Katrina Chen
Katrina Chen | |
|---|---|
| Minister of State for Child Care of British Columbia | |
| In office July 18, 2017 – December 7, 2022 | |
| Premier | John Horgan |
| Preceded by | Stephanie Cadieux (as Minister of Children and Family Development) |
| Succeeded by | Grace Lore |
| Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Burnaby-Lougheed | |
| In office May 9, 2017 – September 21, 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Jane Shin |
| Succeeded by | Rohini Arora |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Chen Wei-Chen July 14, 1983 Taichung, Taiwan |
| Party | New Democratic Party |
Katrina Wei-Chen Chen (Chinese: 陳葦蓁; born July 14, 1983) is a Canadian politician and author who represented the electoral district of Burnaby-Lougheed in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2017 to 2024. In 2025, she published the children's book A Stronger Home.
Early life and career
Chen was raised in Taichung, Taiwan, where her father was a member of the city council.[1] In 2000, when she was 17, Chen immigrated to Canada on her own and completed her education in British Columbia.[2] She earned a bachelor's degree in political science with a minor in history from Simon Fraser University, and also earned a certificate in immigration laws, policies and procedures from the University of British Columbia.[3]
She served as a trustee on the Burnaby Board of Education and worked in both provincial and federal government constituency offices for over 10 years.
Political career
Chen was first elected to the legislature in the 2017 British Columbia general election.[4] After the NDP formed government, Chen was appointed to the cabinet of John Horgan as Minister of State for Child Care.[5]
During her time as a cabinet minister, Chen led the Child Care BC plan to start a new social program in BC – an affordable, quality, inclusive early learning and care system for all families, and successfully negotiated the first Canada-Wide early learning agreement with the federal government with billions of new funding for child care.[6][7]
Chen was the Chair of the Child Care Working Group and served on many Cabinet committees, including the COVID-19 Working Group, Priorities and Accountability Committee, and Social Initiatives Committee.
As part of an initiative to increase the number of early childhood educators in the province, she has championed dual-credit programs throughout BC which will allow grade 11 and 12 students to earn post secondary credits toward early childhood careers.[8] During her tenure, she led the implementation of dozens of new initiatives to bring down the cost of child care, to support the early childhood education workforce including the new wage enhancement program, and to accelerate the creation of new child care and before and after school care spaces across B.C. communities.
After Horgan announced his retirement as premier and party leader, Chen was suggested by pundits as a possible candidate in the party leadership election.[9] Instead, she endorsed David Eby, doing so before Eby had announced his intentions.[10] After Eby formally announced his leadership bid, Chen joined as co-chair of his campaign, alongside Ravi Kahlon.[11]
After Eby was successful in his leadership bid and sworn in as premier, Chen was speculated to receive a major role in his cabinet.[12] However, Chen declined to join the new cabinet and later announced that she would not seek re-election in 2024, citing the need to address trauma resulting from gender-based violence.[13][14]
Current work
Her children's book, A Stronger Home, was published by Orca Book Publishers in May 2025 and is dedicated to raising awareness about family violence and healing from a child's perspective. The book was shortlisted for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize in 2026.[15]
Chen is president of 安信 (AnXin) Community Savings Credit Union, the first credit union dedicated to serving Chinese Canadians and Chinese-language communities in British Columbia.
Awards and recognition
In 2019, Chen was recognized as one of Taiwan’s Top 10 Outstanding Young Persons (Overseas). She is also a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal.
Electoral record
| 2020 British Columbia general election: Burnaby-Lougheed | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Katrina Chen | 12,574 | 60.25 | +12.19 | $45,187.71 | |||
| Liberal | Tariq Malik | 5,386 | 25.81 | −11.15 | $32,865.72 | |||
| Green | Andrew Williamson | 2,628 | 12.59 | −1.18 | $5,054.75 | |||
| Libertarian | Dominique Paynter | 281 | 1.35 | +0.78 | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes | 20,869 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | ||||||||
| Registered voters | ||||||||
| Source: Elections BC[16] | ||||||||
| 2017 British Columbia general election: Burnaby-Lougheed | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Katrina Chen | 10,911 | 48.06 | +3.80 | $74,356.10 | |||
| Liberal | Steve Darling | 8,391 | 36.96 | −3.63 | $71,973.42 | |||
| Green | Joe Keithley | 3,127 | 13.77 | +5.54 | $8,745.26 | |||
| Independent | Sylvia Gung | 145 | 0.64 | – | $87.90 | |||
| Libertarian | Neeraj Murarka | 129 | 0.57 | – | $329.94 | |||
| Total valid votes | 22,703 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 188 | 0.82 | −0.29 | |||||
| Turnout | 22,891 | 60.81 | +4.57 | |||||
| Registered voters | 37,641 | |||||||
| Source: Elections BC[17][18] | ||||||||
References
- ^ Peng, Jenny (August 1, 2017). "Born in Taiwan, serving Canada". Taipei Times. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ "Minister of State for Child Care challenges stereotypes". Victoria, British Columbia: Government of British Columbia. Retrieved May 16, 2026.
- ^ Brooke, Mary (November 22, 2023). "MLA Katrina Chen stepping back from politics". Victoria, British Columbia: Island Social Trends. Retrieved May 16, 2026.
- ^ "NDP makes gains in Tri-Cities, Burnaby with upsets". CBC News British Columbia, May 9, 2017.
- ^ McElroy, Justin (June 29, 2017). "B.C.'s new NDP government sworn into office". CBC News. Archived from the original on October 9, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
- ^ Government, BC (May 1, 2022). "Minister's statement on child care month".
- ^ "PM Trudeau on Child Care in B.C." CPAC. December 2, 2022. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
- ^ Cobb, Ian (August 11, 2022). "Dual-credit programs for high school students expanded | Columbia Valley, Cranbrook, East Kootenay, Elk Valley, Kimberley, Ktunaxa Nation". East Kootenay News Online Weekly.
- ^ "B.C. NDP should pick a leader with Horgan's cross-province appeal, says analyst". Victoria Times Colonist. June 30, 2022. Archived from the original on July 2, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
- ^ Balzer, Jess (July 6, 2022). "Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen says she would support David Eby for BC NDP leadership". Burnaby Now. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
- ^ Balzer, Jess (July 22, 2022). "Burnaby MLA Katrina Chen to co-chair David Eby's BC NDP leadership campaign". Burnaby Now. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
- ^ DeRosa, Katie (December 5, 2012). "David Eby's cabinet shuffle likely to prioritize younger, diverse MLAs". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
- ^ Clarkson, Becca (December 7, 2022). "B.C. MLA Katrina Chen reveals history with gender-based violence, asks to be kept out of new cabinet". CTV News. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
- ^ Vanderdeen, Lauren (November 22, 2023). "Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen won't run for re-election in 2024". Burnaby Now. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
- ^ Cassandra Drudi, "Finalists announced for 2026 B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes". Quill & Quire, April 14, 2026.
- ^ "2020 Provincial General Election Final Voting Results". electionsbcenr.blob.core.windows.net. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ "2017 Provincial General Election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
- ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved September 12, 2020.