'This place felt like a torture chamber': Melanie Mark stepping down from B.C. legislature
Melanie Mark, an Indigenous member of the British Columbia legislature and two-time cabinet minister, is stepping down as MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, she announced in the legislature Wednesday.
The former tourism minister, who resigned from cabinet and took a medical leave in September, cited personal and systemic reasons in her decision to leave provincial politics on Wednesday.
"This place felt like a torture chamber," she said while holding an eagle feather during a special address to the legislature. "I will not miss the character assassination."
Mark, whose legislature biography describes her as "the first First Nations woman Member of the Legislative Assembly in British Columbia's history," was first elected in a byelection in 2016.
Before assuming the tourism portfolio, Mark served as minister of advanced education, skills and training.
She also helped launch the world's first Indigenous Law Program at the University of Victoria in 2018.
"In many ways I have done what I came here to do, but it's also a fact that institutions fundamentally resist change," Mark told her legislature colleagues.
"They are allergic to doing things differently, particularly colonial institutions like this legislative assembly and government at large."
Mark's resignation sets the stage for a second byelection in 2023, after former premier John Horgan announced he would step down as MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca in March.
"Every memory I have of working with Melanie is a treasured one and I'm so grateful to have been her colleague," Premier David Eby said following Mark's address in the legislature.
Mark disclosed that she was recently diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and she also spoke candidly about her family members' prior struggles with drugs and alcohol.
"Never say never, but for now my canoe is heading in a different direction," she said. "I am not quitting. If anything I am standing up for myself."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
'We have laws': Premier Smith says police action justified in Calgary
The actions, including the decision to use non-lethal force, to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters from the University of Calgary campus were justified, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.