I have brought a lifetime of service to the SD62 board table — as a nurse, a foster parent, a labour and community advocate, and now as your trustee. Here is my record on the board this term, and the experience behind it.
My record on the board
Five of the seven trustees elected in 2022 were new to the role, and I was one of them. That first year was a steep climb — learning the School Act, learning the district, learning how a board actually governs. I put in the work, and I am not learning on the job any more.
Committee service
- Chair, Education Policy Committee
- Governance Committee
- BCPSEA District Representative
- Trustee Liaison — Victoria Family Court Youth Justice, NA’TSA’MAHT, and Village Initiative Committees
- PAC & SPEAC Member, School Safety Committee
Schools opened during this board’s term
- PEXSISEṈ Elementary
- Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School
- SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ Elementary
In development
- North Langford Secondary — I want to see it open by 2029, and I intend to be at the table pushing until it does.
How I serve
I attend every meeting. Early in my first term I was hospitalized with COVID, and rather than miss meetings I joined them online from my hospital room. I engage in open, honest dialogue with our partner groups, and I value the work our executive team does to put proper materials in front of trustees so that meetings are productive rather than performative.
The relationships I have built around that table — with CUPE, SPEAC, SP/VPA and STA — are the achievement I am most proud of from this term. Good governance is not a set of motions. It runs on whether the people in the room trust each other.
A life of service
| 1982–present | Hospital Employees Union member; HEU and CUPE National executive and committee positions |
| 1992 | Helped establish HEU’s four equity standing committees and enshrine them in the constitution |
| 1993–2005 | Delegate, Victoria Labour Council |
| 1994 | Advocated the CLC amendment recognising Indigenous people as distinct from other equity groups |
| 7 years | Chair, HEU First Nations Standing Committee |
| 2000–2005 | Volunteer, Victoria Status of Women’s Action Group |
| 2003–2010 | Worker representative, Employment Insurance Board of Referees |
| 2004–2005 | Board of Directors, BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society |
| 2005 | Advisor, Surrounded by Cedar — Victoria Native Friendship Centre |
| 2005–2025 | Restricted foster parent |
| 2011–2013 | Board of Directors, Victoria Native Friendship Centre |
| 2011–2022 | First Nations Role Model, SD62 |
| 2022–present | Trustee, SD62 Board of Education |
I have walked a lot of picket lines over the years, my own and other people’s. United we stand, divided we fall. Solidarity forever. That has been my motto a long time.