Her achievement made international headlines, but months later, she is staring down a bid to have her ousted with just months to go before a widely expected federal election.
After Ms. Atwin crossed the floor on June 10, the two remaining Green MPs blamed her exit on the Leader’s senior adviser, Noah Zatzman, who accused members of the caucus of antisemitism and vowed to defeat them.
Her résumé is punctuated by a law degree, a master’s of public affairs from Princeton and work at the International Criminal Court in the Hague and Canada’s mission to the European Union.
She describes the impact of her potential failure through the lens of others.
And so for her, it’s like the fulfilment of the promise of the civil-rights movement that she was a part of.
The Green Leader wasn’t the only one holding up a mirror to Canadian politics this week.
She cites her experience as a page in the Ontario Legislature when she was 12, then as a Senate page, and then back at Queen’s Park as an intern the year after she completed law school.
She says the party faces a not-insurmountable challenge to end the current turmoil and infighting.
“They haven’t figured out that diversity is not about the photograph, the people who you bring in that don’t look like you, they don’t think like you either.
In condemning the racism and sexism that she has faced, she levelled her own attack on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
“She doesn’t seem to understand that if you’re the leader of the party, the most important thing for you to do right now is to end questions about your leadership,” Prof.
Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, said the current situation facing the Greens places them in a familiar, but challenging position.
Still, Ms. Paul said her goal in the next election is more Green MPs in the House of Commons.
She said she looked at running in such other locations as British Columbia, but settled on Toronto Centre, viewing victory as a possibility.