Amanda Burrows to be next Vancouver-Strathcona MLA, will sit in opposition

The woman who oversaw a $92 million overhaul of a 1965 church into Indigenous social and supportive housing in the Downtown Eastside is headed to the B.C. legislature. Amanda Burrows will be the next MLA for Vancouver-Strathcona, Daily Hive reported, and she will sit on the opposition side.

The election ended with the BC NDP losing its majority government. Burrows and the party will serve as the official opposition to the Conservative government.

Burrows described Vancouver-Strathcona as one of the lowest-income ridings in the province, and said affordability came up with voters far more often than the early election call did. She named human rights, trans rights, Indigenous rights, and protections for workers and renters as her focus.

Before entering politics, Burrows was executive director of First United, where she was responsible for completing that redevelopment. Earlier this year she ran for the OneCity mayoral candidate seat and lost to William Azaroff. The BC NDP announced at the beginning of October that she would be its candidate in Vancouver-Strathcona.

She takes over a seat previously held by Joan Phillip, the BC NDP MLA who died in August. Burrows had door-knocked for Phillip during the 2023 provincial by-election campaign and in the 2024 general election. Phillip's widower, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, endorsed Burrows as the candidate for the riding, and Burrows told Daily Hive she plans to carry forward the work Joan Phillip began.

Burrows also said she wants to work with Vancouver's new City Council, which has elected a progressive supermajority.