Occupation: Councillor
Key Issues:
-
Homelessness
-
Preserving Farmland and Green Space
-
Reducing Crime
A graduate of the University of California with a Bachelor of Arts, I have been a Surrey resident for 41 years where husband Michael and I have two sons and two grandsons.
A member of Council for 23 years, I Chair the Social Planning Committee and strongly supported the development of Surrey’s ground-breaking Sustainability Charter and innovative Crime Reduction Strategy.
I am proud that Surrey was the first city in BC to establish a Homelessness and Housing Foundation with a $9 million endowment. Over the past two years outreach workers have placed 356 homeless in permanent housing.
Balancing new job creation with protecting farmland is the foundation for sustainable cities and that’s why I worked for Surrey’s new Ecosystem Management Strategy. While we are attracting new jobs and investment to our community, 35% of Surrey’s land base remains agricultural and we have 7,800 acres of parks and wildlife areas.
The fact that we have the largest urban wildlife corridor of any major city in Canada demonstrates that our balanced approach is working.
With a keen interest in Canadian literature, I was the Pacific Co-ordinator for The Writers’ Union of Canada for two decades. In 2004 I received the Surrey Leader Newspaper’s “Community Builder” Award.
I also serve on the Surrey Homelessness Society, the Public Art Advisory Committee and the Finance and Public Safety Committees. I am Vice Chair of Metro Vancouver’s Housing Committee and serve on Metro Vancouver’s Intergovernmental, Regional Culture and Planning Committees.
I live in Crescent Beach and I am a member of the independent and non-partisan Surrey First team.