Candidate profile: Sol Mamakwa

KIIWETINOONG – Voters in the vast Northwestern Ontario riding of Kiiwetinoong first elected Sol Mamakwa as their provincial legislator in June 2018. The New Democrat hopes they will give him a third term on Feb. 27.

Mamakwa won the NDP nomination by acclamation last month in an online meeting.

“It’s certainly an honour to be asked again to represent the people in Kiiwetinoong,” Mamakwa said in an interview shortly after the nomination meeting.

The Kingfisher Lake First Nation member won for the orange party in 2018 with 49.9 per cent of the vote, well ahead of the second-place Conservative candidate’s 27.2 per cent.

Re-election in 2022 was by a wider margin, 57.6 per cent versus the second-place candidate’s 29.9 per cent.

He is deputy leader of the Ontario NDP and the party’s critic for Indigenous and treaty relations as well as for northern development.

“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.

Before election to the legislature, Mamakwa was co-chair of the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority board member, and the health transformation lead for Nishnawbe Aski Nation.

“Sol understands the challenges residents in the riding of Kiiwetinoong face,” a biography on the Ontario NDP’s website states. “He uses his time inside and outside of the legislature to tackle issues of systemic injustice and to advocate for the services we need closer to home.”

Mamakwa told Dougall Media his 6 ½ years as MPP for Kiiwetinoong, Ontario’s largest riding by area, “has been very interesting.”

“For a long time, the North had never been heard, and … when I decided to run (in 2018), I realized that Kiiwetinoong needs a representative that grew up in the North and knows the people.”

Northern communities have historically been “neglected” by Queen’s Park, he said, adding that he’s “ready to continue to stand with the people of Kiiwetinoong and the people of the North” on key issues such as clean drinking water, safe roads and health care.

Mamakwa said the unfinished business he would like to get back to work on includes a private member’s bill he introduced last year to make Sept. 30, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a statutory holiday in Ontario. The bill did not pass.

“That type of work needs to continue,” he said.