Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River (French: Desnethé—Missinippi—Rivière Churchill; formerly known as Churchill River) is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997.

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River

Saskatchewan electoral district
Interactive map of riding boundaries from the 2025 federal election
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Buckley Belanger Liberal
District created	1996
First contested	1997
Last contested	2025
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2016)[1]	70,891
Electors (2019)	45,985
Area (km²)[2]	342,903
Pop. density (per km²)	0.21
Census division(s)	Division No. 14, Division No. 15, Division No. 16, Division No. 17, Division No. 18
Census subdivision(s)	La Ronge, La Loche, Stanley, Pelican Narrows, Île-à-la-Crosse, Air Ronge, Lac La Ronge, Lac La Hache, Creighton, Chicken

Geography

This is a rural riding located in northern Saskatchewan. The riding encompasses the northern half of the province and is the third largest federal riding, that is located in a province, in Canada, trumped only by Churchill—Keewatinook Aski in Manitoba and Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou in Quebec. The territorial ridings of Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut are also larger.

The 2023 redistribution order removed most of the territory outside of the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District from the riding, reducing its population considerably.

Demographics

Panethnic groups in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River (2011−2021)

Panethnic group	2021[3]		2016[4]		2011[5]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Indigenous	49,660	70.18%	49,840	70.91%	48,395	70.58%
European[a]	19,605	27.71%	19,650	27.96%	19,655	28.67%
Southeast Asian[b]	690	0.98%	320	0.46%	250	0.36%
South Asian	320	0.45%	165	0.23%	40	0.06%
African	205	0.29%	160	0.23%	35	0.05%
East Asian[c]	170	0.24%	130	0.18%	110	0.16%
Middle Eastern[d]	25	0.04%	10	0.01%	0	0%
Latin American	20	0.03%	30	0.04%	0	0%
Other/multiracial[e]	60	0.08%	10	0.01%	0	0%
Total responses	70,760	98.98%	70,290	99.15%	68,565	98.7%
Total population	71,488	100%	70,891	100%	69,471	100%
Notes: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses. Demographics based on 2012 Canadian federal electoral redistribution riding boundaries.

According to the 2011 Canadian census; 2013 representation^[6][7]

Languages: 64.6% English, 21.3% Cree, 10.8% Dene, 1.3% French
Religions: 76.8% Christian (41.5% Catholic, 18.5% Anglican, 4.1% United Church, 2.5% Lutheran, 1.6% Pentecostal, 8.5% Other), 2.7% Traditional Aboriginal Spirituality, 20.4% No religion
Median income (2010): $18,910
Average income (2010): $28,554

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River boasts the following demographic records:

• Highest % of people of the Métis aboriginal group (16.4%)^[8]
• Highest % of people of Métis ethnic origin (12.0%)^[9]
• Highest % of people with Dene as their mother tongue (10.5%)^[10]

History

The electoral district was created as "Churchill River" in 1996 from Prince Albert—Churchill River, Mackenzie and The Battlefords—Meadow Lake ridings.

In 2004, it was renamed "Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River".

This riding lost territory to Prince Albert and a fraction to Yorkton—Melville, and gained a fraction of territory from Prince Albert during the 2012 electoral redistribution.

2006 election controversy

In the 2006 federal election, Liberal candidate Gary Merasty defeated incumbent Conservative MP Jeremy Harrison by a slim margin of 68 votes after trailing much of the election night, despite Harrison's vote increasing several points. Merasty's win raised issues of questionable tactics to increase voter turnout.^[11] However, an investigation conducted by Elections Canada determined that no wrongdoing had taken place.^[12]

2015 election recount

In the 2015 federal election, New Democrat candidate Georgina Jolibois defeated the Liberal candidate, Lawrence Joseph, by a narrow margin of 71 votes. Joseph requested a judicial recount of the votes.^[13]

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of the House of Commons of Canada:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Churchill River Riding created from Prince Albert—Churchill River, Mackenzie and The Battlefords—Meadow Lake
36th	1997–2000		Rick Laliberte	New Democratic
	2000–2000			Liberal
37th	2000–2004
Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River
38th	2004–2006		Jeremy Harrison	Conservative
39th	2006–2007		Gary Merasty	Liberal
	2008–2008		Rob Clarke	Conservative
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2015
42nd	2015–2019		Georgina Jolibois	New Democratic
43rd	2019–2021		Gary Vidal	Conservative
44th	2021–2025
45th	2025–present		Buckley Belanger	Liberal

Election results

Graph of election results in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, 2004–present

v t e 2025 Canadian federal election
** Preliminary results — Not yet official **
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Buckley Belanger	5,876	65.09	+18.74
	Conservative	Jim Lemaigre	2,301	25.49	+1.92
	New Democratic	Doug Racine	850	9.42	–14.60
Total valid votes/expense limit
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			9,027	37.12
Eligible voters			24,317
	Liberal notional hold		Swing		+8.41
Source: Elections Canada[14][15]

2021 federal election redistributed results[16]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	3,811	46.35
	New Democratic	1,975	24.02
	Conservative	1,938	23.57
	People's	257	3.13
	Independent	146	1.78
	Green	96	1.17

2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Gary Vidal	10,036	48.8	+6.5	$83,338.84
	Liberal	Buckley Belanger	5,533	26.8	+0.3	$98,928.73
	New Democratic	Harmonie King	3,548	17.2	-11.4	$35,359.65
	People's	Dezirae Reddekopp	1,002	4.9	+4.1	$1,007.06
	Independent	Stephen King	240	1.2	–	$0.00
	Green	Nasser Dean Chalifoux	215	1.0	-1.0	$1,294.43
Total valid votes/Expense limit			20,574	–	–	$121,058.43
Total rejected ballots			127	0.6	-0.2
Turnout			20,701	44.8	-12.5
Eligible voters			46,257
	Conservative hold		Swing		+4.0
Source: Elections Canada[17][18]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Gary Vidal	11,531	42.30	+12.17	$64,212.77
	New Democratic	Georgina Jolibois	7,741	28.40	−5.75	$89,787.05
	Liberal	Tammy Cook-Searson	7,225	26.51	−7.38	$63,291.05
	Green	Sarah Kraynick	543	1.99	+0.17	$1,816.39
	People's	Jerome Perrault	217	0.80	–	$2,050.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			27,257	99.21
Total rejected ballots			216	0.79	+0.49
Turnout			27,473	57.25	−7.47
Eligible voters			47,985
	Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		+8.96
Source: Elections Canada[19][20]

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Georgina Jolibois	10,319	34.15	-11.23	$26,597.41
	Liberal	Lawrence Joseph	10,237	33.88	+28.62	$50,341.46
	Conservative	Rob Clarke	9,105	30.14	-16.75	$83,236.17
	Green	Warren Koch	552	1.83	-0.64	$1,984.03
Total valid votes/expense limit			30,213	99.70		$228,699.20
Total rejected ballots			91	0.30	–
Turnout			30,304	64.72	–
Eligible voters			46,824
	New Democratic gain from Conservative		Swing		+2.76
These results were subject to a judicial recount and modified from the validated results in accordance with the Judge's rulings. The margin of Georgina Jolibois over Lawrence Joseph increased from 71 votes to 82 votes as a result of the recount.[21]
Source: Elections Canada[22][23]

2011 federal election redistributed results[24]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	9,767	46.88
	New Democratic	9,454	45.38
	Liberal	1,097	5.27
	Green	514	2.47

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rob Clarke	10,509	47.93	+1.26	$74,871
	New Democratic	Lawrence Joseph	9,715	44.30	+26.53	$74,655
	Liberal	Gabe Lafond	1,144	5.22	-25.06	$57,456
	Green	George Morin	560	2.55	-1.26	$4
Total valid votes/expense limit			21,928	99.57		–
Total rejected ballots			95	0.43	-0.11
Turnout			22,023	50.35	+5.60
Eligible voters			43,739
	Conservative hold		Swing		-12.64

v t e 2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rob Clarke	8,964	46.67	-1.16	$81,066
	Liberal	David Orchard	5,816	30.28	-1.30	$88,314
	New Democratic	Brian Morin	3,414	17.77	+0.24	$1,459
	Green	George Morin	733	3.82	+0.75	$1,387
	First Peoples National	Rob Ballantyne	282	1.47	–	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			19,209	100.00		$90,390
Total rejected ballots			105	0.54	+0.19
Turnout			19,314	44.75	+20.03
	Conservative hold		Swing		-1.1

See also: 2008 Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River by-election

By-election on March 17, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rob Clarke	4,992	47.83	+6.74
	Liberal	Joan Beatty	3,296	31.58	-9.79
	New Democratic	Brian Morin	1,830	17.53	+2.16
	Green	Robin Orr	320	3.07	+0.90
Total valid votes			10,438	100.00
Total rejected ballots			37	0.35	-0.01
Turnout			10,475	24.72	-33.71
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		-8.3

v t e 2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Gary Merasty	10,191	41.37	+11.50	$69,229
	Conservative	(x)Jeremy Harrison	10,124	41.09	+3.70	$78,578
	New Democratic	Anita Jackson	3,787	15.37	-4.72	$43,976
	Green	John McDonald	534	2.17	-0.60	$128
Total valid votes			24,636	100.00		–
Total rejected ballots			88	0.36	-0.03
Turnout			24,724	58.43	+11.02
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	-3.9

v t e 2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Jeremy Harrison	7,279	37.39	+1.62	$27,194
	Liberal	Al Ducharme	5,815	29.87	-11.94	$52,686
	New Democratic	Earl Cook	3,910	20.09	-1.72	$9,005
	Independent	(x)Rick Laliberte	1,923	9.88	-31.93	–
	Green	Marcella Gall	539	2.77	–	–
Total valid votes			19,466	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			76	0.39	-0.01
Turnout			19,542	47.41	-12.1
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		-6.8

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in the 2000 election.

Churchill River, 1997–2004

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x)Rick Laliberte	9,856	41.81	+13.41	$39,223
	Alliance	Kerry Peterson	7,679	32.57	+0.59	$62,019
	New Democratic	Ray Funk	5,141	21.81	-12.72	$48,853
	Progressive Conservative	David J. Rogers	755	3.20	-1.90	–
	Canadian Action	Brendan Cross	143	0.61	–	$1,398
Total valid votes			23,574	100.00		–
Total rejected ballots			95	0.40	-0.09
Turnout			23,669	59.5	+2.3
	Liberal gain from New Democrat		Swing	-13.1

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in the 1997 election.

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Rick Laliberte	7,288	34.53	–	$41,198
	Reform	Daryl Wiberg	6,750	31.98	–	$25,132
	Liberal	Roy Bird	5,994	28.40	–	$40,104
	Progressive Conservative	Bert Provost	1,077	5.10	–	$79
Total valid votes			21,109	100.00		–
Total rejected ballots			105	0.49
Turnout			21,214	57.2

See also

• List of Canadian electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada