Andrea Reimer

Andrea Reimer is a Canadian politician, who serves on Vancouver, British Columbia's City Council. She was first elected in 2002 to the Vancouver School Board as a Green Party candidate. She was defeated as a Green Party candidate in her re-election campaign in 2005 and then joined the Vision Vancouver party to support Gregor Robertson's mayoral campaign. She subsequently ran for and won a council seat in the 2008 municipal election.

Reimer grew up with adversity, a background she shares openly to inspire others, and prompt concern about homeless people. Reimer was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and put into foster care. When she was 8 months old she was adopted by a couple from Vancouver who subsequently relocated to Calgary prior to her starting school. Reimer's adoptive parents divorced when she was a pre-teen.

Reimer smoked her first cigarette and took her first alcoholic drink at the age of 10, and started to experiment with illicit drugs at the age of 11, and LSD at the age of 12. She drifted into a life on the streets from the ages of 14-19 which included extensive worldwide travel to places throughout Canada, the United States, Asia, Central America, Europe and North Africa. During this period she dumpster-dived, got arrested several times, got involved in hard drugs and developed addictions. When she was 18, Reimer worked in El Salvador at a low income housing project, which she later cited as the catalyst for her environmental awareness.

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