Diane McGifford

Who is Diane McGifford?

Diane Ethel McGifford is a Manitoba politician, and a current member of Premier Greg Selinger's cabinet.

McGifford was born in Manchester, England, and moved to Manitoba at a young age. She was educated at the University of Manitoba, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970, a Master of Arts degree in 1974, and a Ph.D. in English in 1979. She subsequently worked as a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg, and has served as a director of the Fort Garry Women's Resource Centre and Kali-Shiva AIDS Services. McGifford has edited Shakti's Words: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women's Poetry and The Geography of Voice: Canadian Literature of the South Asian Diaspora.

McGifford was elected to the Manitoba assembly in the provincial election of 1995, defeating incumbent Liberal Norma McCormick by almost one thousand votes in the central Winnipeg riding of Osborne. She was easily re-elected in the 1999 election in the redistributed riding of Lord Roberts.

The New Democratic Party won the election of 1999, and McGifford was appointed to Premier Gary Doer's first cabinet as Minister of Culture, Heritage and Tourism on October 5, 1999.