KIIWETINOONG — Sol Mamakwa has been nominated to be the New Democratic Party’s candidate in the next provincial election.
The Kiiwetinoong NDP’s nomination meeting was held Monday evening via Zoom.
“It’s certainly an honour to be asked again to represent the people in Kiiwetinoong,” Mamakwa said Tuesday in a phone interview from Toronto.
Mamakwa said he brings “a unique understanding” to Queen’s Park as the legislature’s only First Nations member.
While considering himself “always First Nations first,” he said, the NDP is a good fit for him. “They fit the beliefs that I have.”
There were no other candidates for the nomination.
Mamakwa, a member of Kingfisher Lake First Nation, has represented the Kiiwetinoong riding since 2018. He easily won re-election on June 2, 2022, with nearly 58 per cent of the vote. He’s currently deputy leader of the Ontario NDP.
“Together, we have made history: from standing up with northerners and First Nations across the province to deliver better access to government services, safety, health care, seniors care and more, to holding the province accountable for their harmful and unfair policies, to being able to speak our languages in the legislature,” he is quoted as saying in a news release from the party.
Last May, Mamakwa made history when his speech to the legislature became the first person to address Ontario’s legislature in an Indigenous language (Anishininiimowin, or Oji-Cree) in . He told legislators he was “speaking for those that couldn’t use their language” and “for every Indigenous person in Ontario.”
Mamakwa “has worked tirelessly to bring people together both in the legislature and out in the community to fight for change that will impact generations,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in the party’s news release.
