NDP nominates Métis lawyer Breen Ouellette to run in Vancouver Centre

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      The NDP has taken a left turn in its quest to unseat long-time Liberal MP Hedy Fry in Vancouver Centre.

      Today, Métis lawyer Breen Ouellette defeated two high-profile members of the city's LGBT community—Morgane Oger and David C. Jones—to win the NDP nomination in the riding.

      Vancouver Centre includes the downtown core, West End, Yaletown, Coal Harbour, False Creek, and the northeastern tip of Kitsilano.

      Ouellette is an outspoken advocate for the working class and Indigenous rights.

      "Every day gets harder for working people to get by," the NDP candidate says in his campaign video below. "We struggle to meet skyrocketing rent.

      "Our neighbours are moving away," he continues, "and our communities are becoming unlivable. Many of us are one mishap away from sleeping on the streets."

      Video: Breen Ouellette says Vancouver Centre residents are struggling to deal with skyrocketing rents.

      In 2018, Ouellette resigned his position with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

      He told APTN News that it was because he had lost confidence in the leadership and the federal officials in charge.

      Nearly a year before the national inquiry released its report, Ouellette wrote a blistering blog post in which he maintained that the federal government's residential-schools program was a "program of illegal genocide".

      And he stated that it was "motivated first and foremost by theft".

      "Further, the after-effects of the residential schools system continue today," Ouellette maintained. "The Millennial Scoop continues today. Systemic oppression and violence continues today. Canada's beneficial use of stolen land continues today. Therefore, Canada's genocide against Indigenous peoples has not ended."

      Fry is the longest-serving female MP in Canadian history, having won eight consecutive elections in Vancouver Centre dating back to 1993.

      The Greens have nominated the executive director of Friends for Life Society, Jesse Brown; the Conservative candidate is TD Canada financial planner David Cavey; and the People's Party of Canada nominee is small businessperson Louise Kierans.

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