Judi Tyabji Wilson
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Judeline Tyabji (aka Judi Tyabji Wilson) (born circa 1965) is a former provincial and municipal politician in British Columbia, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Victoria. Born in Kolkata, India, her family immigrated to Canada and settled in British Columbia while she was a child.
[edit] Political Career
Tyabji first became active as a Young Liberal in university, attending national conventions on policy. Tyabji first ran for election in a by-election in Penticton as a British Columbia Liberal Party candidate in opposition to Bill Vander Zalm's government. At the time she was a 23 year old single mother of a two month old boy. In the 1991 provincial election she ran again and was elected to the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for the interior riding of Okanagan East. With her election victory, the 26-year old Tyabji became the youngest woman, the second youngest person, the first Indo-Canadian woman, and the first pregnant woman elected to the provincial office in BC.
After the election, she was appointed by BC Liberal Party leader Gordon Wilson as the party's critic for Environment, Agriculture, and Women's Equality. In the fall of 1992, she was appointed as House Leader for the Official Opposition.
In 1993, it came to light that Tyabji and Wilson were having an extramarital affair, and Wilson was defeated soon afterwards as party leader at a BC Liberal Party leadership review. Wilson and Tyabji subsequently crossed the floor to form a new party, the Progressive Democratic Alliance.
Wilson and Tyabji were married in 1994. Tyabji, however, lost custody of her three young children to her former husband Kim Sandana. She began speaking out for reform of the family justice system and her case was featured in family law reviews and television programs regarding alleged bias against career mothers. Her appearances included a guest spot on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In the 1996 provincial election, Tyabji was defeated in her bid for re-election by her former brother-in-law John Weisbeck.
From 1996 to 1998, Tyabji hosted a weekday current events talk show Tyabji on Victoria television station CHEK. She had earlier hosted a live radio program The Judi Tyabji Show in Kelowna while serving as MLA. She produced and hosted a multimedia online current events program, The Westerly, from 2001 to 2002 and continues to be involved in multimedia production.
She briefly returned to politics from 1999 to 2001 when she was elected to the local government in Powell River, serving as a municipal councillor and regional district director.
Tyabji is currently the CEO of a software company in British Columbia.
[edit] Books
In 1994 she wrote Political Affairs (Horsdal and Schubart) about BC politics and the story behind the headlines during Gordon Wilson's leadership. In 2002 she wrote Daggers Unsheathed (Heritage House) about the rise and fall of BC Premier Glen Clark and some of the disturbing stories behind his downfall.
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