The Honourable Karen Sorensen is an Independent Senator for Alberta (Alberta Rockies). She serves as co-chair of the Parliamentary Tourism Caucus and sits on the Standing Committees on Agriculture and Forestry (AGFO) and Indigenous Peoples (APPA).

Ms. Sorensen is a strong advocate for the tourism and hospitality sector, clean and sustainable energy, conservation and biodiversity, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Prior to her appointment to the Senate in 2021, Ms. Sorensen served three terms as Mayor of Banff, having also served six years as a municipal councillor and four years as a school board trustee.

At the municipal level, Ms. Sorensen served as Chair of the Town of Banff’s Governance and Finance Committee and on the Banff Lake Louise Tourism Board. She contributed to the town’s Environmental Master Plan, Community Plan, and the creation of the Bow Valley Regional Transit Services Commission. Ms. Sorensen also served on the Regional Transit Commission, Bow Valley Regional Housing, Banff’s Assessment Review Board, Banff’s Development Appeal Board, and the Banff Heritage Corporation, as well as co-chairing the Bow Valley Human-Wildlife Coexistence Round Table. In addition, she supported her community through the Alberta flood of 2013, the wildfires across the province in 2017, and the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Sorensen enjoyed a successful 25-year career in the hotel industry in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta, after which she founded her own hospitality training business, Catalyst Enterprises Consulting.

In 2005, Ms. Sorensen was named Alberta Centennial Ambassador. She is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, and the YWCA Banff 2019 Woman of Distinction Award.