Kristopher Wells
Kristopher Wells (born ) is a Canadian academic and politician. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada on August 31, 2024. He was nominated by the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments and appointed by Governor General of Canada Mary Simon on the recommendation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Education
Wells has earned three degrees from the University of Alberta, a Bachelor of Education, a Master of Education, and a Doctor of Philosophy.

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

In 2012, he became a professor at MacEwan University and faculty director of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta. 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. 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. 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 pronoun in schools.

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 LGBTQ rights.

At the time of his appointment to the upper house, Wells was an associate professor at MacEwan University in the Department of Child and Youth Care in the Faculty of Health and Community Studies and the Canada Research Chair for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth at MacEwan University. His academic work specializes in sexual and gender minority youth, education, and culture. He is the co-editor of the Journal of LGBT Youth.

Senate
The appointments of Wells and Daryl Fridhandler as Senators for Alberta were criticized by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for ignoring the results of the province's unofficial Senate nominee election. Smith issued a statement saying: "Despite our province's repeated democratic election of senators-in-waiting ready to represent Albertans’ interests, [Prime Minister Trudeau] has chosen to appoint left-wing partisans who will do whatever he and the Liberals order them to."

Honours
Wells is a recipient of the Alberta Centennial Medal, the Alberta Award for Study of Canadian Human Rights and Multiculturalism, the Alberta Teachers’ Association's Public Education Award, and the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal.

References

Category:Living people
Category:Canadian senators from Alberta
Category:Independent Canadian senators
Category:Academic staff of MacEwan University
Category:Canadian LGBT rights activists
Category:Canadian LGBT writers
Category:People from St. Albert, Alberta
Category:Canadian LGBT senators
Category:21st-century Canadian LGBT people
Category:University of Alberta alumni