Dolan was born in England, and moved to Canada in 1963. She has a diploma in advertising, and is also a graduate of the Ontario Labour College. She began working for Stelco in 1979, and became an employee at General Motors in Oshawa in 1984. Strongly involved in union activities, Dolan was a member of the woman's committee and educational trainer for Canadian Auto Workers Local 222 in Oshawa.[https://web.archive.org/web/20041116221123/http://www.newsworld.cbc.ca/election97/ridings/185.html] She campaigned for the NDP in both the 1997 and 2000 federal elections.