Melanie Mark

Born of Nisga'a, Gitxsan, Cree, and Ojibway ancestry, Mark was raised in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood in difficult circumstances. She credits her aunts and grandparents with helping her get through the death of her younger brother who was killed by a semi trailer while riding a bicycle, her mother's addiction and subsequent homelessness, and her father's fatal overdose.[2][3]

After attending six different high schools, including Van Tech, Tupper, and Ladysmith, she became the first person in her family to graduate from high school and attend college and university. She earned a degree in political science at Simon Fraser University (SFU) after attending several different schools, including Van Tech,[4] Douglas College, Native Education College, and Queen's School of Business. She worked with the Native Court Workers' Association, Covenant House, the RCMP in Hazelton as a summer student, and as the national aboriginal project coordinator for Save the Children Canada's Sacred Lives Project.[4]

From 2000 to 2006, Mark served as president of the Urban Native Youth Association. She is the co-founder of the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre.[5] Beginning in 2007, she worked for eight years in the Office of the Representative for Children and Youth, becoming an associate deputy representative in 2013.[6] The Office is the supporting agency for the Representative for Children and Youth, a non-partisan officer of the BC Legislature reporting directly to the BC Legislative Assembly, mandated to advocate for young people and families going through the provincial child and youth welfare system.

In 2006, Mark received the YWCA Vancouver Young Woman of Distinction Award, and in 2015, she received the Chief Joe Mathias Leadership Award from the Native Education College.[7] In 2016, she was the recipient of the inaugural Janusz Korczak Medal for Children's Rights Advocacy[8] and in 2018, she was the recipient of the Stenberg College, Be the Change, Community Leadership Award.[9]

She has two daughters.[5] In January 2018, she married Cassidy Kannemeyer, a basketball coach for Capilano University.[10]

Melanie Mark was first elected on February 2, 2016, in a by-election, winning with 61% of the vote and defeating BC Liberal Party candidate Gavin Dew and Green Party of British Columbia candidate Pete Fry.[11] She is the first Indigenous woman elected to the Legislature of British Columbia.[6] Following the BC general election, Mark was named as the Minister of Advanced Education in July 2017.[12]

As Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training, Mark oversaw policy changes that made college and university more accessible to more British Columbians. She created the Provincial Tuition Waiver program, which supports youth in and from the foster system to access post secondary education tuition free.[13] She oversaw the creation of the B.C. Access Grant, which provides upfront, non-repayable financial assistance to low- and middle-income students enrolled in full-time studies at B.C. colleges and universities,[14][15] as well as the elimination of fees for Adult Basic Education and English language learning programs[16] and interest on provincial student loans.[17]