Doreen Hamilton (née Munholland) was born in Regina on May 17, 1951. She attended the University of Regina and then taught in Southey. In 1972, she married Robert Gordon Hamilton and moved to British Columbia, where she taught kindergarten in Burn Lake until she returned to Saskatchewan in 1975. Hamilton was elected to Regina City Council in 1985 and re-elected in 1988. She was chairperson of the Mayor’s Task Force on Women’s Issues and a member of the Mayor’s Board of Inquiry on Hunger. She served as interim mayor of Regina for one month in 1988, a position that no woman had previously held. She was elected as the NDP MLA for Regina Wascana Plains and has retained her seat since then. In 1998, Hamilton was appointed Minister of Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming, and Minister responsible for the Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation, the Public Service Commission, and the Wascana Centre Authority. After NDP leader Lorne Calvert assumed the duties of Premier in February 2001, Hamilton held these ministerial positions until October 2001. In April 2003, she was appointed as legislative secretary to Premier Calvert and as chair of his Voluntary Sector Initiative, which was established to strengthen the relationship between the public and volunteer sectors in Saskatchewan.
Jenn Ruddy