Avi Lewis | |
|---|---|
 Lewis in 2025 | |
| Born | Avram David Lewis May 1967 (age 58) |
| Alma mater | University College, Toronto |
| Occupations |
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| Political party | New Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1[1] |
| Parents |
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| Family | Lewis |
| Website | lewisforleader |
Avram David "Avi"Lewis (born May 1967) is a Canadian politician, journalist and activist. Lewis is an associate professor at theUniversity of British Columbia and was a lecturer atRutgers University. He has hosted several programs forCitytv,CBC News andAl Jazeera English includingThe NewMusic,CounterSpin, On the Map with Avi Lewis,The Big Picture with Avi Lewis, andFault Lines. With his wifeNaomi Klein, Lewis directed the documentariesThe Take andThis Changes Everything. He was aNew Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in the2021 and2025 federal elections, losing both times. He is a candidate in the2026 NDP leadership election.
Lewis was raised in apolitical family. His grandfatherDavid Lewis was theleader of the NDP from 1971 to 1975, and his fatherStephen Lewis was the leader of theOntario NDP from 1970 to 1978 and served as theCanadian ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988. Along with his wife and several other activists, Lewis launched theLeap Manifesto in 2015. Lewis entered electoral politics by becoming the party's candidate forWest Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country in the 2021 Canadian federal election andVancouver Centre in the 2025 Canadian federal election.
Lewis was born in May 1967[2] inToronto, Ontario, where he was raised. He attendedJarvis Collegiate Institute andUpper Canada College, graduating with aBachelor of Arts fromUniversity College at theUniversity of Toronto in 1988.[3][4]
Lewis has hosted several programs includingThe NewMusic for Citytv, theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation's showsCounterSpin, On the Map with Avi Lewis, andThe Big Picture with Avi Lewis, andAl Jazeera'sFault Lines andInside USA. He was a lecturer atRutgers University inNew Jersey and is currently an associate professor in the geography department of theUniversity of British Columbia, where he teaches courses on social and political change, communication and documentary filmmaking.[5][6]
Between 1996 and 1998, Lewis was the host ofThe NewMusic, a music magazine show onMuchMusic andCitytv. He also served as MuchMusic's political specialist, doing extensive special events coverage for the channel, covering the1993 Canadian federal election and the1995 Quebec referendum.[7] Lewis won aGemini Award for Best Event Coverage.[8]
From 1998 to 2001, Lewis hostedCBC Newsworld's current affairs discussion showCounterSpin, where he presided over 500 debates. He 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 four Gemini Awards. Lewis began hostingThe Big Picture with Avi Lewis in the autumn of 2006 andOn the Map in 2007. He was a panellist onCanada Reads, which aired from March 2 to 6, 2009, where he presented, and successfully defended, the winning book,Lawrence Hill'sThe Book of Negroes.[9]
In June 2007, CBC Newsworld debutedOn the Map with Avi Lewis, a daily (Monday to Thursday) half-hour of international news commentary.On the Map's half-hour time slot was replaced with a half-hour summary of the daily hour-long showPolitics byDon Newman.[10] During the same time period onCBC Television,The Hour, hosted byGeorge Stroumboulopoulos aired.[11][12][13]
Lewis discussed such issues as the "Oil Law" that the United States wishedIraq to adopt,women in Afghanistan,[14] and what exactly is meant by the phrase "ungoverned spaces".[15]
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 toantisemitism, 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."[16]
From October 8 to 18, 2007, Lewis hosted the ten-part international documentary seriesWhy Democracy? in Canada.[17]
Lewis directed the 2015 feature-length documentaryThis Changes Everything,[18] which finished second in the audience voting, for the documentary category, at the2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[19]
Inside USA was first telecast onAl Jazeera English 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."[20]
"Politics Of Race", released on February 22, 2008, focused on the situation in New Orleans and the disenfranchisement of Black voters.[21][22]
"Native Americans", released on March 1, 2008, focused onLakota Siouxseparatism and the social and economic issues surrounding the Lakota Sioux,Navajo and theShoshone peoples.[23][24] The last few minutes were devoted to the role online videos play in US elections, including a clip from "Yes We Can".
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 addressed issues of wealth and income inequality, racism, and colonialism in hopes of influencing the policy debate during the2015 Canadian federal election campaign.[25][26] In 2016, Lewis spearheaded a motion at the NDP'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.[27]
An active member of the NDP, he was speculated as a potential candidate in the2017 leadership election but declined to run.[28] Lewis supports shifting the NDP further to the left, endorsing and campaigning for several progressive candidates in internal NDP elections, such asAnjali Appadurai in the2022 BC NDP leadership election.[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 received 25.63% of the vote, the NDP's best result in the riding, but still came in third behind incumbentLiberalPatrick Weiler andConservativeJohn Weston.[39] In September 2024, Lewis was acclaimed as the NDP candidate inVancouver Centre for the2025 Canadian federal election, he placed third, behind incumbent LiberalHedy Fry and Conservative Elaine Allan, as the NDP lost the majority of its seats in the House of Commons and official party status.[40]
Lewis is a candidate in the2026 NDP leadership election. He launched his campaign on September 19, 2025, being the first candidate approved to run. He held his campaign launch inToronto.[41][42]
Avi Lewis is married to journalist and authorNaomi Klein; his sister Ilana Landsberg-Lewis was the executive director of theStephen Lewis Foundation.[43] The couple have one son, Toma.[44]
Lewis is the great-grandson ofMoishe Lewis, an outspoken member of theJewish Bund who leftSvislach, Poland, after being interrogated by the Russians and threatened with death or thegulag for his political activity. Moishe left forMontreal in 1921, with his wife Rose and three children. Avi is the grandson of former federal NDP leaderDavid Lewis, son of former Ontario NDP leader and diplomatStephen Lewis, and journalistMichele Landsberg.
Lewis was featured on the November 20, 2001, "Life & Times" episode ofThe Lewis Family.[45] Lewis' genealogical search was featured on the January 31, 2008, episode of the CBC'sWho Do You Think You Are?[46]
| 2025 Canadian federal election:Vancouver Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Hedy Fry | 29,855 | 54.79 | +14.12 | ||||
| Conservative | Elaine Allan | 16,368 | 30.04 | +8.14 | ||||
| New Democratic | Avi Lewis | 6,807 | 12.49 | –17.83 | ||||
| Green | Scott MacDonald | 757 | 1.39 | –2.42 | ||||
| People's | Christopher Varga | 211 | 0.39 | –2.89 | ||||
| Independent | Drew William McPherson | 63 | 0.12 | N/A | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 54,061 | 99.23 | — | $131,689.42 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 422 | 0.77 | −0.03 | |||||
| Turnout | 54,483 | 63.52 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 85,775 | |||||||
| Liberalnotional hold | Swing | +2.99 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[47][48][49] | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election:West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Patrick Weiler | 21,500 | 33.88 | -1.01 | $107,414.31 | |||
| Conservative | John Weston | 19,062 | 30.04 | +3.33 | $123,189.13 | |||
| New Democratic | Avi Lewis | 16,265 | 25.63 | +11.74 | $117,546.51 | |||
| Green | Mike Simpson | 4,108 | 6.47 | -15.97 | $35,992.60 | |||
| People's | Doug Bebb | 2,299 | 3.62 | +2.08 | $26,851.53 | |||
| Rhinoceros | Gordon Jeffrey | 98 | 0.15 | -0.12 | $0.00 | |||
| Independent | Chris MacGregor | 77 | 0.12 | $0.00 | ||||
| Independent | Terry Grimwood | 50 | 0.08 | -0.16 | $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[50] | ||||||||
"I'm excited that Canada will have Avi Lewis representing you — and a little jealous too," she said, perhaps prematurely, in an endorsement video.