He is of Cree, Métis, French and English descent; Ouellette is a veteran of over 29 years in the Canadian Forces and was a community organizer[1] and academic administrator before his entry into politics.

[5] His father, Jimmy is mixed Cree and Métis[6] and from the Red Pheasant First Nation, located south of North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

Ouellette grew up in poor conditions, often going hungry, and as a child he once spent a summer homeless in Winnipeg sleeping in city parks.

While attending university in Quebec City he was also working full time in the Canadian Army, which required him to complete his course material at night or occasionally in the field.

[11] While in Quebec City he learned to fluently speak, write and read French, after having been posted to the Royal 22e Regiment, a French-Canadian military unit.

[14] He currently works at Yellowquill College in Winnipeg where they recently obtained degree granting status from the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council.

[15] In the 2015 election, Ouellette took over 55 per cent of the vote and defeated longtime NDP MP Pat Martin in Winnipeg Centre.

[23] Ouellette also voted against a government bill that ordered striking Canada Post delivery staff back to work during a protracted labour dispute between management and workers in the crown corporation.

After a lengthy debate the Speaker of the House Geoff Regan ruled against allowing the interpretation of Indigenous languages because no reference was found in the standing orders.

For over 20 years in Manitoba, NDP and Conservative governments took more children into the child welfare system than at any point during the height of the Indian Residential School era.

In C-92, Ouellette was also able to ensure that customary adoption was included as articles of law to help indigenous communities and nations return to more traditional forms of childcare.

Since 2016, Ouellette started to work with Lillian Dyck for a new law[40] which would help protect Indigenous women if they were victims of violent crime.

In May 2016, Ouellette introduced his first Private Member's Bill C-318: An Act to establish Indian Residential School Reconciliation and Memorial Day to Parliament.

This was legislation developed with help from elders in Winnipeg putting forward for the first time that Indian Residential Schools constituted Genocide.

[42][43] In December 2016, after consultation with unions, citizens and international victims, hurt and impacted by asbestos; Ouellette proposed new federal legislation.

[44][45] Also in December 2016, Ouellette proposed C-332 An Act to provide for reporting on compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UNDRIP.

[46] In behind the scenes work Ouellette, as chair of the Indigenous caucus led efforts to ensure that UNDRIP was adopted as Canadian legislation.

[47] Then he worked with Dr Doug Eyolfson to provide a substantive House of Commons Health Committee Report on meth & addiction.

[49] The Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government appointed Ouellette their representative to work with the Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen and Brian Bowman the Mayor of the City of Winnipeg of a triparty task force to find actions all three levels of government could take to reduce the impact of addictions and mental health on Winnipeg and Manitoba.