B.C.’s Amita Kuttner becomes first trans person to lead a national political party

The Greens have chosen a nonbinary astrophysicist from British Columbia as the interim leader of their party.

Dr. Amita Kuttner has been appointed by the Greens’ Federal Council to lead the party until a new leader is elected next year.

Kuttner, who is 30, will be the youngest person as well as the first trans person and person of east-Asian descent to lead a federal political party.

Many in B.C. may be familiar with their name, after their mother was tragically killed and their father severely injured in a mudslide in 2005 after their North Vancouver home was crushed.

Kuttner has been a vocal advocate for action to address flooding and climate change, and founded the Moonlight Institute, a non-profit that explores ways to adapt to the climate crisis.

They who stood against Annamie Paul for the Green leadership last year and lost.

Paul formally resigned as leader of the Greens in November following a disappointing loss in the federal election, where she failed to win her own riding and the party returned only two MPs to the House of Commons.

Green Party Leader Annamie Paul stepped down as leader after a campaign surrounded by controversy and dwindling voter support.  Aug. 15, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

The party won 2.3 per cent of the popular vote, a huge decrease from 2019 when it finished with 6.6 per cent of the vote.

She did not lead the party long, taking over from Elizabeth May in October 2020.

The party has also been involved in several high-profile infighting incidents this year, including most recently shutting down two of its Slack channels, saying that aggressive chatter between its own members had made the chat rooms “unsafe.”

In June, Kuttner appeared to address some of the controversy on their Facebook page.

“I stepped back from, but never left, the Green Party of Canada to both gain some space from discrimination within the party and tend to the many changes in my personal life,” they wrote.

On Wednesday, the interim leader said they would work to address those issues moving forward.

“I am honoured to have been selected to lead our party during this time of transition and renewal,” said Kuttner in a Green Party of Canada news release. “I take on this responsibility fully aware of the magnitude of the challenges we are facing but convinced that we will overcome them and emerge stronger, more united and more confident about our vital role in national politics.”

Read more: 

• Annamie Paul hands in resignation as Green leader, and quits the party

• Political future for some Canadian leaders may be up in air following status quo election

• Annamie Paul stands down as leader of the Green Party of Canada

They ran in the riding of Burnaby-North Seymour in 2019 but lost to Liberal incumbent Terry Beech.

They did not run in the most recent election and do not have a seat in the House of Commons.

Paul Manly, the former Green MP who lost his British Columbia seat in the September election, withdrew from the leadership race.

Manly was backed by former leader Elizabeth May, and said he was currently “taking on other projects” in his community when asked why he chose to remove himself from the running.

With files from The Canadian Press