Presentation title: Indigenous Sovereignty: Centering Inuit Data Governance for Health Justice
Date & time: Friday, December 12 from 12-1 PM (PST)
Location
- In-person: Room B104, School of Population and Public Health, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, BC
- Online: Zoom. Please register to receive the meeting link: https://ubc.zoom.us/meeting/register/UK85jg1ARzGiwbklYyMl2A
Summary
The session will outline Stephanie Papik’s personal journey, detailing how her upbringing and professional training, which included observing the friction between traditional medicine and Western biomedicine, will lead her to public health and a critique of the field’s colonial architecture. Drawing from her Inuk ancestry and perspective, she will assert the urgent necessity of Inuit data governance to reclaim sovereignty over community data and challenge systems that exclude Indigenous knowledge and reduce people’s experiences to mere numbers. Stephanie will emphasize the political nature of knowledge systems and the need for committed allies and institutions to dismantle exclusionary structures and recognize the right of Indigenous communities to be heard. Ultimately, she will conclude by advocating for health justice, centering it as a fundamental right that requires actively dismantling the historical and systemic denial of health equity.
About the speaker
Stephanie is two-spirit, with an Inuit, Irish, Scottish, and Spanish ancestry. 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. now the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, as well as working in the Premier’s Office.