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Richardson was struck by her intellect and passion. She seemed to have inherited the latter from her father. “But Jody has always been very much her own person,” Richardson said in an interview Wednesday. “She has a deep sense of her own values, and she has the courage to live them. I wanted the best talent I could get, so I approached Jody and told her that we needed her.”

She joined the BCTC as an advisor. A year later, Richardson left to run as a Liberal candidate in the 2004 federal election. He lost. Wilson-Raybould, meanwhile, ran successfully for elected office, as a BCTC commissioner. She served for six years, working on more than a dozen treaty negotiations with B.C. First Nations and provincial and federal governments.

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In 2009, Wilson-Raybould waded deeper into electoral politics, running for the B.C. Regional Chief position with the Assembly of First Nations. She won easily, and was re-elected three years later. The federal Liberals then identified her as a potential candidate, and she agreed to run for the party in the new riding of Vancouver Granville, which includes some of the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods.

It wasn’t an obvious place for Wilson-Raybould, who didn’t live in the riding until recently. But she demolished the competition last month, winning the riding hands down.

Now she is federal justice minister, a huge leap forward. Among other things, Wilson-Raybould will push for aboriginal justice reform. She will also play a key role in the formation of a national public inquiry into missing and murdered women and girls, including its terms of reference. No easy task. But she would not have accepted her cabinet position without having Trudeau’s campaign promise reiterated and affirmed.

Any reports coming from such an inquiry will be formally presented to her, as justice minister. Wilson-Raybould will be counted on to ensure that recommendations are considered and implemented, not ignored. Again, not that simple. But this minister of justice was born and raised for the job.