Randall C. Garrison (born August 27, 1951) is a Canadian politician. Elected to the House of Commons in the 2011 federal election, he represents the electoral district of Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke and is a member of the New Democratic Party. He serves as the party's critic for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues, succeeding former MP Bill Siksay, and for National Defence. Since becoming an MP, he has introduced legislation to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, return federal environmental protection to the Goldstream River, and lobbied the government to implement an action plan concerning the endangered Southern resident killer whales. A former criminology and political science instructor at Camosun College, Garrison is openly gay and lives in Esquimalt, British Columbia, with his partner, Teddy Pardede. Garrison previously stood for election in the 2004 and 2006 federal elections, both times as the NDP candidate in the Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca riding and both times narrowly losing to incumbent MP Keith Martin. He lived in Vancouver for a short time, during which he was nominated to be the NDP candidate in the Vancouver Centre riding during the 2008 federal election before dropping out for "personal and professional reasons". After moving back to Esquimalt he was elected to the Esquimalt City Council for a three-year term starting in November 2008. Garrison has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations as well as the Esquimalt Police Board. He is also an international human rights activist. He has worked as a policing researcher in Afghanistan with Amnesty International, on a Christian-Muslim peace building project in Indonesia for the International Catholic Migration Commission, and as co-coordinator of IFET, an international non-government human rights observer mission for the East Timor independence referendum in 1999. In May 2010, Garrison served as an international observer with the People's International Observers Mission (PIOM) in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao for the national elections in the Philippines. Background Born in Nebraska, Randall Garrison eventually moved to Canada in 1973. He spent two years living in Yellowknife, working for the government recording vital statistics. He moved to British Columbia where, at the age of 26, Garrison graduated from the University of British Columbia with a master's degree in political science. He moved to Victoria where he worked within the B.C. provincial government as a public policy researcher and director. By the 1990s, and until he was elected as