Jenny Kwan
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For the California Dreams actress, please see Jennie Kwan
Jenny Wai Ching Kwan （Chinese: 關慧貞; pinyin: Guān Hùizhēn）is a Chinese-born Canadian politician. She is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for the NDP.
Kwan emigrated to Canada at age 9 from Hong Kong. She graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in criminology and was as a community legal advocate in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
In 1993, Kwan became the youngest-ever member of Vancouver City Council. She was the sole representative of the COPE party throughout her term on council. In 1996 she moved to provincial politics, successfully winning the East Vancouver seat of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant for the NDP.
After two years in a variety of parliamentary secretary positions, Kwan was promoted to cabinet as Minister of Municipal Affairs. She remained in cabinet from 1998 to 2001, going on to serve as Minister of Women’s Equality and Minister of Community Development, Cooperatives and Volunteers.
Kwan, along with Joy MacPhail, was one of two NDP MLAs to survive the party's electoral wipeout of 2001. She has since served as the chair of the standing committee on public accounts in the legislature.
Kwan, as expected by many pundits, got re-elected in the 2005 British Columbia Provincial Election; she was one of only 2 MLA's from the New Democratic Party to face re-election. The other was Jagrup Brar.
Between elections, Kwan was invited by director Ling Chiu to play the part of eldest sister in the 2004 short film A Fortune In Frozen Dim Sum.
| Preceded by: Michael Harcourt |
Member of Legislative Assembly for British Columbia provincial riding - Vancouver-Mount Pleasant (1996-) |
Succeeded by: Incumbent |
