Jaime Battiste

Early Life and Education

Jaime Battiste is the son of prominent Indigenous parents. His father is Chickasaw and Cheyenne lawyer James (Sa’ke’j) Youngblood Henderson, while his mother is Mi’kmaw educator Dr. Marie Battiste. Both his parents have won Indspire awards for their contributions to justice and education in Canada.

Battiste spent some of his younger years in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and graduated from that city’s Evan Hardy Collegiate in 1997. He later received an undergraduate degree in Mi’kmaq Studies from Cape Breton University, as well as a Juris Doctor degree from the Schulich School of Law at Halifax’s Dalhousie University in 2004.

Employment

Jaime Battiste was a professor of Indigenous subjects at Cape Breton University. He was Treaty Education Lead for Nova Scotia and was also an elected regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).

In 2006, when Battiste was chair of the AFN’s Youth Council, he was one of the founding members of the Mi’kmaq Maliseet Atlantic Youth Council. The council represents and advocates for Mi’kmaw and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) youth within Atlantic Canada.

Music

Jaime Battiste is a musician and a recording artist. He is a founder of the Mi’kmaw Music Showcase, which features and promotes songs in the Mi’kmaw language.

Battiste is also member of the Eskasoni-based band 2nd Generation, in which he is an acoustic and rhythm guitarist and vocalist. The band has been nominated for several East Coast Music and Music Nova Scotia Awards and in 2024 won an East Coast Music Award.

Politics

Jaime Battiste first entered politics in the general election of October 2019. Battiste was elected as the Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Sydney-Victoria and became the first Mi’kmaw to be elected to Parliament. Battiste is a fluent Mi’kmaw speaker and was the first MP to speak Mi’kmaw in the House of Commons.

In Ottawa, Battiste was also elected as chair of the Liberal Indigenous Caucus. His focus was increased investment for Indigenous communities and the continued advancement of reconciliation.

Battiste was re-elected MP for Sydney-Victoria in the general election of September 2021. A 2023 riding boundary review contracted Sydney-Victoria in size and excluded his home of Eskasoni, leaving Membertou as the only First Nation in the riding (see also First Nations in Nova Scotia).

The new riding of Cape Breton–Canso–Antigonish was created and included Eskasoni, Potlotek, Wagmatcook and We’koma’qsin, four of the five First Nations on Cape Breton Island, as well as Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation on the mainland of Nova Scotia.

On 13 January 2025, Battiste announced his candidacy for the leadership of the federal Liberal Party, becoming the first Indigenous person to do so. He withdrew from the race on 30 January, citing difficulty in raising the required deposit of $350,000 by 17 February as one of his reasons. The other reason Battiste stated was as the result of his conversations with Liberal candidate Mark Carney and Carney’s commitment to address several Indigenous issues. After his withdrawal, Battiste endorsed Carney, who went on to win both the leadership race and the March 2025 federal election. Battiste ran in this new riding of Cape Breton–Canso–Antigonish in the March 2025 election and was again re-elected.

Parliamentary Roles

Jaime Battiste served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations from December 2021 to February 2025. When the minister’s responsibilities changed in February 2025 to include Northern Affairs and responsibility for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, he retained his appointment as parliamentary secretary. As is the practice, the 2025 general election temporarily nullified all parliamentary secretary appointments, but Battiste was again selected as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.

Since he was first elected to the House of Commons, Battiste has also served on numerous parliamentary committees. These include COVID-19 Pandemic, Indigenous and Northern Affairs and Fisheries and Oceans. He has also been a member of the subcommittees on the agenda and procedure of the standing committees on Indigenous and Northern Affairs and Fisheries and Oceans. After the 2025 election, Battiste was again chosen to serve on the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs and the subcommittees on the agenda and procedure of the standing committees on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

Battiste was also a member of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association, the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group and the Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie.

Honours and Awards

• One of the National Aboriginal Role Models in Canada – National Aboriginal Healing Organization (2005)
• Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers (2018)
• East Coast Music Award, as member of 2nd Generation (2024)