COBALT – First Nations author, journalist, broadcaster, musician, and politician Charlie Angus has entered the race for the NDP federal leadership to challenge interim leader Tom Mulcair.
He was inspired by a chance meeting with Jack Layton several years ago and traced his political career before entering the arena himself.
Angus has been MP for the riding of Timmins-James Bay since 2004. The riding includes a district that serves the troubled communities of Attawapiskat and Kashechewan First Nations.
He has been an outspoken advocate for land claims settlements and the appalling conditions at several reserves in the north and is impatient with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s perceived slow action on both counts.
Regarding promises made to these and other communities within his riding, Angus said “I’m sad to say five years later we’re still waiting and every day we lose children to systemic negligence and underfunding. And it has to stop, and it’s going to stop — and that’s my promise. Reconciliation is not a hashtag.”
As NDP leader Angus promises he will “bring a little bit of class back to politics” and “stand up in Parliament and fight for the people who have been written off the political and economic map of Canada.”
He is also concerned with the approval of pipeline projects and his relatively cozy relations with U.S. President Donald Trump.
In 2011, CTV News Channel chose him in the top three MPs of the year, along with Stephen Harper and Jack Layton.
After the 2015 federal election, he was appointed NDP critic for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Canadian Parliament and elected Caucus Chair in January 2016.
Angus also uses his band Grievous Angels, which he fronts and writes and performs songs about the Indigenous condition in Canada and has so for many years.
