Jody Wilson-Raybould (born March 23, 1971), also known by her initials JWR and by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas, is an Indigenous Canadian lawyer, author, and former politician who was Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2015 to 2019. First elected in the 2015 election as the member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver Granville with the Liberal Party, Wilson-Raybould was re-elected as an independent in the 2019 election. As Attorney General, Wilson-Raybould refused to offer a deferred prosecution agreement to SNC-Lavalin after being pressured to do so by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She briefly served as Minister of Veterans Affairs in 2019, before she resigned from Cabinet and was removed from the Liberal caucus amid the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Before entering federal politics, she was a provincial Crown attorney in British Columbia (BC), a treaty commissioner and regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations.
Early life and education
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 (1944–2025), a First Nations hereditary chief, politician, and lawyer, and Sandra Wilson, a teacher. She has a sister named Kory. She was born at Vancouver General Hospital. 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. Her father later remarried Bev Sellars. She has two paternal half-brothers, Corey and William. Her uncle Alfred Scow is the first Aboriginal person to graduate from a BC law 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 Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law.
Career
Crown attorney (2000–2003)
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 attorney in Vancouver's Main Street criminal courthouse in the Downtown Eastside, Canada's poorest neighbourhood, 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.
BC Treaty Commission
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.
We Wai Kai Council
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. 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. This issue was reopened in 2015 adding an additional $50 million.
BC Assembly of First Nations
Wilson-Raybould was first elected regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations in 2009. 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 per cent of the vote.
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. 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.
In 2012, Wilson-Raybould and the BCAFN launched Part 2 of the Governance Toolkit – The Governance Self-Assessment and Part 3 – Guide to Community Engagement: Navigating Our Way Beyond the Post-Colonial Door. In 2014, a second edition of The Governance Report was released. In 2015, Wilson-Raybould and the BCAFN released A User's Guide to the BCAFN Governance Toolkit: Supporting Leaders of Change.
Wilson-Raybould held portfolio responsibilities on the Assembly of First Nations national executive for governance and nation building, the Chiefs Committee on Claims (including additions to reserve and specific claims) and chaired the comprehensive claims joint working group. During her first terms as Regional Chief, Wilson-Raybould worked with colleagues, including Senator Gerry St. Germain to introduce Bill S-212, the First Nations Self-Government Recognition Act. This Senate public bill would have provided a mechanism for First Nations to be recognized by the federal government as "self-governing" following the development of an internal constitution and after a community ratification vote on a self-government proposal. The bill died on the order paper.
Wilson-Raybould participated in the 2012 Crown–First Nations Gathering, delivering a strong message on the need to resolve First Nations issues, including the need for governance reform and moving beyond the Indian Act to support a strong economy. In the wake of the Idle No More protests and despite criticism from some First Nation leaders, Wilson-Raybould participated in high-level talks with then Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She expressed concern that very little progress had been made nationally on First Nations' issues since the 2012 First Nations–Crown Gathering and suggested concrete solutions to these issues. She stated her message very straightforwardly as follows: societies that govern well simply do better economically, socially and politically than those that do not. Good governance increases societies' chances of meeting the needs of their peoples and developing sustainable long-term economic development, and that First Nations are no different.
Wilson-Raybould attributes the lack of progress by the Conservative government during this time as one of her motivations to run for the federal Liberals in the 2015 federal election.
Volunteering
Wilson-Raybould has served as a director of Capilano University. As a former board member for the Minerva Foundation for BC Women (2008–2010), Wilson-Raybould was instrumental in the development of the "Combining Our Strength Initiative" – a partnership of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women. In addition to her duties as director of the Lands Advisory Board and Chair of the First Nations Finance Authority, Wilson-Raybould has also been a director of the Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre since 2013.
Wilson-Raybould has spoken publicly on such topics as aboriginal law, treaties, the environment, financial transparency, good governance and reconciliation. Prior to federal politics, she made numerous presentations before parliamentary committees including the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples and Northern Development. Wilson-Raybould has travelled extensively to work on Indigenous peoples' rights and leadership issues, including to the Philippines, Taiwan and Israel.
Author Wilson-Raybould has published four books: From Where I Stand: Rebuilding Indigenous Nations for a Stronger Canada (2019), 'Indian' in the Cabinet (2021), and True Reconciliation (2022), Reconciling History: A Story of Canada, (2024).
Federal politics
Nomination and candidacy
Wilson-Raybould was the co-chair of the 2014 Biennial Liberal Convention held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She secured the nomination for Vancouver Granville on July 31, 2014. Wilson-Raybould was seen to be close to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau who approached her to run for the Liberals during the 2013 AFN Annual General meeting in Whitehorse. Her areas of core policy concern and competence include: democratic reform, balancing the environment and the economy, Aboriginal affairs and affordable housing. Wilson-Raybould visited the Great Bear Rainforest with Justin Trudeau in 2014.