A Métis lawyer originally from Prince Albert has announced her bid for leadership of the Saskatchewan NDP party.
Kaitlyn Harvey announced her intentions to run for leader at an event in Saskatoon Tuesday morning.
As a single mother, Harvey says she always wanted to help bring about change for a better future for her 14-year-old son.
“To be that voice that is asking people to do better, because we need to do better,” said Harvey when announcing her leadership bid.
The leadership hopeful says the catalyst that drove her to officially run was the death of her cousin, Brendan Vermette, at the Prince Albert Federal Penitentiary.
“His death… was a tragic end to a life full of more tragedy and heartbreak that there ought to have been because he didn’t have the choices in life that he should have had.”
Harvey became emotional when speaking on Vermette’s life story and the generational trauma he experienced. She says the day she heard he died of a drug overdose in the correctional centre was the day she decided to run.
“I know this party has been full of strong advocates for harm reduction and mental health supports and I am grateful for all the hard work members in this party have done, but I fear it has not gone far enough.”
Harvey says she would run with a platform devoted to climate change, justice reform, and reconciliation.
“I’ve been calling for change in this province and the way it has done business for over a decade and a half now and during that time I have seen willful ignorance, wasted potential, and an inability of this government to lead on the most pressing issue of our time.”
Harvey ran for the NDP in the last provincial election, ultimately coming up short to the Sask. Party’s Ken Cheveldayoff in the Saskatoon-Willowgrove riding. Harvey says she ran in the Sask. Party stronghold with an expectation she would lose.
“I ran because I wanted to understand what people are thinking and why they vote for the Sask. Party and not the NDP,” she said. “People just haven’t felt that any party is speaking to them.”
Harvey declared she would be running with a campaign devoted to reconciliation. When asked as a Métis person how she would bridge a perceived gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the province she says she often wonders why racism continues to persist.
“I don’t write people off,” said Harvey. “When people share those things that gives you a problem that you can now do something with and find out why people are feeling this way. If we’re collaborating and working together and providing that honest and just perspective that we want to address these issues…when you talk about those things you create space for people to come together.”
The NDP leadership position became available when current leader Ryan Meili announced his intentions to resign the position at the end of the spring sitting of the Legislative Assembly. Harvey joins Carla Beck as the only two leadership hopefuls at this time.
The provincial NDP are expected to select their new leader in June.
(PHOTO: Kaitlyn Harvey stands in front of a group of supporters at an event announcing her leadership bid. Photo by Joel Willick.)