Jody Wilson-Raybould

Jody Wilson-Raybould (born March 23, 1971), also known by her initials JWR and by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas, is a Canadian lawyer, author, and former politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the British Columbia (BC) riding of Vancouver Granville from 2015 to 2021.

As regional chief, Wilson-Raybould concentrated on the need for nation building, good governance, and empowering indigenous peoples to take the practical steps necessary to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to realize the promise of the recognition of aboriginal and treaty rights in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

She focused on reconciliation between First Nations and the province of BC and Canada by advancing 1) the cause of First Nations' strong and appropriate governance, 2) fair access to lands and resources, 3) improved education and 4) individual health.

On Canadian national television in 1983, Wilson-Raybould's father informed then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau that his two daughters hoped to become lawyers and then Prime Minister some day.

Her parents divorced when Wilson-Raybould was a small child and she was raised by her mother on Vancouver Island, attending Robert Scott Elementary School in Port Hardy, British Columbia, where her mother also taught, and later Comox, British Columbia, graduating from Highland Secondary School.

Wilson-Raybould studied political science and history at the University of Victoria where she was awarded her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996.

She then studied for a law degree from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law.

Wilson-Raybould is a lawyer by profession and was called to the bar in 2000 after articling at the Vancouver law firm of Connell Lightbody.

She was a provincial Crown prosecutor in Vancouver's Main Street criminal courthouse in the Downtown Eastside, Canada's poorest neighbourhood, for three years from 2000 to 2003.

Defence lawyer Terry La Liberté described her as a smart, fair, and skilled prosecutor who treated defendants with compassion, saying, "She has actually talked to the people who are affected. She has worked with these people and made choices about their future in a really meaningful way."

Wilson-Raybould called it an eye-opening experience, saying, “I always knew that there was an over-representation of indigenous peoples and vulnerable people in the criminal justice system but it became certainly more pronounced to me being down there for almost four years." She also said her experience as a prosecutor reconfirmed her commitment to public service and its importance.

In 2003, she took a position as a process advisor at the BC Treaty Commission, a body established to oversee the negotiations of modern treaties between First Nations and the Crown.

In 2004, she was elected commissioner by the chiefs of the First Nations Summit.

She served as commissioner for nearly seven years, one and a half of which she spent as the acting chief commissioner, earning a reputation for bringing opposing sides together in the complex treaty negotiation process.

City of Vancouver first-ever Aboriginal Relations Manager Ginger Gosnell-Myers, then a youth representative on roundtables Wilson-Raybould organized, said working with her as a young person "felt like I was being heard for the first time in a process that was normally exclusionary. She went out of her way to make sure that this diversity was reflected".

As a Commissioner, she helped to advance a number of treaty tables, including Tsawwassen First Nation, which became the first in BC to achieve a treaty under the BC Treaty Process.

Wilson-Raybould also helped the establishment of a "Common Table" of 60 plus First Nations and the Crown.

She married Tim Raybould (b. 1966), a First Nations consultant, lobbyist and social anthropologist, on November 29, 2008.

Wilson-Raybould was elected to council for the We Wai Kai Nation in January 2009, a role that she credits for strengthening her understanding and commitment to work at the provincial and national level advocating for First Nations' governance.

As a councillor for We Wai Kai she was instrumental in helping her community develop a land code and to move out from under the Indian Act.

As a result of this work she was appointed as her nation's representative to the national First Nations Lands Advisory Board (LAB), and was subsequently elected from among her peers to sit as a board member for the LAB as well as a member of the finance committee.

As councillor for We Wai Kai Nation, Wilson-Raybould was also central to We Wai Kai developing a financial administration law (establishing a transparency and accountability through regulatory framework for establishing budgets and controlling expenditures), assuming property taxation powers under the First Nations Fiscal Management Act and becoming a borrowing member of the First Nations Finance Authority (FNFA).

Wilson-Raybould was appointed the We Wai Kai representative to the FNFA.

Wilson-Raybould was first elected regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations in 2009.

In 2011 and 2012, Wilson-Raybould co-authored the ''BCAFN Governance Toolkit: A Guide to Nation Building.

Part 1 of the Governance Toolkit – The Governance Report'', which has been acclaimed as the most comprehensive report of its kind in Canada, setting out what First Nations in BC are doing with respect to transitioning their governance from under the Indian Act to a post-colonial world based on recognition of aboriginal title and rights.

The regional chief is elected by the 203 First Nations in BC. She is credited with bringing the chiefs together, which was reflected in her being re-elected regional chief in November 2012.

She won on the first ballot with nearly 80% of the vote.

The borrowing members of the FNFA elected Wilson-Raybould as chair in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

The FNFA is a not-for-profit that pools the public borrowing requirements of qualifying First Nations and issues bonds on the strength of a central credit.

Under Wilson-Raybould, the FNFA issued its inaugural debenture in 2014 in the amount $96 million.

She was initially elected as a member of the Liberal Party – serving as justice minister and attorney general from 2015 to 2019, and briefly as veterans minister and associate national defence minister in 2019 – until she was expelled from caucus amid the SNC-Lavalin affair.

This issue was reopened in 2015 adding an additional $50 million.

She continued to sit in Parliament as an Independent and was reelected in 2019, but did not run in 2021.

Before entering federal politics, she was a BC provincial Crown prosecutor, a treaty commissioner and regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations.

Wilson-Raybould's mother is a Euro-Canadian and her father is a descendant of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk and Laich-kwil-tach peoples, which are part of the Kwakwakaʼwakw, also known as the Kwak’wala-speaking peoples.

She is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation.

Wilson-Raybould carries the Kwak’wala name Puglaas which roughly translates to "woman born to noble people".

Wilson-Raybould is the daughter of Bill Wilson, a First Nations hereditary chief, politician, and lawyer, and Sandra Wilson, a teacher.

She was born at Vancouver General Hospital.