List of LGBT politicians in Canada

Canada is known to be one of the most accepting countries when it comes to LGBT rights.^[1] LGBT rights in Canada have been raising since the year of 1969 when same-sex sexual activities were legalized. The elected officials and politicians of Canada reflect the rights and laws that have been passed. The following is a list of openly LGBT politicians in Canada grouped by Senate, House of Commons, provincial legislatures, mayors, municipal councilors, and other. There is information included about what province they were elected in and from, what party they identify as, who they were nominated by, when their term began and ended (if it has), and any additional notes about the politician.

Senate edit

Senator		Party		Province	Nominated by	Term		Notes
Senator		Party		Province	Nominated by	Start	End	Notes
	Laurier LaPierre		Liberal	Ontario	Jean Chrétien	June 13, 2001	November 21, 2004	LaPierre became the first openly LGBT senator
	Nancy Ruth		Progressive Conservative (2005-2008) Conservative (2008-2017)	Ontario	Paul Martin	March 24, 2005	January 6, 2017	Ruth became the first openly lesbian senator
	René Cormier		Independent Senators Group	New Brunswick	Justin Trudeau	November 10, 2016	incumbent
	Kim Pate		Independent Senators Group	Ontario	Justin Trudeau	November 10, 2016	incumbent
	Marnie McBean		Non-affiliated	Ontario	Justin Trudeau	December 20, 2023	incumbent

House of Commons edit

MP		Party		Province	Term		Notes
MP		Party		Province	Start	End	Notes
	Heward Grafftey		Progressive Conservative	Quebec	March 31, 1958	June 24, 1968	came out after retirement
	Heward Grafftey		Progressive Conservative	Quebec	October 30, 1972	February 17, 1980	came out after retirement
	Charles Lapointe		Liberal	Quebec	1974	1984	came out after retirement
	Ian Waddell		NDP	British Columbia	May 22, 1979	October 25, 1993	came out after retirement
	Svend Robinson		NDP	British Columbia	May 22, 1979	June 28, 2004	Robinson became the first openly LGBT member of parliament when he came out in 1988
	Réal Ménard		Bloc Québécois	Quebec	October 25, 1993	September 16, 2009	First LGBT member of parliament from Quebec, came out in 1994
	Libby Davies		NDP	British Columbia	June 2, 1997	October 19, 2015	Davies became the first openly lesbian member of parliament when she came out in 2001
	Scott Brison		(Progressive Conservative, later Liberal)	Nova Scotia	June 2, 1997	July 24, 2000	First LGBT member of parliament from Nova Scotia, came out in 2002
	Scott Brison		(Progressive Conservative, later Liberal)	Nova Scotia	November 27, 2000	February 10, 2019
	Bill Siksay		NDP	British Columbia	2004	2011	first LGBT member of parliament to be out at the time of election
	Mario Silva		Liberal	Ontario	June 28, 2004	May 2, 2011	First openly LGBT member of the House of Commons from Ontario
	Raymond Gravel		Bloc Québécois	Quebec	November 27, 2006	October 14, 2008
	Rob Oliphant		Liberal	Ontario	October 14, 2008	May 2, 2011
	Rob Oliphant		Liberal	Ontario	October 19, 2015	incumbent
	Randall Garrison		NDP	British Columbia	May 2, 2011	incumbent
	Dany Morin		NDP	Quebec	2011	2015
	Philip Toone		NDP	Quebec	May 2, 2011	August 4, 2015
	Craig Scott		NDP	Ontario	March 19, 2012	October 19, 2015
	Sheri Benson		NDP	Saskatchewan	October 19, 2015	September 11, 2019	First LGBT member of parliament from Saskatchewan
	Randy Boissonnault		Liberal	Alberta	October 19, 2015	October 21, 2019	First LGBT member of parliament from Alberta
	Randy Boissonnault		Liberal	Alberta	September 20, 2021	incumbent
	Seamus O'Regan		Liberal	Newfoundland and Labrador	October 19, 2015	incumbent	First LGBT member of parliament from Newfoundland and Labrador
	Eric Duncan		Conservative	Ontario	September 2, 2020	incumbent
	Lisa Marie Barron		NDP	British Columbia	September 20, 2021	incumbent
	Blake Desjarlais		NDP	Alberta	September 20, 2021	incumbent	first two-spirit member of parliament
	Melissa Lantsman		Conservative	Ontario	September 20, 2021	incumbent
	Pascale St-Onge		Liberal	Quebec	September 20, 2021	incumbent

Provincial legislatures edit

MP		Party		Province	Term		Notes
MP		Party		Province	Start	End	Notes
	Richard Hatfield		PC	New Brunswick	June 19, 1961	October 13, 1987	Outed only after death in 1991; premier of the province from 1970.
	Claude Charron		Parti Québécois	Quebec	1970	1982	Came out after resignation from the legislature
	Guy Joron		PQ	Quebec	1970	1973	Was out among his caucus colleagues in the legislature, but not to the general public.
	Guy Joron		PQ	Quebec	1976	1981
	Keith Norton		PC	Ontario	1975	1985	Came out after retirement from the legislature, while serving as chief of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
	Ian Waddell		NDP	British Columbia	May 22, 1979	October 25, 1993	Came out late in career
	Ian Waddell		NDP	British Columbia	May 28, 1996	May 16, 2001	Came out late in career
	Phil Gillies		PC	Ontario	March 19, 1981	September 10, 1987	Came out after retirement from the legislature
	Maurice Richard		Liberal	Quebec	1985	1994	First provincial legislator in Canada to be out as gay during his career in politics.
	Ian Scott		Liberal	Ontario	1985	1992	Came out after retirement from the legislature.
	André Boisclair		Parti Québécois	Quebec	September 25, 1989	November 15, 2007	First out gay leader of a political party with legislative representation.
	André Boulerice		Parti Québécois	Quebec	September 25, 1989	September 12, 2005	^[2]
	Mike Farnworth		NDP	British Columbia	October 17, 1991	May 16, 2001
	Mike Farnworth		NDP	British Columbia	May 17, 2005	incumbent
	Dominic Agostino		Liberal	Ontario	June 8, 1995	March 24, 2004
	Andrew Thomson		NDP	Saskatchewan	June 20, 1995	November 20, 2007	Came out after retirement from the legislature
	Ted Nebbeling		Liberal	British Columbia	May 28, 1996	May 17, 2005
	Tim Stevenson		NDP	British Columbia	May 28, 1996	May 16, 2001
	Agnès Maltais		Parti Québécois	Quebec	November 30, 1998	October 1, 2018
	Jim Rondeau		NDP	Manitoba	September 21, 1999	March 6, 2016
	George Smitherman		Liberal	Ontario	June 3, 1999	January 4, 2010
	Dale Eftoda		Liberal	Yukon	2000	2002
	Cecil Clarke		Progressive Conservative	Nova Scotia	March 6, 2001	March 25, 2011
	Lorne Mayencourt		Liberal	British Columbia	May 16, 2001	September 13, 2008
	Jim Watson		OLP	Ontario	October 2, 2003	February 1, 2010	Came out after retiring from the legislature, while serving as Mayor of Ottawa.
	Kathleen Wynne		Liberal	Ontario	October 2, 2003	May 3, 2022	Premier from 2013 to 2018.
	Doug Routley		NDP	British Columbia	May 17, 2005	incumbent
	Nicholas Simons		NDP	British Columbia	May 17, 2005	incumbent
	Cheri DiNovo		NDP	Ontario	September 14, 2006	December 31, 2017
	Paul Ferreira		NDP	Ontario	February 28, 2007	September 30, 2007
	Sylvain Gaudreault		PQ	Quebec	March 26, 2007	August 28, 2022
	Jennifer Howard		NDP	Manitoba	May 22, 2007	April 19, 2016
	Spencer Chandra Herbert		NDP	British Columbia	October 29, 2008	incumbent
	Jenn McGinn		NDP	British Columbia	October 29, 2008	May 12, 2009
	Mable Elmore		NDP	British Columbia	May 12, 2009	incumbent
	Glen Murray		OLP	Ontario	February 4, 2010	September 1, 2017
	Gerry Rogers		NDP	Newfoundland and Labrador	October 27, 2011	April 17, 2019
	Réjean Hébert		Liberal	Quebec	September 4, 2012	April 7, 2014
	Joanne Bernard		Liberal	Nova Scotia	October 8, 2013	May 30, 2017
	Manon Massé		QS	Quebec	April 7, 2014	incumbent
	Wade MacLauchlan		Liberal	Prince Edward Island	May 4, 2015	March 26, 2019	Premier from 2015 to 2019.
	Michael Connolly		NDP	Alberta	May 5, 2015	March 19, 2019
	Jennifer Rice		NDP	British Columbia	May 14, 2013	incumbent
	Ricardo Miranda		NDP	Alberta	May 5, 2015	March 19, 2019
	Estefan Cortes-Vargas		NDP	Alberta	May 5, 2015	March 19, 2019
	Julie Green		non-partisan consensus government	Northwest Territories	November 23, 2015	incumbent
	Jill Andrew		NDP	Ontario	June 7, 2018	incumbent
	Terence Kernaghan		NDP	Ontario	June 7, 2018	incumbent
	Suze Morrison		NDP	Ontario	June 7, 2018	May 3, 2022
	Jeremy Roberts		PC	Ontario	June 7, 2018	May 3, 2022
	Youri Chassin		Coalition Avenir Québec	Quebec	October 1, 2018	incumbent
	Jennifer Maccarone		Quebec Liberal Party	Quebec	October 1, 2018	incumbent
	Janis Irwin		NDP	Alberta	April 16, 2019	incumbent
	Lela Evans		NDP	Newfoundland and Labrador	May 16, 2019	incumbent
	Uzoma Asagwara		NDP	Manitoba	September 10, 2019	incumbent
	Lisa Naylor		NDP	Manitoba	September 10, 2019	incumbent
	Lane Tredger		NDP	Yukon	April 12, 2021	incumbent
	Lisa Lachance		NDP	Nova Scotia	August 17, 2021	incumbent
	Lise Vaugeois		NDP	Ontario	June 2, 2022	incumbent
	Kristyn Wong-Tam		NDP	Ontario	June 2, 2022	incumbent
	Nathaniel Teed		NDP	Saskatchewan	September 26, 2022	incumbent
	Brooks Arcand-Paul		NDP	Alberta	May 29, 2023	incumbent
	Court Ellingson		NDP	Alberta	May 29, 2023	incumbent
	Tyler Blashko		NDP	Manitoba	October 3, 2023	incumbent
	Logan Oxenham		NDP	Manitoba	October 3, 2023	incumbent

Mayors edit

Mayor	City	Term	Notes
Marianne Alto	Victoria, British Columbia	2022–present
David Bailey	County of Brant, Ontario	2018–present
Cecil Clarke	Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia	2012–2020
Eric Duncan	North Dundas, Ontario	2010–2018
Kevin Haché	Caraquet, New Brunswick	2015–2021
Lisa Helps	Victoria, British Columbia	2014–2022
Julie Lemieux	Très-Saint-Rédempteur, Quebec	2017–present	First transgender mayor in Canada
Réal Ménard	Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Quebec	2010–2017
Kevin Morrison	Goderich, Ontario	2014–2018
Glen Murray	Winnipeg, Manitoba	1998–2004
Ted Nebbeling	Whistler, British Columbia	1990–1996
Colin Ratushniak	La Ronge, Saskatchewan	2020–present
Maurice Richard	Bécancour, Quebec	1975–1985 1995–2013
Jim Watson	Ottawa, Ontario	1997–2000 2010–2022

Municipal councillors edit

Councillor	City	Term	Notes	Ref
Dominic Agostino	Hamilton City Council	1987–1995
Marianne Alto	Victoria City Council	2018–2022
Keenan Aylwin	Barrie City Council	2018–2022
Carle Bernier-Genest	Montreal City Council	2006–2009
Raymond Blain	Montreal City Council	1986–1992
Rebecca Bligh	Vancouver City Council	2018–present
Evert Botha	Prince Albert City Council	2016–2020
Paul Butler	Trail, British Columbia	2018–present
Robin Buxton Potts	Toronto City Council	2022–2022		^[3]
Garett Cochrane	Yellowknife City Council	2022–present		^[4]
Conner Copeman	Cumberland, British Columbia	2011–present
Noah Donovan	Quispamsis, New Brunswick	2021–present
Dakota Ekman	Biggar, Saskatchewan	2020–present
Stéphane Émard-Chabot	Ottawa City Council	1994–2000
Jeromy Farkas	Calgary City Council	2017–2021
Brian Fralic	Region of Queens Municipality, Nova Scotia	2012–present
Cameron Frye	Tecumseh	1972–1980	Came out at final council meeting in 1980	^[5]
Randall Garrison	Esquimalt, British Columbia	2008–2011
Charlotte Gauthier	Gillams, Newfoundland and Labrador	2020–present
Joy Guyot	Golden, British Columbia	2022–present
Paul Harris	Red Deer City Council	2010–2017
Julien Hénault-Ratelle	Montreal City Council	2021–present
Alan Herbert	Vancouver City Council	1996–1999
Darren Hill	Saskatoon City Council	2006–present
Aidan Johnson	Hamilton City Council	2014–2018
Douglas Judson	Fort Frances, Ontario	2018–2022
Helen Kennedy	East York Borough Council	1988–1991
Cameron Kroetsch	Hamilton City Council	2022–present		^[3]
Joy Lachica	Peterborough City Council	2022–present		^[3]
Robert Laramée	Montreal City Council	1994–1998 2001–2005
Shawn Lewis	London City Council	2018–present	Deputy mayor 2022–present	^[6]
Cat McGurk	Yellowknife City Council	2022–present		^[4]
Catherine McKenney	Ottawa City Council	2014–2022
Sherry McKibben	Edmonton City Council	1994–1995
Peter Meiszner	Vancouver City Council	2022–present
Chris Moise	Toronto City Council	2022–present		^[3]
Alex Munter	Kanata City Council Ottawa-Carleton Regional Council	1991–1994 (Kanata) 1994–2000 (Ottawa-Carleton)
Michael Phair	Edmonton City Council	1992–2007
Sarah Potts-Halpin	Victoria City Council	2018–2022
Gordon Price	Vancouver City Council	1986–2002
Kyle Rae	Toronto City Council	1991–2010
Ophelia Ravencroft	St. John's City Council	2021–present
Mark Renaud	Tillsonburg, Ontario	2003–2014
Richard Ryan	Montreal City Council	2013–2021
Serge Sasseville	Montreal City Council	2021–present		^[7]
Mario Silva	Toronto City Council	1994–2003
Krista Snow	Halifax City Council	2003–2012
Tim Stevenson	Vancouver City Council	2002–2018		^[8]
Lenore Swystun	Saskatoon City Council	2000–2003
Donovan Taplin	Wabana, Newfoundland and Labrador	2013–2017		^[9]
Ariel Troster	Ottawa City Council	2022–present		^[3]
Sonia Williams	Harbour Grace, Newfoundland and Labrador	2013–present
Alex Wilson	Hamilton City Council	2022–present		^[3]
Kristyn Wong-Tam	Toronto City Council	2010–2022
Ellen Woodsworth	Vancouver City Council	2002–2011
Russ Wyatt	Winnipeg City Council	2002–2018 2022–present		^[10]

Other edit

People who did not hold a political office at the federal, provincial or municipal levels, but have some other form of political significance.

Person	Role	Notes
Enza Anderson	Candidate for Mayor of Toronto, 2000
Penny Ballem	City manager of Vancouver, British Columbia, 2008-2015
Betty Baxter	Federal election candidate for the New Democratic Party, 1993
Pierre Bourgault	Leader of the Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale, 1964-1968
Allison Brewer	Leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party, 2005-2006
Lori Campbell	Federal election candidate for the New Democratic Party, 2019
Keith Cole	Candidate for Mayor of Toronto, 2010
Robert Douglas Cook	Sole electoral candidate of the Gay Alliance Toward Equality, 1979
Ross Dowson	Socialist political candidate
Éric Duhaime	Leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, 2021-present
Jim Egan	Representative for Electoral Area B (Comox North) on the Comox-Strathcona Regional District board, 1981-1993	See also Egan v Canada
Norman Elder	Candidate for Toronto City Council
Jamie Lee Hamilton	First known transgender candidate for political office
Kaj Hasselriis	Candidate for Mayor of Winnipeg, 2006
Brent Hawkes	Provincial election candidate for the Ontario New Democratic Party, 1995	See also Operation Soap, Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto
Jamey Heath	New Democratic Party of Canada strategist
George Hislop	Toronto City Council candidate, 1980	See also We Demand Rally, Operation Soap
El-Farouk Khaki	Activist, federal election candidate for the New Democratic Party in 2008
Trevor Kirczenow	Activist, academic, federal election candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in 2019 and 2021
David Khan	Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party, 2019-2021
Khelsilem	First Nations band councillor
Amita Kuttner	Interim leader of the Green Party of Canada, 2021-2022
Chris Lea	Leader of the Green Party of Canada, 1990-1996
John Alan Lee	Federal election candidate for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, 1958
Greg Malone	Federal election candidate for the New Democratic Party, 2000, and the Green Party of Canada, 2019
Peter Maloney	First known gay candidate for political office
Christin Milloy	Provincial election candidate for the Ontario Libertarian Party, 2011
Micheline Montreuil	Federal candidate in 1984 and municipal candidate in 1993
Brenda Murphy	First out LGBTQ Lieutenant-Governor of a province
Peg Norman	Two-time federal election candidate for the New Democratic Party
Jeff Rock	Federal election candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada	See also Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto
Mary-Woo Sims	Federal election candidate for the New Democratic Party, 2006 Chief commissioner of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, 1996-2001
Douglas Wilson	Federal election candidate for the New Democratic Party

References edit

^ Rau, Krishna. "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
^ ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Politique-. "Absence d'élus libéraux gais : pas de problème pour Stéphanie Vallée". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2022-04-19.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Dale Smith, "How queer and trans candidates fared in Ontario’s municipal elections". Xtra!, October 28, 2022.
^ ^a ^b Sidney Cohen, "Yellowknife elects new city council". CBC North, October 17, 2022.
^ "Victim of hate mail loses in bid for mayor". The Body Politic, December 1980.
^ Isha Bhargava, "'Our differences are our strengths': London's new mayor and city council sworn in". CBC News London, November 16, 2022.
^ Jérôme Labbé, "Ensemble Montréal perd un premier élu depuis les élections". Ici Radio-Canada Montréal, February 10, 2022.
^ Robin Perelle, "Pioneering gay Vancouver politician won’t run again". Xtra!, January 11, 2018.
^ Noah Laybolt, "Meet the politician who came out — to a town council". CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador, July 19, 2019.
^ Bryce Hoye, "1 new face joins Winnipeg city council, 2 former councillors return to office". CBC News Manitoba, October 26, 2022.

[1] Rau, Krishna. "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia.

[2] ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Politique-. "Absence d'élus libéraux gais : pas de problème pour Stéphanie Vallée". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2022-04-19.

[smith-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Dale Smith, "How queer and trans candidates fared in Ontario’s municipal elections". Xtra!, October 28, 2022.

[yellowknife-4] Sidney Cohen, "Yellowknife elects new city council". CBC North, October 17, 2022.

[5] "Victim of hate mail loses in bid for mayor". The Body Politic, December 1980.

[6] Isha Bhargava, "'Our differences are our strengths': London's new mayor and city council sworn in". CBC News London, November 16, 2022.

[7] Jérôme Labbé, "Ensemble Montréal perd un premier élu depuis les élections". Ici Radio-Canada Montréal, February 10, 2022.

[8] Robin Perelle, "Pioneering gay Vancouver politician won’t run again". Xtra!, January 11, 2018.

[9] Noah Laybolt, "Meet the politician who came out — to a town council". CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador, July 19, 2019.

[10] Bryce Hoye, "1 new face joins Winnipeg city council, 2 former councillors return to office". CBC News Manitoba, October 26, 2022.

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