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Amita Kuttner

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Amita Kuttner
Interim Leader of the Green Party of Canada
In office
November 24, 2021 – November 19, 2022
Preceded byAnnamie Paul
Succeeded byElizabeth May
Personal details
Born (1990-12-04) December 4, 1990 (age 34)[1]
North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Political partyGreen
Websiteamitakuttner.ca

Amita Kuttner (/ˈɑːmitə/ AH-mee-tə;[2] born December 4, 1990) is a Canadian astrophysicist and politician who served as the interim leader of the Green Party of Canada from November 24, 2021, to November 19, 2022. Kuttner first ran for office in the 2019 federal election, seeking a House of Commons seat as a Green candidate, followed by a run for Green Party leadership in 2020 following the election. They are the first transgender person and the first person of East Asian descent to lead a federal party in Canada.

Background

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Kuttner identifies as non-binary, transgender, and pansexual,[3][4][5] and uses they/them and he/him pronouns.[6][7] Kuttner was born in North Vancouver.[4] Their mother, Eliza Kuttner (née Chiu) taught computer science at Capilano College and was an immigrant from Hong Kong.[8][9] Kuttner's father immigrated to Canada from the United Kingdom.[9] They graduated from a French immersion program.[10]

In 2005, their mother was killed in a disaster when a mudslide crashed down the west Seymour River escarpment into the family's home.[11][12] Michael Kuttner, their father, survived but suffered serious injuries, and later sued the district for neglecting safety programmes around mudslides.[13][10] Kuttner was attending boarding school in California when the disaster occurred.[10][14] Kuttner experienced PTSD as a result of the disaster.[15]

Education and scientific career

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Kuttner attended the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), where they earned a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics and studied black holes in the early universe with Anthony Aguirre.[16][17][18] They were a member of the Women in Physics and Astronomy group and co-founded the university's 314 Action group, which seeks to elect more scientists to public office in the United States.[19]

Along with 20 other scientists, Kuttner co-signed a letter published in the journal, Science, in support of youth climate protesters, declaring that "we approve and support their demand for rapid and forceful action."[20]

Kuttner is co-founder of the Moonlight Institute, a non-profit that aims to explore frameworks to adapt to the climate crisis.[21][22] In April 2021, they were a panelist at Solve Climate by 2030, an event held at Toronto Metropolitan University.[23]

Political career

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During the 2019 Canadian federal election, Kuttner was the Green Party candidate for the riding of Burnaby North—Seymour,[24][25] finishing in fourth place, with 9.59 per cent of the vote, almost doubling the Green vote from the 2015 election.[26] They served as the Green Party's Science and Innovation Critic from September 2018 to February 2020.[27][10]

Kuttner ran in the 2020 Green Party leadership election.[1][28] During the campaign, they refused to hold fundraising events with former leader Elizabeth May, saying the offer of assistance with fundraising does not address other systemic inequities in the race.[29] They finished in sixth place, being eliminated in the fourth round with 7.32 per cent of the vote. In 2021, they told the Toronto Star that they had submitted an official complaint to the party's federal council about transphobia and racism that they experienced during the race, such as facing slurs during online party events.[30]

Following the resignation of Annamie Paul, Kuttner was appointed by the Green Party federal council to serve as interim leader on November 24, 2021.[31][32] Appointed at the age of 30, they are the youngest person to lead a federal political party, as well as the first transgender person and person of East Asian heritage.[21]

In a press conference about a week after their appointment, Kuttner said they wanted to start the process of regrowth and to heal the party.[6] The party had released a report indicating that it was threatened with insolvency, and was considering closing its office in Ottawa.[33] The party had lost 499 monthly donors since July 2021, and 6,259 members in the same time.[33] Kuttner acknowledged internal conflict over Annamie Paul's leadership had affected donations.[33] The report blamed negotiations concerning Annamie Paul's departure as leader of the party for significant legal costs.[33] In a December 2021 media interview, Kuttner said that the party's financial position was getting "back on track" and was "turning around" pointing to fundraising including at the party's virtual general meeting about a week earlier.[34]

The party's constitution requires a leadership election to select a permanent leader to begin within six months of the appointment of an interim leader, and conclude within two years of their appointment.[35][36] Kuttner has said they do not wish to be the permanent leader.[35] In December 2021, Kuttner said they believed there should be a "longer period before launching a permanent leadership contest, and then a short leadership race."[7]

In September 2022, Kuttner was misgendered by being referred to with female pronouns in a caption on a Green Party Zoom call connected with the leadership election. Kuttner stated that the use of female pronouns "made me feel hurt and isolated" and was "reflective of a larger pattern of behaviours that a few in the party are perpetuating". The party president Lorraine Rekmans subsequently resigned, stating that she had been unfairly blamed for the misgendering.[37]

Election record

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2019 Canadian federal election: Burnaby North—Seymour
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Terry Beech 17,770 35.50 -0.59 $95,724.28
New Democratic Svend Robinson 16,185 32.33 +2.73 $96,430.99
Conservative Heather Leung 9,734 19.45 -8.40 none listed
Green Amita Kuttner 4,801 9.59 +4.32 $13,982.95
People's Rocky Dong 1,079 2.16 – none listed
Independent Robert Taylor 271 0.54 – none listed
Libertarian Lewis Dahlby 219 0.44 -0.04 none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit 50,059 99.08
Total rejected ballots 466 0.92 +0.43
Turnout 50,525 64.80
Eligible voters 77,969
Liberal hold Swing -1.66
Heather Leung was dropped by the Conservative Party of Canada after past homophobic remarks were made public,[38] but still appeared on the ballot papers.
Source: Elections Canada[39][40]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Green Party Leadership Race Contender: Amita Kuttner". HuffPost Canada. September 11, 2020.
  2. ^ Amita Kuttner (2019-10-12). My Climate Action Pledge. YouTube. Retrieved 2021-11-26.
  3. ^ Gawley, Kelvin (August 7, 2019). "'I was freaking out': Burnaby Green candidate comes out as non-binary". Burnaby Now. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Hyslop, Katie (August 26, 2019). "Amita Kuttner on Being a Green, Non-Binary, and Pansexual Astrophysicist and Politician". The Tyee. Archived from the original on September 25, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  5. ^ "Candidature d'une personne non-binaire pour les Verts". ici.radio-canada.ca. August 14, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Woolf, Marie (December 1, 2021). "Interim Green Leader Amita Kuttner ready to get tough on party infighting". Times Colonist. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Woods, Mel (December 1, 2021). "Amita Kuttner on being Canada's first trans political party leader: 'I have zero intention of playing by the rules'". Xtra Magazine. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
  8. ^ Seyd, Jane (November 30, 2021). "Landslides, floods bring visceral response for Amita Kuttner, who lost mother in 2005 Berkley slide". North Shore News.
  9. ^ a b Kuttner, Amita (September 24, 2020). "Hong Kong—a personal and decolonial perspective". The Georgia Straight.
  10. ^ a b c d MacLeod, Andrew (March 9, 2020). "New Candidate for Green Leadership Has Known Environmental Catastrophe". The Tyee.
  11. ^ "1 dead as mudslide destroys North Vancouver neighbourhood". CBC News. January 19, 2005.
  12. ^ "New Green Party leader knows the trauma of environmental damage first-hand". CBC News. November 26, 2021.
  13. ^ "Husband of B.C. mudslide victim files lawsuit". CBC News. June 22, 2005.
  14. ^ Townsend, Peggy (March 10, 2019). "Leading the charge for change". UC Santa Cruz Newscenter.
  15. ^ Guly, Christopher (October 3, 2022). "'I'm the interim leader of a federal political party and I'm still thinking about killing myself': Amita Kuttner" (PDF). The Hill Times. pp. 18, 27. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  16. ^ Man, Adam (March 28, 2019). "Thinking really big". UC Santa Cruz Magazine.
  17. ^ Kuttner, Amita (June 2019). Evaporating Wormholes (PhD thesis). University of California, Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  18. ^ Schindler, Joseph C.; Aguirre, Anthony; Kuttner, Amita (January 3, 2020). "Understanding black hole evaporation using explicitly computed Penrose diagrams". Physical Review D. 101 (2): 024010. arXiv:1907.04879. Bibcode:2020PhRvD.101b4010S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.101.024010. S2CID 195886518. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2021 – via APS.
  19. ^ "Shenomenal". 35 phenomenal UC Santa Cruz women. Archived from the original on 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  20. ^ Hagedorn, Gregor; Kalmus, Peter; Mann, Michael; Vicca, Sara; Berge, Joke Van den; Ypersele, Jean-Pascal van; Bourg, Dominique; Rotmans, Jan; Kaaronen, Roope; Rahmstorf, Stefan; Kromp-Kolb, Helga; Kirchengast, Gottfried; Knutti, Reto; Seneviratne, Sonia I.; Thalmann, Philippe; Cretney, Raven; Green, Alison; Anderson, Kevin; Hedberg, Martin; Nilsson, Douglas; Kuttner, Amita; Hayhoe, Katharine (April 12, 2019). "Concerns of young protesters are justified". Science. 364 (6436): 139–140. Bibcode:2019Sci...364..139H. doi:10.1126/science.aax3807. PMID 30975882. S2CID 109938625.
  21. ^ a b Woolf, Marie (November 25, 2021). "Greens pick astrophysicist Amita Kuttner as interim leader, 1st leader who is trans". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-11-25. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  22. ^ "who we are – moonlight • institute". moonlightinstitute.org. Archived from the original on 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  23. ^ "Solve Climate By 2030 Webinar". Ryerson University. 2021.
  24. ^ Griffin, Kevin (February 20, 2019). "Astrophysicist joins race for Greens in Burnaby North-Seymour". The Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  25. ^ Raj, Althia (September 21, 2019). "Pipeline Politics Are Personal At Ground Zero Of Trans Mountain". HuffPost Canada. Archived from the original on July 6, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  26. ^ Green, Melanie (October 22, 2019). "NDP's Svend Robinson loses comeback bid in 2019 federal election — in wild race at end of the Trans Mountain pipeline". Toronto Star.
  27. ^ Langman, Sonya (October 21, 2020). "Scientist Turned Politician: An Interview with Dr. Amita Kuttner about Science and Policy". SCWIST.
  28. ^ Joaquin, Arvin (March 12, 2020). "Astrophysicist Amita Kuttner could be Canada's first non-binary federal party leader". Xtra Magazine.
  29. ^ "Amita Kuttner rejects the Green Party's inadequate attempts at equity – Amita Kuttner". Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  30. ^ Ballingall, Alex (2021-04-14). "Green party has a 'very real problem with racism,' insider's email charges". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  31. ^ "Green Party appoints Amita Kuttner as Interim Leader". Green Party of Canada. 24 November 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-11-25. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  32. ^ Stober, Eric. "Green Party names Amita Kuttner as interim leader". Global News. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  33. ^ a b c d Thurton, David (December 3, 2021). "Threatened with insolvency, Green Party considers closing its head office". CBC News. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  34. ^ Bulowski, Natasha (December 6, 2021). "Amita Kuttner on bringing the Greens back from brink". National Observer. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  35. ^ a b Hyslop, Andrew (November 26, 2021). "Interim Green Leader Steps in after a Tough Year: 'I Want to Help'". The Tyee. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  36. ^ "Constitution of the Green Party of Canada". Green Party of Canada. 2018. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021. Section 2.1.7.2
  37. ^ Hopper, Tristin (12 September 2022). "'Misgendering' incident plunges Green Party of Canada into renewed turmoil". National Post. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  38. ^ Baker, Rafferty (3 October 2019). "Conservatives eject B.C. candidate over 'offensive' comments about LGBTQ people". CBC News. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  39. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  40. ^ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
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