Satinder Kaur "Sindi" Hawkins (née Ahluwalia; September 15, 1958 – September 21, 2010) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly ( MLA) 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 ...

, representing Okanagan West from 1996 to 2001 and

Kelowna-Mission Kelowna-Mission is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. Demographics Geography As of the 2020 provincial election, Kelowna-Mission comprises the southeastern portion of the Regional Dist ...

from 2001 to 2009. A caucus member of the

British Columbia Liberal Party BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

, she served in the cabinet of

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Gordon Campbell as Minister of Health Planning from 2001 to 2004, and Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations from 2004 to 2005. She was the first Punjabi woman elected to a Canadian legislature, and the first Indo-Canadian woman provincial cabinet minister.

Early life and career

She was born Satinder Kaur Ahluwalia in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

; her father Manohar Singh Ahluwalia was a communications officer under

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

. She moved to Canada with her family at age 5, settling in

Sturgis, Saskatchewan Sturgis is a town of 620 people in east-central Saskatchewan, Canada. The Town of Sturgis is north of Yorkton on Highway 9. It is located in the Assiniboine River valley near the Lakes and Woods region of the province. The community was nam ...

. After graduating high school, she moved to

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

and studied at the Kelsey Institute, receiving a diploma in nursing in 1981. While in Saskatoon she met her husband Ralph Hawkins; the two divorced in the 1990s. She attended the School of Nursing of

Foothills Hospital Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) is the largest hospital in the province of Alberta and is located in the city of Calgary. Foothills Medical Centre provides healthcare services to over two million people from Calgary, and surrounding regions includ ...

and the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

, graduating with a BN in 1988, and eventually became head nurse at the

Tom Baker Cancer Centre Tom Baker Cancer Centre (TBCC) is a tertiary care facility for Southern Alberta, named for the founding chairman of the ''Alberta Cancer Board'', and is one of two tertiary cancer centres in the province. It is a lead Cancer Centre in southern A ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

. She also held a post-graduate certificate in

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

nursing from the Montreal Neurological Hospital, becoming one of the first nurses in Canada to be certified in the discipline by the Canadian Nurses Association, and served as head nurse of neurosurgery at Foothills Hospital. Hawkins then earned a law degree from the University of Calgary in 1994, was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1995, and set up her own company as a lawyer with an interest in medical-legal issues.

Politics

Hawkins ran as a

BC Liberal BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

candidate in the 1996 provincial election, and was elected MLA in the riding of Okanagan West. While the Liberals were the

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

, she served as critic for health, and for employment and investment. She was re-elected in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

in the redistributed riding of

by a margin of 12,285 votes, and was appointed to the cabinet that June by Premier Gordon Campbell to serve as Minister of Health Planning. In that role she was responsible for a long-term strategy for training more doctors and nurses in British Columbia. As a result, the province added medical school campuses at the

University of Northern British Columbia The University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) is a university serving the northern region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The main campus is located in Prince George, with additional campuses located in Prince Rupert, Terrace, ...

in Prince George, the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

, and at

UBC Okanagan The University of British Columbia Okanagan (also known as UBC Okanagan or UBCO) is a campus of the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. This campus is the research and innovation hub in the province's southern i ...

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...

. Her position was abolished in a January 2004

cabinet shuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

, and she was re-assigned as Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations. After winning re-election in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

by 5,638 votes, Hawkins was named Deputy Speaker of the Legislature that September.

Cancer diagnosis, death

In 2004, Hawkins was diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

and waged a high-profile battle with the illness; she was saved as a result of a

bone marrow transplant Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood, in order to replicate inside a patient and produce a ...

from her sister. Hawkins campaigned for cancer research and bone marrow donation awareness. The cancer recurred in late 2007, and she underwent another bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy. On November 17, 2008, Hawkins announced that she would not run for re-election in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. She began treatment for leukemia for the third time in March 2009. She died on September 21, 2010 at her eldest sister's home in Calgary, a week after her 52nd birthday. In her honour, the cancer centre in Kelowna was renamed the BC Cancer Agency Sindi Ahluwalia Hawkins Centre for the Southern Interior.

References

External links

Sindi Hawkins political website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Sindi 1958 births 2010 deaths 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 20th-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century Canadian women lawyers 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century Canadian women politicians BC United MLAs Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian people of Punjabi descent Canadian Sikhs Canadian women nurses Deaths from cancer in Alberta Deaths from leukemia in Canada Ministers of health of British Columbia Lawyers in British Columbia Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Politicians from Kelowna People from New Delhi University of Calgary alumni Women government ministers of Canada Women MLAs in British Columbia