[2][3] After graduating high school, she moved to Saskatoon and studied at the Kelsey Institute, receiving a diploma in nursing in 1981.

[2] Hawkins then earned a law degree from the University of Calgary in 1994,[7] was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1995,[4] and set up her own company as a lawyer with an interest in medical-legal issues.

[6] She was re-elected in 2001 in the redistributed riding of Kelowna-Mission by a margin of 12,285 votes,[8] and was appointed to the cabinet that June by Premier Gordon Campbell to serve as Minister of Health Planning.

[2] Her position was abolished in a January 2004 cabinet shuffle, and she was re-assigned as Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations.

[6] In 2004, Hawkins was diagnosed with leukemia and waged a high-profile battle with the illness; she was saved as a result of a bone marrow transplant from her sister.