Genest-Jourdain defeated Bloc Québécois incumbent MP Gérard Asselin at the 2011 Canadian federal election, becoming the first ever NDP member to represent the Manicouagan riding.
[1] A member of the Innu Nation, Genest-Jourdain is a lawyer originally from the reserve village of Uashat-Maliotenam located in the Sept-Rivières Regional County Municipality.
Genest-Jourdain supported Outremont MP Tom Mulcair's candidacy for federal leadership of the NDP to succeed the late Jack Layton.
[3] Genest-Jourdain finished third in his own riding of Manicouagan in the 2015 Canadian federal election, with the Bloc's Marilène Gill succeeding him as MP.
Shortly after Genest-Jourdain entered Parliament in May 2011, NDP leader Jack Layton appointed him to the shadow cabinet as Deputy Critic for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.