Born and raised in Thompson, Manitoba, Canada. Niki is the daughter of immigrant parents who settled in a northern mining town on the traditional territory of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. From an early age, Niki championed human rights issues in her community. Niki’s education underscored her desire to think globally and act locally.

“Principles focusing on equality and fairness, those are principles that we can’t let go of.”

– Niki Ashton

At the age of 22, she pursued the nomination of her party in a campaign focused on support of same sex marriage, Indigenous rights, and the rights of working people.

Niki was the youngest woman elected to Parliament in 2008 at the age of 26. She was re-elected in 2011, 2015 and 2019. Niki serves as the NDP’s Critic for Transport, and Deputy Critic for Women and Gender Equality.

She firmly believes in working in solidarity with social movements to bring about change. She ran twice for the leadership of her party, the New Democratic Party on a platform of social, environmental and economic justice for all. Niki is a proud intersectional feminist, and democratic socialist and as a millennial has highlighted the growing inequality that her generation and younger Canadians are facing.

Niki Ashton is a graduate of R.D. Parker Collegiate in Thompson as well as Li Po Chun United World College. She has a BA in Global Political Economy from the University of Manitoba, an MA in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. She is currently completing her PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba.

Prior to her election to parliament in 2008, Niki Ashton was an instructor at the University College of the North. She also interned at Canadian Embassies and the United Nations.