Randall Garrison

Randall Garrison

Randall C. Garrison (born August 27, 1951) is a Canadian politician and Member of Parliament in the 41st Parliament. He was elected to the House of Commons in the 2011 federal election. He represents the electoral district of Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca and is a member of the New Democratic Party. He serves as the NDP critic for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and transsexual issues, succeeding former MP Bill Siksay, and as NDP critic for public safety. In the 41st Parliament he has introduced three private member bills: An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity) which reached the Senate, and An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (golfing expenses) and the Civil Marriage of Non-residents Act both of which only received first reading. A former criminology and political science instructor at Camosun College, Garrison is openly gay and lives in Esquimalt, British Columbia, with his partner, Teddy Pardede.

Garrison previously stood for election in the 2004 and 2006 federal elections, both times as the NDP candidate in the Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca riding and both times narrowly losing to incumbent MP Keith Martin. He lived in Vancouver for a short time, during which he was nominated to be the NDP candidate in the Vancouver Centre riding during the 2008 federal election before dropping out for "personal and professional reasons". After moving back to Esquimalt he was elected to the Esquimalt City Council for a three-year term starting in November 2008.

Garrison has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations as well as the Esquimalt Police Board. He is also an international human rights activist. He has worked as a policing researcher in Afghanistan with Amnesty International, on a Christian-Muslim peace building project in Indonesia for the International Catholic Migration Commission, and as co-coordinator of IFET, an international non-government human rights observer mission for the East Timor independence referendum in 1999. In May 2010, Garrison served as an international observer with the People's International Observers Mission (PIOM) in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao for the national elections in the Philippines.