Yvonne Jones facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yvonne Jones MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Northern Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office December 2, 2015
Minister	Carolyn Bennett
Preceded by	Mark Strahl
Member of Parliament for Labrador
Incumbent
Assumed office May 13, 2013
Preceded by	Peter Penashue
Leader of the Opposition in Newfoundland and Labrador
In office November 13, 2007 – January 3, 2012
Preceded by	Gerry Reid
Succeeded by	Dwight Ball
Leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party
In office Interim: November 13, 2007 – May 28, 2011 May 28, 2011 – August 14, 2011
Preceded by	Gerry Reid
Succeeded by	Kevin Aylward
Member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair
In office February 22, 1996 – April 8, 2013
Preceded by	Riding Established
Succeeded by	Lisa Dempster
Mayor of Mary's Harbour
In office 1991–1996
Personal details
Born	(1968-03-15) March 15, 1968 (age 56) Mary's Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada
Political party	Liberal Party of Canada (2013-present)
Other political affiliations	Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador (1999-2013) Independent (1996-1999)
Residence	Mary's Harbour
Alma mater	West Viking College
Occupation	Journalist, Researcher, Politician
Cabinet	Minister Responsible for the Status of Women (2003) Minister of Fisheries & Aquaculture (2003)
Website	Official website: http://yvonnejones.liberal.ca/

Yvonne Jean Jones MP (born March 15, 1968) is a Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, who was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on May 13, 2013. She represents the district of Labrador as a member of the Liberal Party caucus. On December 2, 2015, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Jones is a member of NunatuKavut, an unrecognized Inuit group.

From 1996 to 2013, Jones represented the district of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. During her career in provincial politics, she served as Minister of Fisheries in Premier Roger Grimes' government, and later as a leader of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador and Leader of the Official Opposition.

Provincial politics

Jones has training in journalism and has worked for many community newspapers throughout the province. She has also served as an employment counselor and field worker for the Battle Harbour Development Association with Human Resources Development Canada.

Jones served as mayor of Mary's Harbour, Labrador from 1991 to 1996. In 1996, she sought the Liberal Party nomination for the provincial electoral district of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair in that year's general election. Jones lost the nomination to incumbent Danny Dumaresque, but subsequently ran as an Independent candidate. She was elected to the House of Assembly in the 1996 general election, defeating Dumaresque, a two-term MHA. Jones became the Liberal Party's candidate for the 1999 election. She was re-elected in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011.

After serving two years as a Parliamentary Secretary Jones was appointed to cabinet In February 2003, by Premier Roger Grimes. She was sworn in as the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and as the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women. Jones held the post till the Liberal government was defeated in the provincial election in October of that year.

In 2004, Jones was the only member of the House of Assembly to vote against the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement (Bill 44). During the legislative debate Jones stated "The proposed treaty we have before us today is very complex. I certainly do not think and I know it was not the intention of the LIA [Labrador Inuit Association] to stigmatize or exclude the possibility for settlement of a claim with Metis people. I know that, Mr. Speaker. I have asked the government to give me the greatest assurances possible that this treaty would not prejudice the future acceptance of a claim for Metis in Labrador. Those assurances have not been satisfactory to the leadership of the Labrador Metis Nation, to their President, Todd Russell, to their elders and their members, and therefore, Mr. Speaker, it is not satisfactory to me". During this debate Jones also stated "I am a Metis and I am very proud of who I am. I am descendant from the bloodline of Inuit and the English".

Jones was an outspoken critic of the Muskrat Falls hydro development.

Liberal leader

Jones was one of only three Liberal Members of the House of Assembly (MHA) re-elected in the 2007 provincial election. On November 15, 2007, she was named the interim leader of the Liberal Party and Official Opposition Leader, after party leader Gerry Reid was defeated in his own district. Jones became the first woman to lead the Liberal Party in the province. The party originally planned to hold a leadership convention to select a new, permanent leader in 2008, but postponed the vote twice. Jones continued to serve as interim leader during this period of time, and in December 2009, announced her intention to run for the permanent leadership when the convention was to be scheduled. On July 30, 2010, Jones was acclaimed Liberal leader after she was the only person to file nomination papers for the position.

She was expected to be sworn in as leader at the party's convention in November of that year, however the convention was delayed when Jones announced in August that she would be taking a leave of absence from her position to undergo treatment for breast cancer. She returned to work in early 2011, and was sworn in as Liberal leader at the party's Spring leadership convention.

By-elections

On October 27, 2009, the district of The Straits – White Bay North held a by-election, to replace Minister of Transportation and Works, Trevor Taylor, who resigned on October 2, 2009. Liberal candidate Marshall Dean won the election taking nearly 48% of the vote and defeating the Progressive Conservative candidate by 126 votes.

Resignation

On August 9, 2011, two months before the provincial election, Jones announced that she was resigning as leader due to a slower recovery from breast cancer than she expected. She sought re-election in her district during the 2011 provincial election, and won 71 per cent of the popular vote.

Federal politics

In April 2013, Jones resigned her seat in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly to run as the Liberal candidate in the federal by-election in Labrador created by the resignation of Peter Penashue. She defeated Penashue to win the seat on May 13, 2013. She was sworn in on June 4, 2013.

Upon her election, Jones was appointed the Liberal critic for Northern Development, the Northern Economic Development Agency, the Arctic Council, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Search and Rescue. In August 2013, Jones was elected Chair of the Liberal Party of Canada Newfoundland and Labrador caucus. In February 2014, she became Vice-Chair of the Public Accounts committee.

On December 2, 2015, Jones was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

In late August 2018, Jones was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern affairs and Internal Trade.

Jones was re-elected in the 2019 federal election. On December 12, 2019, Jones was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Northern Affairs.

On April 19, 2021, Nunavut NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq claimed that Jones was "not an Inuk," and southern Labrador is "not an Inuit region". Jones dismissed Qaqqaq's comments as “immature and naïve”. Qaqqaq later issued an email statement apologizing “for how I handled the situation”.

Jones was re-elected in the 2021 federal election.

On June 14, 2023, Jones announced that she had “successfully battled breast cancer for the second time.”

Electoral record

Federal

Provincial