Election Series EP4 - Liberal Candidate Jennifer Grenz on Decolonization, Indigenous Representation and Party Politics

As we rapidly approach election day on Monday, September 20, the polls indicate that Justin Trudeau’s early election gamble may have been a dud. As things currently stand, a majority seems to be out of reach for the Liberal Party.

The tightening of the polls in recent weeks has prompted some Liberal campaigners to plead with voters who identify as “progressive” to vote strategically for the Liberals in hopes of shutting out Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives.

In so-called British Columbia, however, it is the federal NDP who are the leading “progressive” party in opinion polls, running neck-and-neck with the Conservatives, while the Liberals are currently in third place.

In some regions, such as Vancouver Island, the Liberals have in recent elections fallen even further behind, finishing fourth in many ridings in the 2019 vote.

At the same time, however, we are in a time of reckoning over the need for decolonization, reconciliation and more Indigenous voices in Parliament.

We spoke to the Liberal Party’s North Island-Powell River candidate Jennifer Grenz, who is nlaka’pamux and whose family is from the Lytton First Nation, upon whose territory the village of the same name burned down in June amid record-breaking temperatures, driven by climate change.

In our conversation, we discussed decolonization, Indigenous representation and party politics.

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