Carole James

Carole Alison James, MLA (born December 22, 1957) is a Canadian politician and former public administrator. She is the former Leader of the Opposition in British Columbia and former leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP), a social democratic political party. She announced her intention to resign as leader on December 6, 2010 and was officially replaced by interim leader Dawn Black on January 20, 2011.

Background

James was born in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, and raised in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and in Victoria, British Columbia. After graduating from high school, James and her first husband worked in institutions for the developmentally disabled in Alberta and British Columbia. As a mother of young children, Alison and Evan, she became involved in a parents' group in Victoria, which led to her first foray into politics. James is part Métis, and in 2004 married her long-time partner, Albert Gerow, a First Nations artist and former Burns Lake municipal councillor and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. Gerow is now the chief of the Burns lake Band in Burns Lake.