Austin B.C.’s next lieutenant-governor
Longtime Metro YWCA CEO a champion of affordable child care and housing
VICTORIA — Metro Vancouver YWCA CEO Janet Austin is B.C.’s next lieutenant-governor.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to make the announcement Tuesday morning just as Gov.-Gen. Julie Payette arrives in Victoria for a scheduled tour of the legislature.
Austin has been CEO of YWCA Metro Vancouver since 2002. She’s used the position as the head of one of the province’s most diversified non-profit organizations to advocate for more affordable child care and housing solutions, as well as a larger role for women in leadership positions.
She sits on more than a dozen boards or committees, including the TransLink board as vice-chair, and has volunteered her time and expertise to a number of organizations, including the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, where she served as chair in 2014, and the United Way of the Lower Mainland.
Austin will replace Judith Guichon, a cattle rancher from the Nicola Valley who was appointed B.C.’s 29th lieutenant-governor in 2012.
Under Austin’s leadership, the YWCA more than doubled its operational budget from $12 million in 2003 to $29 million in 2017 and expanded its reach across the region with about 400 employees and more than 700 volunteers.
She has championed the YWCA’s entrepreneurial, non-profit model, using revenue generated from the YWCA Beatty Hotel, currently undergoing an expansion, and a health and fitness centre in downtown Vancouver to offset the cost of providing YWCA’s programs and services.
With Austin at the helm, the YWCA doubled its stock of affordable housing for single mothers and children, opening seven new housing communities in Vancouver, Surrey, Coquitlam and North Vancouver. She also made helping women achieve economic independence a YWCA mission, a strategic focus now reflected in the organization’s programming and advocacy.
Before serving at the YWCA, Austin was the executive director of the Big Sisters of B.C. Lower Mainland. She was also a past director of development services for B.C. Housing, a job in which she oversaw the development of housing for seniors and families, including social housing, transition housing, homeless shelters and group homes.
Among Austin’s many awards and recognitions are the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. In 2016, she was awarded the Order of B.C., the province’s highest honour, by Guichon in Victoria for her work at the YWCA championing new social services and programs.
Born and raised in Calgary, Austin graduated from the University of Calgary in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in English. In 2013, she was awarded an honorary doctor of laws at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
As lieutenant-governor, Austin will serve as the Queen’s personal representative in B.C., reading the government’s annual throne speech and providing royal assent to provincial laws.