Christine Sorensen, the president of the BC Nurses’ Union, has resigned.

In a news release late Monday evening, as election results were trickling in, the BCNU said Christine Sorensen has resigned “for personal reasons and to pursue other opportunities.”

The move comes as the BC Nurses’ Union had been facing some criticism from some of its members as it opposed B.C.’s vaccine mandate for health-care workers, announced last week by Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.

The BCNU did not announce a replacement for Sorensen, who lives in Kamloops.

“The BC Nurses’ Union thanks Christine Sorensen for her years of dedication and service to the BCNU,” the statement added.

According to a biography on the BCNU website, Sorensen graduated from the UBC School of Nursing in 1989 and spent her first day of work on the picket line at Royal Inland Hospital where she worked in obstetrics/gynecology.

She was later elected BCNU Thompson North Okanagan regional council member in 2010, and was later elected vice-president of the union in 2012, 2014, and 2017, before taking over as acting president in 2018.

Sorensen was later acclaimed as BCNU president in 2020.