Tim Stevenson (born 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 A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

United Church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestantism, Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinc ...

minister. He served as councillor on the

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city ...

from 2002 to 2018, initially as a member of the Coalition of Progressive Electors and from 2005 as a member of Vision Vancouver. He was a founding member of Vision Vancouver.

Background

Stevenson received a B.A. from 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 ...

, a M.A., Spirituality from Holy Names College in

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where he studied with Matthew Fox and a M.Div from the

Vancouver School of Theology The Vancouver School of Theology is a Christian ecumenical divinity school located on the campus of and affiliated with the University of British Columbia. Faculty * Mari Joerstad, Dean, Professor of Hebrew Bible * Joni Sancken, Professor of H ...

. In 1992 he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

by the British Columbia Conference of the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada. The United Chu ...

. Stevenson was the first openly gay person to be ordained in Canada. In 1993 he began his ministry at St. Paul's United Church in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

. He also served as a board member at the First United Church in the

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 ...

for 10 years. Stevenson has worked in the

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and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. In 1991 he was a Canadian representative at the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

Conference in

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when

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

was elected ANC party president. In 1994 he was an international observer in

's first election after the fall of apartheid. Also in

he has worked with the Black Liberation Gay and Lesbian Movement and other organizations that focus on social injustices.

Political career

In the 1996 Provincial election he was elected in Vancouver-Burrard 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 ...

as 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 ...

. He was the first openly gay MLA elected in British Columbia. He served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health as well as the deputy speaker of the House. Between 2000 and 2001 he held a cabinet position as Minister for Employment and Investment. He was the first openly gay cabinet minister (either provincial or federal) in Canada. He lost his provincial seat in 2001 to Lorne Mayencourt of the B.C. Liberals. In 2002 he was elected to the

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 ...

. As a member of the city council and board member of Tourism Vancouver, he is known for modernizing

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 ...

's entertainment and tourism industry. When

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

became legalized in British Columbia, Stevenson performed the first legal gay weddings in the province. In 2014 Stevenson represented the city of Vancouver as deputy mayor at the Sochi Olympics. He met with the President's Office of the International Olympic Committee urging them to add "sexual orientation" to the Olympic Charter. They subsequently did so. Stevenson was a candidate in the 2005 provincial election, again in Vancouver-Burrard. Conflicting results throughout election night had both Stevenson and Mayencourt declared the victor at different times, and the uncertainty continued for several weeks. In the official count of regular ballots, Stevenson was declared the winner by 17 votes. However, when absentee ballots were counted on May 30, 2005, Mayencourt was declared the winner by a margin of 18 votes. After a judicial recount, Mayencourt was declared the victor by 11 votes. Stevenson won re-election as a city councillor in the 2005 Vancouver municipal election as a member of Vision Vancouver, and again in the 2008 election and the 2011 election.

Personal

Stevenson's spouse for 14 years has been Gary Paterson, another minister and former moderator of the United Church of Canada. Same sex marriage in Canada is legal, and Stevenson and Paterson were legally married in 2004.

Electoral record

References

External links

Tim Stevenson
at Vancouver City Council {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Tim 1945 births Living people British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs LGBTQ Protestant clergy Canadian gay politicians Canadian LGBTQ people in provincial and territorial legislatures Ministers of the United Church of Canada Vision Vancouver councillors Holy Names University alumni LGBTQ municipal councillors in Canada Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian municipal councillors