Melanie Joy Mark (born 1975), also known by her

Nisga'a The Nisga’a (; ), formerly spelled Nishga or Niska, are an Indigenous people in British Columbia, Canada. They reside in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. The origin of the term ''Niska'' is uncertain. The spelling ' ...

name Hli Haykwhl Ẃii Xsgaak, is a Canadian politician in the province of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. A member of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

(NDP), she served as the

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) for

Vancouver-Mount Pleasant Vancouver-Strathcona is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. The district of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant was created covering much of the same territory in 1991. The riding adopted its current ...

from 2016 to 2023. She was Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training from 2017 to 2020, and Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport from 2020 to 2022. Mark is the first

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

woman elected to 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 ...

, and the first First Nations woman to serve in the

Cabinet of British Columbia The Executive Council of British Columbia (the Cabinet) is the Cabinet of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Almost always composed of members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, the Cabinet is similar in structure and rol ...

. On February 22, 2023, Mark announced her intention to resign as MLA and cabinet minister; her resignation took effect April 14 of the same year.

Background

Born of

Gitxsan Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan and Kitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory enco ...

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

, and

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

ancestry, Mark was raised 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 cit ...

Downtown Eastside The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, 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 disproportio ...

neighbourhood. She credits her aunts and grandparents with helping her get through the death of her younger brother who was killed by a semi trailer while riding a bicycle, her mother's addiction and homelessness, and her father's overdose. After attending six different high schools, including Van Tech,

Charles Tupper Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet (July 2, 1821 – October 30, 1915) was a Canadian Father of Confederation who served as the sixth prime minister of Canada from May 1 to July 8, 1896. As the premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led ...

, and Ladysmith, she became the first person in her family to graduate from high school and attend college and university. She received a diploma in criminology from a joint program offered by Native Education College and

Douglas College Douglas College is the largest college in British Columbia, Canada with 7,958 full-time equivalent students in 2023-24. Douglas College offers bachelor's degrees and general university arts and science courses, as well as career programs in h ...

, then went on to major in political science and minor in sociology at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

(SFU), earning a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 2005. She also received an advanced executive certificate from

Queen's School of Business Smith School of Business (formerly Queen's School of Business) is a business school affiliated with Queen's University at Kingston. It is located at the university's Goodes Hall. Since July 2021, the school's dean has been Wanda Costen. The Sch ...

. She worked with the Native Court Workers' Association,

Covenant House Covenant House is a large, 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization in the Americas, whose goal is to provide safe housing and holistic care to youth ages 16–21 experiencing homelessness and survivors of human trafficking. Covenant House was ...

, the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

in Hazelton as a summer student, and as the national aboriginal project coordinator for

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

Canada's ''Sacred Lives Project.''"Wab Kinew Runs for Office"
''Indian Country Today'', February 2016, accessed 10 February 2016 From 2000 to 2006, Mark served as president of the Urban Native Youth Association. She is the co-founder of the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre. Beginning in 2007, she worked for eight years in the Office of the Representative for Children and Youth, becoming an associate deputy representative in 2013. The Office is the supporting agency for the Representative for Children and Youth, a non-partisan officer of the BC Legislature reporting directly to the BC Legislative Assembly, mandated to advocate for young people and families going through the provincial child and youth welfare system. In 2006, Mark received the YWCA Vancouver Young Woman of Distinction Award, and in 2015, she received the Chief Joe Mathias Leadership Award from the Native Education College. In 2016, she was the recipient of the inaugural Janusz Korczak Medal for Children's Rights Advocacy and in 2018, she was the recipient of the Stenberg College, Be the Change, Community Leadership Award. Mark has

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple con ...

(ADHD).

Politics

After

Jenny Kwan Jenny Wai Ching Kwan ( zh, t=關慧貞; born 1967) is a Canadian politician who is the Member of Parliament (Canada), member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver East (federal electoral district), Vancouver East. A member of the New Democratic Pa ...

announced she would be resigning as MLA of

to stand in the 2015 federal election, Melanie Mark entered the nomination contest to be the NDP's candidate for the ensuing by-election. On June 14, 2015, she defeated Diana Day for the NDP nomination. When the by-election was held on February 2, 2016, Mark was elected with 61% of the vote, defeating

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

candidate

Gavin Dew Gavin Dew (born January 1st, 1984) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2024 provincial election. He represents the electoral district of Kelowna-Mission as a member of the Conservative ...

and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

candidate

Pete Fry Pete Fry is a Canadian politician and business owner in Vancouver, British Columbia, who has served as councillor on the Vancouver City Council since 2018. He is a member of the Green Party of Vancouver. Owner of a graphics and communications ag ...

; she became the first Indigenous woman elected to the Legislature of British Columbia. She was re-elected in the 2017 general election, and was named Minister of Advanced Education that July in the NDP

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

. As Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training, Mark oversaw policy changes that made college and university more accessible to more British Columbians. She created the Provincial Tuition Waiver program, which supports youth in and from the foster system to access post secondary education tuition free. She oversaw the creation of the B.C. Access Grant, which provides upfront, non-repayable financial assistance to low- and middle-income students enrolled in full-time studies at B.C. colleges and universities, as well as the elimination of fees for Adult Basic Education and English language learning programs and interest on provincial student loans. Following the 2020 election, Mark was named the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport on November 26. On September 28, 2022, Mark announced that she would step down from cabinet in order to take medical leave, and was appointed a

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

. On February 22, 2023, Mark announced her resignation as MLA and cabinet minister. In her resignation speech, Mark criticized how "institutions fundamentally resist change... particularly colonial institutions and government at large," and said that she would "continue to advocate and fight from outside of this House." Mark described the legislature as a "torture chamber" and the opposition as "absolutely awful", adding, "the nastiness from white men in here is awful." A by-election to replace Mark took place on June 24, 2023.

Electoral record

References

External links

MLA: Hon. Melanie Mark
- Legislative Assembly of British Columbia {{DEFAULTSORT:Mark, Melanie Living people 1975 births 21st-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century First Nations people 21st-century indigenous leaders of the Americas 21st-century First Nations women 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Canadian Ojibwe people Canadian politicians with disabilities Cree politicians Cree women First Nations politicians First Nations women in politics Gitxsan people Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Ministers of tourism of British Columbia Nisga'a people Ojibwe women People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Politicians from Vancouver Simon Fraser University alumni Women government ministers of Canada Women MLAs in British Columbia