Sherry McKibben (M.Phil, MSW, RSW) (1944–2014) was an

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

alderman (

city councillor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

) who was elected in the 1994 by-election to replace Ward 4 alderman

Judy Bethel Judith Claire Bethel (24 August 1943 – 11 March 2025) was a Canadian politician who served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons for the Edmonton East electoral district from 1993 to 1997. She was born in Winnipeg, M ...

, who was elected to the House of Commons and resigned her seat on council. She represented Ward 4 in 1994 and 1995 and ran in Ward 3 in the 1995 municipal election but was defeated, coming third. McKibben was an openly lesbian candidate and became the first openly lesbian alderman in Edmonton’s history and the city's second openly gay alderman after

Michael Phair Michael Albert Phair (born August 1950) is a Canadian politician, who served on Edmonton City Council from 1992 until 2007. He was the first openly gay elected politician in the province of Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of ...

, who was Edmonton and Alberta's first openly gay alderman. According to the conservative news magazine, The

Alberta Report The ''Alberta Report'' was a conservative weekly newsmagazine based in Edmonton. It was founded and edited by Ted Byfield, and later run by his son, Link Byfield. It ceased publication in 2003. Promoting his own Western Standard, successor publ ...

, upon her election she became "the city's second homosexual and fifth socialist alderman."

Education

Sherry McKibben studied at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

and received her Master of Social Work in 1973. In 1994, she received a Masters of Philosophy in Social Administration from the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the University ...

. Her thesis was title
Patterns of foster care in Saskatchewan: The impact on the family connections and the early adult lives of careleavers

Edmonton City Council

1994 By-Election

When Ward 3 alderman Judy Bethel was elected to the House of Commons in 1993, a by-election to replace her was called in January 1994. Eighteen candidates ran and Sherry McKibben won with a total of 2 098 votes or 20.07% of the vote share. She defeated second-place candidate Robert Noce by a mere 438 votes. She represented the ward from January 1994 until the October 1995 election. While on council, McKibben sat on various committees including the Safer Cities Initiative Advisory Committee (now REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities), the Utilities and Public Works Committee, and was vice-chair of the Community Services Committee.

1995 General Election

McKibben decided to run in Ward 3 and came third, losing to

Brian Mason Brian David Mason (born October 12, 1953) is a Canadian politician who was leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2014 and served the Minister of Transportation in Rachel Notley's NDP government. He also served as the Gover ...

and Robert Noce, whom she had defeated in 1994, who were elected to the two available positions. She received a total of 8 471 votes or 12.76% of the votes cast.

Provincial Politics

McKibben ran for the

New Democratic Party of Alberta The Alberta New Democratic Party (Alberta NDP; ), is social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Alberta, political party in Alberta, Canada. The party sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politics, left ...

in two different provincial elections, and also served as the party president and Chief of Staff for the NDP Caucus from 2006 to 2007.

1997 Provincial Election

In 1997 she was the NDP candidate in Edmonton-Norwood and came second, losing to the

Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party () is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election, with the first three provincial ...

candidate Sue Olsen.

2008 Provincial Election

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

she ran again, this time in the riding of

Edmonton-Gold Bar Edmonton-Gold Bar is a provincial electoral district, in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 in the province mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The di ...

, and was defeated by Liberal Hugh MacDonald, coming third behind the Progressive Conservative candidate David Dorward.

Life Outside of Politics

McKibben was a long time social worker and advocate in British Columbia and Alberta, and worked in various social work positions in both Vancouver and Edmonton between 1966 and 1974. She worked for the BC Ministry of Human Services in Vancouver between 1974 and 1978. She served as the health coordinator at Edmonton’s Boyle McCauley Health Centre from 1987 to 1994, and shortly after her electoral defeat in 1995 she became the executive director of the Norwood Community Services Centre from 1996 to 1998. From 1998 to 2006, McKibben was the executive director of the HIV Network of Edmonton Society.

Volunteerism

She also volunteered at the Pride Centre of Edmonton and was interested especially in LGBTQ2+ seniors. At the time of her death, McKibben was working with her former city council colleague,

, on developing programming for LGBTQ2+ seniors in Edmonton. As part of her commitment to helping people with HIV/AIDS, she travelled to Suriname and Ghana. She also was a board member of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta. Additionally, McKibben was part of the non-partisan organization Public Interest Alberta's Democracy Taskforce from 2010 to 2011, which studied the Albertan political landscape and "the development of specific proposals for campaign and party finance reform, and a ten-point proposal in the area of gender and democracy." She was also a contributor to the Boyle McCauley News from 2010 through 2014 with a column called "Catch 66: the delights, dilemmas and difficulties of aging."

Muttart Foundation Fellowship and Book

McKibben was a Muttart Foundation Fellow in 2001 and published her book entitled ''Daunting Tasks; Dedicated People – Stories in the Management of Change in HIV/AIDS Organizations. '' In the book she discussed how organizations that provide services for people with HIV/AIDS have and could manage changes in the nature of their programming to help their clients.

Awards

McKibben received numerous awards over her career, including the

Alberta Centennial Medal The Alberta Centennial Medal is a commemorative medal celebrating Alberta's first 100 years as a province of Canada. History In 2005, the ''Alberta Centennial Medal Act'' established the Alberta Centennial Medal. Purpose The ''Alberta Centenni ...

in 2005 and the Alberta College of Social Workers' John Hutton Memorial Award for Social Action/Policy in both 1994 and 2014.

Personal life

McKibben was married to Karen Matthews and had three daughters, Rhianna and Rowan Flaherty, and Kathleen Thompson.

Death

McKibben died suddenly in Mexico on January 30, 2014, while on vacation with her wife. In a press release on January 31, 2014, then-NDP leader

(a former Edmonton city councillor himself) thanked her for her service to the people of Edmonton and wrote:

Sherry was a strong and compassionate woman whose commitment to people was visible throughout her career. During our work together representing Ward 3 on Edmonton City Council, I was deeply impressed by Sherry's intelligence and work ethic.

Sherry made an important contribution to Alberta's New Democrats. She served as the president of the party, represented the party as a candidate in two provincial elections and worked as Chief of Staff for the NDP caucus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKibben, Sherry Women municipal councillors in Alberta Edmonton city councillors LGBTQ municipal councillors in Canada 1944 births 2014 deaths Alberta New Democratic Party candidates in Alberta provincial elections 20th-century Canadian municipal councillors 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian lesbian politicians 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians