Carmen Carriere lives with her family on the territory of the Tsawwassen and Musqeum First Nations in Vancouver, BC. She is the newly elected Chairperson for the Metis Women of BC (MWBC) and holds the portfolios for Women and Gender Equity and the Ministry of Health and Wellness with Métis Nation British Columbia. Carmen is a proud Michif woman whose roots run deep in the Red River, where her father and grandparents were born.
Prior to being elected, Carmen was a secondary Social Studies and English teacher and an advocate for pediatric heart transplantation and children living with disability. Upon returning to Vancouver following her daughter’s heart transplant at the Hospital For Sick Children in 2003, Carmen saw many gaps in services for transplanted children in BC and thus began her work to advocate for a solid organ transplant clinic and heart transplant program at BC Children’s Hospital.
Carmen has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Bachelor of Education, both from the University of British Columbia. Carmen completed the Indigenous Women in Community Leadership program through the Coady Institute at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia – a program that she now serves as a mentor for. Carmen enjoys writing non-fiction, reading, walking at the beach and spending time with her family.