The School of Public Policy and Global Affairs extends a warm welcome to Stephanie Papik, who joins our community as a Practitioner Fellow from September until December, 2025.
Stephanie is two-spirit, with an Inuit, Irish, Scottish, and Spanish ancestral background. Their work is centered on Indigenous self-determination, decolonial approaches, circle practice, and public service innovation — endeavours that are informed by the values of compassion and inclusion, as well as a drive toward cultural resurgence. Offering three decades of experience in Indigenous knowledge system advancement, public policy transformation, and culturally-safe governance across the B.C. Public Service and community sectors, Stephanie has lent her wealth of experience to numerous leadership positions across the province.
They currently serve as a Director of the Moose Hide Campaign, where they direct cross-governmental initiatives to support the prevention of gender-based violence while supporting reconciliation efforts. She is also a co-founder, as well as a Board of Director, of the Inuit Collective Society of B.C. Previously, they have held positions such as Director at Emergency Management B.C., as well as working in the Premier’s Office.
We learned more about Stephanie’s past experiences and passion for developing Inuit data governance in our Q&A with her below:
What has been a meaningful moment in your career that underscores the need for good public policy?
In the past decade, B.C.’s wildfire seasons have escalated. I have witnessed how systemic under resourcing and colonial policies have placed Indigenous communities at higher risk during disaster’s. A meaningful moment in my career that underscores the need for good public policy comes from many experiences I have had working in different roles in the BC Public Service. In 2017 when I was Program Lead for the Indigenous Youth Internship Program, I visited a First Nation, where an Indigenous youth intern was updating the community’s emergency plan post-event. Hearing firsthand how impacts could have been mitigated with equitable resourcing highlighted the urgent need for policy change. In 2018, I supported the Joint Ministerial Task Force on Wild Fires and the cross ministry roll out of implementing the 108 recommendations from Addressing The New Normal: 21st Century Disaster Management in BC. From 2019 to 2022, I was the lead for implementing strategic integration of Indigenous knowledge and cultural safety and humility at Emergency Management BC.
A meaningful moment was in 2021 when I had an opportunity to take part in the development and deployment of emergency services that were responsive to Indigenous voices. This experience underscored the value of Indigenous voices and self-determination in policy and decision making. I was deployed, as the Indigenous Peoples Strategic Lead at the Provincial Emergency Coordination Center during a wildfire response, I recruited and lead a team of Indigenous emergency management professionals in the development and implementation of Emergency Support Services Navigators, and Cultural Activity Locations Services. Applying trauma-informed principles to policies surrounding these and roles and services ensured Indigenous communities had access to culturally safe supports equivalent to municipalities. By embedding community navigators—trusted individuals with lived experience—into the emergency response, we created pathways for Indigenous health, wellness, and cultural services during displacement. Starting with a process and approach that recognizes the leadership and resilience within Indigenous communities and reflects the principle of “nothing about us, without us”. These two policies were created, approved, and deployed in 10 days. recognize the leadership and resilience within Indigenous communities. This approach addressed immediate needs and has since influenced broader emergency management practices.
What are you most looking forward to engaging in as an SPPGA Practitioner Fellow?
I look forward to advancing Inuit data governance in B.C. to address the invisibility of Inuit within health data systems and the risks of releasing disaggregated data without appropriate governance. Despite BC’s distinctions-based commitments, no Inuit-specific health data governance mechanisms exist, even though over 1,700 Inuit live in the province.
This fellowship offers an opportunity to collaborate with Inuit in BC and the Office of the Provincial Health Officer to embed Inuit governance and wisdom into public health reporting, including updates to the “Is ‘good,’ good enough?” child and youth health report to align with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Grounded in grassroots capacity-building, my work seeks to connect community voices with policy in culturally safe and sustainable ways.
I am eager to contribute my lived and professional experience to academic and policy discussions, building partnerships that foster resilience, equity, and lasting change for Indigenous peoples and all British Columbians.
