Yvonne Jones MP
Parliamentary Secretary to theMinister of Northern Affairs
In office December 2, 2015 – March 23, 2025
Minister	Carolyn Bennett
Preceded by	Mark Strahl
Member of Parliament forLabrador
In office May 13, 2013 – March 23, 2025
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 theNewfoundland 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 theNewfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly forCartwright-L'Anse au Clair
In office February 22, 1996 – April 8, 2013
Preceded by	Riding Established
Succeeded by	Lisa Dempster
Mayor ofMary's Harbour
In office 1991–1996
Personal details
Born	(1968-03-15)March 15, 1968 (age 57) 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[1]
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

Yvonne Jean Jones (born March 15, 1968) is a Canadian politician inNewfoundland and Labrador, who served in theHouse of Commons of Canada from 2013 to 2025.^[2] She represented the district ofLabrador as a member of theLiberal Party caucus.^[2] On December 2, 2015, she was appointedParliamentary Secretary to theMinister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Jones is a member of theNunatuKavummiut, an unrecognized tribal group.^[3][4][5][6] She did not seek re-election in 2025.

From 1996 to 2013, Jones represented thedistrict ofCartwright-L'Anse au Clair in theNewfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. During her career in provincial politics, she served as Minister of Fisheries in PremierRoger Grimes' government, and later as a leader of theLiberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador andLeader of the Official Opposition.^[7]

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 ofMary's Harbour,Labrador from 1991 to 1996. In 1996, she sought theLiberal Party nomination for the provincial electoral district ofCartwright-L'Anse au Clair in that year's general election. Jones lost the nomination to incumbentDanny Dumaresque, but subsequently ran as an Independent candidate. She was elected to theHouse of Assembly in the1996 general election, defeating Dumaresque, a two-term MHA. Jones became the Liberal Party's candidate for the1999 election. She was re-elected in 1999,2003,2007 and2011.^[8]

After serving two years as a Parliamentary Secretary Jones was appointed to cabinet In February 2003, by PremierRoger Grimes. She was sworn in as the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and as the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.^[9] Jones held the post till the Liberal government was defeated in the provincial election in October of that year.^[10]

In 2004, Jones was the only member of the House of Assembly to vote against the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement (Bill 44).^[11] 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 withMetis 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".^[11] 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".^[11]

Jones was an outspoken critic of theMuskrat Falls hydro development.^[12]

Jones was one of only three LiberalMembers of the House of Assembly (MHA) re-elected in the2007 provincial election. On November 15, 2007, she was named theinterim leader of the Liberal Party and Official Opposition Leader, after party leaderGerry Reid was defeated in his own district. Jones became the first woman to lead the Liberal Party in the province.^[7] 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.^[13] On July 30, 2010, Jones was acclaimed Liberal leader after she was the only person to file nomination papers for the position.^[14][15]

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 forbreast cancer.^[16] She returned to work in early 2011, and was sworn in as Liberal leader at the party'sSpring leadership convention.^[17]

On October 27, 2009, thedistrict ofThe Straits – White Bay North held aby-election, to replaceMinister of Transportation and Works,Trevor Taylor, who resigned on October 2, 2009. Liberal candidateMarshall Dean won the election taking nearly 48% of the vote and defeating the Progressive Conservative candidate by 126 votes.^[18]

Under Jones' leadership the Liberal Party remained in second place in public opinion polls. After receiving 22% in the2007 general election, the party's support has not risen above those levels. For the majority of time since the election their support has been in the mid-teens according to polls conducted by Corporate Research Associates (CRA).^[19] Jones' own popularity had consistently remained lower than her own party's; CRA's quarterly polls on Newfoundland and Labrador politics have found that no more than 11% of those surveyed have felt Jones would make the best premier.^[20] ANTV Telelink poll conducted in February 2011, found that 13% of decided voters would support the Liberal Party and that 12% thought Jones was the best choice to be premier.^[21]

The results of the NTV Telelink poll led former Liberal provincial and federal cabinet ministerJohn Efford to criticize Jones's leadership. Efford said that Jones would not become premier and while he did not call on her to resign as leader, he did say that "it's clear what she ought to do in the face of poor polling results".^[22]

A CRA poll in March 2011, saw Jones' personal popularity rise to 18%, her highest level since becoming Liberal leader in 2007. Her personal popularity was also tied with that of her party.^[23][24] On June 7, 2011, CRA released a poll showing that Jones' popularity had dropped slightly to 16% but her party's support had risen to 22%. While the Progressive Conservatives still held a large lead in the poll, at 57%, the Liberals were statistically tied with theNew Democrats, who had the support of 20% of those surveyed.^[25]

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.^[26] She sought re-election in her district during the2011 provincial election, and won 71 per cent of the popular vote.^[27]

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 inLabrador created by the resignation ofPeter Penashue.^[28][29] 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 appointedParliamentary Secretary to theMinister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs.^[30]

In late August 2018, Jones was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern affairs and Internal Trade.^[31]

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 MPMumilaaq 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”.^[32]

Jones was re-elected in the2021 federal election.^[33]

On June 14, 2023, Jones announced that she had “successfully battled breast cancer for the second time.”^[34]

On January 10, 2025, Jones announced that she would not be running again in the coming federal election.^[35]

• Yvonne Jones – Parliament of Canada biography
• Official website

• 1968 births
• Living people
• Women government ministers of Canada
• Women members of the House of Commons of Canada
• Female Canadian political party leaders
• Canadian people who self-identify as being of Indigenous descent
• Liberal Party of Canada MPs
• Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador MHAs
• 20th-century mayors of places in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Members of the Executive Council of Newfoundland and Labrador
• Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Newfoundland and Labrador
• Newfoundland and Labrador political party leaders
• People from Labrador
• Women MHAs in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Women mayors of places in Newfoundland and Labrador
• 21st-century Canadian women politicians
• Independent MHAs in Newfoundland and Labrador
• 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada
• 20th-century members of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
• 21st-century members of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly

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