19 Facts About Fin Donnelly

Fin Donnelly was born on May 27,1966 and is a Canadian politician.

Fin Donnelly has served as the member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for the electoral district of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain since 2020, as part of the British Columbia New Democratic Party caucus.

Fin Donnelly founded the non-profit organization Rivershed Society of British Columbia in 1996 and worked as its executive director.

In 2002, at the age of 36, Fin Donnelly decided to seek election to the Coquitlam City Council.

The 43 year-old Fin Donnelly entered federal politics after his local member of parliament Dawn Black vacated her seat in April 2009.

Since being elected in 2009, Fin Donnelly has been active on a number of different issues of concern to British Columbians, particularly those focused on society, the environment, and the economy.

Fin Donnelly entered the 40th Canadian Parliament during its third session, which lasted one year; he was named the NDP's national fisheries critic.

Fin Donnelly sponsored two amendments to the Criminal Code, both of which Dawn Black had previously introduced in the previous parliament: Bill C-520 would have added the offence of luring a child to those offenses prosecutable in Canada even if committed outside Canada, and Bill C-521 would have expanded the offence of luring a child to include all means of communication rather than solely through a computer.

Fin Donnelly proposed Bill C-526 that would have expanded Employment Insurance coverage received as a result of illness, injury or quarantine from 15 to 52 weeks.

Fin Donnelly was re-appointed as critic on Fisheries and Oceans by party leader Jack Layton in the NDP shadow cabinet of the 41st Canadian Parliament.

Fin Donnelly re-introduced, all in 2011, the six private member bills he introduced in the previous parliament.

In December 2011, Donnelly sponsored a new private member bill, the Ban on Shark Fin Importation Act, but it was defeated at second reading in March 2013 with the Conservative Party majority voting against it.

On September 3,2015, after the death of Alan Kurdi, Fin Donnelly stated that he had handed a letter from his constituent Tima Kurdi, Alan Kurdi's aunt, to Immigration Minister Chris Alexander requesting that he look into the case of Alan Kurdi's refugee application, which was later rejected according to Fin Donnelly.

Fin Donnelly subsequently faced criticism for his role in the spread of the false information regarding Alan Kurdi's family's nonexistent refugee application.

Fin Donnelly did not re-introduce his previous bill to prohibit oil tankers off BC's north coast, though the government house bill Oil Tanker Moratorium Act was introduced that would accomplish much the same except it would still allow small general purpose tankers.

Fin Donnelly announced in December 2018 that he would not be standing in the 2019 federal election.

On September 2,2020 Fin Donnelly announced he was seeking the BC NDP nomination in the riding of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain for the upcoming provincial election.

Fin Donnelly was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Aquaculture by Premier John Horgan on November 26,2020.

On May 9,2024 Fin Donnelly announced he would be retiring as an MLA at the next election, scheduled for October of that year.