A 25-day Tenure: The Story of the First Indigenous Parliamentarian Elected in Canada
In January 1831, Tekarihogen John Brant became the first Indigenous parliamentarian elected in Canada. Twenty- five days later he was out of office. A year later he was dead. It would be more than a century before a second First Nations Member would be elected to another Canadian legislature, and almost two centuries before Ontario would see another provincial parliamentarian of First Nations ancestry and community citizenship. In this article, the author recounts the short life and political career of a member of a famed Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) dynasty.