Avi Lewis | |
|---|---|
 Lewis in 2015 | |
| Born | May 1967 (age 57) Toronto,Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Author, activist, broadcaster |
| Alma mater | University of Toronto |
| Period | 1996–present |
| Spouse | Naomi Klein |
| Children | 1[1] |
| Parents | Stephen Lewis, Michele Landsberg |
| Relatives | David Lewis (grandfather) Moishe Lewis (great-grandfather) |
| Website | |
| www.avilewis.ca | |
Avram David "Avi"Lewis (born May 1967)[2] is a Canadian activist,documentary filmmaker, former host of theAl Jazeera English showFault Lines[3] and former host of theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) current-affairs programsCounterSpin andOn the Map. He is currently an Associate Professor at theUniversity of British Columbia.[4]
Lewis is theNDP candidate forVancouver Centre in the2025 Canadian federal election.[5]
Avi Lewis is the great-grandson ofMoshe Losz (Lewis), an outspoken member of theJewish Bund who leftSvislach,Poland (absorbed by theSoviet Union during World War II, and today inBelarus), after being interrogated by the Russians and threatened with death or theGulag for his political activity, he left forMontreal in 1921, with his wife Rose (née Lazarovitch) and three children. Avi Lewis is the grandson of former federalNew Democratic Party leaderDavid Lewis and the son of former Ontario NDP leader and diplomatStephen Lewis and journalistMichele Landsberg. Avi Lewis is married to journalist and authorNaomi Klein; his sister Ilana Landsberg-Lewis was the executive director of theStephen Lewis Foundation.[6]
Lewis grew up inToronto, Ontario, and attendedJarvis Collegiate andUpper Canada College. He graduated from theUniversity of Toronto in 1988.[7]
Lewis was featured on the November 20, 2001, "Life & Times" episode ofThe Lewis Family.[8]
Avi Lewis's genealogical search was featured on the January 31, 2008, episode of the CBC'sWho Do You Think You Are?[9]
Between 1996 and 1998, Avi Lewis was host ofThe NewMusic, a music magazine show onMuchMusic andCitytv. He also served as MuchMusic's political specialist — by doing extensive special events coverage for the channel designed to engage youth in the political process. Among other events, he covered the1993 Canadian federal election and the1995 Quebec referendum. Avi Lewis won a Gemini for Best Event Coverage.
In 1998–2001, Lewis hostedCBC Newsworld's current affairs discussion showcounterSpin, where he presided over 500 debates. Avi Lewis was later the host ofCounterspin Sunday.
In 2004, Lewis and his wifeNaomi Klein collaborated onThe Take — a documentary that detailed the "recovered factory" movement inArgentina.The Take, winner of the International Jury Prize, was nominated for fourGemini Awards.
Lewis began hosting CBC Newsworld'sThe Big Picture with Avi Lewis in the autumn of 2006 andOn the Map in 2007. He became host of Frontline USA forAl Jazeera television in 2008. Lewis was a participant in the CBC'sCanada Reads 2009 (see below).
Lewis directed the 2015 feature-length documentaryThis Changes Everything,[10] which finished second in the audience voting, for the documentary category, at the2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[11]
In June 2007, CBC Newsworld debutedOn the Map with Avi Lewis, a daily (Monday-Thursday) half-hour of international news commentary. Lewis discussed such issues as the "Oil Law" that the United States wishedIraq to adopt,women in Afghanistan,[12] and what exactly is meant by the phrase "ungoverned spaces". The show was officially renewed for November 2007 and then disappeared without ever airing again.[13]On the Map's half-hour time slot was replaced with a half-hour summary of the daily hour-long showPolitics byDon Newman.[14]
During the same time period,The Hour, which had a mix of news commentary and pop culture and provided a lighter fare thanOn the Map, became decidedly more oriented to pop culture - even though there has been some creep towards greater news commentary as the season progressed.George Stroumboulopoulos stated during the opening show, that the modification of format was becauseThe Hour would now be shown right afterThe National (rather than before in previous seasons) when shown on the CBC main channel.[15][16][17]
Lewis conducted a June 11, 2007,interview with political writerAyaan Hirsi Ali. After repeatedly and openly sniggering at Hirsi Ali's complimentary remarks about the United States, Lewis sharply questioned some of her views - including her denial of the existence ofIslamophobia, her belief that Islam was inherentlymisogynistic, and her positive opinions concerningAmerican democracy. Lewis compared Islamophobia toAnti-Semitism, seeing both as equally real, to which Ali replied: "Racism is a universal trait, so is antisemitism, by the way. But I want us not to confuse a set of beliefs such as Islam, with ethnicity such as the hatred against Jews just because they are Jews, or against blacks just because they are black, or against gays just because of- it's something you can't do anything about. Whereas Islam is simply a set of beliefs, and it's not Islamophobic to say ... this is being done in the name of your religion."[18] The interview provoked a strongly critical response from right-wing commentators in the US and Canada.[citation needed]
Lewis has stated[19] thatHugo Chávez's actions do not match his rhetoric and has criticized Chávez for not doing more to close down the "laboratory" of policies which he had inherited from previous administrations. Naomi Klein, who credited Avi Lewis for his input into her bookThe Shock Doctrine, links both stifling of dissent and concentration of power with the implementation of these earlier economic policies.[citation needed][19]
From October 8–18, 2007, Avi Lewis hosted the ten-part international documentary seriesWhy Democracy? in Canada.[20]
Inside USA was first telecast onAl Jazeera on February 8, 2008, with the episode "Politics of Race".Al Jazeera describesInside USA as "an in-depth look at the real issues at stake in the US presidential election."[21]
Politics Of Race (February 22, 2008) focused on the situation in New Orleans and the disenfranchising of Black voters.[22][23]
Native Americans (March 1, 2008) focused onLakota Siouxseparatism, social and economic issues surrounding the Lakota Sioux,Navajo and theShoshone peoples.[24][25] The last few minutes were devoted to the role online videos play in the American election - including a clip from "Yes We Can".
Lewis was a panelist in the CBC'sCanada Reads, which aired on March 2–6, 2009.Canada Reads is a seasonal show in which celebrities choose a book and advocate on its behalf. He presented, and successfully defended, the winning book,Lawrence Hill'sThe Book of Negroes.[26]
In September 2015, Lewis, Naomi Klein, and others launched theLeap Manifesto - which proposed broad changes to Canadian society and economics in order to respond toclimate change through a policy framework that also addresses issues of wealth and income inequality, racism, and colonialism and in hopes of influencing the policy debate during the2015 Canadian federal election campaign.[27][28] In 2016, Lewis spearheaded a motion at theNew Democratic Party of Canada's federal election which would have had the party endorse the manifesto - in the end, the motion was amended to refer the manifesto to constituency associations for debate. Lewis and other manifesto signatories launched an organization to promote the manifesto's vision in 2017, called The Leap, which operated until 2021 and was a key convenor of Canada's Pact for aGreen New Deal in 2019.[29]
In May 2021, Lewis was nominated as the NDP's candidate forWest Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country,British Columbia for the2021 Canadian federal election,[30][31] which was subsequently called for September 20, 2021.[32] Lewis' run for federal parliament was endorsed by environmentalistDavid Suzuki,[33][34] actressJane Fonda,[34][35] playwrightEve Ensler,[36] folk singer and activistBilly Bragg,[37] and biologistAlexandra Morton.[38] He came in third behind incumbentLiberalPatrick Weiler who has represented the riding since 2019 andConservativeJohn Weston, who had previously represented the district from 2008 until 2015.
In September 2024, Lewis was acclaimed as the NDP candidate inVancouver Centre for thenext Canadian federal election, expected in 2025.[39]
Lewis supports shifting the NDP further to the left. He was speculated as a potential candidate in the2017 NDP leadership race, but declined to run.[40] He has also endorsed and campaigned for several progressive candidates in internal NDP elections. IncludingAnjali Appadurai in the2022 BC NDP leadership race, Sandra Sousa in the2025Davenport NDP nomination race and Jäger Rosenberg in the2024 BC NDPPowell River-Sunshine Coast nomination race.[41][42][43][44]
| 2025 Canadian federal election:Vancouver Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Hedy Fry | |||||||
| New Democratic | Avi Lewis | |||||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | ||||||||
| Total rejected ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | ||||||||
| Eligible voters | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election:West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Patrick Weiler | 21,500 | 33.9 | $107,414.31 | ||||
| Conservative | John Weston | 19,062 | 30.0 | $123,189.13 | ||||
| New Democratic | Avi Lewis | 16,265 | 25.6 | $117,546.51 | ||||
| Green | Mike Simpson | 4,108 | 6.5 | $35,992.60 | ||||
| People's | Doug Bebb | 2,299 | 3.6 | $26,851.53 | ||||
| Rhinoceros | Gordon Jeffrey | 98 | 0.2 | $0.00 | ||||
| Independent | Chris MacGregor | 77 | 0.1 | $0.00 | ||||
| Independent | Terry Grimwood | 50 | 0.1 | $0.00 | ||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 63,459 | – | – | $131,270.20 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 279 | |||||||
| Turnout | 64.6% | |||||||
| Eligible voters | 98,256 | |||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[45] | ||||||||
"I'm excited that Canada will have Avi Lewis representing you — and a little jealous too," she said, perhaps prematurely, in an endorsement video.
