She is a role model who breaks down barriers for Métis women in local politics
Age: 30
Gabrielle Blatz often gets asked a particular question: did you miss out on your youth?
After all, she became the first Indigenous woman to serve on Wetaskiwin city council at the age of 23. Her answer is revealing.
“The best part of youth is rebellion,” she says. “A lot of people see it as just having fun. But we are the ones that can see what our future looks like. We’re the ones that are going to experience that future. Being part of the fight is a large part of what my youth was.”
Seven years after her entry into politics, Blatz has built an impressive resumé. After two terms on council, she was ready to move on from municipal politics when Andrew Knack asked her to co-manage the team that ran his successful mayoral campaign. She worried she wasn’t experienced enough.
“He said, ‘You were able to do it in a small town — twice. I believe in you. I think what you did is something that could be done on a larger scale in Edmonton,’” Blatz recalls Knack saying before she took the job.
After Knack’s win, he asked Blatz to serve as his interim chief of staff. She accepted the position for a six-month term, but was running to become the provincial women’s representative for the Otipemisiwak Métis Government. She won, and was appointed provincial secretary of women, gender equity and inclusivity.
“For me, representation has always mattered,” she says. “Being able to see strong Indigenous women in my community, seeing them in leadership positions, I’m hoping that drives other women too, when they see what I’ve been able to accomplish. Because I don’t want to just be the first and only Métis woman to be chief of staff or in politics. I want to be one of many.”
This article appears in the November-December 2026 issue of Edify
