Iona V. Campagnolo was the Liberal MP for Skeena, British Columbia between 1974 and 1979 and Minister responsible for Fitness and Amateur Sport between 1976 and 1979. In 1982, she was elected National President of the Liberal Party, the first woman to ever hold this position, and served in this capacity until 1986.
Since leaving politics, Campagnolo has continued to be a regular television commentator for the U.S. based Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and is a Board Member of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, The Commonwealth of Learning, and the Fraser Basin Management Programme for Sustainability. She is the founding Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada's first new university in twenty-five years. Campagnolo has been awarded the Order of Canada and holds an honourary Doctor of Laws from Simon Fraser University.
