Sana Hassainia

Sana Hassainia (; born November 1, 1974) is a Tunisian born Canadian politician. She was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 election as the New Democratic Member of Parliament for Verchères—Les Patriotes. She left the NDP caucus on August 20, 2014 as the result of a dispute with NDP leader Thomas Mulcair's position on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and completed her term as an Independent MP.

Education She has degrees in French literature and language, and a journalism certificate from the Université de Montréal. At the time of her election she was working in the printing business.

Personal life While an MP, Hassainia gave birth to her son, Skander-Jack Kochlef, on 14 November 2011. Her second child was born in 2013.

Split with NDP On August 20, 2014, Hassainia announced she was leaving the NDP and will sit as an Independent due to Mulcair's "excessively pro-Israel stance on the current conflict in Gaza and demeaning party demands to toe the line." Hassainia claimed that she was "punished" for supporting Brian Topp (who previously challenged Mulcair for the party's leaderships) by being removed from her position with Commons committee on the Status of Women. Regarding the Middle East, Hassainia stated that she could not support the position adopted by the NDP under Mulcair." Following her announcement, Hassainia stated that "a party leader should be loved like [former leader] Jack Layton and not feared. Today, I have the courage to make a significant gesture, to take a weight off my shoulders and stand by my convictions."

In her blog, Hassainia blamed "pressures within and outside the party" for the shift in the NDP's position towards the Middle East, and stated that "To declare that we are in favour of peace in the Middle East is not a position, in fact it's a non-position — it's a way to avoid the issue and postpone a discussion on a topic that 'angers.'"

On February 5, 2015, she announced that she was not going to be a candidate in the 2015 federal election.

Electoral record