Dan Coulter is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician who was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

in the

2020 British Columbia general election The 2020 British Columbia general election was held on October 24, 2020, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly to serve in the 42nd parliament of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The incumbent New Democratic Party of British C ...

. He represents the electoral district of

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( )( hur, Ts'elxwéyeqw) is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdoor ...

as a member of the

British Columbia New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social-democratic provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. As of 2017, it governs the province. It is the British Columbia provincial arm of the federal New Democrati ...

caucus. He defeated John Martin; prior to the 2020 election, Chilliwack had been considered a BC Liberal stronghold. In addition to serving as MLA for Chilliwack, Dan Coulter is Minister of State for Infrastructure and Transit, working within the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure in the

Eby ministry The Eby ministry is the combined Cabinet (formally the Executive Council of British Columbia) that has governed British Columbia since November 18, 2022. It is chaired by the 37th premier of British Columbia, David Eby. The Cabinet is made up ...

. Coulter was previously Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility under the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction in the

Horgan ministry The Horgan ministry is the combined Cabinet (government), Cabinet (formally the Executive Council of British Columbia) that governed British Columbia from July 18, 2017, to November 18, 2022. It was chaired by the 36th premier of British Columb ...

, where his mandate included consulting with advocates, communities and businesses to ensure that the new

Accessible British Columbia Act British Columbia created the ''Accessible British Columbia Act'' in 2021. This act commits the government of British Columbia to promote accessibility, recognize AccessAbility Week, and officially recognize both American Sign Language & Indige ...

would be effective and well understood and working with the Attorney General and Minister responsible for Housing to work on BC Building Code changes to make new buildings more accessible.

Background

Dan Coulter was born in 1975 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia. He grew up in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

and Abbotsford. After graduating from high school in 1993, he worked as a welder and then became a certified Millwright with the

Red Seal Program Red Seal Program, specifically known as The Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program is a program that sets common standards for tradespeople in Canada. It is a partnership between the Canadian federal government, the provinces and the territori ...

in 1999. Dan Coulter was severely injured in a workplace accident in 1999 and is a wheelchair user. After his accident, he attended the

University of the Fraser Valley The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), formerly known as University College of the Fraser Valley and Fraser Valley College, is a Canadian public university with campuses in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission and Hope, British Columbia. Founded ...

In 2011, Dan ran for school trustee in Chilliwack. He was unsuccessful, coming in 8th place and falling short of the 7th board seat by 384 votes. Dan ran for school trustee again in the 2013 byelection and was successful. Dan was re-elected in the 2014 general municipal election and received the third highest number of votes. In October 2017, fellow Chilliwack school trustee

Barry Neufeld Barry Neufeld is a Former school trustee in Chilliwack, BC. Neufeld was first elected in December 1993 and held office until December 2008. He was elected again in December 2011 and held office until October 2022. Neufeld has been criticized for mak ...

made a Facebook post in which he called supporting transgender children in their gender identity child abuse, cited the

American College of Pediatricians The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States. The group was founded in 2002. In 2005, it reportedly had between 150 and 200 memb ...

(an anti-LGBTQ organization) and said that he belonged "in a country like Russia, or Paraguay, which recently had the guts to stand up to these radical cultural nihilists.” Dan Coulter immediately took a stand for

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

people and said, "I have friends that are Trans and I know students that are too. This hatred is aimed straight at who they are. It tries to make their existence illegitimate. It pisses me off! Our students and staff need to feel safe in our schools and a valued part of the school community – because they are!” In November 2017, Dan Coulter called on Barry Neufeld to resign. Dan was reelected to the Chilliwack Board of education in 2018 with the highest number of votes. He served as board chair from November 2018 to November 2020. He resigned from the Chilliwack Board of Education on November 25, 2020, after being sworn in as MLA for Chilliwack. Dan lives in Chilliwack with his wife, Rebecca, and their dogs, Spencer and Anna-Bella.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulter, Dan Living people People from Chilliwack 21st-century Canadian politicians British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Year of birth missing (living people)