Jenny Wai Ching Kwan (born 1967) is a Canadian politician who is the

member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Vancouver East. A member of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

(NDP), Kwan was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in 2015. She she was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), representing Vancouver-Mount Pleasant from 1996 to 2015 with the British Columbia (BC) NDP, and was a provincial cabinet minister from 1998 to 2001. Kwan entered politics in 1993, when she was elected to the

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor and ten councillors elected to serve a four-year term. Monthly, a deputy mayor is appointed from among the councillors. The current mayo ...

Background

Kwan emigrated to Canada at age nine with her family from

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British ...

. She speaks English, French, and

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

. Kwan graduated from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in

Criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and s ...

. She started her career as a community legal advocate in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

Downtown Eastside The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues including disproportionately high levels of drug use, homele ...

before entering politics.

Political career

Municipal politics (1993–1996)

In 1993, Kwan at age 26 was elected as the youngest-ever member of

. She was the sole representative of the Coalition of Progressive Electors throughout her term on council.

Provincial politics (1996–2015)

In 1996, Kwan entered provincial politics. After being nominated, she was elected as the MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, in

East Vancouver East Vancouver (also called "East Van" or "the East Side") is a region within the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Geographically, East Vancouver is bordered to the north by Burrard Inlet, to the south by the Fraser River, and to t ...

. She succeeded Premier

Mike Harcourt Michael Franklin Harcourt, OC (born January 6, 1943) served as the 30th premier of British Columbia from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th mayor of Vancouver, BC's largest city, from 1980 to 1986. Early life and education Harcourt was ...

, who at the time had just resigned over a series of serious fundraising scandals, including the Bingogate Scandal. In 2001, Kwan, along with

Joy MacPhail Joy Kathryn MacPhail (born March 6, 1952) is a Canadian former politician in British Columbia. A longtime member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, she served as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from 1991 to 2005 and as a ...

, was one of only two NDP MLAs to survive the party's electoral collapse in the

2001 British Columbia general election The 2001 British Columbia general election was the 37th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 18, 2001 and ...

at the hands of a BC Liberal landslide upset. She was re-elected in 2005, 2009, and 2013.

Leadership controversy, December 2010

In December 2010, Kwan released a statement to the media criticizing NDP leader

Carole James Carole Alison James (born December 22, 1957) is a Canadian politician and former public administrator, who represented Victoria-Beacon Hill in the MLA from 2005 to 2020. She is the former Leader of the Opposition in British Columbia and former ...

, and calling for an immediate leadership convention, after party candidates suffered defeat in the 2009 election. In response to Kwan's statement, James called an emergency caucus session to address opposition to her continued leadership. Before the caucus meeting was held, however, James announced her resignation as party leader. While Kwan was accused of self-interest, at the time she claimed to have no plans to run for the leadership of the party.

Portland Hotel Society controversy, March 2014

In March 2014, an audit of the

Portland Hotel Society Portland Hotel Society (PHS) is a Canadian non-profit society created in 1993 to provide advocacy, housing, services, and opportunities, for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Its 451 staff support 1,153 rooms, North America's first legal supervised-inj ...

showed that Kwan's ex-husband, Dan Small, had improperly expensed the cost of a family

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envisio ...

trip to the society. At the time of the trip, Kwan had still been married to Small and had participated in the trip with their children. When the audit became public, Kwan held a press conference where she denied any knowledge that the society had paid for the trip, and said she would reimburse the society. Following the conference, Kwan took a brief leave of absence.

Member of Parliament (2015–present)

In January 2015, Kwan announced that she would be seeking the NDP nomination in Vancouver East for the 2015 federal election.

Mable Elmore Mable may refer to: * Mable (business), a U.S. business accelerator * Mable (name), list of people with the name See also * *Mabgate, from ''Mable''-gate, Mable being a middle English reference to 'loose women' *Mabel (disambiguation) Mabel is a f ...

was also seeking the party's nomination in the riding. Kwan was nominated on March 22, and sought to replace

Libby Davies Libby Davies (born February 27, 1953) is a Canadian politician from British Columbia. She was the member of Parliament for Vancouver East from 1997 to 2015, House Leader for the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011, and Deputy Leade ...

as the MP for the riding. She was elected to the

in October 2015, defeating Liberal Party candidate Edward Wong and Conservative Party candidate James Low by a wide margin. On November 12, she was appointed as her party's critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship. She was re-elected in the 2019 federal election.

Electoral record

Federal

Provincial

References

External links

*
Official Biography, Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Biography, New Democratic Party
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwan, Jenny 1967 births Living people British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Women government ministers of Canada Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Hong Kong emigrants to Canada Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Naturalized citizens of Canada New Democratic Party MPs Canadian politicians of Hong Kong descent Simon Fraser University alumni Coalition of Progressive Electors councillors Women MLAs in British Columbia Women municipal councillors in Canada 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Canadian politicians of Chinese descent