About Yens
Yens grew up on a small family farm near Cut Knife. Yens is now 36 and lives in Regina with his wife of 15 years, Maureen, and their two daughters. Yens is a lawyer at Balfour Moss. Being raised on a farm in a family active in the community, he understands the importance of individual initiative, hard work, and cooperating with others to build lasting legacies.
Before announcing his intention to seek the leadership of the Saskatchewan NDP, Yens was the Provincial President of the party. In 2007, Yens was nominated as the NDP candidate in Regina South two weeks before the election was called. Yens took on the Sask. Party's candidate, a well-known city councillor who had been campaigning for two years. But with abundant enthusiasm, fresh ideas, and hard work, Yens and his campaign team impressed and invigorated constituents. They turned the race fromone the Sask Party considered to be secure into a hotly contested seat, losing by only 255 votes in the end.
Yens began taking on leadership roles at an early age and was national youth vice president of the National Farmers Union, an SYND councillor, president of the local 4-H club and his high school SRC. In university, Yens became president of the student government at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Yens has continued his leadership service to the community, and presently he is a council member for St. Mark's Lutheran Church, sits on the Salvation Army Advisory Board for Regina, and is on the playground committee at his daughter's school. Yens is the chair of the Taxation section of the Canadian Bar Association in Regina and is also the president of the Regina Business Association. In the past, Yens coached his daughter's soccer team and has served on the board of directors for Saskatchewan Express, the musical theatre group, and for The Royal Lifesaving Society (Saskatchewan Branch). Yens has been a fundraiser for many medical charities including the Hospitals of Regina Foundation, the MS Society, the Canadian Cancer Society, and the Canadian Diabetes Association.