Jody Wilson-Raybould won’t seek reelection in Vancouver Granville, saying Parliament has become more toxic

Canada’s first Indigenous justice minister says she’s moving on from federal politics after her second term expires as the MP for Vancouver Granville.

In a four-page letter posted on her Twitter feed, Jody Wilson-Raybould declared that it was not an easy or quick decision for her not to seek reelection.

“It came about through long reflections on and writing about my own experiences in Ottawa, insights others have shared with me and a growing realization of the depths of shifts needed in our political culture,” she stated.

“I have not made this decision in order to spend more time with my family or to focus on other challenges and pursuits,” Wilson-Raybould added. “From my seat over the last six years, I have noticed a change in Parliament, a regression. It has become more and more toxic and ineffective while simultaneously marginalizing individuals from certain backgrounds.”

From there, she offered her view that federal politics is “increasingly a disgraceful triumph of harmful partisanship over substantive action”.

She stated that she will leave federal politics to fight for transformative change in different venues on “Indigenous reconciliation, climate change, social and racial justice and building an enduring economy in a rapidly shifting world”.

There have been rumours that she may run for mayor of Vancouver in the 2022 election, but those have not been confirmed.

As justice minister, Wilson-Raybould introduced legislation legalizing recreational cannabis and medical assistance in dying. In addition, she introduced an amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender identity and gender expression in the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination.

After an all-white jury acquitted Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley in the shooting death of 22-year-old Cree man Coulton Boushie, Wilson-Raybould oversaw reforms to the process for selecting jurors.

She became the minister of veterans affairs in a January 2019 cabinet shuffle. Not long after, she quit cabinet and blew the whistle on the prime minister’s office’s attempts to interfere with a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin in connection with corruption allegations.

That led to extensive media coverage leading up to the 2019 election, in which Justin Trudeau’s Liberals lost their majority in Parliament.

Wilson-Raybould’s decision not to seek reelection will enhance the chance of the Liberals winning Vancouver Granville in the next general election.

In 2019, Liberal candidate Taleeb Noormohamed—who is running again in the next election—lost to Wilson-Raybould by 3,177 votes.

The riding extends from Fairview in the north to Marpole in the south and includes all or parts of Kerrisdale, Oakridge, Shaughnessy, South Cambie, and Riley Park–Little Mountain.

Wilson-Raybould’s Kwak’wala name is Puglaas, which she uses on her Twitter feed. Her father is Bill Wilson, a well-known Indigenous leader.