Deraek Menard

“The Green Party is the only party taking climate and biodiversity collapse seriously, but people are leaving. Deeply concerned and dedicated people have disengaged. That breaks my heart. All the public has seen in the last two years is infighting and dysfunction. My goal is to change that. We're fighting to save organized human life on the planet Earth. I don't think quitting or losing faith is an option. As long as this party is dedicated to this fight, I will fight for this party. We can and will build a better world if we work together instead of against one another.”

Deraek Menard is a biologist and activist. Growing up on Vancouver Island in a politically disengaged family, he took little interest in politics or activism until he learned about the climate and biodiversity crisis. Reading the book World on the Edge by Lester Brown introduced him to the idea that society is fragile, and the IPCC reports in 2019 confirmed it. He gave up his science career to pursue social change, organizing Climate Strike events, agitating with Extinction Rebellion, and joining his local Green Party EDA in 2018.

When a by-election was called in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Deraek took on a key position with Paul Manly’s campaign team. That victory secured the second elected Green Party Member of Parliament in the history of Canada.

Deraek’s experience working in frontline activist environments and successful political campaigns has given him the skills to work with compassion, calm, and reason in tense situations, allowing cooler heads to prevail when emotions get heated.

Deraek has worked on five Green Party campaigns. He was campaign manager for a BC Greens campaign in the 2020 snap election. With just one month to campaign, he was instrumental in increasing the Green vote by seven percent in the riding. He has been the CEO of Nanaimo-Ladysmith’s Electoral District Association for two years. He was a lead communications volunteer at Fairy Creek, where he was arrested, and was fired from his government biology job for protesting against the injustices in Wet’suwet’en.

He is endorsed by Paul Manly.