Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba Bateman was involved in the musical community. After training four summers at the Banff School of Fine Arts, she went to study at the University of Western Ontario under Ralph Aldrich. She put herself through university there by playing viola in the London Symphony Orchestra and received her HBA from the Ivey School of Business. After attending business school, Bateman articled with Price Waterhouse in Winnipeg and has worked and lived in Winnipeg ever since. She met Darrell Hancock while at Price Waterhouse. Hancock and Bateman are married and have two children. Joyce Bateman is a Chartered Accountant. Prior to her election to Parliament, Bateman was a trustee on the Winnipeg School Board. First elected to the Winnipeg School Board in 2001, she served two terms as chairperson, and one term as vice-chairperson. She was formerly a member of the federal Liberal party, although her party membership lapsed in 2009. In 2011, she said that she opted to run as a Conservative due to misgivings over the fiscal policies of the Liberal Party, which she described as "reckless."
Federal politics
Joyce Bateman successfully ran for School Trustee in 2001. As Chair of the Board of Trustees, her fiscal prudence enabled the full reinstatement of the Nursery Program in 2005 for the Winnipeg School Division. It had been cut by the Board in 1998 before Bateman was elected. Bateman successfully ran for School Trustee with no political affiliation. In late 2003, she purchased a membership, under the Paul Martin push, in the Liberal Party of Canada. She left that party in 2009. In 2011, given her four-time successful electoral record, Bateman was sought out by the Conservative Party of Canada to run in Winnipeg South Centre. She was successful. While serving in Parliament there was a serious problem with a rail crossing in her riding. As a result, she introduced a Private Members’ Bill on Rail Safety which makes every rail crossing throughout Canada safer. During the 2015 federal election, Bateman participated in a debate on the economy held by Jewish advocate group B'nai Brith and was booed when she read off a list of Liberal candidates who had allegedly made statements contrary to the interests of the State of Israel. The list included Andrew Leslie, a retired Lieutenant General who led Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Bateman refused to apologize afterwards, saying that she was "proud to be part of a party that stands firmly with Israel." Bateman was heavily defeated in 2015 by former Liberal provincial MLA Jim Carr, falling to 28 percent of the vote. She re-contested her previous riding in a rematch against Carr in the 2019 federal election but lost.
