The former MLA, British Columbia’s first minister of mental health and addictions, and labour leader Judy Darcy discusses her memoir Leading from the Heart: The Battles of a Feminist, Union Leader and Politician (Douglas & McIntyre, 2025), with Joseph Planta.
 |
Leading from the Heart: The Battles of a Feminist, Union Leader and Politician by Judy Darcy (Douglas & McIntyre, 2025).
Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Leading from the Heart |
Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:
I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.
Judy Darcy joins me now. Her memoir has just been published, Leading from the Heart: The Battles of a Feminist, Union Leader and Politician. It’s an engaging book about her life and careers. She was born in Denmark and immigrated to Canada as a young child. She recounts the stories of her parents, her mother and her father, who came to Canada with the traumas of their individual experiences during the Second World War. The hatred and violence they each encountered would go on to shape their children’s lives, and in Judy’s case, though she didn’t know all of it right away. As she unravels threads of her parents lives, we as readers see as the book unfolds, the characters of her parents are fully revealed. Though Judy’s mother took her own life nearly fifty years ago, the meaning of her life is something that Judy contends with and honours in the book. Even their family name was something that her father had changed. The book also chronicles Judy’s college life in the late 1960s, through her labour activism which culminated in her being president of Canada’s largest union, CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees. When she moved to British Columbia later on, she led the Hospital Employees’ Union starting in 2003. She recounts in the book labour negotiations at the highest level, and reflects on the importance of labour unions today. The book also looks at moving into the world of politics. She was elected an NDP MLA in 2013, serving through to 2020 as British Columbia’s first minister of mental health and addictions. This new book is from Douglas & McIntyre. We spoke one week ago, with Judy joining me from New Westminster. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Judy Darcy; Ms. Darcy, good morning.
The post Judy Darcy first appeared on thecommentary.ca.