Jill Andrew

Jill Andrew is a Canadian politician who has represented Toronto—St. Paul's in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since June 7, 2018 as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP).

Education
Andrew attended Humber College, where she earned a child and youth worker diploma. She also holds a Bachelor of Education (BEd) from York University amongst her other undergraduate degrees, a master’s degree from the University of Toronto in women and gender studies, a PhD from the York University Faculty of Education.

Political career
Andrew ran as the NDP candidate in Toronto—St. Paul's in the 2018 provincial election and was elected as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP). She is the critic for culture and women's issues. She is part of the Ontario NDP Black caucus, along with fellow MPPs Laura Mae Lindo, Faisal Hassan, Rima Berns-McGown and Kevin Yarde. She is the first Black and Queer person to be elected to the Ontario Legislature.

Andrew has served as official opposition critic on a number of portfolios, including women's issues, culture and heritage. Andrew has passed several pieces of legislation, including Bill 61 which proclaims the week beginning February 1 in each year as Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Bill 61 received Royal Assent in December 2020.

Allegations of Anti-Semitism
In the lead up to the 2022 Ontario general election, an article by columnist Brian Lilley for the Toronto Sun, outlined the allegations of two former Jewish members of the Ontario NDP Party who have since left the party over its "ongoing tolerance of anti-Semitism inside the NDP". According to the allegations in the article, the individuals "had been working with party executives on a complaint of harassment and anti-Semitism against Toronto St. Paul MPP Jill Andrew for two years when party president Janelle Brady said they’d have to wait until after the election to deal with the matter".

Following a March 2020 meeting of the NDP’s provincial council regarding a bill presented in the Ontario legislature calling for the government to adopt the working definition of anti-Semitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Andrew was active in pushing a motion at the meetings which called for the party to "instruct MPPs to vote against the bill and reject the definition of anti-Semitism". After one of the now former Jewish members of the party spoke up at the meeting against the motion and called for the NDP to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, Andrew is alleged to have approached him and verbally harassed and "threatened [him] with consequences should [he] speak on the issue again”. According to the former member of the party, "Andrew twice more berated [him] in public at council, including shouting that [he] was a ‘cancer’ that needed to be excised from the party”.

Personal life
Andrew identifies as queer. Andrew and her partner Aisha Fairclough, a television producer and diversity consultant, are members of the community consortium that own Glad Day Bookshop, an LGBT bookstore in Toronto's Church and Wellesley gay village. Andrew cofounded the group Body Confidence Canada.