Wab Kinew

Wabanakwut "Wab" Kinew (born December 31, 1981) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 25th premier of Manitoba since 2023 and the leader of the Manitoba New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2017. Kinew represents Fort Rouge in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and was the leader of the Opposition from 2017 until his party's victory in the 2023 provincial election.

Before entering politics, Kinew was an author, musician, broadcaster and university administrator, best known as a host of programming on CBC Radio and CBC Television. Kinew is Canada's first provincial premier of First Nations descent, and Manitoba's first Indigenous premier since Métis Premier John Norquay in 1887.

Early life and education Wabanakwut "Wab" Kinew was born on December 31, 1981, in Kenora, Ontario. From the Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation in Northwestern Ontario, he is the son of Tobasonakwut Kinew, a former local and regional chief and a professor of Indigenous governance at the University of Winnipeg, and Dr. Kathi Avery Kinew, a policy analyst.

Kinew moved to suburban Winnipeg with his parents in childhood and attended Collège Béliveau, a French immersion school, and vacationed in Onigaming in the summers. Kinew went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Manitoba,

Career Broadcasting and media Kinew began working in broadcasting after the Winnipeg Free Press published a letter to the editor which he had written about Team Canada hockey, and a local CBC Radio producer contacted him to express interest in creating and airing a documentary feature on the matter. Other notable finalists of the award include Olympic champion Jennifer Jones, radio personality David 'Ace' Burpee, friend of Bell Let's Talk Karuna (Andi) Sharma, artist Kal Barteski, and Canadian restaurateur and philanthropist Sachit Mehra.

Kinew was a reporter and host for the CBC's radio and television operations, including the weekly arts magazine show The 204 in Winnipeg and the national documentary series 8th Fire in 2012. For his work on 8th Fire, Kinew was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award.

In 2014, he appeared as a panelist on CBC Radio's Canada Reads, defending Joseph Boyden's novel The Orenda; the novel won the competition. Kinew was a guest host of Q for two weeks in December 2014, and moderated the 2015 edition of Canada Reads.

Music After being a member of the hip-hop groups Slangblossom and the Dead Indians in the mid 2000s, Kinew released his debut individual CD as a rapper, Live by the Drum, in 2009. His second CD, Mide-Sun, followed in 2010.

University administration In 2011, the University of Winnipeg named Kinew its first director of Indigenous Inclusion.

Books Kinew has written a total of six books—The Reason You Walk, Go Show the World, Walking in Two Worlds, The Everlasting Road, An Anishinaabe Christmas, and We Are Who We Are: An Ode to Indigenous Heroes Past and Present—all published by Penguin Canada.

The Reason You Walk is a memoir that chronicles the year 2012, during which Kinew strove to reconnect with the Indigenous man who raised him. In the book, Kinew details his point of view on several controversial matters related to his past, including convictions resulting from alcoholism, his assault of a taxicab driver, and misogynistic and homophobic lyrics from his music career. A reviewer for The Globe and Mail commented: "the undeniable significance of The Reason You Walk'''s message, and the fact that the book holds so much for both aboriginal and non-aboriginal readers, makes it a must-read. This is not just a memoir, it's a meditation on the purpose of living." Kinew was honoured with the 2016 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for non-fiction, for this book, which comes with a $10,000 cash award. It has been pointed out that Kinew's account of the incident in his book heavily differs from what was heard in court during his 2004 sentencing hearing. The book went on to make the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature – illustrated shortlist.

In 2021, Kinew released Walking in Two Worlds, a young adult fantasy novel published by Penguin Teen, in which an Indigenous teen girl is caught between the real world and a virtual video-game universe. The book won Kinew an Aurora Award for science fiction and fantasy in 2022.

Political career Kinew considered running for the leadership of the Assembly of First Nations in its 2014 leadership election, but decided not to mount a campaign as he was newly married in August and felt that it was not the right time to be away from home for an extended period. During the final days of the campaign, misogynistic and homophobic tweets and other social media comments were discovered by media on Kinew's Twitter feed. This created a scandal with calls for the New Democratic Party to drop Kinew from the ballot. Following an apology for his past comments, at the election on April 19, 2016, Kinew defeated Manitoba Liberal Party leader Rana Bokhari in the riding of Fort Rouge. He was subsequently named the NDP's spokesperson for reconciliation and opposition critic for Education, Advanced Learning, and Training, as well as for Housing and Community Development.

Kinew was a candidate in the 2017 Manitoba NDP leadership election; at the September 16 convention, he defeated the only other candidate, former cabinet minister Steve Ashton, by a margin of 728 votes to 253. This made Kinew the first elected First Nations leader of a major party in Manitoba's history.

In 2017, Kinew introduced Bill 223 to mark September 30 as Orange Shirt Day, a day meant to honour residential school survivors, while in 2019, he introduced Bill 228, the Sikh Heritage Month Act. Later in 2019 Kinew also put forward a private member's bill that would bestow title of honorary first premier to Métis leader Louis Riel and require Riel's contributions be part of the school curriculum.

Kinew led the Manitoba NDP into the 2019 provincial election; the party gained six seats but the Progressive Conservative Party were re-elected to a majority.

Kinew continued as leader after the 2019 election, following which the NDP gained a lead over the governing PCs in polling. Ahead of the 2023 provincial election, the race tightened during the campaign period. The NDP campaign focused on healthcare reform. The NDP won the election, making Kinew the first First Nations person, and second Indigenous person overall, to be elected a provincial premier in Canada.

Premier (2023–present)

Kinew was sworn in as premier of Manitoba on October 18, 2023. During his first year as premier, Kinew implemented his campaign promise of a provincial fuel tax holiday until the end of 2024, costing the provincial government $340 million in tax revenue. In addition to the provincial fuel holiday, Kinew's government also announced a 5-point plan to address crime and public safety, including plans to create a community monitoring and supervision program for chronic offenders. His party campaigned on searching the Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of some victims of the 2022 Winnipeg serial killings, which began in December 2024. The remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran were found on February 26, 2025, at the landfill. Harris and Myran were respectively identified by police on March 7 and March 17, 2025.

Kinew also campaigned on promises to strengthen Manitoba's healthcare system. Efforts as of December 2024 include provincial coverage for prescription birth control and menopause transition medications under pharmacare, expanded capacity of existing health clinics across Manitoba, the opening of the first of five new neighbourhood health clinics in Manitoba, and revamping the province's paper health card with the introduction of plastic ones starting in 2025. In the NDP's 2024 budget, spending increased by 6%. In December 2024, Kinew pledged to combat homelessness by starting to move homeless people from homeless encampments into proper housing in 2025. In 2025, he signed agreements with other provinces to reduce interprovincial trade barriers in the midst of the United States trade war with Canada.

Kinew has announced a meth task force to combat drug trafficking. In the energy file, the Kinew government froze some electricity exports to the United States. The government also redirected U.S. hydro exports to Canadian projects. His government created a new Manitoba Crown Indigenous Corporation in 2025.

Kinew has promoted the expansion of the Port of Churchill. The $51 million for the Arctic Gateway Group will improve the Hudson Bay rail line and to build a new critical-minerals storage facility at the Port of Churchill. The project seeks to increase northern trade.

His government's 2026 budget reported a $498 million deficit and included provisions such as the elimination of the provincial sales tax on groceries and the continuation of a price freeze on one-litre milk cartons.

Personal life Kinew recounts that he "experienced racially motivated assaults by adults" during his time growing up in suburban Winnipeg. For this incident, Kinew was convicted of impaired driving. A Crown attorney and Kinew's lawyer appeared in court several times between January and June 2004. These charges were previously unknown to most during Kinew's public life, only coming to light in 2017 via anonymous emails sent to Winnipeg media outlets. Hart has said that she can only recall one alleged assault and does not know why two charges were filed. She has stated that after she left Kinew, she was living outside Winnipeg and never heard from the Crown on why the charges were stayed. Kinew also has stated that in 2006 he was charged with stealing a money order, but that charge was stayed when he repaid the money.

In September 2016, Kinew married Dr. Lisa Monkman, an Ojibwe family physician who practises medicine at an inner-city clinic. The couple welcomed a son in May 2017. Kinew has two sons from a previous relationship.

Works