Leah Gazan (born April 8, 1972) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

politician who was elected to represent the riding of

Winnipeg Centre Winnipeg Centre (french: Winnipeg-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1925 and since 1997. History This riding was originally created in 1914 f ...

in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

in the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Member of Parliament (Canada), Members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the Fixed election dates in ...

Early life

Leah Gazan was born in

Thompson Thompson may refer to: People * Thompson (surname) * Thompson M. Scoon (1888–1953), New York politician Places Australia *Thompson Beach, South Australia, a locality Bulgaria * Thompson, Bulgaria, a village in Sofia Province Canada * ...

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 o ...

to Albert and Marjorie Gazan. Gazan is Lakota-

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

on her mother's side, and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

on her father's side. Gazan's father, Albert Gazan, is a

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

survivor from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

in 1938. Both of her parents were organizers for the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

, the NDP's predecessor party. Before her first political campaign, Gazan taught at the University of Winnipeg. She also served as president for the Social Planning council of Winnipeg. Gazan participated in Idle No More, and pushed for Bill C-262 to be passed by the House of Commons. She also represented the province of Manitoba for the

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous peop ...

advocating for acknowledgement of injustice perpetuated against

Indigenous Canadian In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the First Nations in Canada, First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in Canada, Métis. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and ''Eskimo'' have fal ...

adoptive children.

Political career

Gazan identifies as a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

, like her parents. In 2019, Gazan won the NDP nomination for

over former Manitoba

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Andrew Swan Andrew James Swan (born August 9, 1968) is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 2004 to 2019. He was first elected in a 2004 by-election, replacing MaryAnn Mihychuk, who resigned to run for ...

. She subsequently defeated incumbent

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Robert-Falcon Ouellette, another Indigenous candidate, for the seat of

, retaking the district for the NDP. During the

43rd Canadian Parliament The 43rd Canadian Parliament was in session from December 5, 2019, to August 15, 2021, with the membership of its Lower House, the House of Commons of Canada, having been determined by the results of the 2019 federal election held on October 21, ...

, NDP leader

Jagmeet Singh Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal ( ; born January 2, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2017. Singh has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby South since 2019.NDP's shadow Cabinet. She introduced one

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

, Bill C-323, ''An Act respecting a Climate Emergency Action Framework'', which sought to require the Minister of the Environment to develop and implement a framework on achieving the objectives of the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in th ...

. At a vote on March 24, 2021, it was defeated with Liberal and

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

MPs voting against. In August 2020, Gazan introduced Motion 46 in the

, which would convert the Canada Emergency Response Benefit introduced by the federal government during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

into a permanent

basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

program. In 2021 she spoke in the House of Commons in support of UBI.

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gazan, Leah Canadian politicians of Chinese descent Canadian people of Dutch-Jewish descent Living people First Nations politicians New Democratic Party MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba People from Thompson, Manitoba Politicians from Winnipeg Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Indigenous Members of the House of Commons of Canada Lakota people 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Year of birth uncertain Canadian socialists 1972 births