3 Indigenous candidates, 3 different parties and why they think voters should choose them

When he’s not on the campaign trail, Métis NDP candidate Blake Desjarlais can be found at his campaign office which is located on a busy corner in the riding of Edmonton-Griesbach. His NDP campaign signs are plastered to the windows and inside, workers are busy on the phones or organizing. The office smells of banana bread after a supporter dropped by with a gift. Desjarlais, who is the incumbent, is smiling and ready to talk about the campaign. “What I’m hearing in the campaign is a kind of silence from my opponents which tells a lot,” Desjarlais told APTN News. “It (says) that these two major parties, the Liberals and Conservatives just don’t care about Albertans and they take for granted the votes here.” Desjarlais has represented the Edmonton-Griesbach riding since stealing the seat from the Conservative incumbent Kerry Diotte in the 2021 election by 1,500 votes. This election will see the same fight for the seat between the two. The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) identified the riding as one where First Nations could swing the vote. But for whom? At the moment, the NDP, which currently has 24 seats in the House of Commons, is polling in single digits nationally – and seat projections don’t look much better. One of the issues for Desjarlais – and the NDP – is that Canadians seem to be looking to the Liberals or Conservatives to lead the country against what many people see as the number one issue – taking on U.S. President Donald Trump. Following the 2021 election in Canada, the NDP chose to prop up the Liberal government that had a minority in the House of Commons. While it pushed the government to implement a national dental plan, it may have also hurt its chances to push for more seats this time around. APTN asked Desjarlais if the NDP’s alliance with the Liberals would hurt the party in this election. Blake Desjarlais in campaign office in Edmonton-Griesbach. Photo: Leanne Sanders, APTN “Canadians expect Parliament to work and that’s what New Democrats did, Desjarlais said. “A good opposition doesn’t just oppose, but proposes solutions for Canadians. We achieved great things for Canadians like dental care, pharmacare, protections for workers, affordable housing and child care.” According to the AFN, the redrawing of the electoral districts in 2022 means that four per cent of the riding’s population is First Nations and the margin of victory for Desjarlais in the last election was 3.4 per cent. Desjarlais said he’s hearing from a lot of Indigenous people in the riding that they’ll be voting for the first time, thanks in large part to the annexation threat from Trump. “That is a huge change from the [last] election where they’re saying ‘I think this is a serious election. Our sovereignty is under threat.’ We signed treaties with the Crown not just for some billionaire from the United States to come over here to remove and tarnish them,” Desjarlais said. “Those treaties were signed for our future-those rights and agreements are not just for today but forever and they’re worth protecting.” Desjarlais said that locally, the NDP is the strategic vote. “We’re the party that has won in this area before-I’m evidence of that. We defeated the Conservatives in 2021. New Democrats are the ones who defeat Conservatives, even provincially,” Desjarlais said. “The most important poll that matters is when people go to elect. That’s a real poll.” Also running for the Griesbach, along with Desjarlais and Diotte, are Liberal Patrick Lennox, Michael Hunter of the Greens – and candidates representing the People’s Party of Canada, Canadian Future Party, the Marxist-Leninists, Communist party and an independent are also running candidates. Edmonton-Northwest Running in the next riding to the west is Billy Morin, a former chief of Enoch Cree Nation located 26 kilometres west of the city. Unlike Desjarlais, Morin’s campaign office is located in a small industrial area off the beaten path and his office was a bit trickier to find. The office has several campaign signs stuck in the grass verge out front and one sign in the window. Entering the office, a worker’s friendly dog offered a greeting alongside a campaign worker who explained Morin was out door knocking, something he’s been doing for months-prior to the writ being issued. APTN tracked him down campaigning in a seniors’ home in his riding. Billy Morin (CON) campaign signs in the grass verge in front of his Edmonton Northwest campaign office. Photo: Leanne Sanders, APTN Morin said that his experiences as a First Nations person are an asset. “That’s the strength that I bring. A lot of my colleagues don’t know the lived experience that I have being from a First Nations reserve so I do look forward to having those conversations and having them see and hear that lived experience when we have conversations about building a better Canada,” Morin said. One of Morin’s co-candidates is Aaron Gunn who is running in a B.C. riding. Gunn has said in social media posts in the past that residential schools were not a genocide like the Holocaust. First Nations chiefs, civic leaders and others have called on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to remove Gunn as a candidate, but he has refused to do so. An online petition asking that Gunn be pulled from the ballot has grown to almost 19,000 names. APTN asked Morin, who was chief when a residential school monument was unveiled at Enoch Cree Nation in 2021, it would be difficult to work in the Conservative caucus if he and Gunn are both elected. “I fully anticipate having tough conversations because there are [338] Parliamentarians and they come from vastly different backgrounds, but at the end of the day, anything worth doing is going to be hard,” Morin said. Resource extraction has been a concern of Indigenous Peoples across the country for decades. Both the Conservatives and Liberals say they will fast track permits if they form government. APTN asked Morin how these plans align with Indigenous Peoples having the inherent right of free, prior and informed consent in any project that could impact their well-being. Morin said it was the main topic of discussion during a recent meeting between Poilievre and First Nations leaders at Enoch Cree Nation. “The Indigenous leaders said they need reassurances our rights are not going to be trampled upon. I sat with Pierre and it will be my job to uphold treaty rights as, hopefully a member of caucus after the election,” Morin said. Morin said Trump has made Canadians realize how important our resource sector is, but he reassured First Nations that their rights will be upheld. “When it comes to consultation and their fear around it, just know that, no, this is not going away, they will still have their right to consultation and anything new that we will do will have to uphold their rights,” Morin said. “Pierre made it black and white that we will uphold treaty rights and number two, consultation rights as proven by the Canadian courts-they are not going away and we have to work with them.” Morin faces four opponents in the race for the seat. Lindsey Machona is running for the Liberals, Omar Abubakar, the NDP, Albert Carson the PPC, and Colleen Rice for the Greens. Now to Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River in Saskatchewan Buckley Belanger is running for the Liberals in the large northern Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River. Belanger is Métis and a former NDP MLA serving the Athabasca constituency from 1995 to 2021 when he resigned to run for the Liberals federally. He lost that election to Gary Vidal of the Conservatives. Vidal resigned as an MP last fall after the riding boundaries were redrawn. The changes meant Vidal now lives within the Battlefords-Lloydminster-Meadow Lake riding where the Conservative Party decided there wouldn’t be an open nomination for candidates. Rosemarie Falk has held the seat for the Conservatives since a 2017 byelection. APTN asked Belanger about Mark Carney’s difficulty identifying the correct Indigenous group at a campaign stop in March. It happened in Winnipeg when a reporter asked about the Liberal Party’s stance on reconciliation with Indigenous people. “First, in my opening comments as Prime Minister, on the day that I was sworn in, I acknowledged the fundamental role of First Nations, Innu and Metis, Inuit and Metis peoples to the founding of our country. Within two and a half days, I was in Iqaluit with the premier meeting First Nations. The Innu, people sorry. The Inuit people. And the Métis,” Carney said. Belanger echoed Morin’s sentiment that Indigenous candidates have to educate their colleagues. “I can’t speak for [Mark Carney], but as a Liberal candidate from our perspective we have a lot of work to do educating the Canadian public and we have more to understand on our own,” Belanger said. “There’s still a lot of understanding and education that has to happen overall between Indigenous Peoples and Canadians in general.” Belanger noted that even as a candidate, he’s still learning things about other Indigenous Peoples. Meanwhile, Belanger said low voter turnout due to the pandemic didn’t help his campaign in 2021, but he believes this time will be different. “Obviously, the reserves are fully engaged, people are really watching what’s going on, especially with Donald Trump and his desire to make Canada the 51st state,” Belanger said. “I think people want a direct connect to Ottawa and they also want someone who can navigate the incredible bureaucracy and move some of the items forward that are on all of our agendas.” Belanger is running against a couple of strong opponents for the seat. Jim Lemaigre served as a SaskParty MLA in the Athabasca constituency, but lost when the seat flipped back to the NDP’s Leroy Laliberte in the 2024 Saskatchewan election. Lemaigre is First Nations and a member of Clearwater River Dene Nation. He was an RCMP officer before turning to politics. Before Lemaigre’s win, the Athabasca seat had been steadily held by the NDP since 1908. Doug Racine is the NDP candidate. His campaign website says he’s of Red River Métis descent and founded the Aboriginal Law Group which is located on the Muskeg Lake Urban reserve in Saskatoon who has represented Indigenous organizations in residential school claims and environmental clean-up cases. Racine is also a military veteran with 12 years of service. Voters turned out in droves to advance polling stations when they were open. According to Elections Canada, preliminary figures show an estimated 7.3 million electors voted at the advance polls. This is a 25 per cent increase from the 5.8 million electors who voted in advance in the 2021 general election. While the results won’t be known until election night, one thing is certain, there are fewer Indigenous candidates to choose from this time around with 53 running. The 2015 campaign saw 54 First Nations, Inuit and Métis candidates run. Ten of them secured seats. The 2021 election had 77 candidates who identified as First Nations, Inuit or Métis with 12 winning a seat in Parliament. APTN National News will have special coverage on election night. Tags: Billy Morin, Blake Desjarlais, Buckley Belanger (Liberal) Desnethé-Missinipi-Churchill River, candidates, Conservative-Edmonton Northwest, Decision 2025, Edmonton-Griesbach, Enoch Cree Nation, Federal election 2025, former chief, Indigenous, NDP Incumbent Continue Reading