration degree from NAIT. 

He is running in the riding of Edmonton Northwest in the City of Edmonton, Alberta. According to the 2021 Census (Wikipedia), the Indigenous population in the riding is 5.5%. 

WEBSITE

Blake Desjarlais is Cree-Métis from Fishing Lake Metis Settlement in Alberta. He is the first Two-Spirit person ever elected to the House of Commons as per current information. Blake has served as the NDP’s Critic for Indigenous Housing, International Trade, Diversity & Inclusion, Youth, and Sport. He was part of the NDP’s negotiation team for the 2022-2024 Supply and Confidence Agreement between the NDP Opposition and the Liberal government. He is also the inaugural co-chair of the Canadian Pride Caucus, a multi-partisan group of 2SLGBTQIA+ MPs and Senators in Parliament. As a university student, Desjarlais was involved in student politics and served as firekeeper of the Native Student Union (NSU). When Desjarlais completed his studies, he was appointed the national director of the Métis Settlements General Council in 2016. 

Blake Desjarlais is the incumbent Member of Parliament for Edmonton Griesbach, he flipped the riding from Conservative to NDP taking 40.5% of the vote in 2021. 

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MORE INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS TO COME