'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
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
3 law officers serving warrant are killed, 5 wounded in shootout at North Carolina home, police say
Three officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and five other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday at a North Carolina home, police said.
'Shocked and concerned': Calgary principal charged with possession of child pornography
A Calgary elementary school principal has been charged with possession of child pornography, authorities announced Monday.
Health authority confirms cockroaches at B.C. hospital, insists they 'do not bite'
The Vancouver Island Health Authority is downplaying what staff describe as a cockroach infestation in a medical unit of Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
Toronto police arrest 12 people, lay 102 charges in major credit card fraud scheme
Toronto police say 12 people are facing a combined 102 charges in connection with an investigation into a major credit fraud scheme.
Winner of US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot is an immigrant from Laos who has cancer
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Britney and Jamie Spears settlement avoids long, potentially ugly and revealing trial
Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears will avoid what could have been a long, ugly and revealing trial with a settlement of the lingering issues in the court conservatorship that controlled her life and financial decisions for nearly 14 years.
WATCH 'Double whammy': What happens if you don't file your taxes by the deadline
The clock is ticking ahead of the deadline to file a 2023 income tax return. A personal finance expert explains why you should get them done -- even if you owe more than you can pay.