[2] She represented the electoral district of Coquitlam-Maillardville, first as a British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) MLA and then as an Independent.

[1][5] After graduating from Simon Fraser University with a master's degree in counselling psychology,[2] she joined the Jewish Family Service Agency, eventually becoming its associate executive director.

[8] She was initially declared defeated on election night in 2013, with Steve Kim of the BC Liberals deemed winner by 105 votes.

[13][14] Following the resignation of Jinny Sims from cabinet in October 2019, Robinson briefly assumed the role of Minister of Citizens' Services,[15] until Anne Kang took over the position in January 2020.

[4] In early 2024, Selena Robinson made the following comments during an online event hosted by B'nai Brith Canada,[23] How [Israel] started.

It didn’t have anything on it.Adel Iskandar, a professor at Simon Fraser University, stated that "There’s absolutely no history book that would affirm Minister Robinson’s articulation of that period in time... Obviously it was not a 'crappy piece of land'.

[24] Robinson apologised for the comments later that week, calling them "disrespectful," continuing to clarify "I was referring to the fact that the land has limited natural resources".

[25] FPSE also describe Robinson as undermining "the democratic principles of freedom of expression, academic freedom, and a college and university system free of direct manipulation by the provincial government" given that Robinson had been directly involved in pressuring Langara College to fire Dr. Natalie Knight regarding her comments in support of the 7th October Massacre.

[31] Michael Conlon of FPSE said it was unprecendented for a politician to intervene directly into a college's internal matters and Robinson was "abusing her ministerial powers to silence political views that don’t agree with her own".