Jamil Jivani | |
|---|---|
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| Member of Parliament forBowmanville—Oshawa North Durham (2024–2025) | |
| Assumed office March 4, 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Erin O'Toole |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1987-10-24)October 24, 1987 (age 38) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Other political affiliations | Liberal (former) |
| Education | |
| Website | Official website |
Jamil Jivani (born October 24, 1987) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who is themember of Parliament (MP) forBowmanville—Oshawa North. AConservative, Jivani was first elected to representDurham in a2024 by-election triggered by the resignation of formerConservative leader andleader of the Official OppositionErin O'Toole. He previously worked as a special advisor to thepremier of Ontario,Doug Ford, and was appointed as the advocate for community opportunities and to the Premier's Council on Equality of Opportunity.
Before entering politics, Jivani studied law atYale University and practiced corporate law atTorys LLP. He later worked as a community-police relations activist, as a contributor forPostmedia and hosted a radio show onCFRB Newstalk 1010.
Jivani was born inToronto,Ontario to a Kenyan Muslim father and a British mother ofScottish andIrish descent.[1][2] His father was adopted and raised by aMuslim Indian family, hence theIndian surname,[3][4][5] and runs a restaurant in Mexico.[citation needed] He grew up with his two sisters, raised by their mother in the Ontario city ofBrampton.[3] Jivani also has two stepbrothers through his father side.[6] As a teenager, he participatedthe Five Percent Nation, a radical group, by attending online and in person meetings[7] After attending Fletcher’s Creek Senior Public School, then Mississauga's Gordon Graydon Memorial Secondary School,[8] Jivani attendedHumber College andYork University.[9]
In 2013, he earned his Juris Doctor fromYale Law School.[10][11] Before attending law school, Jivani worked as a dishwasher and line cook in local Toronto area restaurants.[12] While a student at Yale, Jivani was Program Director of the Yale Chapter of theMarshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project[13] and President of the Yale Black Law Students Association.[14][15] He was also part of the Innovations in Policing Clinic, in which he authored a case study of police-community relations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[16]
At Yale, he was the best friend and a classmate of formerRepublicanUnited States Senator fromOhio andVice President of the United States,JD Vance.[17][18][19] Jivani also interned at the office ofCory Booker, the then-mayor ofNewark, and currentDemocratic Senior United States Senator fromNew Jersey.[20] Jivani later revealed in 2020 that for a few years after law school, he was a card-carrying member of theLiberal Party of Canada.[20]
Following his graduation from Yale, he practiced corporate law atTorys LLP.[21] Jivani held research and teaching appointments at Osgoode Hall Law School.[22]
In 2013, Jivani founded the Policing Literacy Initiative (PLI), a youth-driven public education and advocacy group focused on community safety issues.[23] Jivani stated to CBC Metro Morning that the purpose of PLI is to spotlight progressive voices among police and community groups and work with them to find common solutions.[24] Jivani wrote an editorial for theNational Post in February 2014 about his experience with Toronto Police and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director and the use of mediated conversations for citizen complaints.[25] In April 2014, Jivani co-produced with Dan Epstein a documentary about police-community relations titled "Crisis of Distrust: Police and Community in Toronto."[26][27]
Jivani was a 2013–14Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance DiverseCity Fellow.[28][29] As a Fellow, he co-founded Teachers Beyond the Classroom, which seeks to "help thousands of unemployed teachers transfer their skills to non-school employment opportunities across the Greater Toronto Area."[30] He served on the Board of Directors of theChildren's Aid Society of Toronto until 2017.[31] On February 13, 2014, Jivani was namedYale Alumni Magazine's Newsmaker of the Week.[32]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 After Words interview with Jivani onWhy Young Men, July 6, 2019,C-SPAN |
Between 2016 until it closed in 2018, Jivani helped run the charity organization Our Ohio Renewal, founded byJD Vance, a friend from Yale; Jivani later stated the group's work was derailed because of hiscancer diagnosis.[33]
In 2020, he was appointed senior fellow for Diversity and Empowerment at theMacdonald-Laurier Institute, a conservative, libertarian think tank affiliated with the US Atlas Network.[34][35] His association with the Institute ended in 2023.[36] He later became president of theCanada Strong and Free Network, but stepped down to announce his candidacy for theConservative nomination inDurham.[37]
He has written about youth and equality issues forHuffington Post.[38] and has articles published frequently inPostmedia chains.[39]
On September 8, 2020, Bell Media announced that Jamil Jivani would host a new weekday nightly radio talk showTonight with Jamil Jivani, from 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM. The show would air onCFRB and across theiHeart Radio Network.[40] In February 2021, Bell Media went under a corporate restructuring within its radio division. It was announced Jamil Jivani would move to the 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM time slot and his show would be rebranded asThe Jamil Jivani Show.[41]
Jivani was later fired from Bell Media, which he claimed was due to him not conforming toBlack stereotypes.[42] In August 2022, Jamil Jivani sued Bell Media for wrongful dismissal and breach of contract.[42] Bell filed a statement of defence, claiming that Jivani was let go because he showed disdain for concerns raised by Bell management over issues such as avoiding pushing back againstCOVID-19 misinformation and misgenderingDemi Lovato.[43]
On December 11, 2019, the Government of Ontario appointed Jivani as the province's first Advocate for Community Opportunities. In this role, and as a Special Advisor to the Premier, Jivani opened lines of communication between communities and the government to empower community members and enabled them to increase their participation in government decision-making.[44][45] Critics, such as his former mentor Neil Price, felt that Jivani used his role to criticize the communities that he was supposed to uplift.[3] He was reappointed on April 1, 2022, but resigned on June 9 after criticizing Education MinisterStephen Lecce on social media over the closure of schools and vaccine passports during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Ontario.[46]
Jivani moderated the first unofficial debate during the2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election where he took aim atPatrick Brown, who skipped the debate by arguing that he was manipulatingdiaspora politics to boost his campaign. An official working for Brown said that the party should welcome new Canadians to the party.[47]
On April 20, 2023, Jivani announced that he would run for theConservative nomination inDurham riding, following the resignation ofErin O'Toole.[48] On August 20, 2023, he won the nomination race, defeating Theresa Corless, a former Durham Catholic School Board chair.[39]
He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative for the Ontario riding of Durham in a by-election held on March 4, 2024.[49] Jivani's victory speech criticized "the liberal elites who run the Ontario Ministry of Education in this province". When asked by reporters, Education MinisterStephen Lecce dismissed Jivani's comments as his concern.[50] WhileProgressive Conservative PremierDoug Ford responded to Jivani's comments by stating that while he wished the best for Jivani, Ford believed that he helped launch Jivani's career.[51] Upon re-election on April 28, 2025 Jivani revisited his criticism of Ford during a post victory interview with the CBC, in which he dismissed Ford's political acumen and called him an "opportunist", stating that Ford "has taken the provincial conservatives and turned it into something hollow."[52]
On September 6th 2025, Jivani announced the launch of the Restore the North, a national initiative trying to get young Canadian men to participate in politics.[53][54] On October 3rd, 2025 Jivani announced the launch of a Restore the North Campus Tour which are modelledTurning Point USA campus tours led by Charlie Kirk.[53] These tours are part debate, part rally and part recruitment drive.[54] Jivani wants to expand the movement by ignite a national conversation aimed at addressing policy gaps to help young men by allowing debates.[54]
Jivani has been characterized as ablack conservative[55] and a leading proponent ofnational conservatism in Canada.[56][57] He has advocated for national conservative ideas about nationalism, the role of government, and race[56] and Canada returning to the ideals of theReform Party.[58] Jivani has stated that his views were shaped by his father who abandoned his family when he was in elementary school by arguing that he was trying to find male role models.[3]
Jivani viewsU.S. Supreme Court JusticeClarence Thomas as a trailblazer for diversity.[59] Jivani has praised American rapperKanye West and Alberta PremierDanielle Smith for standing up to what he sees as "cancel culture" after West was criticized for wearing awhite lives matter shirt and Smith over her views aboutCOVID-19.[60]
In July 2020, Jivani supported theGovernment of Ontario decision to eliminate academic streaming in Grade 9 and most suspensions that impacted young students in the province. According toThe Globe and Mail, he viewsBlack Lives Matter movement as "anti-family fringe race activists" that hate thenuclear family andcapitalism and has viewed the term “systemic racism" with skepticism.[3] Jivani has suggested that terms such as "systemic racism" as well as "white privilege" have advancedcritical race theory which he believes is an issue in Canada.[61]
In March 2014, Jivani advocated for policy changes to theToronto Police Services Board for police-community contacts and "carding." He argues that people's identity should not be the reason why they could be stopped by police.[62][63] He has admitted to facing similar incidents. He is a critic of thedefund the police movement arguing that they do not represent the "Black Community".[3][64] However, he has advocated forcriminal justice reform by admitting that police officers must treat people with respect, calling for mandating body cameras for police,[65] and has praised then Toronto Police ChiefMark Saunders for attempting to reduceToronto Police budget.[66]
In his book,Why Young Men: Rage Race and the Crisis of Identity he suggested that poverty and lack of "validation in mainstream society" were factors behind the cause of crime.[67] He also added in a later interview that lack of opportunity and inadequate social services as causes behind crime. A few years later, he blamed social media. He also suggested that the hip-hop industry, which he believes is galvanizing "gangster culture" should be investigated for "the role in causing crime."[3][67] Previously in 2012, when writing for theHuffington Post, Jivani criticized then-Toronto MayorRob Ford and then immigration ministerJason Kenney for their remarks on the cause behind Toronto shootings as demeaning. When Ford suggested "immigration law" and Kenney suggested "foreign gangsters" as caused he argued that it was similar to tactics used by theMitt Romney and criticized then Prime MinisterStephen Harper for failing to condemn them both.[68]
Jivani praised federalNDP leaderJagmeet Singh, then-Minnesota Democratic congressmanKeith Ellison,University of Toronto professor of psychology,Jordan Peterson, as positive inspirations for young males to counter extremism.[69]
Jivani previously described that he heldliberal views for a few years after law school but grew out of those views as he grew older[20] and considers conservatism as a form of counterculture.[57] Even though he praised previous leaderErin O'Toole's character, he was critical of O'Toole not trying to appeal to the Conservative grassroots.[70]
Jivani classified Quebec'sBill 96, which would provide most government and business services to be offered exclusively in French, as an example of national conservatism being implemented in Canada.[71]
Jivani contributed to the 2012 anthology,Jamaica in the Canadian Experience: A Multiculturalizing Presence,[72] In 2018, he publishedWhy Young Men: Rage, Race and the Crisis of Identity.[73] The book was published byHarperCollins and listed for theToronto Book Awards in 2018.[74]
Jivani currently resides inOshawa and is divorced from his ex-wife Maya.[75][76][53]
| 2025 Canadian federal election:Bowmanville—Oshawa North | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Jamil Jivani | 35,232 | 49.77 | +5.02 | ||||
| Liberal | Bridget Girard | 32,214 | 45.51 | +14.71 | ||||
| New Democratic | Elenor Marano | 2,032 | 2.87 | −15.51 | ||||
| Green | Julie Dietrich | 546 | 0.77 | N/A | ||||
| Independent | Pranay Gunti | 264 | 0.37 | |||||
| Christian Heritage | Thomas Zekveld | 155 | 0.22 | N/A | ||||
| United | Clint Cole | 143 | 0.20 | N/A | ||||
| Centrist | Ghuzna Imam | 134 | 0.19 | N/A | ||||
| Rhinoceros | Adam Smith | 68 | 0.10 | −0.11 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 70,788 | 99.30 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 500 | 0.70 | ||||||
| Turnout | 71,288 | 70.17 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 101,588 | |||||||
| Conservativenotional hold | Swing | −4.85 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[77][78] | ||||||||
| Note: number of eligible voters does not include voting day registrations. | ||||||||
| Canadian federal by-election,March 4, 2024:Durham Resignation ofErin O'Toole | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Conservative | Jamil Jivani | 18,610 | 57.44 | +11.04 | ||||
| Liberal | Robert Rock | 7,285 | 22.48 | –7.44 | ||||
| New Democratic | Chris Borgia | 3,363 | 10.38 | –7.14 | ||||
| People's | Patricia Conlin | 1,435 | 4.43 | –1.07 | ||||
| Green | Kevin MacKenzie | 698 | 2.15 | |||||
| Independent | Pranay Gunti | 374 | 1.15 | |||||
| Centrist | Khalid Qureshi | 336 | 1.04 | |||||
| United | Grant Abraham | 238 | 0.73 | |||||
| Rhinoceros | Adam Smith | 62 | 0.19 | –0.03 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 32,401 | |||||||
| Total rejected ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | 32,401 | 27.87 | –33.32 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 116,259 | |||||||
| Conservativehold | Swing | +9.24 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[79] | ||||||||
Born in Kenya, Ismat, who is Black, was adopted as a 1-year-old by an East Indian family in Nairobi.
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