Carina Spencer – Swedish Honorary Consul

This month we would like to introduce to you our new Swedish honorary consul in Vancouver!

Carina grew up in a small village called Figeholm on the east coast of Sweden in the province of Småland. She came to Canada in 1986 and spent her first year here as a nanny to a family in Pitt Meadows, B.C. She met her future husband, Doug, at UBC in 1987. Carina enrolled in the Canadian travel School and got her Travel Diploma that enabled her to work for Thomas Cook Travel. Doug and Carina married in Vancouver in 1990. Two sons were born in 1992 and 1994 respectively.

Carina and Doug bought a food brokerage business in 1996 which they called “Summit Marketing Canada Ltd”. They together grew the company nationally and worked hard. In 2018 they sold the company after 22 successful years. Carina became involved in the Swedish societies through a Swedish friend and joined the Swedish Cultural Society . In 2014 she was chair of Sweden House Society. In 2016-2017 Carina was president of the Scandinavian Community Centre and is still a director today. She is also on the board of The Swedish Heritage in B.C.

“I still feel a strong connection to Sweden and this is the main reason I accepted the position as Swedish Honorary Consul for BC and Yukon. I am truly honoured and proud to carry on with all the great work so many people have done before me to preserve the Swedish Culture abroad and to build new connections between Canada and Sweden. This could never have happened if I had not made the decision to visit the Scandinavian Community Centre and thanks to all the wonderful people and experiences I had and continue to have at my home away from home.”
– Carina Spencer