About Janice
Janice Morrison has been Mayor of Nelson since 2022. She is asking for a second term in the October 17, 2026 general local election.
Background
Janice was elected Mayor of Nelson in 2022. She was originally elected to Nelson City Council in 1999, and again in 2014 and 2018.
Janice has called Nelson home for more than 36 years, with her family first settling here in the 1920s. Janice has enjoyed a rewarding 30+ year career as a physical therapist at Kootenay Lake Hospital, and 22 years as owner of a small business with her partner, Mike.
Locally, my leadership experience includes:
- Chair of the Nelson Police Board;
- 12 years on the RDCK Recreation Commission;
- RDCK Director on the Resource Recovery Committee and Regional Parks Commission; and
- Member of the Greater Nelson Economic Development Advisory Committee.
My governance and leadership experience also extends beyond Nelson and includes:
- Being a past Vice President of the Health Sciences Association of BC;
- A past Trustee of the Municipal Finance Authority; and
- Currently, Trustee for the Municipal Pension Plan of BC.
My happy place is being a community volunteer!
I’ve been a:
- Director of the Nelson Maple Leafs;
- Director of the Nelson Public Library;
- Chair of the Kootenay Lake Hospital Foundation; and
- President of the Chamber of Commerce.
I’ve been an active member of the Rotary Club of Nelson for 35 years, and last September Mike and I contributed to making 750 breakfasts at the Airport Appreciation Day!
Janice has degrees in Microbiology from UBC, an Interdisciplinary Masters from New Mexico State University and a Physical Therapy Degree from the U of A.
Her announcement
September 9, 2026
Janice Morrison to Seek a Second Term as Mayor of Nelson
When I walk through Nelson, it makes me proud to see what we’ve accomplished together as a community over the past four years. We opened the new transit hub that services the city and our neighbours. Fairview Gardens opened its doors in 2024 allowing seniors to stay local. This October, new supportive housing units will add to what is already in place in Nelson, outpacing other small Canadian communities in our commitment to affordable housing. Railtown Flats, workforce housing, is scheduled to open in late 2027.
Patios, art walks, the Mural Festival, markets and dancing on the pier keep our downtown colourful, vibrant and alive.
As a council and a community, we also did the hard unglamorous work of deciding where we’re heading. We sat down together and built the Official Community plan, alongside our NelsonNext climate action plan, both roadmaps grounded in the priorities Nelson residents actually named as important. And that work matters because it sets us up for the next four years: building.
The pipeline that brings water down from the Five-mile creek watershed above town is aging, and next year we begin the design phase to replace it. It’s not the only major project. Work to replace the force main that runs to the sewage treatment plant begins in 2027. Expansion of our sewage treatment plant will follow, and a new fire hall is on the list, with recreation/social infrastructure also part of the conversation.
None of this is simple, or cheap. Nelson already carries a high tax burden, and I don’t believe the answer to funding this work is to keep asking residents for more. My approach is to pursue every dollar of provincial and federal infrastructure funding available to us, and to make prudent, disciplined use of the reserves we’ve built, guided by an asset management plan. Funding for one project often can’t simply be shifted to another if things change, so we stay flexible and planned, rather than reactive, to keep these projects affordable for all families.
Nelson has reinvented itself before, from a mining town to a rail town, to a forestry town, to the service and tourism centre we are today. That history is part of why I believe in planning for resilience now. And it’s why the work we do on our infrastructure and our environment isn’t separate from our economy; it’s the foundation of it.
None of this happens without public input. Council doesn’t make these decisions in isolation: broad engagement is essential. I’m committed to keeping residents part of the conversation as we move from planning into building. With that foundation in place, and with real work still ahead, I’m asking the residents of Nelson for the opportunity to serve a second term as your mayor.
Reporters can reach Janice at 250-505-3441 or elect.janicemorrison@gmail.com.