The two young women who could put an unlikely face on B.C. Conservatives’ new government

When B.C. premier-designate Lorne Doerksen considers potential cabinet members in the days ahead, there’s a good chance he will look at two notably tattooed young women with unique lived experience who would put an unexpected face on the government’s conservative policies.

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Claire Rattée, a 34-year-old tattoo shop owner and one-time Kitimat city councillor, is a former addict who believes the compassionate approach is to push addicts into treatment.

Á’a:líya Warbus, an Indigenous film-maker and artist in her early 40s, is a proud member of the Stó:lō Nation who is very skeptical of the ousted NDP’s UNDRIP legislation that has created immense uncertainty in the province.

Here’s a brief snapshot of the two re-elected MLAs and how they are likely to figure into the new majority Conservative government elected in B.C. on Saturday night and poised to undo years of NDP-created issues throughout the province.

Born in Delta in 1991, Rattée has been open about struggling with addiction to drugs and living on the streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in her late teens.

“I know what it feels like to be cold, hungry and exhausted, and still have drugs matter more than anything else,” the self-described recovering addict wrote on X earlier this month.

She moved to Kitimat and began rebuilding her life in 2011, establishing her own tattoo studio, Arcane Arts Inc. — still operated by co-founder spouse Colton — before entering municipal politics in 2014 at 21 and going on to serve a four-year term.

Rattée pivoted to federal politics in 2019, but failed to win the Skeena—Bulkley Valley seat for the Conservative Party of Canada. She won the provincial Skeena riding in 2024 for former B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad, who quickly appointed her as the party’s shadow cabinet critic for mental health and addictions.

She was one of the MLAs pushed out of the party amid the brief turmoil created by Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s brief leadership, but rejoined after Doerksen took over.

While Saturday’s results are still unofficial, Rattée captured 51.5 per cent of the vote to secure another win over NDP challenger Sarah Zimmerman.

“There are families waiting for healthcare, seniors waiting for housing and care, children who deserve better opportunities, people struggling with addiction who deserve a path to recovery, and communities waiting for the investments and attention they need,” she wrote on X Saturday.

“They are the reason this work matters. And they will remain at the heart of everything I do.”

I am struggling to find the words tonight. My heart is so incredibly full.

Skeena, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Thank you for putting your trust in me once again. Thank you for believing in me, for standing beside me, and for giving me the incredible honour of…

— Claire Rattée (@ClaireRattee) October 25, 2026

“This is an issue that is deeply personal to me,” she shared on X when Rustad appointed her critic. “As someone who has faced challenges with addiction, mental health, and homelessness, I understand how critical it is for those struggling to have ready access to the support and services they need to recover and rebuild their lives.”

Rattée has been vocal in her shadow cabinet role, accusing former NDP premier David Eby and his government of having being too focused on “reduction measures” without enough on “harm prevention”

“The narrative that it’s pushing, in my opinion, is almost one of if you’re an addict, you’re always going to be an addict, and so we just need to make sure you can do it in the safest way possible,” she told Northern Beat.

“It’s absolutely disgusting, in my opinion. You’re just feeding people free drugs and trying to keep them high and not giving them a way out, a path out of that life.”

Rattée often uses her own story as an example that the right kind of compassion can help addicts get clean and turn their lives around.

“There were times during my addiction when I was simply not capable of making decisions in my own best interest. I put myself in incredibly dangerous situations, and some of those decisions left me with scars I will carry for the rest of my life,” she said at an October campaign event.

“If my parents had had the ability to get their 17-year-old daughter into treatment when I couldn’t recognize how much danger I was in, they would have taken it in a heartbeat. And I believe that it could have worked.”

I don’t talk about addiction as an abstract policy issue. I lived it.

At 17, I was struggling with addiction and living on the streets of Vancouver. I know what it feels like to be cold, hungry and exhausted, and still have drugs matter more than anything else. I also know there… https://t.co/jsaG3SEWeF

— Claire Rattée (@ClaireRattee) October 7, 2026

Born and raised in Stó:lō Territory to former B.C. Lt.-Gov. Steven Lewis Point and his wife, Gwendolyn, Warbus is a married mother of three children who previously held multiple positions within the Stó:lō Nation tribal council, including chair, and was the Chief Commissioner of the British Columbia Treaty Commission, all before the age of 40.

Like Rattée, she was first elected in 2024, unseating incumbent Kelli Paddon by more than 2,000 ballots, and was soon appointed the Conservatives’ House Leader and caucus chair. She held that position until becoming the seventh-straight MLA to leave the party under Findlay’s rule in September.

At the time, she told Business in Vancouver that the party was more concerned with its internal turmoil than the real issues facing British Columbians — housing affordability, cost-of-living and seniors care.

“We’re devoid of all of that when we’re focused on the drama, the inner workings and the culture wars of pulling people and polarizing them more and more and more,” she said.

“You can only push people to divide so far, and so long, before there’s an exhaustion. People are just craving and looking for a bit of stability and normality. And I have to say that is the complete opposite of what I felt, and what I’ve seen was happening inside of the caucus, inside of the party, and in the direction we were going.”

Warbus followed a handful of defectors in forming the new CentreBC party under MLA Peter Milobar’s leadership, but eventually returned to the reunited Conservatives under Doerksen.

She defeated Paddon again in this election, with just over 60 per cent of the vote, pending final confirmation.

Outside of politics, she is a filmmaker, Indigenous film professor, artist, singer, and cultural communications professional.

Warbus has offered a nuanced position on the province’s DRIPA, legislation enacted in 2019 by the former NDP government that attempted to respect Indigenous rights but created uncertainties around property ownership that critics say has chilled development in the province.

It was adopted from the United Nations’ own DRIPA, making B.C. the first and only province to do so.

When Rustad and the Conservatives called for it to be repealed last year after a court ruling involving the province’s mineral claim system, she said the law had been implemented in the wrong order.

“DRIPA was a layer added on, and it really put the cart before the horse in terms of dealing with the many distinct nations that we have,” Warbus told Global News last December, stressing that the party’s position is not to undermine Indigenous people’s rights.

“Indigenous rights are human rights,” she said.

Her criticism also relates to concerns about legal uncertainties, property rights and economic development, maintaining the province needs more clarity for all communities, Indigenous and otherwise.

Warbus believes in reconciliation, but told Fraser Valley Today during the campaign that the debate needs a range of “authentic” Indigenous voices, including those “willing to ask difficult questions.”

“I also believe any legislation that addresses Title must be practical, transparent, and capable of bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous British Columbians forward together,” she said. “Division will only serve to distinguish the will and compassion we need to do the work.”

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