Diom Roméo Saganash (born October 28, 1961) is a

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

lawyer and former politician from Canada. Saganash served as the member of Parliament (MP) for

Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou (formerly known as Abitibi, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik and Nunavik—Eeyou) is a federal riding in the province of Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 19 ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

from 2011 to 2019. A member of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

(NDP), he was first elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in the 2011 federal election and was re-elected in the 2015 federal election. He did not run in 2019.

Early life and education

Saganash was born on October 28, 1961, in Waswanipi, a native community in

. At the age of seven, he was among 27

children taken from their homes to attend a French-language residential school in La Tuque, where he lived with an English-speaking Anglican family. The program was cancelled the following year, but he remained there for ten years, completing his schooling in French. After that, he attended a meeting on the negotiations between the Cree and government officials on constitutional and resource rights, which sparked his interest in pursuing a law degree. He attended law school at the

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

and in 1989 he became the first Cree to receive a law degree in Quebec. Saganash is fluent in Cree, French and English.

Political career

Romeo-Saganash-2012-NDP-Leadership-Convention

In 1985, Saganash founded the Cree Nation Youth Council. He was the Deputy Grand Chief to The

Grand Council of the Crees The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) or the GCC(EI) (ᐄᔨᔨᐤ ᐊᔅᒌ in Cree), is the political body that represents the approximately 20,000 Cree people (who call themselves "Eeyou" or "Eenou" in the various dialects of East ...

of James Bay from 1990 to 1993, and he later served as director of Quebec relations and international affairs for over ten years. From 1997 to 2000, Saganash chaired the James Bay Advisory Committee on the Environment. As a prominent Cree figure in a riding with many

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, Saganash received personal support from NDP

Quebec lieutenant In Canadian politics, a Quebec lieutenant () is a Quebec politician who is selected by the party leader to be the main advisor or spokesperson on issues specific to Quebec. This is particularly the case when the leader is an anglophone, though se ...

Tom Mulcair Thomas Joseph Mulcair (born October 24, 1954) is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2012 to 2017 and Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the Official Oppos ...

, who referred to Saganash as a "very important candidate". He was elected in the 2011 federal election to represent

. He was one of 59 NDP MPs elected for Quebec ridings (all newcomers to Parliament except Mulcair), and the party overall achieved its best showing in a federal election to date by becoming

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

to the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government, which rose from minority to

majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

standing. On September 16, 2011, Saganash announced that he was running for the leadership of the NDP, to succeed

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian politician and academic who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on T ...

, who had died the previous month. He is believed to be the first Indigenous person to run for the leadership of a major Canadian party. He withdrew on February 9, 2012, however, citing illness in his family and a lack of confidence in his campaign. On March 7, 2012, Saganash announced that he would support Mulcair for NDP leader. After an incident where he was removed from an

Air Canada Jazz An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

flight from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Val-d'Or Val-d'Or ( , , ; meaning "Golden Valley" or "Valley of Gold") is a city in Quebec, Canada with a population of 32,752 inhabitants according to the 2021 Canadian census. The city is located in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region near La Vérendrye ...

for intoxication, Saganash took sick leave in October 2012 for the treatment of

alcohol dependency Alcohol dependence is a previous (DSM-IV and ICD-10) psychiatric diagnosis in which an individual is physically or psychologically dependent upon alcohol (also chemically known as ethanol). In 2013, it was reclassified as alcohol use disorder ...

. Saganash cited the death of his "friend and mentor" Jack Layton, as well as the "profound scars" he received while in the residential school system, as the reasons for his dependency. He completed his treatment in November 2012, and returned for the start of the House's first session of 2013. In the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election was held on October 19, 2015, to elect the 338 members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons of the 42nd Canadian Parliament, 42nd Parliament of Canada. In accordance with the Fixed election date ...

, Saganash was re-elected to a second term. The NDP fell from second to third in the seat count nationally, behind the new Liberal majority government and the Conservatives. In the 2017 NDP leadership election, Saganash supported Niki Ashton. By July 2018, Saganash had decided not to run in the 43rd Canadian federal election, which took place in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Personal life

In 2023, Saganash was charged with sexual assault and referred to a restorative justice program.

Electoral record

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gain from

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

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References

External links