What to know about the Keewatinook riding for Manitoba's 2023 election
CBC News | Posted: September 1, 2023 3:54 PM | Last Updated: September 11, 2023
- About the riding
- Voting history
- News stories from Keewatinook
- Meet the candidates
- More CBC Manitoba riding profiles
This riding has been around since 1920, but it's changed a lot since then.
Until 2008, the riding was called Rupertsland. Its boundaries have changed over the years, including a significant redrawing in the boundary updates by the Manitoba Electoral Division Boundaries Commission in 2018.
The riding covers a large part of northeastern Manitoba, bounded to the north by Hudson Bay and the Nelson River and to the east by the Manitoba-Ontario border. It goes as far south as Sagkeeng First Nation and Nutimik Provincial Park, running along the east shore of Lake Winnipeg.
It's home to many First Nations, including Bunibonibee Cree Nation, Shamattawa First Nation, Sagkeeng and Hollow Water First Nation, as well as several provincial parks.
Its population is 17,675, the province's riding profile says.
The median age of the riding's population is 22.2, says the riding profile prepared by the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics, based on information from the 2021 census. That's far below the provincial median of 38.4. The median household income is $59,600.
More facts about Keewatinook
- The riding's name was previously spelled Kewatinook, which the Electoral Boundaries Commission says was an incorrect spelling.
- Keewatinook is the largest riding in the province, the Electoral Boundaries Commission says, although the new boundaries drawn by the commission in 2018 reduced its size by seven per cent.
- Almost 98 per cent of residents identified as Indigenous in the 2016 census.
Voting history
Starting in 1969, the riding voted New Democrat for decades, straight through until the 2016 election, when Liberal MLA Judy Klassen defeated longtime NDP MLA Eric Robinson, with 49 per cent of the vote to his 39 per cent.
- 1958, 1959, 1962, 1966 elections: Progressive Conservative.
- 1969-2007 (11 elections total): NDP.
- 2011: Eric Robinson (NDP).
- 2016: Judy Klassen (Liberal).
- 2019: Ian Bushie (NDP).
Keewatinook in the news
- Tina Fontaine's family mourns loss as 9-year anniversary of her body's discovery looms
- Hollow Water First Nation hangs red dresses to honour Jana Williams
- Sagkeeng First Nation's search of former residential school site uncovers 190 radar anomalies
Meet the candidates
As of Sept. 11, the nominated candidates for the 2023 election are:
- Ian Bushie (NDP — incumbent).
- Michael Birch (Progressive Conservative).
- Nellie Wood Monias (Liberal).
Candidates become official when they meet criteria set out in the province's Elections Act, including providing a statement of disclosure, after the election has been called. In Keewatinook, all candidates are official.