A New Face for Green
Photo by Rebecca Wood, sourced from nationalobserver.com
The Green Party of Canada elected a new leader on October 2, 2020, ending the leadership of Elizabeth May who held the position for 13 years. Elizabeth May brought the Green Party into its first elected seats and allowed the party to grow and change. With May stepping down to spend more time with her family, the leadership of the party has passed into the hands of Annamie Paul. Paul is making history as the first black Jewish woman holding the leadership of a major federal party in Canada.
Paul is the daughter of immigrant parents who arrived in Canada from the Carribean in the 1960’s. She is exceptionally well-educated, with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Ottawa and a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University, and speaks fluent English, French, Catalan and Spanish. She is married to activist Mark Freeman, and the pair lived in Europe for 14 years before returning to Canada in 2019 when Paul returned to politics. Paul’s election as head of the Green party (along with Jagmeet Singh’s leadership of the NDP) makes her the second leader of major federal political party in Canada belonging to a visible minority.
Annamie Paul has a long background in public policy, starting out as an Ontario Legislature Page at the age of twelve and interning for Liberal MPP Dominic Agostino in 1996 before turning her attention to international law and activism. She has worked over the years as a Director for a conflict prevention non-government organization in Brussels, as an Advisor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and as a Political Officer in Canada’s Mission to the European Union.
Paul's political views are closely aligned with previous Green Party standards, in that she is focused on prioritizing the environment with projects such as supporting Indigenous-led land protection, reinforcing a carbon tax, and investing in clean energy and technology. She is also dedicated to increasing diversity in politics, and in the past helped to form and directed the Canadian Centre for Political Leadership (CCPL), a non-partisan charity which developed strategies to help women and visible minorities to run for elected office. She does not want to focus on balancing the budget, as she believes that massive spending is needed to prop up sagging economies.
Paul, whose father died in the first wave of COVID-19 at the care home with Ontario's worst infection rate, is also dedicated to abolishing long term care homes that operate for-profit. This is something Doug Ford briefly discussed after the Canadian Armed Forces report about the homes cited neglect, abuse, and improper medical treatment to those living in the long term care homes in 2020. Paul also believes that Prime Minister Trudeau should create a “rapid response task force” to improve communication between different levels of government and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Other items on her agenda including liveable income, immigration, housing, environment are discussed on her website.
Anamie Paul does not currently have a seat in the house of commons, although there are three Green MPPs, including former leader Elizabeth May. She ran and lost the by-election to replace former finance minister Bill Morneau, this would have helped her put Green into a more competitive light. Not having a seat will make it hard for Paul to gain traction and a voice during her first couple of years as party leader. She is now looking at different ridings to secure a seat.
Although she is not yet widely-known in politics, it is clear that Amelie Paul has a passion for activism and the environment that embody the Green Party’s values and this writer is excited to see where she goes.