Kristopher Wells

BornOctober 7, 1971 (age 54)

The Honourable Kristopher Wells


Canadian Senator from Alberta
Incumbent
Assumed office August 31, 2024
Nominated by	Justin Trudeau
Appointed by	Mary Simon

Personal details
Born	(1971-10-07) October 7, 1971 (age 54)
Party	Progressive Senate Group
Other political affiliations	Non-affiliated (2024-2025)
Alma mater	University of Alberta (BEd, MEd, PhD)
Profession	Academic

Kristopher Wells (born October 7, 1971)^[1]^[2] is a Canadian politician and academic. Since 2024, he has represented the province of Alberta in the Senate of Canada. He is also an associate professor at MacEwan University and the editor-in-chief of the international Journal of LGBT Youth.

Wells has earned three degrees from the University of Alberta: a Bachelor of Education, a Master of Education, and a Doctor of Philosophy.^[3]^[4]

Academic career

Wells was a public school teacher in St. Albert, Alberta. He then worked as a diversity consultant for Edmonton Public Schools, where he helped develop the first sexual and gender identity school board policy in Western Canada.^[5]

From 2012 to 2018, he worked at the University of Alberta as an assistant professor and as the faculty director of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services.^[3] In 2018, he was appointed MacEwan University's first Canada Research Chair and was the founding director of the MacEwan Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity.^[5]^[6] Wells has served on various committees in Alberta, including the Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities, REACH Edmonton, the Alberta Hate Crimes Committee, the Edmonton Police Chief's Community Advisory Council, and the LGBTQ2+ National Monument Committee.^[7] He has been a critic of the Alberta government's plan to require parental consent before children under 16 can change their names or preferred gender pronouns in schools.^[7]

Wells is the co-creator of pride tape, a campaign that encouraged NHL hockey players to use rainbow-patterned hockey tape on their sticks as a way of showing support for LGBT rights.^[8]

As of 2024^[update], Wells is an associate professor in the Department of Child and Youth Care, part of the Faculty of Health and Community Studies at MacEwan University. He holds the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth and serves as the founding director for the MacEwan Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity.^[9]^[5] His academic work specializes in sexual- and gender-minority youth, education, and culture. He is the editor-in-chief of the international Journal of LGBT Youth.^[10]

v t e Current members of the Senate of Canada
Presiding officers: Speaker: Raymonde Gagné Speaker pro tempore: René Cormier
AB	■ Fridhandler ■ LaBoucane-Benson ■ Simons ■ Sorensen ■ Tannas ■ K. Wells
BC	■ Busson ■ Dhillon ■ Greenwood ■ Martin ■ Wilson ■ Woo
MB	■ Adler ■ Gagné ■ McCallum ■ McPhedran ■ Osler 1 vacancy
NB	■ Arnold ■ Boudreau ■ Cormier ■ Kingston ■ McNair ■ Poirier ■ Quinn ■ Ringuette ■ Ross 1 vacancy
NL	■ Manning ■ Petten ■ Ravalia ■ D. Wells ■ White 1 vacancy
NS	■ Aucoin ■ Bernard ■ Coyle ■ Cuzner ■ C. Deacon ■ Ince ■ Kutcher ■ MacDonald ■ Prosper ■ Surette
ON	■ Al Zaibak ■ Ataullahjan ■ Black ■ Boehm ■ Boyer ■ Burey ■ Cardozo ■ Clement ■ Dasko ■ M. Deacon ■ Dean ■ Harder ■ Hay ■ McBean ■ Mohamed ■ Moncion ■ Moodie ■ Pate ■ R. Patterson ■ Pupatello ■ Senior ■ Varone ■ Yussuff
PE	■ Downe ■ Francis ■ MacAdam ■ Robinson
QC	■ Audette ■ Brazeau ■ Carignan ■ Dalphond ■ Forest ■ Galvez ■ Gerba ■ Gignac ■ Hébert ■ Henkel ■ Housakos ■ Loffreda ■ Mégie ■ Miville-Dechêne ■ Moreau ■ Oudar ■ Petitclerc ■ Saint-Germain ■ Smith ■ Verner ■ Youance 3 vacancies
SK	■ Arnot ■ Batters ■ Klyne ■ Lewis ■ Muggli ■ Wallin
Territories	NT ■ Anderson NU ■ Karetak-Lindell YT ■ Duncan
■ Independent Senators Group (42) ■ Canadian Senators Group (19) ■ Progressive Senate Group (16) ■ Conservative (12) ■ Non-affiliated (8) ■ Vacant (8)

Authority control databases
International	VIAF WorldCat
Academics	ORCID

Academic career

Political career

Honours

References

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