Blake Desjarlais (born December 29, 1993) is a Canadian politician who represented

Edmonton Griesbach Edmonton Griesbach is a federal electoral district in Alberta. Edmonton Griesbach was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was legally defined in the 2013 representation order. It came into effect upon the call o ...

in 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 ...

from 2021-2025. 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), Desjarlais is of

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 ...

and

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

descent, making him

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

's only

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

member of Parliament (MP). He is also the first openly

two-spirit ''Two-spirit'' (also known as ''two spirit'' or occasionally ''twospirited'', or abbreviated as ''2S'' or ''2E'', especially in Canada) is a umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a trad ...

individual to serve as an MP.

Early life and education

Desjarlais was born on December 29, 1993 in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

and grew up in the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement in northern Alberta. He is of

and

descent. His biological mother Brenda was a victim of the

Sixties Scoop The Sixties Scoop (), also known as The Scoop, was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement ...

and spent her childhood in

foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state- certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family mem ...

, before working as a sex worker to support herself. When Brenda became pregnant with Blake, she sought help from her sister Grace Desjarlais, who took Blake and raised him herself.Michelle Bellefontaine
"Meet Blake Desjarlais, the Métis NDP candidate who just ended a Conservative stronghold in Edmonton Griesbach"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, September 24, 2021. On his adoption by his aunt, Desjarlais stated that "she saved islife." Desjarlais's father was a carpenter who had died when Desjarlais was twelve. Desjarlais attended secondary school in the "predominantly white town" of

Elk Point, Alberta Elk Point is a town located in Eastern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 41. A number of oil related businesses have located in Elk Point. Agriculture is also important in the Elk Point area. Elk Point is located on the North Saskatch ...

. He went on to study

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and

Indigenous studies 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 ...

MacEwan University Grant MacEwan University, commonly known as MacEwan University, is a public university located in Downtown Edmonton, Alberta. Originally established as a community college which was named in honor of Dr. Grant MacEwan, 9th Lieutenant Governor of ...

; however, he received racially motivated death threats and transferred to the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

. 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.

Political career

2021 campaign

Desjarlais had previously mulled running for an elected Indigenous leadership role. He was skeptical of running in partisan politics, seeing the various parties as only having interest in him to fulfill mandates regarding Indigenous and queer representation. Upon meeting representatives from the NDP, his impression was different, stating that "

he NDP He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

recognized me as a whole person with expertise in a vast variety of sectors." During the 2021 election campaign, Desjarlais received support from several

members of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nationa ...

(MLAs) –

Janis Irwin Janis Irwin (born September 9, 1984) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 2019 Alberta general election, and re-elected in the 2023 Alberta General Election. She represents the electoral district ...

Chris Nielsen Chris Nielsen (born February 16, 1980) is a Tanzanian-born Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre. Nielsen was drafted in the 2nd round, 36th overall by the New York Islanders in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. ...

, former premier

Rachel Notley Rachel Anne Notley (born April 17, 1964) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who was the 17th premier of Alberta from 2015 to 2019 and leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2014 to 2024. Notley was the member of the Le ...

and former education minister

David Eggen David Manson Eggen (born 1962) is a Canadian politician. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, in 2019 he was elected as the member representing Edmonton-North West. He previously served three terms as the member representing ...

. According to Desjarlais, during an evening

canvassing Canvassing, also known as door knocking or phone banking, is the systematic initiation of direct contact with individuals, commonly used during political campaigns. Canvassing can be done for many reasons: political campaigning, grassroot ...

shift, they had a racist interaction with five men who mistook him for being

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

and blamed him for the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Member of Parliament

On election day, Desjarlais defeated

Kerry Diotte Kerry Thomas Diotte (born 1956) is a Canadian politician and media personality who serves as member of Parliament (MP) for Edmonton Griesbach in the House of Commons of Canada and sat on the Edmonton City Council from 2010 to 2013. A Conserv ...

, a two-term

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 ...

MP. The riding was previously considered a Conservative

stronghold A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

. MLA Janis Irwin likened Desjarlais's win to a disinterest in the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

and anger directed towards the Conservative Party due to their actions federally – such as MP Diotte's vote against the

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...

ban – and their association with the unpopular

United Conservative Party The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party ...

(UCP) government provincially. As well, growing support of the People's Party voters siphoned off support from the Conservatives. Desjarlais is the first openly

individual to have been elected to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. After being elected, Desjarlais was selected to be the New Democratic Party's deputy

caucus chair A caucus chair is a person who chairs the meetings of a caucus. Often, the caucus chair is assigned other duties as well. Canada In Canada, the elected members of each party in Parliament, including senators, or a provincial legislature, ele ...

for the 44th Parliament. Desjarlais was defeated in the 2025 federal election by

Electoral history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Desjarlais, Blake Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta New Democratic Party MPs Politicians from Edmonton First Nations politicians Canadian LGBTQ Members of Parliament Two-spirit people Living people MacEwan University alumni Indigenous Members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 1993 births 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada