Charlie Angus

Charles Joseph "Charlie" Angus MP (born November 14, 1962) is a Canadian writer, broadcaster, musician, and politician. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Angus has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Timmins—James Bay since being elected in the 2004 federal election. He is currently the NDP's critic for Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

Charlie Angus was born in Timmins, Ontario. He began his career as community activist in Toronto. He was also a musician in the punk rock band L'Étranger with Andrew Cash (former Member of Parliament for Davenport), and later in the more folk-oriented Grievous Angels. The Grievous Angels were nominated for two Juno Awards. He and his wife also ran a homeless shelter in the city.

In 1990, he moved to Cobalt with his young family. Grievous Angels continued as a band, and became established in Northern Ontario. In 1995, Angus and his wife Brit Griffin also launched HighGrader, a magazine devoted to Northern Ontario life and culture. He has also authored a number of books, mainly on regional history, and became an activist in the controversy around shipping Toronto's garbage to Adams Mine, a plan to which Angus and many residents of the area were opposed.

In 1999, he was awarded the Jackie Washington Award by the Northern Lights Festival Boréal in Sudbury for his outstanding contributions to Northern Ontario culture.

Angus is a progressive, social justice-oriented member of the Roman Catholic Church and supporter of the Catholic Worker Movement. Until his federal election, he was a separate school board trustee. He was also a longtime columnist for the Catholic New Times, and wrote an admiring biography of Les Costello, the celebrated Toronto Maple Leafs player who left professional hockey to become a Catholic priest in Timmins.

He has worked extensively on community development projects with Canadian First Nations, working as a negotiator and consultant for the Algonquin Nation of Quebec. He also played a prominent role in calling national attention to the Kashechewan crisis of 2005.

Angus's fifth book, Cage Call, a photo documentary with photographer Louie Palu, was released in 2007 as part of an award from Portland-based PhotoLucida.

He became involved in politics through his organizing efforts to stop the Adams Mine garbage proposal and numerous PCB import plans to Northern Ontario. Angus is the author of five published books. His sixth book Unlikely Radicals: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War was published by Between the Lines Press in Spring 2013. The book was short-listed for the Speakers Book Award, Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 2013, and was the runner-up for the Best Regional Non-Fiction (Canada-East), Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2013.

Angus in 2012

Angus entered federal politics in the 2004 election as the successful New Democratic Party candidate in the Ontario riding of Timmins—James Bay, winning election to the Canadian House of Commons by less than 600 votes. He was re-elected in the 2006 federal election with a majority, over six thousand votes ahead of Liberal challenger Robert Riopelle. Angus was the NDP parliamentary critic for Canadian Heritage from 2004 to 2007, and was additionally critic for agriculture from 2004 to 2006.

In 2005, Angus' own priest confronted him, and threatened to deny him Holy Communion if he voted with the government and his party to legalize same-sex marriage by Act of Parliament. Angus stood his ground and was denied communion. Angus' treatment provoked widespread public reaction both from those who supported the church's stance, and those who supported Angus.

In 2007 he became the critic for Public Works and Treasury Board, as well as the NDP spokesman for digital issues such as copyright and internet neutrality.

In 2006, after just two years as a Member of Parliament, the Toronto Star selected Angus as one of the ten most effective opposition MPs. He also won "Best Constituent Representative" at the 2007 Maclean's Parliamentarian of the Year Awards. Angus was re-elected in both the 2008 federal election and the 2011 federal election. Angus also served as the party’s spokesman on privacy, ethics and government accountability. Angus voted against a bill to abolish the Canadian Firearms Registry in September 2010. Although the registry is unpopular with many of his constituents, Angus voted against its abolition based on supportive studies provided by police. He subsequently introduced a private member's bill to reform the registry.

He was named to Maclean's magazine's Power List in 2012 as one of the 25 most influential Canadians. Zoomer Magazine has chosen him the third most influential Canadian over the age of 45. In 2011, CTV News Channel's Power Play chose him in the top three MPs of the year, along with Stephen Harper and Jack Layton.

Angus has been an advocate for the rights of First Nation children and was the co-founder of the Shannen’s Dream campaign – named in honour of the late Cree youth leader Shannen Koostachin. In early 2012, Angus’ Parliamentary Motion “Shannens Dream” calling for an end to the systemic under-funding of First Nation education passed unanimously through the House of Commons.

After the 2015 federal election, Angus was appointed as the NDP's critic for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Canadian Parliament and was also elected Caucus Chair in January 2016. As a part of this role, he sat as a member of the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development committee. Angus resigned both roles on November 23, 2016 in preparation for a possible candidacy in the New Democratic Party leadership election being held in 2017.

Angus lives in Cobalt, Ontario with his wife of 30 years. They have three children.

• We Lived a Life and Then Some with Brit Griffin, Sally Lawrence, and Rob Moir. Between the Lines Books, 1996. ISBN 1-896357-06-7.
• Industrial Cathedrals of the North, with Louie Palu and Marguerite Andersen. Between the Lines, 1999. ISBN 1-896357-18-0.
• Mirrors of Stone: Fragments from the Porcupine Frontier, with Louie Palu. Between the Lines, 2001. ISBN 1-896357-49-0.
• Les Costello: Canada's Flying Father. Novalis, 2005. ISBN 2-89507-631-6.
• Cage Call, with Louie Palu. Photolucida, 2007. ISBN 978-1-934334-02-7.
• Unlikely Radicals. Between the Lines, 2013. ISBN 9781771130400.
• Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada's Lost Promise and One Girl's Dream. University of Regina Press, 2015. ISBN 978-0889774018.

• Search List from Amazon Books. www.Amazon.ca. 2007.