Sue Hammell (born June 18, 1945) is 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 was 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 ...

for Surrey-Green Timbers 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 ...

from 1991 to 2001, and from 2005 to 2017. A member of the

British Columbia New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...

(BC NDP), she served in several cabinet posts under

Premiers 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 governm ...

Mike Harcourt Michael Franklin Harcourt Officer of the Order of Canada, OC (born January 6, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 30th premier of British Columbia from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th List of mayors of Vancouver ...

Glen Clark Glen David Clark (born November 22, 1957) is a Canadian retail executive and former politician who served as the 31st premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999. Early life and education Clark attended independent Roman Catholic schools, na ...

and

Ujjal Dosanjh Ujjal Dev Dosanjh (; born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011. He was minister of he ...

Background

Hammell was born 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 ...

, and grew up on Sea Island in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. She attended 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 ...

, from which she received a bachelor of arts degree in education. She worked as a teacher in

Verdun, Quebec Verdun ( , , ) is a Montreal borough, borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, located in the southeastern part of the island. Long known as a working class neighbourhood, it has experienced significant gentrification and s ...

and

Courtenay, British Columbia Courtenay ( ) is a city of about 26,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the largest community and only List of cities in British Columbia, city in th ...

before moving to

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, settling in the Green Timbers area in 1990 with her husband. Before entering provincial politics, she was the executive assistant to the mayor of Surrey. She participated in the founding of the Minerva Foundation for B.C. Women in 1999. She and her husband John Pollard (d. 2019) had one adult daughter, named Sage.

Political career

She was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the riding of Surrey-Green Timbers in the 1991 election, and was named to the cabinet by

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 ...

in October 1995, serving as Minister of Housing, Recreation and Consumer Services. After

assumed the premiership in February 1996, Hammell was appointed Minister for Women's Equality. She was re-elected in the May 1996 provincial election, and retained her role in the cabinet. With Clark embroiled in scandal, Hammell resigned her cabinet post in July 1999, stating she could not "in good conscience" stay on in the executive council. She re-entered the cabinet in February 2000 under new Premier

, serving as Minister of Multiculturalism and Immigration, and Minister Responsible for the Public Service. With the NDP trailing in the polls, Hammell was defeated in the 2001 election by

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 Brenda Locke. While out of the legislature, she worked as executive director for Surrey Aboriginal Society in 2002. She then returned to the Assembly by winning back the Surrey-Green Timbers seat from Locke in the 2005 election. She was handily re-elected 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 ...

with more than 72% of the vote, and kept her seat in the 2013 election. She served as the NDP's deputy house leader and critic for women's issues, child care and early learning in the 39th Parliament, and as critic for mental health and addictions in the 40th Parliament. She announced in January 2017 that she would not run in that May's election, citing the need to care for her ailing husband; she served out the remainder of her term. In the same year she co-founded consulting firm Composite Public Affairs, and registered as a lobbyist.

Election results

, - , - ,

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 ...

, Sue Hammell , align="right", 5,592 , align="right", 36.31% , align="right", -13.80% , align="right", $37,237 , - ,

, Sue Hammell , align="right", 10,278 , align="right", 50.11% , align="right", +3.95% , align="right", $36,931 , - , Progressive Conservative , Cliff Blair , align="right", 179 , align="right", 0.87% , align="right", n/a , align="right", , Independent , Don Knight , align="right", 101 , align="right", 0.49% , align="right", n/a , align="right", $1,245 ,

Natural Law Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...

, Ross Ranger , align="right", 32 , align="right", 0.16% , align="right", n/a , align="right", $110 , - ,

, Sue Hammell , align="right", 8,708 , align="right", 46.16% , align="right", n/a , align="right", $32,800 , -

Cabinet positions

References

External links

40th Parliament MLA Biography
Retrieved January 5, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hammell, Sue 1945 births Living people British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Women government ministers of Canada Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from Surrey, British Columbia Politicians from Vancouver Women MLAs in British Columbia 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians University of British Columbia alumni 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia