Anna Kindy (born August 14, 1962) is a Canadian

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

, physician, addiction specialist, and politician who sits as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

representing

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

. She has also competed at the

1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...

, in women's moguls.

Early life and career

Kindy was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. She graduated from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

's medical school in 1986. Early in her career, Kindy worked in remote

contributing to underserved communities. In a unique twist, between 1989-1992, Kindy balanced being a family doctor in

Port Hardy Port Hardy is a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada located on the north-east tip of Vancouver Island. Port Hardy has a population of 3,902 as of the 2021 census. It is the gateway to Cape Scott Provincial Park, the North Coast Tr ...

while also representing

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

by competing at the

Albertville, France Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

, in

mogul skiing Mogul skiing is a freestyle skiing, freestyle skiing competition consisting of one timed run of free skiing on a steep, heavily moguled course, stressing technical turns, aerial maneuvers and speed. Internationally, the sport is contested at the ...

. In 1998, Kindy and her husband, Dr. Peter Olesen, a surgeon, moved to Campbell River to work and to raise their three children there. Since then she has gone on international missions in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and has specialized in

addiction medicine Addiction medicine is a medical subspecialty that deals with the diagnosis, prevention, evaluation, treatment, and recovery of persons with addiction, of those with substance-related and addictive disorders, and of people who show unhealthy u ...

. Tenets of her practice include

informed consent Informed consent is an applied ethics principle that a person must have sufficient information and understanding before making decisions about accepting risk. Pertinent information may include risks and benefits of treatments, alternative treatme ...

, doing no harm, and upholding

bodily autonomy Bodily integrity is the inviolability of the physical body and emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination of human beings over their own bodies. In the field of human rights, violation of the bodily int ...

. Her career in medicine has spanned over 35 years. At the time of her election to the legislature, she was a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

with a focus on addiction medicine and had hospital privileges at Campbell River Hospital.

Political career

She was nominated as the Conservative Party of BC's candidate on November 9, 2023 for the provincial riding of

. She went on to win a seat in the Legislative Assembly of BC on October 19, 2024, defeating

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

incumbent Michele Babchuk by 681 votes. This marked the departure of the North Island riding as a NDP stronghold riding since 2005. Kindy currently serves in the official opposition's shadow cabinet as the Critic for Health. Her main political priority is to ensure that emergency rooms are open 24/7.

Political views

Despite being vaccinated herself against

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, Kindy has protested against British Columbia's public health measures to combat the

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

and has questioned the effectiveness of

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

s. Kindy can be heard in a board meeting saying "what bodies?" in relation to alleged bodies found on residential schools.To date no bodies have been found at the Kamloops Residential School.

Electoral record

References

External links

*
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia website
* 1962 births Living people Canadian female freestyle skiers Olympic freestyle skiers for Canada Freestyle skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Skiers from Montreal British Columbia Conservative Party MLAs Canadian sportsperson-politicians 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women MLAs in British Columbia University of Alberta alumni Physicians from British Columbia 20th-century Canadian sportswomen {{Canada-freestyle-skiing-bio-stub