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 Colleen is the eldest of Walter and Shirley Hardwick’s four children. Raised in Kerrisdale, Colleen attended Maple Grove Elementary where her grandfather, Walter H.W. Hardwick, was principal for 17 years. Her Grandmother, Iris Hardwick, was a NPA Parks Commissioner from 1957-1960. Colleen attended York House School in her middle school years, and graduated from Magee Secondary in 1975.
Colleen grew up inside Vancouver politics. She was 10 years old when her father, Dr. Walter G. Hardwick, co-founded TEAM and was first elected as a Vancouver City Alderman in 1968. As a child, she developed an early understanding of the City, marching in protest of freeway development, studying city council agendas, and hiking through derelict False Creek squalor. Graduating a year early, Colleen followed her father into UBC’s Geography Department. Her first job was working on the Urban Future’s Project, a key research document which led to the creation of the Livable Region Strategic Plan.
In 1976, the family moved to Victoria with Dr. Hardwick’s appointment as B.C. Deputy Ministry of Education. While studying at the University of Victoria, Colleen married Paul Nystedt in 1980. During that time, while completing her degree, Colleen worked with her father on research in connection with the Knowledge Network, which he was instrumental in creating. She worked briefly for the City of Victoria Planning Department before graduating in 1983, just before the birth of her first daughter, Kathryn.
In 1983, Colleen’s life took a dramatic turn when a film company used the Hardwick family home in Victoria as a filming location. This twist of fate eventually led to two successful decades in the motion picture industry. But in 1984, when Pierre Trudeau stepped down as leader of the Liberal Party, Colleen immediately joined the Party and was elected as a youth delegate to the leadership convention. With baby Kathryn on her back, she flew to Ottawa in support of Don Johnston’s candidacy. Her presence shone a spotlight on the needs of mothers and infants in public places. She continued to participate in Liberal organizations, notably as Policy Chair of the Women’s Liberal Commission.
The juxtaposition of new motherhood, the film business and national politics was not lost on Colleen. She came to believe that media was key in changing collective value systems. Having literally grown up at City Hall, Colleen initially applied her planning skills in the nascent B.C. Film Industry as a Location Manager, where she developed organizational systems which were to become the established norm. She applied the social science model to studying the impact of the Film industry from the Downtown East Side to Shaughnessy. She understood that Vancouver’s neighborhoods are the natural resource of the Film Industry and must be nurtured. And in between her second daughter, Shannon, was born.
In the years that followed, Colleen continued to demonstrate a powerful leadership presence in the entertainment business. She joined the Director’s Guild of Canada, and served as both National Production Representative and National Secretary Treasurer from 1989 to 1992. During her tenure she laid the groundwork for a federal-style financial structure which helped diffuse the internecine fighting between the National and District Councils. Since 1990, Colleen has been a member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and in 1995 joined the Canadian Film and Television Production Association. She is an active member in the B.C. Motion Picture Production Industry Association.
In 1992, Colleen shifted her energy to building her company, New City Productions, and her first film, “City Boy” was nominated for an Environmental Media Award for raising environmental awareness in a TV Movie. Throughout the 90s, New City produced dozens of pictures for clients including Universal Pictures, Paramount Studios, MGM, CBS, NBC, ABC, USA, Showtime and Lifetime networks. IN 1994, Colleen was the first Vancouver producer to sell into the US market with “The Perfect Mother”, for CBS, based on a true story.
In the mid-90s, Colleen represented the rapidly growing film industry on the Vancouver Board of Trade Film Advisory Task Force, and Industry Canada’s Small Business Advisory Council. She pioneered indigenous labour negotiations with the Council of Film Unions. She was nominated in the Entrepreneurship category for a prestigious YWCA Women of Distinction Award, named one of the “13 Most Important People in the B.C. Film Industry” by the Financial Post, and received a “40 under 40” Award from Business in Vancouver magazine.
The B.C. Motion Picture Production Industry Association, representing all segments of the business has strongly endorsed Colleen’s candidacy for City Council. Colleen continues to work towards creating a sustainable film industry in British Columbia. Known for her drive, imagination and ability to bring disparate groups together over often fractious issues, Colleen is now prepared to apply her energy and commitment to the city she loves so much.
Throughout building a successful business, and giving leadership in her various communities, Colleen has raised two beautiful daughters, who currently attend college in Vancouver. They live on Kits Point in their family home, where Colleen is a member of the Kits Point Resident’s Association. Colleen is also a life-long member of Fairview Baptist Church in Kitsilano, and a third generation Keats Island resident. She is also a member of the UBC and Geography Alumni Associations.
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