Beverly Faye Desjarlais (née Nowoselsky; August 19, 1955 – March 15, 2018) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician. She represented the

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

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of Churchill in the

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from 1997 to 2006, initially as a

New Democrat New Democrats may refer to: * New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada * New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party ** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...

and later as an

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after losing her party's nomination in late 2005. She had lost the confidence of the NDP after she voted against the '' Civil Marriage Act'', legalizing

same-sex marriage in Canada Same-sex marriage was progressively introduced in several provinces and territories of Canada by court decisions beginning in 2003 before being legally recognized nationwide with the enactment of the ''Civil Marriage Act'' on July 20, 2005. On ...

. She later worked as a departmental aide to

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 ...

Veterans Affairs Minister

Greg Thompson Gregory Francis Thompson, (March 28, 1947 – September 10, 2019) was a Canadian politician who served six terms as a Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament (MP), and for one term he represented the district of Saint Croix (electo ...

. Her ex-husband, Bob Desjarlais, was a prominent labour leader in northern Manitoba, who campaigned for Mayor of Thompson in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Early life and career

Desjarlais was born in Regina,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. She graduated from Bert Fox Composite High School in 1973, and held several positions at the General Hospital in Thompson, Manitoba, over the next twenty-four years. At the time of her election, she was a ward clerk. Desjarlais was also a union steward with the

United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a trade union, labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufa ...

and a member of Canadian Parents for French. Her political career began in 1992, when she was elected as a trustee for the Mystery Lake School Division. She became Chair of the Board in 1994, and served until her election to Parliament in 1997.

Member of Parliament

New Democratic Party MP

Desjarlais challenged Liberal incumbent

Elijah Harper Elijah Harper (March 3, 1949 – May 17, 2013) was a Canadian Oji-Cree politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (MLA) from 1981 to 1992 and a member of Parliament (MP) from 1993 to 1997. Harper was elected chi ...

for the Churchill riding in the 1997 federal election. Although Harper had gained national fame in 1990 for blocking passage of the

Meech Lake Accord The Meech Lake Accord () was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial Premier (Canada), premiers. It was intended to ...

(while he was serving as the NDP member of the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba () is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at List of Manitoba genera ...

for Rupertsland), he was not a prominent Member of Parliament. Desjarlais won by 2,764 votes and joined twenty other New Democrats on the opposition benches. Her opposition to the Canadian gun registry was likely a contributing factor to her victory, as the registry was unpopular in rural Manitoba. She held several official responsibilities in the

36th Canadian Parliament The 36th Canadian Parliament was in session from September 22, 1997, until October 22, 2000. The membership was set by the 1997 federal election on June 2, 1997, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was di ...

, including serving as her party's critic for housing and the

Treasury Board of Canada The Treasury Board of Canada () is the Cabinet committee of the Privy Council of Canada which oversees the spending and operation of the Government of Canada and is the principal employer of the core public service. The committee is supported ...

. In the latter capacity, she was a prominent supporter of pay equity policies to benefit Canadian women. Desjarlais was also chosen as her party's representative on the Commons Transport Committee, and held this position for several years. She defeated Harper again in the 2000 election, and NDP leader

Alexa McDonough Alexa Ann McDonough ( Shaw; August 11, 1944 – January 15, 2022) was a Canadian politician who served as leader of the New Democratic Party from 1995 to 2003. She was the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Nova Scotia ...

appointed her to be the party's Industry Critic in the following parliament. In 2001, she participated in a military training exercise to educate parliamentarians about the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

. Desjarlais joined the

Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Cana ...

for a week, and participated in a search and rescue exercise in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

. She later supported fellow Manitoba MP

Bill Blaikie William Alexander "Bill" Blaikie (June 19, 1951 – September 24, 2022) was a Canadian politician. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2008, representing Elmwood—Transcona and its antecedent ridings in the House of Commons ...

's campaign to become NDP leader in 2002–03. Blaikie finished second against

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 ...

. Desjarlais was re-elected in the 2004 election over a strong challenge from Liberal candidate and First Nations leader Ron Evans. After the election, she was named NDP critic for

Transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

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s, and the

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in the

38th Canadian Parliament The 38th Canadian Parliament was in session from October 4, 2004, until November 29, 2005. The membership was set by the 2004 Canadian federal election, 2004 federal election on June 28, 2004, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and ...

. In early 2005, former Assembly of First Nations National Chief

Ovide Mercredi Ovide William Mercredi (born January 30, 1946) is a Canadian politician. He is Cree and a former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. He is also the former president of the Manitoba New Democratic Party. Early life and career A ...

announced that he would challenge Desjarlais for the NDP nomination in Churchill. He later withdrew the challenge.

Policy views

Desjarlais was one of the most

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

members of the federal NDP, and when in caucus was its most socially conservative member. She was the only New Democrat to vote against the '' Civil Marriage Act'' (Bill C-38), which legalized

, on its third and final reading in 2005. Her position placed her in conflict with both official NDP policy and party leader Jack Layton, who described same-sex marriage as a

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

issue and ruled that caucus members would not be permitted a free vote on matters of equality. Desjarlais argued that her position was based on personal religious convictions and was not grounded in

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

. She acknowledged as early as 2003 that opposing same-sex marriage was contrary to NDP policy, and accepted that "discipline may take place" as a result. She was stripped of her shadow cabinet posts after the 2005 vote. On other issues, her views were closer to official NDP policy. She was a strong defender of the rights of labour and public health care and supported the principle of aboriginal self-government.

Independent MP

On October 17, 2005, Desjarlais lost the Churchill NDP nomination to

Niki Ashton Niki Christina Ashton (born September 9, 1982) is a Canadian politician. She served as the Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament for the federal electoral district of Churchill—Keewatinook Aski in Manitoba from 2008 to 2025 as a m ...

, daughter of Manitoba cabinet minister Steve Ashton, in a vote of the membership of the Churchill NDP riding association. She resigned from the NDP caucus on the same day and announced she would run as an Independent in the next federal election, which took place on January 23, 2006 after

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. Th ...

's government lost a vote of confidence. She acknowledged that her position on same-sex marriage was a prominent factor in her defeat. Desjarlais was endorsed on January 5, 2006 by Vote Marriage Canada, a group which opposes same-sex marriage. She finished third, behind Ashton and winning Liberal candidate (and ''

North of 60 ''North of 60'' is a 1990s Canadian television drama depicting life in the sub-Arctic northern boreal forest (north of 60° north latitude, hence the title). It first aired on CBC Television in 1992 and was syndicated around the world. It is se ...

'' star)

Tina Keeper Christina Jean Keeper (born March 20, 1962) is a Cree actress, film producer and former politician from Canada.

After defeat

After her defeat, Desjarlais took a job in Ottawa in the office of

, Minister of Veterans' Affairs in the

government of

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

. The reaction from her former NDP colleagues was mixed. Caucus Chair

Judy Wasylycia-Leis Klazina Judith Wasylycia-Leis (; born 1951) is a Canadian politician. She was a Manitoba cabinet minister in the government of Howard Pawley from 1986 to 1988, and was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from September 22, 1997, to April ...

described her decision as "mind-boggling and very disappointing", and commented that it was "hard to understand how Bev could have gone from being an active New Democrat to actually supporting and upholding the Stephen Harper agenda". Veterans Affairs critic

Peter Stoffer Peter Arend Stoffer (born January 6, 1956) is a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Sackville—Eastern Shore or its redistributed equivalents from the 1997 election until his defeat in the 2015 election. A member of the New D ...

said that Desjarlais had always worked well with MPs of all parties and that she and Thompson would "work well together". She died in

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

on March 15, 2018.

Electoral record

Desjarlais was re-elected to the Mystery Lake School Division in 1995. All electoral information is taken from

Elections Canada Elections Canada () is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering elections in Canada, Canadian federal elections and Referendums in Canada, referendums. History Elections Canada is an agency of the Parliament of Canada, and reports ...

. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available. The list of winning candidates from 1992 is taken from the ''Winnipeg Free Press'', 30 October 1992.

Table of offices held

Footnotes

External links

*
How'd They Vote?: Bev Desjarlais' voting history and quotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desjarlais, Bev 1955 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Canadian Presbyterians Canadian women trade unionists Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons Manitoba school board members Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba Members of the United Church of Canada New Democratic Party MPs People from Thompson, Manitoba Politicians from Regina, Saskatchewan Trade unionists from Manitoba Trade unionists from Saskatchewan Women in Manitoba politics Women members of the House of Commons of Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada