Jenny Kwan

Jenny Wai Ching Kwan (born in 1967) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian politician. She was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia for the riding of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, and a senior member of the provincial caucus of the New Democratic Party. After serving for 20 years in the provincial legislative assembly, she was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 election, representing Vancouver East.

Kwan emigrated to Canada at age nine with her family from Hong Kong. She speaks English, French, and Cantonese. She graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology. She worked as a community legal advocate in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside before entering politics. It is a troubled and impoverished area comprised largely by new immigrants and ethnic minorities.

Vancouver city councillor

In 1993, Kwan at age 26 was elected as the youngest-ever member of Vancouver City Council. She was the sole representative of the civic party known as COPE throughout her term on council.

Provincial politics

In 1996, Kwan entered provincial politics. After being nominated, she was elected as the MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, in East Vancouver. She succeeded Mike Harcourt, who was elected as Premier .

In 2001, Kwan, along with Joy MacPhail, was one of only two NDP MLAs to survive the party's electoral defeat. She was re-elected in 2005, 2009, and 2013.

Leadership controversy, December 2010

In December 2010, Kwan released a statement to the media criticizing NDP party leader Carole James, and calling for an immediate leadership convention, after party candidates suffered defeat in the 2009 election. In response to Kwan's statement, James called an emergency caucus session to address opposition to her continued leadership. Before the caucus meeting was held, however, James announced her resignation as party leader. While Kwan was accused of self-interest, at the time she claimed to have no plans to run for the leadership of the party.

Portland Hotel Society controversy, March 2014

In March 2014, an audit of the Portland Hotel Society showed that Kwan's ex-husband, Dan Small, had improperly expensed the cost of a family Disneyland trip to the Society. At the time of the trip, Kwan had still been married to Small and had participated in the trip with their children. When the audit became public, Kwan held a press conference where she denied any knowledge that the Society had paid for the trip, and said she would reimburse the Society. Following the conference, Kwan took a brief leave of absence.

Election to the House of Commons

In January 2015, Kwan announced that she would be seeking the New Democratic Party of Canada nomination in Vancouver East for the 2015 federal election. Mable Elmore was also seeking the party's nomination in the riding. Kwan was nominated on March 22, and sought to replace Libby Davies as the Member of Parliament for the riding. She was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in October 2015, defeating Liberal Party candidate Edward Wong and Conservative Party candidate James Low by a wide margin. On November 12, she was appointed as her party's critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Federal

Provincial