Katrina Chen (; born 14 July 1983) 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 has represented the electoral district of Burnaby-Lougheed in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in 2017. 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 ...

(BC NDP) caucus, she was Minister of State for Child Care from 2017 to 2022.

Early life and career

Chen was raised in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

, Taiwan, where her father was a member of the city council. She has served as a trustee on the Burnaby Board of Education, and worked in both provincial and federal government constituency offices for over 10 years. She has a bachelor of arts degree with a political science major and a history minor 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 ...

, and also earned a certificate in immigration laws, policies and procedures from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

. She has also worked as a community organizer with ACORN, emceed for major cultural festivals, and volunteered as an executive member for several local non-profit organizations for many years.

Political career

Chen was first elected to the legislature in the

2017 British Columbia general election The 2017 British Columbia general election was held on May 9, 2017, to elect 87 members (MLAs) to the Legislative Assembly to serve in the 41st Parliament of the Canadian province of British Columbia. In the 40th Parliament prior to this gener ...

."NDP makes gains in Tri-Cities, Burnaby with upsets"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca ...

British Columbia, May 9, 2017. After the NDP formed government, Chen was appointed to the cabinet of John Horgan as Minister of State for Child Care. As part of an initiative to increase the number of early childhood educators in the province, she has championed dual-credit programs throughout BC which will allow grade 11 and 12 students to earn post secondary credits toward early childhood careers. After Horgan announced his retirement as premier and party leader, Chen was suggested by pundits as a possible candidate in the party leadership election. Instead, she endorsed

David Eby David Robert Patrick Eby (born July 21, 1976) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has been serving as the 37th and current premier of British Columbia since November 18, 2022, and has been serving as the leader of the British Columbia New De ...

, doing so before Eby had announced his intentions. After Eby formally announced his leadership bid, Chen joined as co-chair of his campaign, alongside

Ravi Kahlon Ravinder "Ravi" Kahlon (born May 15, 1979) is a Canadian politician and athlete. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia, representing the riding of Delta North since 2017, and member of the British Columbia New Democ ...

. After Eby was successful in his leadership bid and sworn-in as premier, Chen was speculated to receive a major role in his cabinet. However, Chen declined to join the new cabinet, and stepped down in order to deal with long-term trauma.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Katrina British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs British Columbia school board members 1983 births Women government ministers of Canada Living people Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Women MLAs in British Columbia People from Burnaby Taiwanese emigrants to Canada 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Politicians from Taichung Canadian politicians of Chinese descent